Atlas Reign

Chapter 9 A Friendly Duel

I look at Invo faces. His expression shows that he wants to ask me something. I am not quite sure what he is going to ask, I think I should prepare whatever questions he throws at me.

“Hey, Adonis it seems that you're being quite lovey-dovey with Valeri there. Did you fall for her?” He asks me with a grin on his face.

Where did he get that speculation?

“Invo, I'm not the type of person that falls for in love easily, you know.”

“I have only one goal in life and that is to assist you to become king. Remember?”

The idea of falling in love with someone never cross my mind and never will be. Love is just an excuse to have s*x with someone or wanting to take advantage of that person. When someone falls in love they are bound to show weakness.

For example, Invo calling Eltia in class resulted in both of us had to help Professor Gazzer and not helping the other soldier hunting monster. Also, Invo's disastrous introduction just made the princess embarrassed moments ago.

“Dude, you need love on your life and as the future king, I will help you with it.” he pats my back.

“You just need to tell me who you're going to choose?” he asks me.

Choose? Help? What is he talking about? Did he think I am a player?

“I don't quite understand what you're saying?” I ask him confusedly.

“Oh come on, I know you. I can tell that several women have an interest in you.”

“Huh? There are no women that have an interest in me.” I told him.

“For someone, who has an adept observation, you are pretty dense sometimes, Adonis.” he told me.

“Invo, whatever you think about me, falling in love, please throw it away. I have no time for love.” I told him.

“Not going to happen.” He pesters me.

“Sylvia or Valeri, Choose now.” he forces me to choose between those two.

For me, I saw Sylvia as a co-worker and someone very smart, dependent, and can fix or build weapons for me and the BMP soldier. I do not see her as someone from the opposite s*x.

Valeri is just someone that I recently met. She is just like me but livelier. I do not know her very much, all I know is that she came from a middle-class family and a friend of Eltia.

Professor Gazzer who is listening to our conversation start to cough. We divert our eyes towards him.

“Ahh, now that I got both of your attention. I have a favor to ask.” he made a smile on his face when he said that.

“Okay, what kind of favor?” Invo asks him.

I have a bad feeling about where this going to lead.

“I want you two to battle each other.” he told us with a grin on his face.

Both of us were surprised by his request. I want to refuse it but Invo cuts in before I could say anything.

“Sure, why not.” He agreed with his request.

Invo draws a smile on his face when I glare at him.

“Sorry, but I refused to do it.” I told both of them.

Invo looks dead straight to my eye.

“Are you scared?” He teases me.

I shrugged it off and ignore his question.

“Professor, how about you battle him?” I told him.

“Sure, but you have to pay me 1 million BD.” he teases me with a smile.

Invo on the other hand, walk towards the center of the field and began to ask the students if they want to watch us fight. All the students start to cheer as a sign of agreement. There is no escape for me.

I look at Invo and he was grinning. That damn face, I will surely make him pay for this. Professor Gazzer who is beside me opens his mouth.

“You can use your arsenal.” he tells me.

Well, at least I can use it.

“Thanks.” I told him reluctantly

I tap my bracer and a shield appears on my left hand. The shield is equipped with elemental gear that allows me to select elements that protect me from another elemental attack. I use my left thumbs to select water as a defense against Invo's fire elemental magic.

The sword on my right hand, I immediately change it to an elemental gear. I grab a wooden sword and place the gear on the handle. The gear immediately integrated with the wooden sword. With a shield on my left and a sword on my right, I am now ready to fight him. Invo grabs a wooden sword and the sword began to engulf with his elemental magic.

“Eltia, Valeri prepare the protective gear and the rest of you students please leave the center of the field. The battle will begin shortly.” he orders his students.

Eltia and Valeri walk toward the armory and gets the protective gear. The rest of the students emptied the center of the field and find their seats.

Both Invo and I walk to the center of the field. We stand far from each other. Eltia and Valeri walk toward us and gives us the protective gear. I grab the body armor and the shielding mask. Invo did the same as me. We wait nervously for Professor Gazzer to tell us the rules and to begin the fight.

