Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

"So, where is my surprise?" Shin asked the moment Elior came into the dressing room. 

Elior smiled slightly, sweat beads dripping down his face. "You will get to see it after you win the next match," he said, resting his butt onto the bench, still breathing a little rigidly. "It won't be difficult after the sword I gave you right?"

Shin laughed stiffly, and held the new sword—not the one Elior gave him, but another of the basics ones provided by the academy.

Ileana looked at him peculiarly. In the match, she just saw him outclassing an upperclassman so easily, like it was nothing to him. Including the students of other grades, they were also shocked to see such an outcome and that too in such a fashion. He had not let his opponent make even a single move threatening to him. From the outside, it looked like it was a contest between two classes apart and Elior being on the higher end. 

But looking closely, she found it was not what it looks like. Surprisingly, she was relieved to see that. Perhaps because Elior was straying away further from her, or she felt she was not as talented as the others.

"That's the last stressful thing for today," he muttered and saw Leroy getting ready for his match. 

The overly handsome looking boy with golden hair stood up stretching a little. He looked at the door to the arena and then towards Elior as his eyes glinted a little. "I never knew you had such skills," he said, walking towards them.

"What?" Elior sneered with a thin curve in his lips. "Are you scared?"

Leroy tilted his head a little, stopping on his way. "Maybe. Then again, I got more excited as well, seeing there will be someone to exchange pointers with. I am looking forward to our match."

"That is only if you can win your next two matches," Elior snorted. The tournament was grouped so that only one of the freshmen could go till the end. In his next match, Elior would be seeing Shin if the wannabe delinquent wins that were, and after that, it was Leroy, considering he will win his matches too. So in the finals, only one of the freshmen could enter. Elior had no problems knowing that, and so it seemed to Leroy.

"I am looking forward to our match," Leroy repeated his words as if it was already set in stone before leaving for his current match.

Elior snorted and wondered why he was so conservative about this fellow. 'Really, what the fuck did this guy have done to me?' he wondered. 

"Could you not just behave normally when conversing with him?" Ileana asked him. 

"Could you not just take the side of your friend?" Elior smiled at her. "He might be moody, but he can also have profound reasons behind it." 

"Really?" Ileana glared at him. "What are your reasons, then?"

"Hmm, perhaps I am jealous of his otherworldly handsomeness." Elior paused. "Well, he is from another world. " 

"That is your reason?" Ileana continued on her glares. "And you want me to believe that?"

"If I wanted, would you believe it?" Elior laughed as all the glares from her was nothing but normal to him. 

"Never," Ileana snorted. "The problem is with you. Since you never lie, you always need your sarcasm to draw the topic elsewhere. It might work on fools." She paused and looked at Shin. "But that won't work on me. And I also know you only do this on the topic that you are uncomfortable with."

Elior was startled, but the curves in his lips or the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes never left. "A rewarding hypothesis, but I don't have a cookie with me."

"I don't want your cookie," Ileana yelled at him. "Just tell me a sound reason."

"If you say so." Elior paused and looked at the screen where Leroy was fighting against Naeli in his usual way. There was no tension or stress on him, though he was going slow, nor it seemed he would be in trouble. He just seemed perfect, and Elior remembered why he hates this guy. "I don't like how perfect he appears," he said. "I don't like how effortless he makes it seem. It always reminded me that all I have been training for is for nothing. All I have worked for is not even a prickle compared to him."

"Huh?" Ileana's eyes were wide open as if she could not believe what she just heard. And it was not just his comment startled her, Shin, Lara, and Aanya, who have the most contact with him. Was this really Elior, the guy who just defeated the one who held the most chances to win the match effortlessly? Was it really Elior who appeared as if nothing fazes him? 

Elior frowned and found he spoke more than he intended. He looked at others to find they have eyes like saucers, looking at him as if they can't believe him. 

"Well, Leroy may appear he's perfect, nothing compared to some of the devarians I've seen," Aanya started. "Even though that race is almost perfect, they are far arrogant like they can never be wrong, in that sense, Leroy is humbler. Perhaps because of his birth."

"Exactly, you proved my points," Elior said.

"Devarians?" Shin asked confusingly. "What are you guys talking about?" 

"You don't know about Devarians?" Aanya asked him, knitting her brows. "I guess they were not lying when they say, you are lazy. Devarians are a race of Motherworld, and a leading one at that. They have a low birthrate, but a high natural lifespan. A normal devarian can like a couple of hundred years easily, but that is the least significant feature of the race. They are all tall, white, lean, handsome, and you can add Arrogant there too. But arrogance does not come with nothing. All the devarians are born with his affinity for spirit and mana. A high grade affinity to spirit is nothing but cabbage to them. Moreover, their blood possesses unique powers." 

"That did somewhat perfect," Shin muttered, but Ileana faced Aanya with her brows knitted tightly.

"Aanya, you mean," she asked, "Leroy is a Devarian?" 

"Yes," Aanya nodded, and saw the trouble in Ileana's face. "A half-bred most likely." 

"But he appears so humane?"

"Well, all the devarians do appear humane, and he's more because of the impurity in his blood."Aanya paused, as she did not know how to console her friend. "There is a humanoid race like elves, dwarves, but devarians are not exactly human." 

"You said he's a half-breed. Does that make it easy?"

"Easy for what?" Aanya frowned. "I am not very sure, but Devarians are not so good to the ones that sully their blood." 

"He won," Shin said in the middle. On the screen, the proud face of Leroy was shown, and it looked all indifferent, even though he shook his hand and talked nicely to his defeated opponents. "As my brother said, he does appear perfect. Is it because of the blood?"

'It is not,' Elior thought. 'Even if Leroy has the blood of devarians, I have no problem with it. After all, I love a woman with the same blood as well. There is something else, something else hidden in my mind, in that void.' The clouds had shrouded, but Elior had never recovered all his memories. He did get many useful things that will help him to prepare for the Trial-2, but not the important part he's looking for. 

Elior rubbed his forehead and stopped those thoughts as it ached quite a bit in his head just thinking about it, and if he went further, he might drown there, going unconscious. 

He looked at the figure showing on the screen. Handsome he might be, Elior never had a problem with that, but he was jealous, envious of this fellow the most in the other timeline. Unlike those who see his friends dying, Leroy fights to protect everything, even though he strays away from most people. In the first part of the other timeline, Elior only had his hammer to help—a hammer that created many weapons that helped many guardians, but that stopped nothing.

In a sense, he hated himself back then. A memory assaulted him abruptly. There was once a time he and a few other students, including Shin, were on the verge of death, and he could not do anything that day. That was the darkest days before his reckoning, when he saw Leroy fight to protect them. Leroy had failed to protect all, but he did save him. The half-bred devarian had saved his life back then. Just knowing Elior can create good weapons which will be helpful to earthlings.

Yet, he still hates Leroy for some other reason. He remembered fighting together with him, running away together with him, yet he still hates him. 

he hates him so much that he might never get to trust him again. 

'What did yo do, Roy?' 

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I know the quality of the writing has decreased. Apologies for that. I am pressed with time, and might do a mass edit of all the chapters had done half-assed edits with the extension.

Thank you for reading, and a big thankyou to them who are paying for it even though the quality has lessened.