Capítulo 41: The Late Bloomer that defeated the Battle Demon

"Let's begin the duel then" Rhea disappeared from her position and appeared in the air, swinging her katana at Orpheus who in turn, raised Cosmos to block the attack

*Clang*

*Boom*

A figure fell from the sky and crashed to the ground, making a huge but shallow crater. Meanwhile, Rhea appeared on the ground, a few distance away from the crater in her armor, instantly giving away the person that had been defeated.

"This match is over. Hahaha! Trying to challenge the battle demon?!" someone who was part of Rhea's fan group laughed loudly

"He tried his best. I, myself am surprised that he was able to hold on for so long after Rhea donned her lightning armor. People who have tried to fight her in that form were defeated within a minute"

"Whatever. Mr. Antonius should go ahead and announce the victory"

Everyone began to pester Mr. Antonius to end the duel since they thought it was already over but the man in question kept on staring at the crater without moving an inch. A few seconds later, a grunt was heard from the center of the crater, instantly shutting everyone up

"Damn. What is that blade made of?" Orpheus gut up from the ground while holding his injured arm

"Ho-how did h-he sur-survive th-that?!" Rhea burst out in shock, asking the question that everyone wanted to ask but did not seem to summon enough courage to

"Thank fate. For a moment, I thought he had died" Sara patted her chest with a sigh

"Love is a beautiful thing" Thalia said to no one in particular

"I don't… argh, just forget it" Sara grunted

"Hehehe"

***

"Oh this? It was made from the scales of a 3-star dragon" Rhea answered Orpheus' former question while caressing the sides of the blade with a complicated expression on her face

Shaking her head to clear her head, she finally stared at Orpheus with a calm expression on her face "Now, be calm and come to me"

Rhea stretched her free hand towards Orpheus while closing her eyes, as if concentrating

"What's she doing?" someone from the audience asked

"Forget about that sh*t. did you hear what she said? Her katana was made from the scales of a dragon!"

"A 3-star dragoon, you mean"

"Whatever. A dragon is a dragon. Man, I wish I had that blade"

In the meantime, Orpheus was staring at Rhea with a confused expression on his face before feeling a slight movement in his arms. All of a sudden, the two swords in his hands jerked and began to fly towards Rhea, carrying Orpheus with them

"What's going on?!" Orpheus yelled subconsciously

[Let go of your blades!]

~Why would I let go of'em?! ~

[It's magnetism, you fool! She's literally a living magnet right now!]

"Shit!" Orpheus saw the katana swinging towards his neck and closed his eyes ~I'm going to die ~

Feeling no pain or whatsoever, Orpheus opened his eyes and saw everyone gawking at him, including Rhea.

"How are you doing that?" she gazed at the area above Orpheus' head in shock

"Doing what?" he followed her line of sight and jumped in fright "What the-!"

Large phoenix wings, made of fire had appeared on Orpheus' back, deflecting Rhea's overhead strike

"It's those wings again" Sara said excitedly

"What wings?" Thalia asked in confusion

"I don't know. But he used'em in the duel against Marios" Sara said "but this one's a little bit bigger and… more vivid"

"Interesting" Kers muttered

Meanwhile, the instructors were too shocked at the sight of the beautiful but menacing pair of wings on Orpheus' back that they forgot to keep the barrier up

"When did he reach the elemental beast transformation stage?" Mr. Antonius muttered in shock before his eyes darted to the depleting barrier "Shit! The barrier!"

"Rhea! Stop holding back! Go all out!" Raya yelled from her seat

~What? She still has more up her sleeve? ~ Orpheus' eyes widened in shock

"All out, huh" Rhea smirked and her energy immediately spiked

The lightning from Rhea's lightning armor began to flash more fiercely that it hit the ground within a 10-meter radius, creating tiny craters around her

"So, she's been toying with me all this while" Orpheus muttered with a sad smile on his face that quickly changed into one of fear

The entire area, 25-meter around Rhea, with her at the center, scattered from an increase in gravitational pressure. The increase in pressure had caused a crater to form around Rhea while the debris that had been sent flying the sudden increase in pressure stopped in mid air and began to circle around her.

{A/N

Sizes of domains are measured in diameters (in this particular story. I don't know about others) which is why 25-meter is there; being the radius of the domain}

"Triple casting?!" Mr. Antonius yelled in shock "No, it's… quadruple casting?!"

