บท 48: Mutant Human (Part 2)

It was a normal but rare thing for a human with high physical prowess to stop most elemental attacks with a punch, but they would survive it with at least, a few injuries. But in this case, Bray stopped a lightning attack sent by Rhea with his bare fist and not only came out unscathed but still had enough energy to take on a large amount of the same lightning strike.

What's more was that, despite the tough battle he had fought with Rhea, that most high-level advanced magi would receive at least some minor wounds, he walked out of it without a scratch and with a few patches of clothing on his upper body, which was and is absolutely impossible for any magus

"Well, he said 'the codes or the girl'" Bray walked towards Rhea's unconscious body that Orpheus had laid on the floor and attempted to grab her, not caring that Orpheus was there

"Step away from her" Orpheus pointed Seirá at Bray's neck

"Whoa!" Bray jumped backwards while staring at the blades in Orpheus' hands with caution 'These blades. I can sense a large amount of threat from them. Does this mean… they can injure me?'

Meanwhile, Orpheus had already picked Rhea and turned around to leave the area

"You're leaving your friend behind?" Bray asked him with raised brows

"As long as I know she's still alive, there's always another time and another day" he opened a space portal to leave

"What if I told you I could kill her with the snap of my fingers?" Bray raised his hands and performed a snapping gesture

"You wouldn't dare" Orpheus unconsciously released his bloodlust and directed it at Bray

[Why is he getting so worked up?! He just met them for fate's sake] Aster yelled

[That's his weakness] Aella said

[What do you mean his weakness?] Andrian asked her

[Throughout his life, he has not made any friends and the only people that were close to him was his family, until I came along. And then, his family was taken away from him. The only reason he hasn't become a psychopath that only cares about himself is because of you guys] Costas explained

[Yeah. I don't even think he feels the pain of losing his parents that much these days] Andrian nodded

[How does this explain anything?] Aster asked in confusion

[Dumbass. Since he hasn't had any friends his whole life, why wouldn't he cherish the ones he just got?] Andrian said

[I wonder what will happen when he falls in love. Hopefully, it doesn't hold him down] Aella sighed

"What a nice killing intent. I wonder how many people you've killed" Bray licked his lips, revealing his wild personality

[If only he knew that Orpheus hasn't killed any human yet and got his intent purely from killing beasts] Costas chuckled

"Goodbye" Orpheus turned around and walked into the portal but still found himself where he had stood before

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave with the girl" Bray face had a smile that soon twisted into a frown "Wait a second. I just apologized. Right?"

"How-" Orpheus stared around in shock

[Shit! He's got a space domain!]

"Oh, welcome to my space domain. It takes control of every spatial element within it" Bray raised his hands as if telling the sky to praise him

"Oh. That explains a lot" Orpheus dropped Rhea a fair distance away from them and took out Cosmos from his shadow

[Is it just me… or is Orpheus calmer than normal?] Aster said

[The trial has done more changes than 'he' expected] Costas murmured

[Who?] Aella asked

[Oh! I meant to say we not 'he']

[Okay]

While the others were conversing in his head, unknown to him, Orpheus had already coated his now transformed swords with lightning

"Are the lightning and space elemental orbs cheap these days? First, it was the little girl and now, it's him" Bray muttered while staring at gold lightning covering Orpheus' blades

The lightning, space and gravity elements were considered the strongest and most destructive elements, leaving aside blood manipulation. It was because of the high potential of these elements that their ability orbs were sold at a very high price. Because of this, it was rare to see a magi from an ordinary background wielding these elements. Even the fortunate magi that had managed to awaken any of these three elements had their status raised to a significant height

"Well, whatever the case, I can't let those blades touch me. No matter what" Bray took his stance with his hands positioned in front of him and had a large smile plastered on his face "Bring it on, boy. Let's do this. A fight… to the death!"

Just after Bray finished speaking, Orpheus released his fire domain to only 15 yards in order to save energy and disappeared from his position with a flash of lightning

"Hmmm? Dual casting of both fire and lightning. That's nice but…" the smile on his face grew wider that his eyes became dimmer and had his mouth open while staring in a particular direction "You're too slow!!"

