Genius Seventh Prince 65 Choosing A Stage

Slowly, the more confident of the students finally built up the courage to ascend the stages first. They ended up only being appetizers to the real fighting, but Greyson could tell that they were fairly aware of this and this is why they went up first so they could at least show some of their skills. Usually the stagemaster continued changing every one or two matches, each fight showed an increasing level of skill. Yawning to himself, Greyson watched as more and more matches occurred from dawn until midday. Around noon, there was finally a change to the status quo that got everybody's attention. One of the top students had finally run out of patience.

*CRASH*

With a large leap and breaking the stone stage underneath his heavy body was an enormously built young man. Although Leopold was also a rather large individual, it was like comparing a bull to an elephant with these two. Bristling golden hair and bright red eyes shining with eagerness to fight. His weapon was a large spear with a long handle which made the ground splinter once the man had placed it onto the stage.

"It's Tristian Drakon!"

"Makes sense that he would be the first to jump onto stage."

"Hah, looks like this tournament is going to end soon."

"True, I was hoping to see a bit more fighting."

Greyson listened to all the whispers. Before long he looked over at Ronan, slightly confused.

"It seems like everyone was expecting this result. Isn't it good that someone strong finally got on?"

"Only you would not be aware. It's like talking with an old hermit." Ronan rolled his eyes listening to the question. "Of course, they were expecting it. Didn't you read about the Drakon family's personality? Straightforward and always looking for a fight to improve themselves. Plus, don't you notice there are ten stages? How many top families are their in the Idris Kingdom? Everyone is aware that the genius direct descendants of the families are the most powerful students currently. Most students wouldn't even dare to challenge them either. Not all geniuses are like Tristian and Leopold who enjoy a good fight. The other geniuses love when people kneel down to them and hate their authority being challenged. In the five years you haven't been out much, but there have been a lot of horror stories of the endings of some of the arrogant students who tried going against some of the top ten families."

"Aahhhh, I see." Greyson nodded understanding.

Ronan's prediction came true. Tristian did have challengers but they were all quickly blown away. Watching Tristian jump onto the stage and showing his prowess, the other heirs all felt compelled to also go on stage to not lose out. Soon every stagemaster was one of the ten heirs, except Quinn Ventus, it seems he never attends public events usually. His stage was taken up by one of the Absinthe twins who had no choice but to split up and fight individually. Challengers steadily decreased, until most of the stagemasters no longer had any opponents come up against them.

"Ronan, which one should I pick do you think?"

"That's a good question..."

Greyson glanced over every stage. First, he saw the red haired Natalia and black-haired Leopold, but he had decided that he would fight them later on in the top ten battles. Next, he glanced over the seductively beautiful light-green haired woman, Ezra Seirina. Crossing her out, he decided not to mess with her just yet, he didn't feel like dealing with her poisons this round. One by one, he crossed out opponents whom he did not feel like versing. Not another Absinthe because he has versed dark element opponents too much. In the end, he looked at Ignis Arcadia and Aidan Chionodis. Fire or Ice. Although Greyson now had a backer in Elder Sweetbow, that did not mean he wanted to go picking a fight with all the heirs suddenly. He wasn't an idiot, and knew that whoever he kicked out of the top ten would feel extremely frustrated and embarrassed for being the only heir not included. Therefore, he wanted to pick one who would take losing with grace. Finally, his eyes landed on Aidan. The stiff-faced boy had ice blue hair and matching piercing blue eyes, the apathy on his face towards the competition was apparent to anyone.

"I'm going to fight Aidan!" Greyson suddenly announced.

"Aidan? The Chionodis family? Well, I guess he would probably be better than most. He's the hardest on himself, so he would never blame you for beating him." Ronan nodded to Greyson's choice.

"Hahaha, right? I did think it through, you know. I'm not completely ignorant." Flashing a smile, Greyson jumped up and flew onto Aidan's stage.

After such a slow pace of challengers, each one who stepped out would grab everyone's attention. Now the audience all looked towards Aidan's stage. To their shock, what stood their was a young boy who still looked just over 10 years old. His features were beautiful for a boy and had the signature features of a half-elf. Did he come out thinking that his face would get him somewhere? How could he beat the 17-year-old, advanced level, stage five Aidan? Inwardly sighing and shaking their heads, they stopped paying attention to the stage. They knew it was just going to be another blowout. Even the emotionless Aidan's eyebrow slightly furrowed his brow.

"I do not go easy on opponents just because they are younger or weaker. I will attack with my full power. I hope you understand what you are getting yourself into." His cold voice slightly rang out.

Greyson just let out a lopsided smile, "it's fine. I didn't need you to go easy on me anyways. Who knows, maybe it will be me who needs to go easy in this match-up."

