Chương 37: Throw Down
Serafall sat down next to Sirzechs in the VIP viewers box. "So, the fated duel between the two tragic rivals is finally upon us," she said to him solemnly. "Only one of them can emerge as the victor, however, and prove to the world he has what it takes to be a champion!" She added passionately.
Sirzechs, meanwhile, was incredibly confused as to what she was saying before he turned to see her grinning face. She was just messing with him... "Can a day go by where you don't quote from some magical girl anime I've never heard before?" He sighed.
Serafall mock gasped. "Of course not! That's my whole identity, after all." She smiled proudly.
"Will Jake Gremory and Riser Phenix please leave their waiting rooms and proceed to the center of the arena to commence their duel," Grayfia's voice washed over the entire arena as spectating devils started to cheer at seeing the underworld's hottest maid in the flesh.
The stadium wasn't that large, considering this was just a one-on-one duel between two high-class devils. Even still, it was packed full to the brim with probably a few thousand spectators.
"I'm honestly surprised there are so many people here," Sirzechs commented. He didn't think the turnout would be quite so large for a duel between a half-devil and a member of the now detested Phenix clan. They were detested by most devils openly now since they were not the only source of miracle healing anymore. Devils all over the underworld had to kiss the Phenix clan's asses and pay exorbitant prices for their tears for over 1000 years. Now that was no longer the case, and many devils were openly voicing disdain for the Phenix clan due to its past actions.
"Oh, you've been buried in 'paperwork hell' for the past few days, sorry about that by the way, so you probably have missed out that my date with Jake may have been leaked out to the general public. Needless to say, the single male devils of the underworld are not happy that the amazing Levia-tan went on a date," Serafall said with a giggle, as she heard the crowd booing both fighters at the same time as they emerged.
Sirzechs listened in on the spectators with a laugh. It was rare that there was a duel or rating game where neither side had anyone cheering for them.
...
Jake was sitting in the waiting room with Luna. Waiting for the duel to start.
"So, Luna," Jake asked her, "have you foreseen my victory yet?"
"I'm sorry, Jake, but no, I haven't, and no, and that's not because I've seen you losing," she responded to his question. "It's that every time I've used my ability to see into your future, the next times become more difficult. It is now almost impossible to see your future because of how much I used it all those years ago on you during our time at Hogwarts. My future sight, unfortunately, just doesn't work on you anymore, Jake," Luna explained to him.
"I wish I'd known that beforehand. This whole time he had figured Luna had first seen him easily triumphing over Riser, and that's why he figured she didn't bother saying anything to him. Jake supposed, in the end, it didn't matter anyway because this was another fight that he absolutely couldn't afford to lose. Otherwise, there would be a terrible future in store for his sister.
"Will Jake Gremory and Riser Phenix please leave their waiting rooms and proceed to the center of the Arena to commence their duel," Jake heard the voice of Grayfia broadcast over the intercoms.
"Well, this is it, Luna. Wish me luck," Jake said as he gave her a wave and headed for the door.
"Good luck, Jake," she said enthusiastically. "I'm sorry I couldn't see anything, but I know you'll be fine. Just remember that this guy can take a real beating before he gives up. Your best shot is to either knock him unconscious or put him in so much pain that he surrenders."
Jake gave her an acknowledging wave, to show that he had heard what she said, as he headed towards the arena.
He stepped out into the arena to the roaring cheers of his fans… Well, he thought he would be, but they were apparently not happy with him!
"You suck, Jake Gremory! How dare you steal Levia-tan, you $@$@#%!"
"Riser, you piece of shit, beat the hell out of this asshole, then go kill yourself too!"
"Levia-tan, why would you pick him over me!?"
Jake just raised his arm into the air before flipping the whole crowd the finger. It's not like the salty crowd could hate him more, or so he thought. He snickered as he was proven wrong when they started booing him even louder!
A few seconds later, his opponent Riser also emerged from an opening on the opposite side of the arena. He had a large smile on his face, already basking in his imminent victory in his head.
"YOU SUCK, YOU INBRED CHICKEN!"
The smirk on Riser's face immediately vanished as Jake laughed again. It seemed the two of them were equally hated. Grayfia was waiting in the center of the arena, and Jake started walking towards her.
Together, Riser and Jake stood glaring at each other a few feet apart, waiting for Grayfia to announce the duel's start.
"I am Grayfia Lucifuge, and I shall be the impartial referee for this duel. The stakes are as follows: if Riser Phenix emerges victorious, then his engagement with Rias of House Gremory will be reinstated. If Jake Gremory emerges victorious, then the engagement will be called off permanently, and there will never be any repeals allowed. Are you two in agreement?" She turned to both of them and asked.
"Yes," Riser agreed.
"Yes." Jake nodded.
"Very well then," Grayfia said. "Will you two please return to your respective sides of the arena, and we will start right away."
