I walked towards the center. The basketball court in the middle of the gym was redone to a lightsaber court. I guess these things could be altered all the time.

I had all sorts of attention. Maybe saying those weird stuff wasn’t that nice considering I was the one who was late. But then again I couldn’t really stop myself anyway.

And boy was there was a lot of people here. First years and even second years. Even some of the teachers were here. I didn’t know any of them but I did see them on the first day at the stage and now they were basically just enjoying front row seats.

Violence is bad- everybody preached it. But people sure did love watching it.

I really didn’t like where this was going. Wasn’t this supposed to be just a duel between two people? Why was this crowd necessary?

When I reached the center I met Blaze who looked more than ready. He was in some sort of suit geared for fighting and here I was in my usual dress- the same dress I wear almost four days a week. A t-shirt and pants.

“Now since the new rule is in place, I’ve to watch over this fight. There will be no use of powers on your opponents and that includes using powers on your opponent’s weapons: however, projectiles are allowed and you can use your saber’s power on your opponent.” A prefect broke down the rules for us.

Besides, my sword was normal and didn’t have powers!

‘Particles are projectile too, right?’

Some of the disciplinary committee members were on the other side and I even saw people from the club. I certainly didn’t want to see the redhead throwing floating kisses at me though.

“By the way, any barriers set in place?” I asked.

“Yes, there will be a barrier set up shortly.”

I had about a minute and a half. I looked around. This really was a big place. It actually wasn’t this big when I first came here. Maybe someone used their powers to make this place bigger?

Of course, I was scanning for two faces. I knew they’d show up sooner or later, and I figured it’d be sooner than later.

And I was right.

“Helio!” One of the morons from the crowd waved her hands and jumped up and down. And here I was trying my best to hide that name.

SIgh!

Was she incapable of understanding I could still see her even if she hadn’t done that?

Reluctantly, I waved my hand and looked at the lady next to her- mom. She nodded, I nodded back. Now that I actually had a better look, I was ready. And I knew this was pretty big too.

Even just a moment ago I was nervous. But mom was here and so was Elsa. I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves.

I couldn’t just back out and I couldn’t afford to lose either. ‘No pressure? Yeah right!’

“The duel would be settled when one loses consciousness or if one gives up. Even fatally wounding is alright. We have a healer on board. Just don’t kill each other.”

I suppose this was good for me. If seriously wounding my opponent wasn’t an issue and if the barrier was also set in place, I was definitely good to go. And then there was the fact, me being calm about this. But I couldn’t underestimate this guy either.

Actually, since I got here, he never even said a word to me. I guess he was serious too.

“Begin!” The prefect screamed and a glowing blue dome covered the whole court, severing all outside noise.

And a second later, I froze. ‘What?’

“Lord Mother’s here. I can’t fool around.” The voice was Blaze’s but it wasn’t the same. He was utterly serious.

And who the hell calls their mother Lord? Was I missing something?

I couldn’t move a muscle. This wasn’t like the times when I got heavy or anything. I just couldn’t move. It was almost like paralysis.

Blaze was gone and before I could release alpha particles, I got hit in the stomach, bad. The guy had kicked me back. It did break the paralysis but this stung.

“Well, good for you.” I spat blood and raised my hand, firing off all three kinds of radiation at once. The barrier was here and I didn’t have anything to worry about. “I’d stay away if I wanted to keep my potency,” I was bluffing. I needed a fair distance from him and sometime before I could use that plasma attack.

I’d done enough holding back.

“Too bad.” He did stay away but raised his sword towards me. A stream of lightning blitzed through the air.

I dodged to my right, but just barely.

‘So that’s how you paralyzed me.’

I’d actually forgotten that he could use electricity too: or rather his sword could. No wonder Elsa wasn’t a match for him.

I unsheathed my sword. I didn’t get the chance before, but now even with the sword, this didn’t seem favorable. If I got too close I might end up being paralyzed again. And staying far away gave him the leniency to attack with electricity. This guy wasn’t going to give me time to charge up like Dan did.

“If you won’t come, then I will!” He wasn’t mocking me, he was really serious when he raised his saber again and just ran at full throttle.

There was no escaping, so I fired off gamma rays directly at his head. In high quantity, this could have potentially vaporized him so I kept the quantity to a minimum just to stagger him. I really didn’t want to do this, but I had no choice.

“Too slow!” he screamed and electrified me before I could launch enough rays.

“Argh.” I couldn’t dodge this time.

And now that I was totally stuck, he came close to me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and punched me hard. I screamed in pain but glared back. If I was being held like this I could still leak radiation but the amount was low, way too low to be lethal in this short period of time. But I wasn’t going to give up anytime soon.

A smile surfaced on Blaze’s face. “I might have overestimated you. When I heard you wounded that skinny scum, I thought you would pose more of a threat, but you were useless.”

I just glared. I didn’t want to have any conversation with the likes of him.

“And now, as per deal I’ll break your limbs.” He seemed sure enough that he’d win. “And of course, I’d be sure to treat that girl pretty finely every time.” I hated that disgusting laughter. He came close to me, very close. “And I’ll also be sure to treat your sister nicely too. Ah! Just imagining her scream and cry excites me,” he whispered.

Just what the hell was this thing saying? Was he out of his mind? I looked at him with disbelief.

“Don’t look at me like that.” he continued with a smirk. “And once I break her, she’d beg me to give her and I’ll gently crush her skull. Oh and is that your mother? I don’t like used goods but she seems well enough, at least on the outside.” Blaze chuckled disgustingly.

He was talking in a low voice and with the barrier in place, no one heard him. But I was glad no one did. I didn’t care if he was a Battlesuin or a whatever: he’d pay. He’d pay dearly.

He will pay!

Chuckles came out of my lips. I didn’t know what was going on anymore. My hands wriggled and the paralysis seemed more like just strings slowing me down. Steam came out of my body. Was my blood boiling? “I’ll just have to kill you then.” The voice came out in a playful tone. It wasn’t my voice.

And a second later something snapped.