wide Grins

A mad howl left Elthor's lips, a wild Dark Elemental Force surging about his body.

The members of the Arundo family were instantly caught off guard. They had only formed their formation on a whim and hadn't really considered its flaws. Elthor's explosion in speed wasn't' something they were able to react to appropriately, leaving them at a loss.

Light Elemental Force was well known for a few of its abilities. Its speed, its piercing ability or its ability to solidify and concentrate, and its healing ability. Though these things could vary depending on the exact type in question, these were general abilities all Light Elemental Forces seemed to share.

Dark Elemental Force, however, was different. It was known for its concealment ability, its heaviness, its looseness and gaseous-like form, and, for lack of a better term, its cursing ability.

If these things were to be summarized, it would be that Light Elemental Force was good at giving something of itself, while Dark Elemental Force was good at taking for itself.

In that moment, while it felt like Elthor's speed had increased explosively, what had actually happened was that everyone around him had slowed down. The same had even happened with Osron's arrows, but the effect was so perfectly timed that even Osron himself didn't seem to have noticed the change.

The shock of the Arundo immediately shifted to fury. They might have been second to the three main families, but that didn't change their view of themselves. To the rest of this Sector, they were still noble and esteemed, to have one of their own killed before them like this was a great humiliation.

Unfortunately… Their rage didn't seem to move the needle one way or another. As for why… That was because Elthor hadn't finished venting either.

…

Blood flowed down the stage, a singular young man standing at the center. Elthor's white hair seemed particularly blinding amidst all the crimson, his breathing moving with a labored rhythm.

Though three had been meant to pass on to the next round, the actual number seemed to just be one. Orinik didn't seem too fazed by this result. He would just give the spot to the last two to be cut down, if they could survive, that is. As for the rest of it, it had nothing to do with him.

There was a furious sort of atmosphere permeating around the arena. Though Elthor hadn't killed everyone in his group, there were quite a number that had been cut down, never to rise up again. While a few that had lost out fled the stage, many more would never see another sun rise.

Did Elthor feel bad? Not at all. To him, this was no different from a battlefield. If you didn't have the resolve to die, then don't step foot upon this place.

Elthor had been on many battlefields in his life. Compared to these noble young men and women who lived lives of mostly leisure, he had a different sort of edge to him. That edge was what allowed him to see the air of a veteran of war hanging around Orinik.

Maybe even faster than Leonel had, Elthor realized that this wasn't a joking matter, nor would making it into the Void Palace be all sunshine and rainbows. From here on out, they would wade through a sea of corpses. If those here couldn't clear this trial, they would still find themselves dead eventually.

Elthor slowly walked off the stage, his gait quite slow and his face a bit pale. Though he had won, he was still only Tier 1. And, for the sake of the second day ahead, he had refrained from using his trump cards, making things even more difficult on him.

A cascade of boos suddenly began to fall from the crowd above.

Seeing Elthor win wasn't just something the Arundo family didn't want. As humans, they disliked the idea of someone of another race taking such a resounding victory against them. Despite his handsome face, with the exception of a few swooning women who had fallen for his devilish charm, Elthor very easily became public enemy number one.

If not for fear of the Void Palace disciples and the actions of Ganor earlier making many too apprehensive to step out of line, they might have started throwing things from their stands as well.

Elthor inwardly shook his head.

Though his father had let him come with Leonel, Elthor knew his old man quite well. With how stubborn he was, the likelihood that he would allow the Oryx to follow Leonel was very low. Of course, this wouldn't' be about being untrusting of Leonel, but mostly just an understanding of objective reality.

Just look at how these people were treating him just because he was a bit different. Compared to his Oryx counterparts, he was about as close to human as you could get. From him, in only became worse from then on. If they couldn't' even accept him, how would they accept the others?

Even knowing that the Oryx only had their best chance to maximize their Hyper Evolution state under Leonel, his father still chose to go his own way. And, seeing such a reception, Elthor couldn't blame him.

'Hm?'

Elthor felt a shadow wash over him. He looked up to find a smiling face looking back at him.

"You did good, your saber needs some work, though. You wasted way too much energy swinging it around like that."

Elthor was speechless.

Leonel stood before him, grinning as though he couldn't see or hear anything around him. Without a care, he critiqued Elthor's battle and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. For a long time, Elthor didn't quite know how to respond. He opened his mouth several times, but nothing seemed to come out.

He had been by Leonel and the rest of the Earth geniuses for the past several weeks, but he had never really made an effort to ingratiate himself with them. He always felt that there was a barrier he could never cross over.

But, seeing Leonel act like this, he suddenly felt a bit of guilt in his heart. Despite knowing he'd put a target on his back by doing this, Leonel had still stepped out without a care. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

Elthor was quite absentminded, so much so that he didn't even realize that it wasn't just Leonel.

Looking up, he suddenly realized that everyone of Earth had come out with wide grins on their faces.