The Real Fight

The fight between Edward and Bruce started.

Bruce had to disappoint Edward once again because he did not plan to use his golden frying pan in the duel. He had planned to unveil the glorious weapon in the yearly exam for maximum trauma.

"Where's your weapon" Edward asked.

"My hands are my weapon" Bruce replied with a smirk.

"Have it your way" Edward did not underestimate Bruce and immediately used his strongest move.

"Twilight Wave"

Edward emitted sword qi and combined it with his darkness and fire elements to create a dark blazing straight line that's capable of destroying everything its path.

Seeing the incoming attack, Bruce slammed the ground with his feet and used the wind to increase his speed even further. He directly got in front of Edward and aimed his fists at Edward's chest.

Edward instinctively hardened his body with earth elemental energy, but it was no used. Bruce combined earth, fire, and darkness into his fist before impact and slammed Edward to the ground by targeting his chest.

BOOOOOM

A huge crater was created in the arena. Edward was coughing up blood, but he didn't give up. Edward turned his entire body in flames and continued to burn his body even further.

"Are you insane? You're going to burn yourself!" Bruce said to Edward.

"That's the price I'm willing to pay" Edward muttered.

Edward knew he couldn't react in time to Bruce's attack so he burned himself in exchange for a defensive barrier that Bruce can't easily break through.

Edward had reached his limit when his body could not endure more flames. He unleashed all the flames on his body and turned them into dark flames.

"Good plan, but you're still naïve"

Sensing what Edward was up to, Bruce sent out an attack before Edward could do perform the explosion.

"Soul Seeker"

Bruce's soul attack interrupted Edward before he could unleash the dark flames onto Bruce. Edward fell down and started to cough even more blood. The flames disappeared and the battle was over.

Bruce put healing pills into Edward's mouth and looked up to the hill.

"Sophia, could you please heal Edward?"

Sophia smiled at him and nodded. She jumped down from the hill and started healing Edward. After a short while, Edward regained his strength, but he felt bitter about the fight. He was too weak.

"Oh my god, Bruce Pendragon is so strong!"

"He must be the Bandit of Solitude…."

"Wait.. He stole all our money over the years!"

"EVERYONE GET THIS BASTARD!"

The crowd started to lunge at Bruce only to see his devilish smile.

"You all have tried ganging up on me in the past and what was the result again?"

The crowd stopped to remember their traumas. Seeing that evil smile, they knew they would be robbed once again. The crowd gave up the thought of vengeance and ran back to their homes quickly. That day, Bruce managed to inflict emotional damage onto his peers once again.

"What do you think of the fight, Meredith?" Bruce ran up to Meredith.

Expecting to see Meredith fawn over him, Bruce was surprised to see a cold face glaring at him.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked nervously.

"How did you get acquaintance with the Priestess of the Church of Light?" Meredith had an icy expression on her face.

"I met Sophia in my Alchemy class recently" Bruce carefully answered.

"Oh, you seemed to be very close to her just now" Meredith still maintained her icy expression.

"I don't think I'm that close to her" Bruce defended himself.

"That's a lie Meredith!" Deion jumped in.

"Sophia gave him her room number and told him that she'll help him with anything" Deion had dumped gasoline onto Bruce.

'You fucker! I'll make sure to beat you up for this' Bruce angrily glared at Deion.

'Sorry my friend, I'm actually helping you out'

'The more you lie to your girlfriend, the bigger the bomb will be in the future' Deion was far more experienced with girls than Bruce. He had seen countless couples break up due to lies and deceits.

The atmosphere turned extremely cold after Meredith heard Deion's statement. Before Bruce could calm Meredith down, another challenger entered the arena.

"What's going on over here?" Sophia walked to the group with Edward slumping behind her.

Seeing Sophia meeting Meredith, Bruce knew that his life was officially over.

"Edward, I'm so glad to see you are fine buddy. Let me help you to the infirmary" Bruce found a chance to escape this situation.

"Huh, what?" Edward was confused by the situation.

"Don't you dare leave Bruce!" Meredith said in an enraged tone.

"You must be Meredith Lockwood"

"My name is Sophia Bennet. Nice to meet you" Sophia held out her hand to Meredith.

Meredith turned to Sophia only to see her beautiful eyes above the veil.

Ever since Meredith joined the academy, she had compared herself to Sophia. Meredith is a competitive person by nature and always wanted to hold the title of the strongest female student in the Imperial Academy.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, Sophia would always place above her in the class ranking. Seeing Bruce being close with Sophia after the fight made her feel angry more than ever.

Since Sophia acted cordially toward her, Meredith held back her rage.

"I'm Meredith, nice to meet you" Meredith shook Sophia's hand.

"I noticed that the atmosphere got colder just now, what were you doing?" Sophia asked.

"I was trying to get some answers from Bruce before you chimed in" Meredith replied.

"Is that right? I hope that the situation wasn't about me"

"But then again it doesn't matter if it's about me. I recall that Bruce is not your boyfriend."

The bomb had finally exploded.

The two women stared at each other like enemies. Meanwhile, Bruce didn't understand why Sophia had treated him so kindly ever since they met. She already has a fiancée waiting for her.

"Why don't we fight right now?" Meredith was frustrated at the situation because Sophia was correct. Bruce was not her boyfriend officially and she had no right to act this way.

"It wouldn't solve anything because I'll win regardless of what you do" Sophia answered calmly.

The two women were extremely prideful. Neither would back down. Deion, Edward, and Chelsey stepped away in fear of being collateral damage.

"Guys please stop!" Bruce interrupted the fight before it could happen. He stood closely in front of Sophia to prevent Meredith from attacking.

"Sophia, I really like Meredith so please don't fight her" Bruce then turned to Meredith.

"Meredith, there is nothing between Sophia and me. She's just a kind person whom I just met"

"As expected of you Bruce, you really are the one" Sophia stopped her aura from leaking out and turned around.

"I'll see you later Bruce" Sophia bid Bruce farewell and walked away from the area.

Bruce looked at the beautiful figure walked away in elegance. As he stared at Sophia, someone hit him in the head.

"Ow"

"How long are you going to stare at her?" Meredith angrily said.

"Maybe a couple more minutes" Bruce truthfully answered without realizing what he just said.

"Then go chase after her then!" Meredith started to shoot icicles at him.

"Please forgive me princess!" Bruce dodged the icicles as he attempted to appease the enraged ice queen.

"This is not good" Deion said to Edward and Chelsey.

"Agreed."

"Mhm"

"Church of Light is a very powerful entity. I hope Bruce knows what he's doing" Edward expressed his opinion to the group.

"If Sophia's fiancée finds out what transpired today, Bruce may very well be a dead man"

Deion began to worry for his best friend. He planned to tell Bruce to stay away from Sophia Bennet from now on.

In a luxurious room, Sophia was sitting beside a window staring at the sky. In her hand was a communication talisman.

"Father, I've found him" Sophia said.

Few moments later, a voice transmitted to her.

"My dear, are you sure that you found him?" The voice sounded grand.

"Yes, my connection with the Goddess Theia grows stronger whenever I am near him" Sophia touched the light symbol on her forehead, and it slowly dimmed down.

"It's been 18 years since the Church started to look for him, but you managed to find him yourself."

"I'm happy for you Sophia."

"Do you want to bring him back to the Church now?" The voice asked.

"No, he'll forever resent me. I want him to love me and only me" Sophia's face turned cold when she thought about Meredith.

"In this world, only I can be matched with him" The light symbol on her forehead shined brightly as if it agreed with her.