He stands in the middle of the field and between us.

“Here are the rules, first to hit the opponent's body armor win the round. That body armor will tell us if you get hit by showing us red stripes.” he explains the rules and how the body armor work.

So that how they will tell if you get hit. The body armor will glow with red stripes when it gets hits by magic or physical damages. I can already tell that things will get messy.

“You can use anything at your disposal. Just don't get carried away you two. Especially you Invo.” He told us.

Invo just smiles when he heard his name being called. We prepare our stance and wait for Professor Gazzer to begin the fight. He looks at us, and we gave him a thumbs up.

The crowd begins to chant Invo's name and wishing him good luck. On the other hand, I just receive boos and words of discouragement. I ignore their negative response.

“The fight...”

Both of us began to concentrate our mana on the sword and applying it with elemental magic. I turn the gear knob and choose water against Invo's fire elemental defense. My feet are getting ready to dash forward.

“Begins!” Professor Gazzer shouts marking the start of the fight.

We both dash towards each other. He held his swords in the air and bring them down towards me. I held my shield up to block the attack. His sword clashes with my shield and a huge cloud of steam are released.

The steam surrounds the whole field. Invo uses his wind magic to blow away the steam. I dash towards him and strike his armor. Info saw me and use his wind to blow me away.

I turn the sword elements to earth and struck the ground. The sword struck on the ground and I grab it tightly. The heavy wind tries to blow me away, but thanks to the sword I manage to stay on the ground.

Invo takes this as an opportunity and uses his wind to make him fast. He dashes towards me with high speed and his sword is pointed at me. I held my shield in front of me. He notices it and changes direction by sweeping through the air to attack my vulnerable left side.

I tap my bracer and change the shield to a gun. I pointed the gun at him, and fire a water ball at me. He dodges the shot by going to the left. I take that opportunity and change my sword elements to fire. Then I slashed the sword in the air towards him.

The fire s***h fly through the air and towards him. I shot a water ball at the fire s***h that I created. The water ball and fire s***h clashes together and create a wall of steam in front of Invo blinding him. He flies through the steam and crashes to a nearby pillar.

I use that opportunity and dash towards him with my sword pointed at his body armor. Invo opens his eyes and casts a gust of wind at me. The gust of wind blows me away and knocked me down on the ground.

Invo stands up and dashes towards me. I held my sword and block the attack. A loud clang can be heard as well as the release of steam when it clashes. We clash our sword back to back and blow to blow. We clash, dodge, and block.

The crowd scream ecstatically when we clashed. Some of them are beginning to wonder that I might win this fight. Eltia does not show any interest in the fight. Her friend pokes at her.

“Why are you not enjoying the fight?” Valeri asks with a friendly tone.

“It has become a common thing for me.” She answers her with a bored expression.

“Do they constantly fight like this?”

“More or less. At the end of the day he 'win' ”

“So, you already know who will win?”

“Yeah.”

“Mind telling me?” she asks Eltia.

Eltia turns to look at her eyes and open her mouth.

“Have you ever watched a movie at the cinema and the story was so good that you want to spoil it to everyone?” Eltia asks her.

“Ermm... No, I won't spoil it because it will ruin the fun when other people watching it.” Valeri replied with a low voice.

“That's exactly how I feel my friend, so let's just enjoyed their little shenanigans and be done with this.” Eltia explains.

“Yeah, you're right.” Valeri agrees with her.

Valeri looks at us and notices that the match will end soon.

“Hey, Eltia I think the match will end after this move.” She told her with excitement in her voice.

Eltia looks at her astonishingly before looking back at the match.

“Yeah, you're right.” She smiles.

We step away from each other. Both of us are panting. Professor Gazzer looks at us before opening his mouth.

“This looks like a finale.”

