Chapter 110: The Surprise

Shin waited in the duelling ground—the sword he got from Elior last night in his arms—not that he hoped to use it in this match. He had duelled with Elior on many occasions, and although, in most of them, Elior used an easy hand, it did not limit him to feel the strength and control Elior had over his ability.

Shin had seen him burst one's arm into nothingness—like popping a balloon. He himself had been through his demonic training, all the tension he put him through. However, back then Shin was not sure how difficult it was for Elior, but later when he learned to control waves a little, he could guess even a guardian might fail to such subtle control like his brother.

There was no chance for him to win here, however, he did not mind contesting another time to see how much strength his brother held. Shin shook his head immediately. Just a moment ago he was pondering over the reasons why he tried so hard—as all appear nothing to him. And here he was, just getting a little excited about fighting Elior again.

[Freshman Elior Viswas, please enter the duelling ground.] The announcement was made for the second time, and Shin frowned.

'What took him so long?' he wondered. Surely, the tournament held no attraction to Elior after he defeated the candidate who should have won the grand prize. Still, Elior should be here. After all, he made a promise to Shin. He promised to give Shin a big surprise, and it appeared he was just preparing that.

Time passed slowly, and Shin kept on waiting, standing with the support of his new sword. He had no complaints that Elior was so late, but Ford seemed to get bored with no action. He looked at his wristwatch and was about to blow his whistle to announce Shin as the winner when the door opened again and appeared a young man panting.

Sweat beads dripped down from Elior's face, and his back was already wet. "Sorry for the delay," Elior said, controlling his breathing evenly. Seriously, with just a self-command he appeared far more in control than Shin ever will be.

"Were you smithing again?" Shin could not help but ask, though the answer was rather easy to him.

"Sorry," Elior apologised, eyeing him. "I needed some peace of mind, and hammering works best for me."

Shin nodded. 'Why does Elior work so hard?' the question appeared in his mind again. It is surely not like Lara, whose philosophy was that life is too short, nor was it like Ileana who was curious about all things related to supernaturalism. Elior did not appear like a person who would do things like Enna—whatever seemed fit for him, but it is far more complicated. Elior appeared as someone who did many things unwillingly.

'Because I was chosen for this.' Aanya's words resounded in his head and he knitted his brows, looking at Elior. He remembered the one who said something like that was Elior as well. When he asked him about why he did what he did for, he said he was chosen and nothing else. Shin thought it was some secret related to the pixie, or someone else. 'But that doesn't make sense,' Shin thought, 'Elior never seemed like a person who will do anything if someone stronger said he's the chosen one.' There's something more.

"I am actually surprised," Elior said, staring at him, smiling. "I thought you would ask me for the surprise reward the moment I appear here.'

"Brother," Shin called as if he did not hear him. "I have a question. Why do you work so hard? Why do you ignore your self-interest many times and work like a madman?"

Elior eyes locked with his, and he frowned. Did he see the changes in his eyes? Or understood why he was asking those questions? Perhaps it was Elior after all. He had the knack of being mysterious and knows many things.

"Why do I do it?" Elior said and sighed. He looked at Shin again and answered. "I do it because there is no other option."

Shin's frown deepened, but he did not have long to ponder as both of them already took much time from Ford and the students in the audience.

"If both students are prepared, we can start the match." Ford's loud voice entered both of their ears and he saw Elior nod.

Ford whistled, announcing the beginning of the match, but none of the two moved even an inch.

Shin sighed, moving every one of those thoughts into the corner of his mind. A smile appeared on his lips immediately as he lifted his sword. "So, where is my reward?"

"For a moment, I thought you are not interested in it." Elior laughed, though he did not bring out any weapon. "Shall we play a little before we get to that?" Seeing Shin nod, he continued, "We will exchange one move and decide everything in that one move."

Shin raised an eyebrow. "I have no complaints," he said, "but I have one condition, however."

"Let's hear it then," Elior said with a rather amused voice—probably guessing what kind of condition he would want.

"I don't want you to hold back," Shin declared and saw Elior's smile widening. "I want to feel all of your raw power."

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"I thought you would ask for that, still, are you certain?"

Shin nodded, and he started to prepare his strongest moves—the move he barely learned yesterday. He closed his eyes and first condensed air into his lower body, and then started to condense waves around his sword. Smoke like waves condensed around the sword that could only be felt by someone with a good understanding of mana. It rushed around the sword, and went faster and faster, as the chilliness rose in the sword.

"Are you ready?" Elior asked, still in his laid back position.

Shin opened his eyes and shot directly at Elior, sword raised high, attempting to swing in a full arc. The air around his legs released, giving him a sudden surge of speed, the highest speed he could have gathered with his current strength. The students gasped, looking at the scene—certainly, none of the upperclassmen was this fast even for a second.

Shin arrived before Elior and before he could even control his sight his sword fell from high towards Elior's left shoulder, warping the air around, as well as the waves fluctuating.

Then he felt a restriction on the path of the sword. Did I hit him? He wondered, and finally saw the scene before his eyes. His eyes met with Elior and there was no smile or amusement there. It was empty like the darkest night. There was no emotion, affection, or friendliness. It was not mad either, nor was it serene like a lake. Still, there was a calmness in those eyes, a calmness within the nothingness.

Shin did not need to look at his sword to find what had happened. Still, he looked to see, the waves fluctuating like mad around his sword and the arm that restricted it. Elior had stopped his sword with bare arm. Shin swallowed at the sight and found all the waves he had condensed fluctuating away from the sword and it went away towards him, assaulting his body.

He felt a sharp cut on his cheek as blood rushed out from it. It was not anything serious, and the other fluctuations of the sharp blades like waves did not hit him any longer. The waves created through his own power harmed him. The sign was real. He may have created the waves—a threatening weapon, but at the hand of a more powerful enemy, it can turn against him easily.

Elior's eyes turned to normal. Well, they were the same eyes, calm and collected, but it lost the deepness in them. "Still need some practice. You don't rest the waves after you are assaulted with it. You manipulate it to hit your opponent further."

Shin repeated those words and drew back the swords, eyeing the palm where it made contact. The palm was unharmed, but he did feel some spatial crack there. "Is that your full power?" he asked, gasping.

"Yes," Elior said and paused for a second. "Though I can raise it to some degree and it will hurt me in the process."

"I see," Shin said, swallowing. He released a deep breath and felt a little freedom. "So, where are my rewards?"

"It is in its place, but before that," Elior said and looked at Ford.

The referee was hesitant to conclude the match, even knowing the two students promised to finish in one move. He was about to ask for their confirmation when he heard one of them say,

"I concede."

"What?" Shin and Ford asked in unison.

"Shin will go to the next round," Elior said again. "I concede."

"Brother, what are you saying?" Elior only shook his head at Shin's inquiry.

Ford frowned, but blew the whistle to announce the winner as Shin Olwyn.

"As for your reward?" Elior said as the amusing smile returned to his lips. He held out his arm and clapped his finger together to make a loud noise in the air.

Then a firework burst into the air, and Shin heard cheers of his name. "Shin . . . Shin ., . . Shin  . . ."

It all came from a certain stand on the stadium, quite close to the duelling grounds. There danced over a couple of dozen cheerleaders dancing yelling his name. They were not just freshmen, but many upperclassmen were there too. They even seemed to have been singing some song in the chorus about him.

Shin felt a little weird inside, but a huge grin appeared on his lips.

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