CHAPTER 6 - REMATCH

I haven't done much in my life that I regret and I definitely wouldn't regret this moment despite the extreme pain I'm in right now.

What do you expect me to say when asked "How does it feel?" Right after placing a slave collar on my neck.

I am prone to having dirty thoughts despite my calm nature, this combined with the fact that I barely had any conversation with anyone before this whole incident. You can forgive me if I can't help myself to play a prank when I am provided with such a golden opportunity.

Don't you agree? Who the hell am I talking to?... I think I got hit in the head too hard.

Back when I said those words, everyone's expression froze and the room became so quiet that I thought I had accidentally paused time.

Then as if planned, Amelia disappeared first and immediately slapped me on my right cheek, Dale who hadn't even said a word to me appeared in front of me and slapped me on my left and finally I received a heavy knock on my head from who I assumed to be Richard although I didn't see him move.

Even though I could sort of sense most of their attacks, I couldn't react because I was chained to a damn chair!

Again! Do I regret my action? NO!!!

My head hurts alot, I'm dizzy and my vision blurry, damn Richard nearly gave me a concussion.

I shook my head in pain while enduring a serious headache as I glanced at the culprits who had returned to their original position.

Amelia completely ignored me, looking elsewhere when I gazed at her, Dale looked at me briefly then rolled his eyes in disdain before ignoring me once more and finally Richard looked straight at me in anger and I had a vague feeling he would attack me again if I don't apologise now.

"Sorry!" I said immediately, facing my head downward in shame.

… … …

"*sigh* Amelia" The man sighs before calling out after being silent for some time.

"Sir!"

"Unlock the shackles and release him" he says before tossing her a key.

"Okay" Amelia responds.

She catches the key and walks towards me and starts to unlock the shackles, starting with the ones on my wrist.

After my hands were free, I rubbed my wrist and moved my arms because of how sore they felt.

When my feet were, I stood up and started stretching my legs relishing in the feeling of freedom which would have felt more real if not for the collar on my neck.

Thinking of that, I used my hand to feel around the collar on my neck and I noticed that the material the cloth was made from felt very much like fur and was extremely soft to touch, it felt more like a choker than a collar.

I was tempted to try removing it but remembering that it is rigged to transform into a set of buzzsaws with the sole purpose of removing my head, I immediately abandoned this idea.

Yes! The moment those shackles were removed, I started to slowly feel my mana flow again and now I can completely feel and control it.

I wasted no time to direct mana to my eyes and began to observe the mana flow of everyone in the room.

Amelia, the same as before, is huge and as for Dale's, although his is large, it's just a little bit lower than Amelia while Richard…

"The hell" I muttered when I saw how large his mana flow is.

It wasn't just large, it gave off the feeling that it was compressed and what I'm seeing isn't his full force.

Could that even be possible? This feels like a legendary - "It's over Nine thousand[2]" moment.

"Amelia, if you don't have anything planned recently, could you help me take care of this idiot?" Richard asked with a straight face.

"Sure. For how long?"

"At least a week," Richard said immediately.

"A week! I was planning on heading back to the Academy tomorrow, I've been gone for a month already, staying here any longer could land me in trouble" Amelia said dispiritedly.

"Fine, I'll just find someone else to babysit him and here I thought you would love to meet sir Kuda, I guess I was just mistaken" Richard says nonchalantly.

"Ah shit! I forgot sir Kuda would be here soon… You know what? F**k it, I've already delayed my return by two weeks, one more week probably won't escalate my punishment by much" Amelia said without a second thought.

"Okay, first of all, I need you to educate him on how most things work here, lest he accidently gets himself killed by playing around with what he doesn't understand"

"You're also free to use the private training ground whenever to test his strength, no need for advanced training yet, just scrape the basics, these should be your agenda for the week" Richard instructs Amelia with his usual stern expression.

"Yes sir!" Amelia responds with a wide smile on her face that made me shudder in fright.

The thought of finally getting to train makes my blood boil in excitement because this means that I can finally learn magic systematically unlike the crude imitation an blind guesses I've been doing since.

"Well the servant collar seems working just fine, if you need any adjustment please inform me before I send over the schematics for the final product" Dale said as he turned around about to leave.

"Could you please make the collars capable of changing colour between black and white?" I asked immediately.

Everyone looked at me suspiciously and I answered before they asked why.