I look at Invo and prepares a plan. Judging by the looks of his stance, he wants to end this with 'that' move. I think it is time to use my trump card. Invo began to concentrate his mana around his body and applying it with fire and wind combination. A bird formed behind him.

I tap on my bracer and select my secret weapons. A new set of dual guns and a pair of boots manifested on my hands and feet. Invo held his sword in the air. I pointed a gun towards him. He brings the swords down and slashes the air. The bird behind him flies towards me.

I shot at the bird using my dual gun. A water dragon and a lightning water dragon appear and combine to become Lightning Water-Dragon. Everyone was shocked to see that I can produce level 6 magic spells. The dragon travels through the air and towards the bird. The two beasts clash and a bright light shines and blinds everyone. They open their eyes and saw only Invo standing on the field.

“Wait, where is the other guy?” a student shout.

“Huh? He was just standing there moments ago.”

“That's strange?”

The students continue to ask questions but no one can seem to answers them. Invo on the other hand was confused as to where did I disappear to.

“Oi, Stop playing around, let's finish this.” He shouts at the empty space in front of him.

I deliberately did not reply to him because I want him to make his move. Eltia was surprised by that move, her friend on the other hand remains calm.

“How did he-?” she muttered.

“It was his elemental gear.” Valeri answers her.

“Huh? I don't get it?” she looks at Valeri with confusion on her face. Valeri turns to face her and began to explain.

The gun that I bring out is the latest version and the 3rd generation elemental gear that I created. The first generation can only amplify my mana and cannot apply elemental magic when using it, I created it when I was at the academy. The 2nd generation that I currently use can now apply elemental magic but only level 1, it was created 3 weeks before the contest and I got 5th because of it. Now the 3rd generation is much more powerful than the two it can now use different types of spells range from levels 1 to 6.

Eltia was completely shocked when Valeri explains.

“How did you know?” she asks her.

Valeri replied with a smile and then shifted her attention to the field.

Invo who was alone on the field and began to boil up.

“Oi, you are making me impatient here. Come out!” He yelled.

I refused to answer him and continue to wait.

He keeps shouting and shouting but I keep quiet. The moment that I have been waiting for has arrived. He gets enough of this and walks towards where I once stood. He walks closer and closer. Invo then stops a few meters from where I once stood before. He kneels to look for any tracks that I leave behind.

That is when he noticed it. I took action and appear behind him. Invo reacts by drawing his sword. We both strike at the same time. The body armor was hit by the sword and red stripes appear on the body armor. I won the match.

The whole students let go a roar of cheer and began to praise my name. Some of the students that bad-mouthing me was completely speechless. They do not believe what they have seen. That should probably give them something to learn about.

“Wow, that guy is incredible!” a student shout

“Yeah, he manages to 1v1 someone who has a larger mana quantity than him!” another student reply.

“He beats the odds” a girl student praise me.

Invo stood up and pats my shoulder.

“Congratulation, you beat me again!” He praises me by shouting.

Really Invo? right now? Can you wait until we get home?

Several thoughts come rushing through my mind on how to respond to what he said, but none of them came out.

The whole student was completely in shock when they hear what Invo said.

“Wow, No way!” a girl student shout.

”That's unbelievable!” a student surprised.

“Is he bluffing? Tell me his bluffing!” a student tries to denied the truth.

“Hey Eltia!” a student shout at her.

Careful young man, she is a princess, if you talk to her like that you will be dead. You also need to realize that her boyfriend is here.

“Is it true what your boyfriend is saying?” he asks her.

Eltia looks at him, and she let out a heavy sighed.

“Yes, it's true.” She replies.

The whole room began to lose control and start asking me questions. Professor Gazzer steps in and saves me from the onslaught of questions.

“Alright, all of you, calm your horses. He will answer your question after you tell us what you learned from their fight.” He told his students.

The students immediately began to be quiet and recall the fights. Professor Gazzer looks at us and opens his mouth.

“Pick any students from the crowd and ask them what they learned.” He told us.

I smiled.

“Don't mind if I do.” I told him.