With Atticus' arrival, the air became far livelier, and many eyes that previously had no interest in Damien's existence turned to scrutinize him.
Atticus was quite a well-known figure in the universe. Those in the know were very clear on his appearance and aura, and now seeing him act so jovially with a mystery genius, how could they not be curious?
Atticus himself, on the other hand, ignored these gazes as if they never existed in the first place. He dragged Damien into a conversation about what he'd been doing since he left the academy, why he left so suddenly, and other topics that basically put his life on display for those listening.
Damien sighed wryly. He couldn't shut this man up, or he would just end up causing more trouble. The most he could do was lie a relatively bland story about his whereabouts and actions, eventually causing those eyes to lose interest.
'Haa, even though they are outwardly disregarding us, they're still paying close attention. Atticus' status is too high for him to associate with anyone average…'
Did he perhaps make them even more curious with his actions?
Regardless, the conversation continued on its natural course until it reached the event Damien was dreading most.
"Now that I've improved, you won't beat me like last time! Let's fight!"
Atticus' eyes shone with brilliant fighting spirit as he grabbed Damien's hand and dragged him to the arena floor, throwing out the two geniuses who were already competing.
"When did I agree to fight you?" Damien spat in annoyance.
"Hahaha, consent isn't important! If you don't agree, I'll just attack you until you fight me!" Atticus responded brightly.
"That was genuinely an insane thing to say."
Damien slapped away Atticus' grasp and backed out of the ring.
"Consent is key, Atticus. I'm not fighting you right now," he said as he walked back to the stands.
Atticus' eyes narrowed.
"Didn't I say it already? That doesn't matter. Today, I will defeat you!"
His aura flared and his law concepts formlessly presented themselves, shooting through the air and slamming towards Damien.
In fact, while Atticus didn't show it outwardly, his defeat in the Celestial Realm weighed on him heavily, even affecting his training and blocking him from realizing the truths of the extreme peak.
He understood that Damien had certain plans for this time from his behavior, but frankly, he couldn't care less right now.
With his own path to power impeded by this roadblock, he needed to do everything he could to overcome it, and as soon as possible.
From the moment he found and approached Damien, his intent had been to drag him to the arena and fight him.
Now that the chance was in front of him, he wasn't going to let it go.
Haa…
A sigh echoed through the surroundings.
Voom!
A wall of invisible force appeared at Damien's back and swallowed Atticus' attack completely.
"You really don't plan to give up?" He asked, turning his head back slightly.
"I…"
Atticus hesitated for a second when his eyes met Damien's.
Those weren't the eyes of a friend, but a predator.
Yet, Atticus didn't allow himself to be controlled by this hesitation.
'I've already grown so much. There's no way I won't win!'
"I will not give up until you fight me!" He said out loud, firmly and with determination.
"Tsk."
Damien clicked his tongue.
He was annoyed almost to the point of anger.
He didn't care about his "plans" being ruined, since there wasn't really a plan in the first place. Damien wanted to try being lowkey so he wouldn't have to deal with as much troublesome nonsense, but he knew from the beginning that this entire Grand Assembly would be filled with trouble.
Essentially, he tried for the sake of saying he tried.
He, of course, didn't expect his attempt to be thwarted within minutes, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Even Universal Flow was bent on making him the center of everything.
What annoyed and angered Damien was the fact that Atticus was trying to use him.
He could have earnestly asked for help and Damien wouldn't have rejected.
With his perception, how could he not notice Atticus' problem? He was already at a higher state of existence than the man, after all.
To instead publically make this kind of fuss…
'The minds of Holy Land geniuses are fucked.'
Other people became tools in their eyes when they needed to increase their power. Even worse, it happened at such a subconscious level that they didn't even realize what they were doing.
Damien understood that it could only be one's environment that could breed this kind of mentality, but still…
"Fine," he uttered, turning around to face his opponent. "I'll give you three moves."
"You…what?" Atticus stammered.
"Didn't I say it clearly? I'll give you three free moves where I won't make any attempts to dodge. If you can't bring me down in three moves, I'll end you with one."
Atticus' eyes widened in shock.
"Are you…being serious right now?"
Damien showed no reaction.
Atticus almost couldn't comprehend it.
To be looked down on was one thing, but to be completely disregarded by someone one saw as a peer was completely and utterly humiliating!
Atticus gritted his teeth. He summoned his mana and focused inwardly to gather his Laws before snapping his eyes opening and roaring:
"DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!"
The atmosphere was dyed in bright yellow and black hues, a testament to the strength of Atticus' manifested Laws.
Though they were formless, their influence on the world was too strong for them to remain hidden.
VOOM!
The colored hues rushed through the air, clouding everything between Atticus and Damien in its color as it struck fiercely!
CLASH!
Sparks fluttered through the air when the Law concepts were mere centimeters away from Damien. The yellow and black hue was forcefully dispersed starting from the collision point, and was completely vanquished a second later.
Damien looked up with boredom written on his face.
"Was that it?"
Atticus didn't respond, instead raising his mana for another attack.
Atticus' main affinity was lightning, and the core of his strength was powered by the combination of numerous Lightning Seeds he'd taken into his body.
In the first strike, he used the power of the two seeds he had when he first met Damien, just to test how far he'd come.
However, it wasn't supposed to be deflected so easily.
This time, Atticus gathered the power of 6 Lightning Seeds, each more powerful than the next. He combined the law comprehension they granted him into a single overarching web, which he then flung at Damien.
The spectacle it made as it arced through the air, painting the world in a variety of colors, made its power all the more palpable…
CLASH!
…until it met its opposition.
It suddenly became pointless to describe the complexity of laws or the beauty of the attack.
Because none of those things mattered when the attack was swallowed in the same way as its predecessors:
Without a single hint of struggle.
Atticus' face paled.
'This…what is going on?!'
Atticus inwardly fumbled as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He simply couldn't believe that this chain of events was actually taking place.
And it was good for him to be submerged in his thoughts at this time, because Damien…
Damien yawned.
"You've got one more. Make it count."