"I'm going to be wearing these things for only God knows how long, I don't want to be known as the guy always wearing a black choker even though black is my favourite colour, someday I might want it to be white" I said awkwardly.

Unfortunately, they all acted as if I didn't say anything and Dale silently left the room.

Wasn't that a genuine request? Well I actually have no interest in changing the colour from black because I prefer it like this, I honestly just wanted to confirm if a blacksmith could actually make materials that can change colour.

"I have to get back to work as well, Amelia looks after him for me" Richard says before turning towards the door to leave.

"Yes Sir. Aito right? Come on we're going straig…"

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!" A loud growling sound originating from my empty stomach interrupting Amelia.

… … …

Amelia and Richard who was about to reach for the door both silently stared at me for a few seconds.

"I really didn't leave out the part that I haven't eaten for over a day, you guys simply ignored me" I said awkwardly, embarrassed by my stomach's sudden outburst.

***************************************************

Amelia escorted me to the cafeteria with Richard having left me alone with Her with the excuse that he had work to do.

The cafeteria is in a separate building from where I was being interrogated, which I assume is just a prison building.

I asked Amelia where we were and she told me that we were in the barracks just in the outskirts of the city I was in.

I wonder if this is the same barrack I sensed when I first appeared in the demon realm.

When we entered the cafeteria, I noticed how crowded it was with numerous people in military uniforms like the one the blacksmith Dale was wearing.

Because of this, Amelia and I stuck out like a sore thumb as we were the only ones in the cafeteria not in uniform.

Before I could have further thoughts on the matter, Amelia rushed me to a free seat and went to order food for both of us.

I looked around as I waited for her to return and realised that even though we were very conspicuous and everyone was looking at us, it wasn't only stares of curiosity, but mostly those of admiration.

I felt embarrassed because their eyes were practically shining as they looked at me and Amelia, I guess she has a high status in the barracks.

"I don't know what you would like but you can never go wrong with meat" Amelia comes from behind me with two huge bowls.

It looked like beef noodle… with an extremely large proportion of beef to noodles and the moment I took a whiff of it, I instantly felt refreshed.

It smells amazing!!

I took the fork Amelia placed in front of me and greeted "Itadakimasu!" before digging in.

"Woooaah ths is amasing" I said with my mouth filled with meat[3].

The meat tasted so good and it wasn't too strong or too soft, just perfect but something even more amazing happened when I swallowed.

I felt a small amount of mana leak out of the food I just swallowed and entered my body adding to the exhilarating feeling of eating such delicious food.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Amelia asks with a look of disgust on her face.

Unbeknown to me, I had been convulsing periodically since I started eating.

"Sorry, food in the demon realm tastes so amazing" I said while smiling to her apologetically.

"Obviously, I imagine you guys only eat food that's bland and completely devoid of mana in the human realm" Amelia says with pride as a smile forms on her face.

We finished eating and sat down quietly for some small talk and even though I have a million thoughts to say about this meal, I have to leave it for another time.

"I heard you mention something about an Academy. Are you attending some kind of military Academy? Oh and how old are you?" I asked thoughtlessly.

"Hmmm… It is somewhat similar to the military academy in the human realm, if you include the benefits we are given after graduation then you could say that they are very similar and as for my age, I'm 16, I'll be 17 in a few months" She said after thinking for a while.

I wonder what benefits she's talking about.

Maybe direct promotion to a high position when they join the military? That would explain why the common soldiers looked with so much respect and damn, she's younger than I am.

I want to join the academy if possible but I wonder if I would qualify because If Amelia's level of strength is the bare minimum to pass, then I have absolutely no hope.

I could also be overthinking it, Oliver and his group that I fought previously could also be part of the academy as well.

They weren't wearing any uniform or armour and their mana flow is higher than the average soldier, not to mention that they were probably sent after me like Amelia.

"Does anyone by the name Oliver attend the academy as well?" I asked Amelia to confirm.

"I'm not sure, I don't know anyone by that name" she responds with a confused look on her face.

"Really? I thought he was sent after me like you were?"

"Oh, then maybe… I don't know him though'' She says while nodding her head.

"Your fighting instinct isn't half bad, it made up for your disadvantage in speed when we fought. Have you been practising martial arts?" She asks while looking at me excitedly.

"I have, I was actually called a genius among and beyond my pairs" I answered proudly.

