Normally, Greyson would describe himself as a calm and rather patient person, but with the sudden bomb dropped on him by Eden and the pestering of Claire, he felt that his nerves were on end. Just when he felt like he needed an outlet, an arrogant idiot walks up and aggravates him. If this was not a sign, then what was? Cracking his knuckles, Greyson smiled widely as he made his way to the entrance of the inn. It was there that he came face to face with the unfortunate punching bag. Unaware of his situation, Anshelm"s face lit up in excitement once he saw Greyson appear. Gesturing his hand towards his servant, he quickly received a piece of paper in return."Well it looks like you at least have some guts, seeing that you did not run away and came to face me. Here!" After his words, he threw down the piece of paper in front of Greyson. "This is my letter of challenge. Everything was done according to the rules, just sign it. I"m just giving you fair warning, but, once you sign, you are claiming that you will not seek revenge for any damage done to you during the duel. No one around you can interfere either!"
"Oh? Does that mean you are agreeing to the same thing?" Greyson could not help but chuckle.
"Huh? Well of course it does." Slightly puzzled by the question and accompanying laughter, Anshelm still answered anyways. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt that something was not right about the situation.
"Then of course I agree!" As if he were afraid that Anshelm would go back on his word, Greyson quickly picked up the paper and signed his name using mana. Once he finished signing, the letter lit up before two lights flashed onto the back of both the boys" hands. Surprised by this sudden change, Greyson quickly looked down to see a blade tattoo on the back of his hand.
"Hmph, obviously, a country b.u.mpkin. Let this young master enlighten you. This is a magic contract, therefore, whoever breaches the contract will have this blade on the back of their hand stab your heart and kill you. Bahahaha, regretting yet? Well, it"s too late for regrets, let"s quickly go to the battle ground!" Ecstatic after seeing the contract completed, Anshelm started skipping over to the battle stage.
After he turned around, Greyson finally released a knowing smile towards Lucius who was evilly smirking back. The fish took the bait! He was even walking himself up to the chopping block. In no rush, Greyson took the time to glance at the blade tattoo on the back of his hand once more. He had heard of magic contracts before, but this was his first time seeing it in real-life. Magic beast contracts like the one he had with Lucius were similar, yet different from this one. Magic beasts" contracts are completed with one"s blood and an ancient vow, however, these magic contracts are usually like charms or curses. They fall under the non-element magic category. A magician signs the contract with their mana which activates the contract. Everyone included in the contract is then marked according to the matching punishment. Unless an extremely powerful magician creates the magic contract, they normally have a time limit before the mana fades and the punishment is no longer a threat. The weaker the magician, the faster it fades. This is where it differs most from magic beast contracts which are for life whether the magician and magic beast are weak or strong. Take this contract for example, Greyson could tell that Anshelm was the one who created it so the dagger would probably fade after ten years or so. Ten years seems like a lot, but in the long span of a high-level magician"s life, ten years is barely anything. Lucius was already 28 years old, but he was still considered a baby looking at his life span.
a.n.a.lyzing the mana marking, Greyson tried to see if there was any way to break it. Usually weaker contracts did have a lot of loopholes and a powerful enough magician could forcefully break the contract as well sometimes. However, he was not at that point yet, so he could only fulfill the challenge. Shrugging, he stopped thinking about it. It was not him that would need revenge anyways.
The battle stage was rather grand and was located in the middle of the city. It was an open stage with seating surrounding it like a grand stadium. Word of the battle had already spread out throughout the city. As the large battle stage suggested, the citizens of this city loved to watch these challenges as a fun pastime. Greyson slowly made his way into the stadium, but paused in shock once he saw the crowd of people already cheering and shouting. He knew beforehand that people would be attending, however, it seems the City Lord"s son had more pull than he previously believed. Audience members filled almost every seat leaving only the most undesirable seats open. Seeing Greyson"s momentary surprise, Anshelm smugly grinned thinking instead that Greyson"s surprise was panic. Panic that he would embarra.s.s himself in front of so many people. Eventually, Greyson turned and faced Anshelm only to see that smug look. Reading off the expression, Greyson had a fair idea of what was going on in his head to which he could only shake his head. Thankfully, idiocy was not contagious otherwise he would seriously have to reconsider being this close. Only pity filled his eyes once he met Anshelm"s gaze. Greyson obviously would not realize the pity he leaked out, however, Anshelm was infuriated by the look.
"Hurry and come up! Slowly walking will not make my beating any less hard. It"s too late even if you are scared." He shouted arrogantly. Greyson just rolled his eyes not even bothering to answer. Quickly jumping onto the stage, without any backtalk, he just signaled for Anshelm to come at him. This was obviously going to be over in a matter of seconds. An advanced level stage two magician wants to verse up against him? Bristling in anger, Anshelm, oblivious to the danger, burst into action. A flaming sword revealed itself to the crowd as it came swinging down in front of Greyson. With a bored expression on his face, Greyson willed two rock hands to come up and grab onto Anshelm"s ankles. The two hands swung the poor boy down into the stage hard enough to cause the ground to cave in. Although surprised, Anshelm had managed to protect himself and cus.h.i.+on the impact with his flame armor. Groaning, he got himself up again. Concentrating more this time, he got into a proper ready stance as a fire armor formed around his body and flames covered his sword. Seeing his opponent get serious, Greyson decided to play for a little longer and test out his sword skills. After leaving the Dalia Kingdom, Greyson mostly practiced combination spells and archery with his Elder Sweetbow. Vivienne"s swordplay definitely was not as fresh in his memory anymore.
