"You…are you Damien Void?"
When Damien turned around, the visage of a blonde-haired man with an upturned nose was revealed to him.
"That would be me. And you are?" Damien responded curiously. There wasn't any reason for people at the academy to know his name yet, so he had to wonder who the person in front of him was.
"Hmph. I am Julius Wellspring. Though, I guess that means nothing to a back alley street thug like you." Julius responded haughtily.
"Ah? My bad, I didn't hear you. Can you repeat that for me?" Damien responded.
"Hah, you're hard of hearing too? Really, I have to wonder how far nepotism can get y—"
Bang!
A fist swiftly connected with the right side of Julius' face. With a guttural cracking sound, his body was sent flying backwards. Damien stood where Julius was previously, shaking his fist.
"Tch. Who did I piss off this time?"
A random stranger coming up to him and blatantly trying to provoke him smelled an awful lot like the plot of some pompous genius who wanted to test or make trouble for him. Naturally, Damien hadn't been in the Divine Realm long enough to make enemies like this, but he realized that there were a few other cases in which he inadvertently drew attention to himself.
Firstly, his rank on the Dimensional Leaderboard. His sudden rise would obviously cause eyes to turn towards him. However, Damien himself was still hidden. The only one who'd seen his visage was Atticus, so nobody could match his name to his face.
Still, this was likely part of the cause. The second was none other than Atticus. Since Damien entered Hidden Death Valley with Atticus' recommendation, he'd been marked as a part of Atticus' faction by others who knew of him. Enemies of Atticus or Fallen Star Holy Land would regard him as someone Atticus favored, which made him a good target to pressure to indirectly hurt Atticus.
"Haa, this is why I always stay away from politics. These assholes just entertain each other with bullshit all the time like they have nothing better to do. Seriously…"
"Y-you…! You dare attack me?!" Julius' voice boomed through the surroundings, interrupting Damien's complaints.
"Hm? Didn't you fall unconscious?"
"That is none of your concern! I am the heir to the Wellspring Family of Immortal Blood Holy Land! You'll pay for offending me!"
'So it was Immortal Blood Holy Land or at least someone related to them…I guess this is why Atticus specifically mentioned to stay away from them.' Damien thought to himself. But outwardly, he continued to taunt Julius.
As he'd just found out, the latter was an idiot! Fishing information out of him would be too easy.
"…the Wellspring Family is probably just some minor family in Immortal Blood Holy Land anyway. You give off the smell of a leashed dog."
"How dare you?!" Julius roared. While Damien wasn't exactly correct, it was true that the Wellspring Family was essentially a group of dogs.
However, the masters they served were none other than those of the Bloodlock lineage, Immortal Blood Holy Land's Lord Clan! The Immortal Blood Asura who ruled Immortal Blood Holy Land was a member of this lineage, and the rest were his descendants.
The Wellspring Family was heaven and earth compared to other dogs.
And while being someone's slave was humiliating for any genius, being a Bloodlock's slave meant there was no point in resisting this fate.
Julius in particular was a person who perfectly assimilated into his dog position.
Nevertheless, even other high families of Immortal Blood Holy Land wouldn't dare to call the Wellspring Family a group of dogs. The power they possessed couldn't be underestimated.
Now, a random hick who just joined Hidden Death Valley actually had the audacity to say those forbidden words?
Julius couldn't accept it!
"I challenge you to a duel!" He shouted.
The academy emblem on his uniform glowed with blue light. A laser-like beam of light left it and connected to the matching emblem on Damien's chest.
A holographic prompt appeared in front of his eyes.
[You have received a duel request from Rank 10,341, [Julius Wellspring]. Please choose Accept or Deny.]
[Accept]
[Deny]
Damien raised his brow. He was aware of the dueling system, but he didn't think he'd be using it so soon.
Hidden Death Valley had its own leaderboard called Heaven's List, and the positions on this leaderboard were determined through ranked duels. Any student could challenge any other whenever they wished, but the other party had the choice whether or not to accept.
Every duel that took place in this manner was ranked, and if the Heaven's List judged that the strength difference between the two fighters wasn't too vast, denying a duel request would lower one's overall average and affect their ranking.
This judgement was based on one's position in the ranking. Since Damien wasn't even on Heaven's List yet, rejecting the duel wouldn't impact him in any way.
Still, did he have any reason to do so?
"You're not even in the Top 10,000? Isn't your master underestimating me too much?" Damien taunted. He didn't hesitate to click the holographic Accept button.
The second he did, he and Julius were covered in a flash of blue light. Around them, a kilometer-wide holographic arena formed.
This holographic arena was the special technology that allowed Heaven's List to function. It was similar to the virtual battle arenas in Arcadia, except one could use their true body to fight.
Only, killing was allowed. When a genius either died or was too wounded to continue, the barrier's enchantment would activate, teleporting them out and restoring them to peak condition.
From Damien's understanding of it, the barrier worked using a combination of space and time magic, along with another force that he wasn't aware of. Regardless, it was the perfect arena for geniuses to go all out without risking any true harm or destruction.
Of course, the mental damage left by what happened in the arena would remain. While it was a haven for upright students, it was just as favorable to those cruel individuals who enjoyed toying with their prey.
Damien eyed Julius as the latter pulled out a rapier and charged it with mana. His eyes were indifferent to it all.
"Rank 10,000, you can't even touch my sleeves with that level of strength." He said.
A vicious grin spread on his face. "Then, let me leave a big gift for your master. Let's see how he reacts."
A reddish-black gleam colored Damien's eyes. And in the next instant, his body flickered out of existence.
***
Outside the holographic barrier, Zara stood by herself. After Damien's interaction with Julius, she'd already used mana to sober up.
Her eyes were cold as she watched the barrier. For someone to actually dare bully Damien…
A vicious glint filled her eyes. It should've been her in the barrier. It should've been her ripping that Julius person to shreds.
She felt a brewing killing intent that she could barely suppress.
And as if fate was on her side, the barrier began to vanish soon after.
Damien and Julius rematerialized in the physical world. While Damien stood the same as he always was, Julius was already on the floor, trembling.
"Yo!" Damien said when he saw Zara. "I was thinking about torturing this guy, but it was a bit boring with his weak resistance. So I had a thought: wouldn't this be the best way to introduce you to the academy?"
"That barrier is a real treat. Besides a little emotional trauma, he really doesn't have any wounds left. It's hard to believe that he was fused to the ground a few seconds ago…anyways, since you're currently just my beast companion, it should count as a continuation of the previous challenge, so we can bypass the consecutive challenges rule. Do you want to have a go at him?"
Zara didn't hesitate for even a single second. Nodding her head eagerly, she copied what Julius did a few minutes prior and sent him a challenge request.
Julius' body shivered, caked in a cold sweat. Every fiber of his being begged him to deny the challenge.
But with Damien hovering over him like this, there was no way he could do that. The terrors he'd experienced in the mere minute he was trapped in the barrier with Damien had left a deep scar in his mind.
With an expression like he'd break out into tears at any second, Julius unwillingly hit the Accept button, swiftly being transported into the arena with Zara soon after.
Now, only Damien stood outside the barrier. He looked at it with a light smile on his face.
'I bet she's having a ton of fun in there...'