"Why are you feeling so smug comparing yourself to a bunch of humans?" She asks with a hint of disdain..

"I'll have you know that I had the physique of a human being before yesterday and right now, I could be called superhuman at most" I said in defence.

"That doesn't make sense… All demons are born with a strong physique far superior to humans" Amelia says confused.

"Isn't it because I was born in the human realm where there's no mana and wasn't exposed to it?" I asked.

"No! our physique is part of our demon bloodline, maybe it's because of that filthy saint blood in you suppressing your physique from awakening"

"Why do you think it's because you weren't exposed to mana before?" She asks with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well, I've been feeling my physique improving slowly ever since I got to the demon realm and I can feel my body going stronger as it absorbs mana from my body, although it's slowly" I answered, also taking time to confirm that it's still happening in my body right now.

"Your saint's bloodline is at fault there, I don't know much about the Physiology of saints, but common sense here is that…"

"Demons train their body to increase their mana capacity and saints train their mana capacity to strengthen their body[4]"

"So usually, Demons have stronger physique than saints, and Saints have higher mana capacity than demons at the same level"

"I'm guessing that your saint properties have already awakened and your mana capacity has not yet stabilised because it still needs to keep on strengthening your physique" She talks for some time before looking at me to confirm her theory.

I nodded because I could confirm that although my mana capacity was increasing, it would sometimes reduce as part of it would be absorbed by my body.

"I knew it! Don't worry, your demon physique would probably awaken later" She says reassuring me.

"Why are you so sure it will awaken later? What if I only inherited the saint physique from my dad?" I asked.

"Don't you know how genes work? Of Course you inherited your demon physique, you just have to awaken it" She says with a proud look on her face.

Is that really how genetics work? I don't know either but if she says so, I'll expect it sooner or later.

"Then why wasn't I able to use magic before I was exposed to it?" I asked her, expressing my doubt.

"Now that's because you were born in the human realm and had never been exposed to mana, your body hadn't even absorbed mana from the surrounding to use as a base to produce more and as for why you were able to use magic so fast, I can only attribute it to your insane affinity to fire magic" She says with the same proud expression on her face.

What about that shattering sound I heard from inside me? I also don't think that the strange state I entered before is just because of my attribute to fire magic? Just when I was about to ask Amelia these questions, she suddenly spoke.

"You've relaxed enough already right? Then let's take this lesson out to the field" She said excitedly as she stood up and started urging me to follow her.

***************************************************

Amellia escorted me to the private training fields located in a stadium-like building.

We entered the building and were greeted by a strict looking receptionist.

"Hello! Do you have permission to use the private training grounds today?" The receptionist says while looking at Amellia with a knowing look.

I expected as much, knowing a little about Amelia's personality, I could already guess that she usually comes here a lot.

"Yeah you can check the records"Amelia answers with a smile.

"Alright, but it feels like there's no need, I've seen you every day since you started staying here" The receptionist said with a smile before he turned to me.

"A friend from the academy? I didn't know you had any"

"Umm Yeaah, you can say that hehe" Amela says before chuckling awkwardly.

"Hello I'm Aito" I greeted politely.

The receptionist merely nods his head before bringing out a card and passing it to Amelia.

"Training field 24 has been alloted to you, have a nice one" He says sending us off.

"Why are we using the private training fields? It seems like you have to pay or be granted permission to use them, why can't we just use the public ones?" I ask Amelia on our way to the field.

"Do you really want to train outside and expose your ignorance about magic for everyone to see, not to mention that hideous saint stench that you still can't control would leak out even more whenever you use magic"

We walked around for over ten minutes before we reached a door with NO. 24 written on it.

When Amelia opened the door, we came across a very wide field with nothing but a training dummy in the middle.

A huge black wall with a few light sources attached separates us from the other fields and extends as high as the stadium-like building before reaching the roof that's also black in colour.

What amazed me is that even though we are clearly inside a building, everywhere is as bright as day because of the perfect lighting.

"You said you wanted a rematch right?" Amelia says after standing some distance away from me.

"Yeah I did say something like that" I said with an awkward smile on my face.

Without waiting for a warning, I prepared myself by releasing a lot of mana from my body and prepared to turn them into a <fireball> spell in an instant.

I supplied my body with excess mana while using <Physical Enhancement> to the max which caused some slight pain in my muscle, pain that I could still ignore.