"Well, I just hope your strength matches your words." Aidan showed no anger towards Greyson's words. Instead, he properly got into position to fight. The judge motioned for them both to line up and bow to each other as proper battle etiquette. His blood slightly boiling, Greyson could almost not hold in his happiness to finally be fighting again. Even Zephyr within him was getting restless, roaring along to be released.

"Sorry, buddy, I can't let you out to fight with me. It's the Academy's rules. Once we are out traveling though I will let you fly about as much as you like!" Partner beasts were a part of the magician's spirit and injuries to the partner beast greatly effect the magician. To prevent serious injuries, magicians are not allowed to summon their beasts out during the duels since they are all fellow students not true enemies.

"Don't worry, let's just fight to our heart's content." Greyson shouted smiling widely. After bowing properly, he made the first move as a green glow enveloped his legs while Genesis appeared in his right hand sparking with electricity. When he looked up, his eyes glowed green and purple. Planting his foot down, his body flashed and disappeared for a moment before he appeared right in front of Aidan swinging down his sword. Slightly caught off guard, Aidan quickly recovered by summoning an ice shield and sword. He blocked Genesis with the shield, however, the electricity still arced through his arm causing the shield to burst. His eyes showed signs of some shock before he swung down his sword sending a cold slice hurtling towards Greyson.

His eyes flickering to brown and green as Greyson quickly jumped backwards while summoning an earth shield to block the incoming strike. Holding strong, the wall blocked the move from reaching Greyson. A slight calm was restored after the first clash, while the entire audience was suddenly caught into the fight.

"How is that kid so strong?!"

"Multi-element magician!"

On the other stages, all the other heirs looked over with extreme interest in the fight.

"Ohhh, that boy is not bad at all. He must be extremely talented to be that strong at that age." Tristian was the first to speak out.

"Hohohoho, what a cute little elf boy. How adorable, I just want to eat him right up~" A velvety voice spoke out. Ezra continued giggling while looking over at Greyson.

"Hmph! Prostitute keep your eyes to yourself!" Natalia flared up.

"Oh, oh, Natty dear, do you have a crush? Words like prostitute really don't befit such a cute little girl. You don't want big sister to go over and clean your mouth, now would you?" Although her voice still contained that flirty lightness, her eyes were another story as they flashed with malice.

"Alright, you both, just stop. I know of this boy. He is very talented and can even control seven elements." Leopold finally spoke out.

"Seven?!" They all shouted at once looking amazed. Everyone was shocked except Natalia.

"Yes, seven. Now let's all stop talking and watch the match."

During the time they were speaking, Aidan had already launched his own attack. Sharp ice shards formed in the sky and shot towards Greyson in all directions. Smirking, Greyson's eyes flashed blue as an ice shield formed around his body which blocked off the shards slamming into the shield.

"Two can play at the ice game."

"I see. So you also can control the water element." Apathetic as his face was, Aidan's eyes still showed his awe at Greyson's talent.

Greyson gripped Genesis before he decided that it was time to end the match. Flames and sparks of lightning began reflecting off of his sword. He activated a new blended offensive move he learned, Nova Strike, that combined the fire and lightning elements. His body yet again flashed high up into the air before he swung his sword down with full force. A flaming lightning strike came down and hurtled towards Aidan. It was at this point that Aidan's expression finally changed. He summoned a thicker ice shield, however, under the sheer offensive might of strike, it quickly shattered into pieces and pushed Aidan flying off the stage. Slamming into the ground outside the stage, Aidan couldn't prevent the stream of blood that he coughed out after the impact.

"Match over! The winner is Greyson!" The judge was quick to end the battle after Aidan had landed out of bounds. Different from the usual cheers, however, there was only silence. Most people were in shock as they had never expected this outcome to occur.

"Whoooo! Yay, Greyson!" A voice suddenly shouted out. Ronan was the only one who had the mind to shout and cheer. After realizing that his excitement led him to shout out while everyone was silent, he quickly sat down while blushing fiercely. After his small breakout, the rest of the audience followed in applause and cheers. Greyson looked over at his opponent who was now standing at the help of the physicians. He made a standard bow for after a match. Aidan let out a crack of a smile before shakily bowing as well.

"You're very strong. I hope I will get to battle you again after I also get stronger." He stated with ease.

"I really appreciate opponents like you as well. I welcome you to come challenge me at any time." Greyson warmly smiled back. He really appreciated straightforward people like Aidan who could take a loss and become friends with their enemy after battle. Although Aidan lost today, Greyson would never look down on him and continue working hard in his own way to surpass his limits. Just as he had lost to Leopold but now gotten stronger, Greyson's opponent's can also grow after a loss.

Sitting down on the stage as the new stagemaster, Greyson quickly activated his light element and began healing his body. Although he didn't sustain any real significant injuries, it still exhausted him to fight like so. Normally he was a bit more patient with his moves, but as his first fight in five years he couldn't help but burst out with 100% effort.

Chapter end