The fact that the 10th strongest student accepted a challenge from an unknown student was big enough news to reach the ears of the other 9. Most of them already knew that the 10th had somewhat of a temper. But even he, wouldn’t risk his position for no small matter. The 8th and 9th strongest were intrigued enough to come see the debacle. They made their way to the upper levels of the arena so they could avoid being seen by the masses.

Watching one of the strongest in the school beat up on a small fry isn’t fun. But the fact that this was an unknown small fry was enough for it to be somewhat interesting. They stand next to each other with their arms crossed looking down at the ring. They see their fellow ranked student walk towards the ring and enter.

The two seemed to exchange some words, and then the new kid pulled out something from his pockets and used Higher Reasoning to transform it. This was unexpected because to see someone from the planet Numbers make it to Hominidae is extremely rare. The new kid then threw what he just transformed up in the air. And it was dust … he threw up dust and struck a pose. It was then that the two ranked members walked out.

Demo was still standing in the pose he took. The 10th ranked just stood there with a blank look on his face staring at Demo in silence. The entire audience was silent as well … a random audience member was the first to break the silence as he asked the question.

“Did he just throw up dust to take a pose?”

With that one question, the entire audience burst out in laughter. Demo who had never been laughed at before felt an uneasy feeling swell up in the pit of his stomach. With each second that passed he felt more and more embarrassed. He stopped his pose and stood up straight. Even the 10th ranked was now laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Demo had his head down, the lights were strong enough to cover his face in shadows as he lowered it. The 10th ranked took pity on Demo and took him as just a joker who wanted to be funny.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were “special” so I’m a just let it slide.”

He took a few steps towards Demo as a sign of peace as he kept chuckling while talking.

“If you just say you sorry, we good.”

Demo raises his head. His eyes are brimming with energy and are a deep glowing red. The sheer menace exuding from his body radiates through the whole arena. The laughter immediately stops and everyone can feel a cold chill run down their spine. But none felt it as strong as the student in front of him. It was as if death itself looked him right in the eyes and asked him his name. The student jumped back out of preservation of self and took up his fighting pose.

Demo lost himself in the rage he felt as others mocked him. He now wants to make sure no one here thinks they can make fun of him. But now the laughter has stopped and the student in front of him is shaken and looks visibly scared. He realizes that he has already won the fight. And then in his mind, it clicks. He needs to say a cool line AND release some evil or bloodlust-filled energy. But to be able to time that precisely might be a little hard. Demo starts thinking about the best way to make it work.

The student and everyone in the audience are left waiting in silence as Demo thinks things through. As Demo thinks he looks up to better use his imagination. The fact that Demo took his eyes off the student was enough to make the student see it as a chance to attack.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The student rushes forward with an insane speed and uses that momentum to jump up and deliver a flying kick aimed at Demo’s head. Demo notices the kick coming and is able to react in time and dodge it. He sidesteps the kick and while the other student is still in the air they lock eyes for a moment. The student has a sense of dread written all over his face as he sees Demo smile like a crazy person. Before the student is able to land Demo winds up and sends a roundhouse kick his way. The student who was already in the air is sent flying even further. He hits the edge of the ring headfirst and passes out. The audience who would usually explode with energy at an ending like this was silent. They couldn’t believe that one of the top 10 strongest students was taken out like this.

Demo who is loving the silence and aura of fear that now fills the arena. Looks up with a smug look on his face and starts looking around the room. He then walks to the student he just defeated and kneels down to check on him. The student is still passed out so Demo tries to wake him up. He slaps him a few times. Around the 7th slap, the student wakes up, dazed and confused. Demo looks him in the eyes.

“Tell me what you know about MYOS.”

The student is still in a daze.

“Huh?”

Demo looks at him emotionless while thinking to himself that the student must still be a little lightheaded. So, he slaps him again to help him wake up a bit more. Ugly Face is in the audience and his jaw almost hits the ground in amazement. He knew Demo was strong but not to this degree. He didn’t really get the dust throw but everything else was out of this world. While Demo is interrogating his fallen foe a servant makes his way to Bilicus who is still at the party. The servant walks all the way up to Bilicus and hands him a paper. Bilicus is in the middle of a conversation with some high-ranking people in the school.

“Excuse me, seems I have some business to attend to.”

Bilicus made it very clear that he can only be disturbed by certain things. The fact that he was means it was big enough to warrant this. As he reads the news that Demo beat the 10th strongest, his eyes open in shock. He whispers to himself.

“Impossible.”

He feels the rage boil in his body. But quickly reminds himself where he is and puts a smile back on his face.

“I have to apologize gentlemen. Something has just come up that requires my attention. If you will forgive me.”

He starts walking away, and when he reaches the door Strils is there waiting for him. Strils has a concerned look on his face. He has read the same news as Bilicus. When they leave the party and are a few steps from the crowd they start talking.

“You think he sent Demo to get a position of influence as the 10th?”

“Braverte probably blackmailed the 10th to fight Demo and then drugged him to make sure.”

“It seems he is finally making his move.”

“Let that desperate fool do his best, we’ll be ready.”

“What if they blackmail and drug the 9th as well?”

“We are going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The two walk back to their office while planning and scheming on how to stop Demo and Braverte. Demo on the other hand was able to learn that the 9th was a supplier of MYOS. And that he hated pineapple pizza. Demo wasn’t sure yet how he could use that last bit of information but knew it was something he could exploit. The other students who used to follow the previous 10th were now clinging to Demo. But Demo didn’t like the attention. He figured it was a good chance to try out his new theory of intimidation. They crowded around him, surrounding him like a pack of wolves ready to pounce. Demo gathered the energy he felt from the feelings of dislike and gathered it in his chest. With that energy, he then let loose a scream of rage.

“LEAVE!”

Everyone around him stood there with their eyes wide open. They felt a similar chill down their spine as before. They nodded once and backed off. Only Ugly Face remained. Demo looked at him and was OK with just him following.

“Let’s go find number 9.”

Chapter 35 Fin