"She's really not going to spare me. Using wind, lightning, gravity and telekinesis, all at the same time" Orpheus said after noticing his opponent flying due to the manipulation of wind in the atmosphere "I guess I'll stop holding back a little"

The temperature around Orpheus increased drastically and the wings on his back enlarged and began to burn brighter

"A 30-yard domain? I thought it was general knowledge that domains could only be possessed by advanced magi. Talk more of one of that size" Mr. Antonius stared at Orpheus in confusion "It looks like this duel is tougher than I thought it would be"

"Hahaha. This is getting more interesting" Rhea's smirk transformed into a large smile "Let's start the third round, shall we?"

She vanished from her position, appearing some distance behind Orpheus.

"She's gotten fast- argh!" he grunted in pain and stared at his le in shock. There was a deep cut that ran along his thigh which was bleeding profusely

"The next one would go to the head" Rhea said "Concede or meet your death right now. I'll give you thirty seconds to consider"

"*Sigh* I guess I have no other choice" Orpheus shook his head

"He's going to concede?" Sara gasped in shock

"From what I see, he's got no other choice" Thalia said "Even after he released his domain, he still got injured which gives him no other option"

"He's not going to concede" a deep voice spoke

"Huh? Emilios? What do you mean?" Sara turned to look at the burly student sitting behind her

"Look at his eyes. He still has some fight in him" Emilios said "I can see the fire in his eyes burn brighter, as if he's itching to do something"

"Wha- That's not possible" Thalia gasped in shock "Why am I sensing another different elemental energy with an exactly opposite attribute as his innate element"

[What are you doing?]

~I remember you saying 'until I have at least nine elements.' Well, I've got ten now, and I really need to win this duel so, don't stop me ~

{For reference :- Chapter 24 ~ Blood-Soul Contract ]

[But… Fine. Do what you think is best. It's not my fate anyway]

"It's a pity. I had thoguth you would be an interesting opponent" Rhea shook her head in displeasure

"I never said I had no other choice but to concede. I meant" Orpheus placed his hand above his wounds "I have no other choice than to not hold back"

"Wha-" Rhea gasped in utter shock on seeing his wounds heal at a speed visible to the naked eyes

"That's…that's the Light element!" Mr. Antonius yelled in shock after seeing the faint yellow glow on Orpheus' hand "He has contrastive elements?! That has never been heard of in 500 hundred years"

Hearing Mr. Antonius' yell, everyone began to murmur indistinctively.

"Light element? I thought the late bloomer had awakened the Dark element"

"Mr. Antonius said contrastive elements. What does that mean?"

"I know! I think I read it in the library once. It was written there that contrastive elements are elements of the opposite attributes that can never work I sync as they would cancel out each other immediately"

"Why is Orpheus' own so surprising then?"

"No human has ever accommodated any contrastive elements for the past 500 hundred years. If a human has to do it? He/she has to make his/her body strong enough to withstand the backlash and only gods have the ability to do that. But no human has…"

"Ever ascended into godhood because of this same reason. Now I get it"

"He's really going to be in a good trouble after this duel" Andrian shook his head

"Now that's done…" Orpheus called back Cosmos and transformed it into two familiar scythes "Let's begin the fourth round"

"The light element doesn't change anything!" Rhea swung her katana fiercely at Orpheus, sending a lightning wave at him

"Ya think?" Orpheus waved his hand and the lightning wave instantly disappeared into thin air

"Space?!" Rhea yelled in shock when the lightning she had sent at Orpheus appeared behind her

She immediately sent out another lightning wave towards the first. The two waves collided into each other with a large impact before cancelling each other out

Orpheus did not give anyone time to register what had just happened before disappearing with a flash of lighting

"What the- Shit!" Rhea cursed and raised her katana up

*Clang*Boom*

Rhea was instantly sent flying, cancelling out both her lightning armor and gravity domain

"Ha! I taught him well" Aster said with a smug smile on his face

"This guy. He's taking advantage the instability of the enemy's emotions because of the sudden revelation of elements" Andrian said with a smile on his face

Orpheus again, giving no time for Rhea to react, swung his two scythes at Rhea, sending a large lightning arc at her

"Enough!" Rhea coated her fist with lightning and punched the earth, breaking a large chunk of it that collided with the lightning arc and immediately cancelled it out. She then sent stones flying at Orpheus telekinetically at a very high speed

On seeing the stones approaching, Orpheus smirked and waved his hands for the second time, but this time, with a different effect from the first one. Before the stones could reach him, they all fell to the ground as if a heavy pressure was acting on them

"Gravity. That was gravity" Rhea's eyes widened "Who are you?"

"Hmm… Who am I?" Orpheus rubbed his jaw "Just think of me as 'The Late Bloomer that defeated a Battle Demon'"