Bilicus and Strils were in the V.I.P. section of the arena. Bilicus is slightly disappointed.

“I thought Demo would help his new friend.”

“Seems he has a bit more restraint than we thought.”

“Keep an eye on him.”

The two then go their separate ways. Cyte brings Cleus to their club house. Before she enters the shield she looks back at Ten.

“Go follow the supplier. He might be meeting with a higher-up. Cleus will be ok. Once he is settled, I’ll join you.”

“Are you sure?”

Cleus raises his head to speak.

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be aight.”

Ten nods and goes to follow the supplier they found in the dorms. Demo doesn’t say a word while Cyte and Cleus go into the building. He smiles because it’s time to find number 9. Demo makes his way to a pizza shop. He looks at the menu and sees the pizza he wants. Luckily Braverte gave them an allowance so Demo has the funds to pay for it.

“One pineapple pizza please, and go overboard on the pineapples.”

While Demo is waiting for his pizza, Ten is back at the dorm. Just as he arrives the dealer walks out. The dealer doesn’t seem worried about a thing and makes his way down the street. Ten follows him several blocks until they reach the main school building. The dealer walks in, and Ten follows him from a safe distance. He walks up a flight of stairs and then turns left onto a long hallway of classrooms. The dealer walks into a chemistry lab and closes the door. Ten isn’t a super spy, and his reflexes aren’t amazing either. The Lab is in the middle of the hallway so he could crawl closer so that he could listen to the conversation. But if the conversation ended abruptly then the dealer would walk out of the room and see Ten crawling on the ground which would immediately ruin the whole operation. He could sneak into the air vents and then eavesdrop from the ceiling, but the pipes might be weak and then he would fall through the ceiling. He could use H.R. to make a mechanical fly, and then use that as a microphone to listen in. But these guys seem fast with good reflexes and they would kill that fly and that loud bang would rupture Ten’s ears. Maybe he should …

Ten was caught in thought for so long that the conversation ended and the dealer walked out of the room with a bag he didn’t have before. Ten knew that the dealer had just re-upped. All he had to do was wait to see who came out of the room to know who the main supplier was. After a few moments, a frail bespectacled student walked out. This student was a bit more paranoid than the previous dealer. He checked left and right to make sure no one was there. Ten had to duck around the corner to make sure he wasn’t found out. He listened to the footsteps of the student to know if he was moving toward or away from him. After a few seconds, he is certain they are moving towards him so Ten dashes down the stairs to make sure he isn’t caught.

The student doesn’t see him and thus starts going about his day like he normally would. Ten keeps following him. Ten is making sure he isn’t seen, but Demo is on the complete opposite path. He sees the 9th strongest student surrounded by a group of people. Demo is holding a box with a loaded pizza. He walks through the crowd to get closer to the 9th. Once he is close enough he opens the box, takes the pizza out, and then uses H.R. to transform the box into a Frisbee with a reflective surface. He throws the frisbee up. The sunlight gets into the eyes of the 9th and as soon as Demo sees the 9th close his eyes. Swoosh.

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The pizza hits the 9th square in the face. And because the 9th was about to ask what the hell that frisbee was, his mouth was open. A piece of pineapple and tomato sauce went into his mouth. The duel was set rather quickly after that. It took about an hour for them to find an available space but number 9’s rage didn’t subside at all. Number 9 is standing in the ring ready and waiting for Demo who is still standing outside of the ring. Demo turns around and walks up the stairs away from the ring. Everyone is watching him walk up the stairs confused as to what is happening. People start whispering that he is scared and that he is running away. Once Demo reaches the top of the stairs he turns around and jumps towards the ring. He makes sure his descent is right under the main lamp so his shadow looks huge and covers the whole ring. Right when he lands he releases a scream and with it a burst of energy. The audience and the 9th ranked are bewildered.

Demo stands up slowly and just as slow takes up a fighting pose.

“Let’s rumble.”

Demo can hear a random student ask the person next to him.

“Did he just say let’s rumble?”

“Nah, did he just walk up all them steps just to jump back down?”

“Is this a leveled-up version of the dusty?”

Demo thinks to himself that he can’t believe they called his epic dust-raising move “the dusty”. The 9th doesn’t care about any of it. He closes his eyes and then squats down to touch his calves. The muscles in his legs start to bubble and deform until they settle back down. His muscles are now a lot more defined and clearly stronger. He opens his eyes and without saying a word rushes towards Demo. Demo who has extremely well-honed reflexes sees him coming but is unable to react in time. He gets hit in the face. The hit was strong and threw his head back. He quickly recovers and turns his gaze to where he believes the 9th should be. But there is no one there. The 9th moved into his blind spot and before Demo could react he got hit with a kick to his midsection, but luckily his arms were there to block.

Demo is moved several meters from the impact. The 9th doesn’t waste any time and zig zags across the arena to confuse Demo and make sure his movements can’t be tracked. Demo tries his best but loses sight of the 9th. And again from his left blind spot he gets punched. Right after the punch connects however Demo tries to counterattack with his own punch but he hits nothing. The 9th while running around feels he is now in control of the fight.

“You’re not leaving this ring alive.”

Demo takes a deep breath and relaxes himself. He closes his eyes for a moment to see if he can hear the 9th move around. But the cheering from the audience gets in the way. He breathes out calmly to make sure his mind is clear and then slowly opens his eyes again. Instead of trying to focus on the exact position of the 9th Demo looks at the entire ring. He can see small puffs of dust being kicked up all over the ring.

Demo moves backward until his back is against the wall. He can now see all the puffs of dust happening. Then suddenly the dust stops. BANG.

Demo is kicked in the stomach. He throws a punch but the 9th is already gone. Demo swallows his rage, takes a deep breath, and looks at the puffs of smoke again. After a while the puffs stop and the 9th students stands still in the middle of the ring.

“You’re a lot tougher than I thought.”

The student closes his eyes and then claps his hands together. The muscles in his arms start to bubble and deform. When the student opens his eyes, his arms have become noticeably stronger.

“Let’s end this.”

Demo lowers his chin and gazes forward at the student. He does this so the student can’t see him smile.

Chapter 38 Fin