Riser sent Jake a smirk, "Today, Riser shall stand on top and claim what is his!"
Jake just scoffed at him. "Whatever, dude…" He turned and headed back to the edge of the arena.
Riser and Jake were now separated by around 100 yards. The arena terrain was completely flat dirt with no bumps or cover of any kind. This was an arena meant for a straightforward magical slugfest.
The spell circles above Jake's hands flared to life, and across the arena, Riser's did the same.
"Let the duel begin," Grayfia declared to the crowd's cheers.
"Icy Avalanche!"
"Phoenix Blaze!"
Jake released a massive glacier of ice right at Riser, and he answered in kind with a titanic wave of fire! The two massive spells collided in the center of the arena in an explosion! Fire and ice canceled each other out, and all that was left was a 10-meter-wide crater where they met.
"Not bad, half-breed," Riser smirked at Jake. "I didn't expect us to be equal in power, but how is your technique?" He laughed as flaming wings emerged from his back, and he took to the sky. Taunting Jake to follow him with a rude gesture… Jake had to admit to himself that those flaming wings were pretty badass…
Jake deployed his own standard devil wings and took to the sky as well. He pushed more magic into them to fly faster as he quickly gained aerial superiority over Riser. From on high, he formed 20 ice spears around him and launched them all towards Riser!
Riser responded with his own magic. "Burning meteors!" Instead of one large blast, Riser rapidly fired over a dozen smaller fireballs that each slammed into one of Jake's ice spears, destroying each other once again.
Figuring that long-range was just going to constantly result in a stalemate due to their opposing elements, and that it would be a bad idea to show the power of destruction in front of so many witnesses, Jake dove down toward Riser.
"So you wish to engage in close range," Riser exclaimed. "Then come! Burning meteors!" Riser once again unleashed his barrage of fireballs, but this time they were heading toward Jake!
The first few of them reached Jake's location in the air as he continued his charge at Riser. Jake narrowly avoided being barbequed as he barrel-rolled out of the way. To his surprise, the second volley of fire coming towards Jake slightly changed course to intercept his new trajectory! The fireballs had slight tracking magic imbued in them! He threw up an ice shield which exploded as the fireballs made contact. Jake cursed as his own shards of ice were blasted back at him, causing scratches and drawing first blood.
Riser smirked seeing Jake's shield fail. Jake quickly knew he needed a different strategy.
Jake formed an ice blade in each hand as he continued plummeting downward toward Riser. Every time a fireball came close, he slashed through it and he kept moving before it could explode on him! Finally, he burst through the last of Riser's fireballs. Riser looked shocked when Jake appeared overhead, right on top of him!
"Suck on this, dickhead!" Jake shouted as he slammed both his swords through Riser's torso and let his momentum carry them both downward until he slammed Riser into the ground!
Riser coughed out some blood but smirked through the pain. "Not bad Gremory." He taunted with two swords in his chest.
Jake had known about the Phoenix's supposed immortality ability, but he was still shocked when, instead of screaming in agony, Riser just smirked up at him. Jake was forced to jump back as he sensed a buildup of magic from Riser, and Riser literally exploded himself in a giant fireball! When the dust cleared he was standing and casually brushing some dust off himself despite his gaping wounds from self destructing.
"Hahaha. You see, you fool. Even your best effort cannot put down Riser!" Riser exclaimed with a mad smirk as he emerged from his own crater. His destroyed body parts were literally healing for all to see at a visible rate. Jake saw some of Riser's rib cages there; that was pretty gross.
"Fine then, if heavy wounds are pointless, then I figure I might as well go for maximum pain. I'd never used the spell myself before, but I'd had it used on me, and it hurt like nothing else in the whole world." Jake muttered to himself. "I apologize in advance for this, Riser. Even an asshole like you doesn't deserve this spell." Jake said as he raised his hand and shouted, "CRUCIO!"
"..."
Nothing happened…
"Hahahaha!" Riser laughed at the spell's failure. "Riser has no idea what that was supposed to be, but clearly, you failed… Riser won't do the same." His entire body turned to pure fire as he charged right at Jake.
A burning fist swung by Jake's face as he ducked out of the way. He could feel the heat radiating off of it, and it was dangerous! Riser went in for a few more punches that Jake was dodging by a hair's breadth each. His clothes, though, had singe marks all over them. Jake was also starting to sweat from just being near the intense flames.
Jake wiped the sweat from his brow. "Frozen Hell!" Jake called out with a large burst of his magic. Riser's flames were temporarily extinguished as he became a momentary sculpture. Jake smirked at the look of shock literally frozen on Riser's face. "You look good as a popsicle Riser. Don't know if anyone would want a chicken flavored popsicle though." Jake laughed.
"RAAAAHHH!" With a burst of flames the ice around Riser exploded as he reignited himself and charged Jake angrily. In his anger he was just swinging wildly at that point.
Jake just smirked. He was just getting started after all.
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