Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Leroy moved in with such confidence that others will hesitate in their own ability. As the match progressed for a long time, his ability grew more. Well, growth was not the right term here. Leroy only knew better to manipulate his light here. The golden light had not risen, but diminished actually. Concentrate would be the right word.

Leroy understood he could not make his light work like normal waves, just because Light was faster and moves linearly. That was why he had to start concentrating on it before even releasing it. Like any other element, it was far easier to control any element in the forming than release it. And he understood it very well.

He had put his mind to work, after getting hit by Shin a few times. Although it hurt him badly, it did not actually cause that much damage—his innate healing factor was able to take care of it all. It was simple just that Shin's degree of power has not out-mastered his healing factor. Leroy could handle this kind of pain, considering the fact he will get to learn new things from it.

Leroy thought this opponent of his would be nothing worthwhile, unlike the other person he should be fighting now, but that person seemed to have some indignation with him. Does he fear him? No, that look only made him see annoyance and detest within themselves. So much so that he would even give up on the tournament. Surprisingly, he got hold of something in this match he thought would be boring, and nothing worthwhile.

'I will certainly thank him later," he thought, dodging Shin's sword. It was not that he entirely copied Shin's method, but it gave him the inspiration to come up with his own way. Certainly, it was easy for him as many other things, but without the little hint, he might not have learned it so early.

'Let's finish the match now,' he thought and found himself and Shin seething in sweats with weary eyes. They were going at each other for half an hour already. A few half an hour with their abilities hyperactive, there was no rest, his opponent searching for a way to pierce his defence, while he was searching for the way to learn a new art.

In the end, one of them succeeded.

Leroy released a deep breath, and the bars of golden light from his body stopped glittering before his sword turned a burning gold—it almost appeared like a golden Lightsaber, and Leroy swung it from high above his head to a full arc of a circle violently towards his opponent.

Shin felt a chill seeing the sword and was already prepared to withdraw when he saw the sword arching in a full swing. Even with his early attempt, he could only barely manage to get away, but he already had his back against the wall. Metaphorically.

How will he block or dodge the second move? Then the third one? Will there be a need for the fourth one? He saw his opponent smiling at him as he swung again, as the arc of golden rays surged at him. Shin was sure, if it touched—it may not cut him into two pieces, but it will leave a certain horizontal mark for him to remember in his lifetime.

Was Leroy more powerful? Shin wondered and dodged the second one of the swing coming at him. The rays of violent burning gold hit the wall on the back, leaving dozens of deep marks on the wall.

What was this power? He wondered, swallowing. Even he would not be able to leave such marks even with his new sword and condensing mist. It was not that Elior was weaker compared to Leroy, but all he faced from Elior was subtle. Elior never used a heavy hand on him, only showing that with great control, you can even do great things with little things. Little things like harmless waves, but in Leroy's hand, that was a devastating force.

Shin tried to rise in the air, as the burning gold chased after him. The charge of light was too fast, and fortunately linear or else, he would be on the ground now. The cheering had gone numb in his ears long ago, and Shin found no way out of it.

'Was that what a devarian is?' he wondered, and shot at his opponent for the last try, bearing his sword in its coldest move. The warm air hit his face, and Shin felt a bit feverish in his head. Eyes narrowing, he looked at Leroy, who was preparing another of the swings. If he could arrive before the sword, then perhaps.

That was what Shin was attempting, in the few swings that he had dodged he could make out Leroy needed a couple of seconds to prepare his moves, and that a couple of seconds were actually a lot, considering Shin already had his last move prepared.

Leroy's sword was only on his back when Shin released the blade of the wave at his opponent, not even considering how much damage it could cause if it hit Leroy directly when he was not emitting that golden light.

A glitter of surprise appeared in Leroy's eyes, and then all things turned Golden in Shin's vision, before dark.

A couple of seconds later, Shin could finally see again, and the first thing he saw was the striking blue sky, next to the cold blade inch away from his head.

"I was surprised there," a handsome male who held the sword said, and he heard cheers. His mind was buzzing still with the light, and he could not make out what the cheers were saying. But he could tell they were not for him. Why would they cheer for him when he was on the ground, while such a devastatingly handsome male claimed victory over him?

"But I must thank you," Leroy said again and drew back his sword. Withdrawing the sword, he drew an arm towards Shin and Shin took it before he pulled him up. "Good match."

Shin said nothing and finally heard the cheers. They were not all cheering for Leroy after all. The majority were for Leroy, but Elior had already secured a certain number for him, though he saw his friends clapping their arms standing up.

Shin waved at them telling them he was alright before staring at the boy who defeated him. "Leroy," he asked, eying the boy, who was partially not human. "Why do you fight? What motivates you?"

The half-devarian regarded him carefully and found the dilemma he was going through, perhaps. "If it were a few months before, before I have touched mana, I would have said, respect," he said and shook his head. "But I don't know it anymore."

Shin blinked and was about to ask him further, but Leroy was already on his way to leave.

"Don't ask me for an explanation or how it feels, I clearly don't understand it myself."

Shin regarded those words for a second and left as well.

. . .

"Did you like my surprise?" Elior asked as the defeated Shin approached their stand after removing all his battlegears. He felt somewhat lifted after the match, though he did not get his answer. His worry was postponed for later.

Shin looked at the cheerleaders at once and saw they were resting currently. "I love it," he said with a bright smile. "I should get some pictures before the end."

"You fought well today," Elior said, though his eyes were at the duelling ground for the last match. The final match: Leroy of the Freshmen vs Katherine of the upperclassmen.

Shin nodded and rested on the other end of the seats. Enna had checked him for injuries but found nothing serious other than the bruises and fatigue, but she still used a healing spell on her, helping lessen his fatigue. He smiled at her, and she snorted like usual, before sitting next to Ileana.

Katherine was the last one to arrive for the match. Even though the sun had not reached the mid sky the tournament was on the way to end. They could see silhouettes of the higher-ups appearing behind the hazy glass, looking at the end of matches, while the few others preparing the stage for the ending ceremony.

"Worried?" Aanya asked Ileana with a slight, knowing smile on her lips.

Ileana was too invested in the match to notice that. "It will be better for him to give up on the match," she said.

"But he will not," Elior said from the sides with certainty. The Leroy he knew will not give up on experiencing something new—though the thing he will experience will be too tormenting for even him.

"By the way, Ileana, you never mentioned how she defeated you?" Lara asked with hesitation. "It was only a blink of an eye, before you passed out with. . ."

Ileana makes her palms into fists, looking Katherine in the face. She would have liked to blame her for all the things, but she knew she could not do that. She even did not know if Katherine understood what she did to her.

"Ileana?" Aanya nudged her.

"It was not a blink of an eye," She said and saw the match start. Leroy's body glittered with bars of golden light, as he brought out the sword—that was a wrong decision—far wrong compared to hers. "It may appear a blink of an eye from outside, but it was over an hour for me."

The golden lights stopped within a blink of an eye, and Leroy stood there for a couple of seconds, tears running from his blank eyes like a river before his body fell on the ground.

"A torturous, ruining, damning hour."

Ford blew his whistle, and the tournament came to an end.

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There was an inconsistency in the previous chapter.. Leroy's light was golden, not white.