Facing Anshelm properly, Greyson brought out Genesis. Smirking, he matched his opponent spell for spell and also summoned a fire armor while flames formed around his blade. Anshelm was startled that his opponent was a multi-element magician, but he grit his teeth in anger seeing Greyson copy him. He felt that his opponent was mocking him by trying to beat him with the same spells. Attacking first, he struck down towards Greyson. Easily parrying, Greyson quickly stabbed forward with his own move. This back and forth fighting continued for a while as the audience watched in fascination over the high-level swordplay on display in front of them. Even Greyson was pleasantly surprised by the arrogant idiot"s ability with the sword. Each time one of the boys got a shallow cut in, the wound would also burn the skin. Anshelm looked obviously weakened from the multiple wounds and felt frustrated watching all of Greyson"s wounds heal right away. At first, he did not realize, but after feeling that his opponent"s strength was not diminis.h.i.+ng, he started looking at the openings in Greyson"s clothes where cuts and burns should be only to see the perfectly healed skin. The light element, too?! Biting his lip, Anshelm finally realized that his opponent was not in his league. Only, backing out now was not possible in front of all these people after all the trash talk he kept spewing earlier on. Mentally smacking himself, he wondered why he could not just keep his mouth shut.
With his determination weakening, Anshelm"s strikes were also severely dropping in strength and speed. Tired of this half-hearted fighting, Greyson made one last strong parry that knocked Anshelm"s sword away before closing in and slamming his palm into his opponent"s chest. Sparks of lightning flashed as the electrocuted Anshelm fell to the ground while seizing. Letting out a sigh of relief, Greyson felt all the troubles weighing down on him float away. All his excess anger and frustration burned away during the fight. Putting Genesis away, Greyson dusted off his clothes and wiped his sweat before leisurely walking off the stage.
"Someone find a healer for him." He offhandedly spoke out to no one in particular. Nearing the exit, Greyson heard a weak shout from behind him before he could leave.
"Wait..."
Turning around, Greyson could see Anshelm struggling to sit up as someone was healing him.
"You were just misleading me this entire time in order to make me look like a fool, weren"t you?! Hmph! Well, you wait until my father hears of this. He won"t forgive you for embarra.s.sing me like this!" Half coughing during his shouts, Anshelm angrily glared at Greyson. Greyson could only roll his eyes at this idiot"s thick skin. Who was the one chasing him and challenging him in the first place? However, before he could retort, another cold voice echoed out.
"He does not have to wait; your father already knows." Anshelm"s face visibly brightened hearing the voice, while Greyson could not help but feel wary. A new man walked out onto the stage. With long blonde hair pulled back and serious blue eyes, the middle-aged man exuded strength and charisma. Without an introduction, Greyson knew right away who the man was from the noticeable similarity in the man"s features to Anshelm. He was Anshelm"s father, the City Lord of Acernis.
"Father! You must avenge me. This commoner played me for a fool and embarra.s.sed our family in public. How will I walk around the city later?" Anshelm quickly began shouting his complaints, failing to realize the cold expression on his father"s face.
The City Lord"s piercing blue eyes flicked towards his son before a loud slap rang out. Anshelm held his face in disbelief.
"Well, call me blind, but I cannot help but see that the one who has embarra.s.sed the family is none other than you. Your opponent cannot be blamed for your own weakness and inability. He is obviously many years younger, but look at yourself, beaten to this point. You have brought shame to my good name. How can I confidently lead this city with such an embarra.s.sment for a son?" His cold voice rang out with no sympathy towards his son. Wincing with each word, Anshelm blushed in embarra.s.sment while hanging his head low to avoid the audience"s ridicule.
Greyson was still standing there, rather astonished by the unbiased att.i.tude of the City Lord. His senses returned after feeling those sharp blue eyes finally turn in his direction. He could see the hidden anger in those eyes that the City Lord was holding back and finally understood. It was not that the City Lord did not care his son was beat so badly, he was just not able to lash out do to his position and pride. Thus, nothing happened. There was just a long silence during the silent stare down before the City Lord sighed and waved his hand.
"Leave. I will not sink so low as to attack a young child. It is my son who is weak." Although his words were merciful, Greyson could see his slightly clenched fist that showed restraint. Without another word, Greyson quickly turned around and left to go back to the inn.
...
The inn quickly came into view. Greyson wanted to quickly return and rest, but looking at the entrance, he saw a familiar figure impatiently waiting. Grimacing, Greyson halted his steps as he did not feel ready yet to face her. All the complicated feelings he had just forgot during the fight came rus.h.i.+ng back. Even if she was telling the truth and he believed her, suddenly having a sister after 13 years of being an orphan was not an easy transition. He could tell she wished to be closer with him, but he was not ready to accept anyone so easily. How should he act towards her?