He glided to the right and threw out a punch with his left arm to the air. Just after he punched, a figure coughed up blood and flew backwards at a very high speed while crashing into trees before coming to a stop

[That's it. We're coming out] Aella said

"Don't" Orpheus grunted while struggling to stand up to his feet while coughing out blood "I feel like… I will… get a lot out of this *cough*"

[At the cost of your life?!] Aella yelled

[Let him be. You'll only damage his pride if you come out] Costas sighed

"He didn't say anything about you, so I guess… I can kill you!" Bray shouted and ran towards Orpheus who was still trying to stabilize himself

"Shit!" Orpheus tried to focus with his blurry vision and saw a figure running towards him with his hands set to throw out a punch

*Boom*

Another little explosion occurred as Orpheus was sent flying once more into another set of trees, reducing the work for the lumbermen.

[Orpheus…] Aella called out in a squeaky voice

[Are we coming out?] Aster asked her

[Orpheus? Orpheus?! Don't tell me… he's unconscious?] she began to panic

*Cough*

Orpheus sprang to his feet while coughing blood "I need to run… but he's… hell bent… on killing… me *Cough*"

"You still up? I had wished you'd stayed down" Bray returned but this time, with Rhea slung over his shoulders

"Drop her!" Orpheus' face scrunched in anger

[I think you need to calm down or you'll enter the third stage]

"Who?" Bray feigned confusion

[Well, shit. I can't stop'im. Y'all should prepare to hold him down!] Costas gave a warning to the others

"DROP HER!!" Orpheus yelled once more and release an energy burst from his body

"Eh-" Bray's raised his eyebrows in astonishment "Berserk?"

After releasing the energy burst, the temperature around Orpheus rose to the point that even the earth was steaming red because of the heat. Lightning burst out from his body and began to crackle around him while the air around him grew restless, making it look like a mini-storm had formed around Orpheus

"3rd stage with the fire, lightning and wind element. Not bad. Wait… what?" Bray had become so startled that he took two steps back "Why is…"

While Bray had been speaking to himself, the blades in Orpheus' hands had transformed into two black katanas with a little tinge of red on the hilt and blades

The space around the blades of the katana began to warp and bend around it while the gravity that was acting on Orpheus' body reduced drastically to the point that he was almost levitating

"Gravity and space?!" Bray furrowed his brows after seeming to regain his footing and his expression was rather grave

[The space energy he's emitting from his blades is so strong that the space around it is being disturbed to the point that I feel like he might cut through space]

"Hmmm. Imma just leave her in here for a while" Rhea disappeared from his hands due to Bray using the skill called 'Space lock'. It was skill that locked targets into somewhere in space like an inventory in games but required contact to be activated

Just after he had put away Rhea, Orpheus swung his katana towards him. The speed of Orpheus' swing was so fast that his hands became a blur

"Not good" Bray's eyes widened and jumped to the side to dodge the strike. Immediately the attack was evaded, Orpheus jumped backwards in retreat

[Wait a second. What the…] Costas gasped

[What is it? Are we going out now? Is he dying?] Aella began to ask one question after another in a rapid manner

[None of the sort. It's just that… he's still conscious?] Costas said in disbelief

[Wait. When you say 'conscious', do you mean…] Tana gasped

[How?] Andrian asked

[I don't know either] Costas said

'Uh, I'm trying to think. We'll talk about this later' Orpheus said inwardly to the five of them

While Orpheus was trying to calm down the five people in his mind, Bray's body became a blur as he appeared behind Orpheus and threw out a punch of his own

"What…" It was Orpheus' turn to be shocked and he used one of the blades to parry the punch

'It's those blades again' Bray clicked his tongue in frustration and immediately withdrew his hands before jumping backwards to create a distance between him and Orpheus

'Something is making him retreat. What is it?' Orpheus squinted his eyes

[Your blades] Aella spoke up [Fore some reason, he's afraid of Cosmos. I don't know why though]

'Thanks a million' Orpheus disappeared with a flash of lightning and appeared behind Bray, swinging his katanas at full force

"Shit!" Bray teleported through space and appeared some distance away from Orpheus but didn't see him anywhere "Where is he?"

"Over here, m.f!" he suddenly heard a voice behind him and instinctively used his hands to block his face

*Clang*

A loud sound of two hard metals clashing reverberated through the forest along with a circular sword wave

"What… is… that?" Orpheus stared at Bray's forearm in shock

"Well, shit. I didn't want to use this" Bray clicked his tongue while staring at the dragon scales on his forearm "Nice to meet you. I'm the first dragon-human mutant in this academy"

"Dragon-human?"

[Not good!] Costas yelled