"Ready!!" I shouted nervously.

"Then here! I! Come!" Amelia shouted excitedly while reading her stance during the gap between each word.

She suddenly disappeared from my sight and even though I focused mana into my eyes, I could barely capture her first step.

This again! I guess I can only trust my instincts now.

I ducked right based on my instict and she appeared on my left, stopping her legs during a high kick.

Everything felt like slow motion as I noticed the smile on her face and her eyes tracing my movement

She changed her leg position so fast and leg came crashing down on me.

I immediately formed a <mana shield> above me to block her kick.

The shield barely slowed down her feet as it shattered in a second, but pushing my body to the max, I went around her leg and punched towards her with fire in my fist.

She quickly uses her hand to block the punch.

<Explosive fist>

"BOOM!!"

A huge explosion occurs on impact pushing my hand away and I immediately focused on her mana flow through the smoke.

I noticed a small disappearing <mana shield> around her hand, her body was coated around with it.

Shit! <mana shield> can be used like this? She must have prepared this before the fight.

My instincts rang on full alert and I knew she was coming for my chest, so I twisted my body towards the right with full force.

I barely dodged her fist that scraped my waist and seeing her back exposed I ignited the mana I had prepared into multiple <Explosive Fireball> and sent them towards her back.

I sensed danger from my back as well and immediately applied force to my feet and performed a backflip while still directing the balls of flames to hit Amelia.

<Stone spikes> were coming from a distance and were moving like ripples on the ground towards my previous position, no wonder I didn't sense it before.

By the time I landed on the floor, I realised I made a fatal mistake, I had LOST Amelia's position as she was not in the smoke.

Before I could turn my head around I sensed danger from my right and I forced myself and I jumped backward and I saw her leg swinging towards my face.

After narrowly dodging her kick, I noticed that she had at least taken damage from the numerous <Explosive Fireball>.

Before I could stabilise my feet, I felt danger again, her fist was coming towards my face.

She had used something to launch herself towards me and was now in the air.

I panicked and Produced a wall of flame in front of me, rigged to explode on impact - <Explosive flame wall>.

I knew this wall would barely slow her fist down as the explosion would not be enough to blast her away and she would probably punch through it.

I got flustered but then immediately forced myself to calm down, becoming more determined to win this fight.

I was in pain from <Max physical enhancement>, but my blood was still hot as I smiled from excitement, I had entered that state again!!

<Demonic Aura>

My thoughts become clear and Amelia's punch bursts through the flame wall heading for my face.

I stepped Forward and barely dodged it and I kicked towards her chest with flames covering my leg.

She was in the air and couldn't dodge.

<Full Power Explosive Kick!!>

My leg hurt as I felt the explosion push her away and she slammed the floor before rolling and jumping up again.

She doesn't rest for a second and dashes towards me again. But I have already begun to prepare for our next confrontation.

She appears in front of me and goes for a simple punch to my face.

Because my instinct is always vague, I never try to go for narrow dodges, but I make an exception.

Bending my head slightly I dodged her fist and then turned around grabbing her hand in the process, trying to use force against her and toss her away.

Before I could succeed, I felt a heavy blow on my back and fell to the floor.

But this was part of the plan because why would I ever try to tackle someone that is incredibly faster than me.

I can only try this in this state because I can completely ignore the pain and I would also never try this in a life or death situation lest I actually die

I created two flame spears behind her and sent them forward with maximum speed aiming for her leg that was on top of me.

Immediately she jumped to avoid the spears, I turned over and faced upward while on the floor and shouted.

"<Gatling Fireballs!!!>"

I placed all my focus on creating a fireball and sending it upwards at full speed, creating another one hurling it her way as well and repeating the process all to push her upwards.

If she could manoeuvre very well while mid air then this would be useless.

Another downfall is that I can't focus on anything else.

When my mana was nearly exhausted, I stopped and Looked upwards and saw a huge boulder falling towards me.

"Shit" I said before rolling sideways, barely dodging the stone.

Immediately I stood up Amelia covered in burns was already in front of me and before I could react, she had punched me in the gut knocking me out.

I had lost!

[Author's Notes]

1. Word count - 3820 words

2. Too many words in this chapter… I got a little carried away.

3. Not that kind of meat you Perverts!!

4. This is important and may be mentioned more times in the future.

5. Any thoughts on the intense fight scene?