Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Afeus awaited the signal for the start of the match as he stood there using the same stance Kretos had shown him he felt his heart beating faster than ever. The thumping of his heart was so loud it felt even louder than the cheering audience. 

Afeus felt his hands and legs were trembling. He tried calming himself down but it was proving to be quite the challenge. As he was breathing it felt like he was out of oxygen. The view before him was becoming a bit hazier as it felt like the world was spinning. He gritted his teeth and tried to power through. 

'I only have one shot at this. The first move needs to be the last move. If I can't finish her then, I'll receive one heck of counter-attack.' Even as fear was gripping his heart, Afeus was also feeling excited. This was a battle that could test the limits of his current abilities. He wanted to see how far Kretos's training had led him. He wanted to test out the theories he had created. 

Afeus looked at the calm Hime and stared at her every movement. He concentrated to the utmost of his abilities so he could observe every single motion that she made, if possible he wanted to see the very moment her muscles twitches. 

On the other hand, Hime was unperturbed by everything that was going on around her. This was just a minor event for her. She noticed Afeus's unusual stance but she wasn't that bothered about it. In the face of the overwhelming difference in power, nothing Afeus can bring out should be any threat to her. In fact, she really wanted Afeus to simply forfeit as it was obvious to anyone this match was a waste of time. 

"It looks like the two of them are ready. The second battle of the Quater Finals, BEGIN!"

When Afeus heard Henrietta say the words begin he wanted to use the move he had been practicing all this while, but his legs were feeling heavier than usual. Even though he was filled with resolve, deep down there was still the cowardly Afeus in there. He knew that if she wanted to she could kill him with a flick of a wrist. At this moment If Hime decided to attack he wouldn't be able to do anything. 

"Come at me Afeus, give me everything you got. Once you expended all your options only then will I defeat you. At least this way you would lose without any regrets." Hime tried to encourage Afeus in her own way, though the words she used were able to encourage Afues, but not in the way she was hoping. 

Hearing Hime saying those words made Afeus gnashed his teeth in frustration. He wasn't even being considered as a proper opponent. In Hime's eyes, he was nothing more than a training dummy that could somehow attack. Yet more than the frustration, than the anxiety he was feeling, Afeus felt angry not at Hime nor anyone else but at himself. When he met Kretos he thought that he had somehow changed, but he still remained the same cowardly person as he was before. 

'Nothing has changed, I only fooled myself...' 

"Why aren't you doing anything? Is it really too much for you, if so shouldn't you just forfeit?" Hime who was waiting for Afeus to attack was getting a bit impatient. 

'Should I really forfeit this match? It's pretty obvious that I'm no match for her.' Afeus closed his eyes as hopelessness started to spread within him. As he was about ready to quit he heard his voice in the back of his mind. 

"Is that it, is that all your worth?" Afeus was surprised to hear his voice, it was as if he was standing there right in front of him with that vicious smile of his. Just remembering that smile of his when a battle was nearing made Afeus start to smile as well. 

Seeing the rather eerie smile Afeus had on his face made Hime step back a bit. It was at that moment Afues started to laugh heartily. 

"Yeah, this is no time to back out. If I did that what will be the point of all the training I did!" Afeus was still trembling, so he gathered mana into his fingers and stabbed his right hand. The pain was rather strong, but it did help Afeus body to stop trembling. 

When Hime and everyone else saw what Afues did they were stunned into silence. Henrietta was also confused as to why he did that. 

'Did the fear made him insane?' Hime was rather confused by what just transpired, she then saw Afeus smiling at her. In the next moment, Afeus disappeared from her sight. Hime looked all around but couldn't find him. The audience on the other hand saw what Afeus did and they couldn't understand why he was doing that weird dance.

...

"That's Ren's move!" Lara who was watching the battle was surprised to see Ren's favorite opening move. 'Who the heck is that guy, does he know Ren?' Lara wanted to charge into the ring and start interrogating the guy called Afeus, but if she did that she would be disqualified. 

'Is the mission more important than Ren? Of course not, but if I fail my mission and Ren finds out I did it because of my own selfishness he might get angry... Damn it what should I do?!' As per usual on the outside, Lara remained stoic and ice-cold, but on the inside, she was screaming girl in love. The people sitting beside her were rather afraid of this cold beauty who was called the silent death and backed away. 

...

Afeus had successfully used Kretos's movement technique. It's just like he had practiced, at this point Hime shouldn't be able to follow his movement. In Hime's point of view, Afeus had disappeared from her sight. 

Hime quickly activated her mana barrier and waited for Afeus incoming attack. It doesn't matter if she couldn't see him, since any attack he would make would be deflected by the mana barrier. 

...

Afeus got behind Hime and started circling around her while doing that weird dance where he moves onto his opponent's blind spots. While he was doing this Afeus was gathering mana into a ball. This was the only spell Kretos was able to teach him. After gathering all the mana he could without fainting, Afeus unleashed the ball of mana onto Hime from behind.