Orpheus moved first.
Darkness—
but not like Haruka's.
Haruka's darkness was calm.Controlled.Endless.
Orpheus's?
Violent.
Sharp.
Unstable.
It tore through the air like claws. Very sharp claws made with darkness, not the magic, but the darkness he went through.
Haruka stepped in—
his own darkness rising to meet it.
For a moment—
The arena was dimmed.
Two shadows—
colliding.
For a moment—
He layered something deeper—
A flicker of cosmic and sparkles of light.
The air bent slightly.
Reality almost… shifted.
Immense pressure
Orpheus felt it.
His eyes widened.
"…what the hell is that…?"
Haruka could end it.
Right there.
Jonathan felt it.
The immense pressure, after all, Jonathan is a mage of cosmic elements, too. But he didn't expect Haruka to master controlling 2-3 elements so quickly. He was both impressed and worried.
The immense pressure was the pressure equalized to the cosmic element mages' Black Hole summoning.
It was too advanced for a newbie like Haruka.
Haruka's right eye, the chrono split, flickers a bit.
Blue flicker.
He sees it.
The Future.
Outcome.
Orpheus—
dead.
Not defeated or unconscious but dead.
His grip on his staff loosens.
He said to himself:
"You are not a killer... You are not like your father... control yourself... Just a normal mock battle, I am scared...I really am...I want to skip this fight so bad like a coward...But what am I scared of?... Losing or killing... I don't know, but I am scared. God, please help me..."
God hears all the prayers, and he answers this way or another, as you want or as best for you.
The cosmic light fades.
Darkness alone remains.
And that—
was his mistake.
Orpheus notices.
Not fully.
But enough.
"You're holding back…"
His voice cracks.
With a grudge.
"You do not stand above me! I don't need your mercy!"
His darkness surges—
heavier.
Because, unlike Haruka—
He's not afraid to destroy
Orpheus's darkness materialized like a trident, its jagged edges glinting with malice, slicing through the fabric of existence. When it plunged into Haruka's stomach, a wave of agony washed over him, reminding him of that fateful moment when he had driven the blade into his own flesh, a desperate cry for release. The cruel shadows wrapped around him, each sharp tip a relentless reminder of his failures and lost hopes, drawing forth tears that tasted of anguish and longing. It was as if the universe itself delighted in his suffering, leaving him to confront the sorrow of a heart laid bare—a profound loneliness that echoed in the silence of despair.
Whispers started to spread across the room.
"Wait… doesn't he have like, 3 elements?"
"Yeah… so why didn't he use them?"
"…he still lost?"
"That's actually embarrassing…"
"Expected better from the prodigy."
"More like skill issues."
Each word now cuts deeper because they're right.
In the room:
"I didn't lose because I was weak…"
Pause.
"…I lost because I chose to be."
Jonathan immediately summoned a healer, an I-class mage, and healed Haruka.
Saito and Yume rushed towards Haruka.
Saito: "Bro, you don't need to win the fight... You learnt something from it, I know you did, that is enough. Get well soon."
Yume: "I thought you would beat his ass but... You are still mine, heh."
The part where she declared him as hers was a whisper, so that only Haruka could hear it.
Haruka wasn't blushing today... Those words from Yume didn't make him blush, and Saito's usual consoling didn't make him calm.
Even if he looked calm right now, it was literally humiliating for him.
He held a grudge against Orpheus secretly; he regretted the fact that he didn't kill him right that moment.
Jonathan comes to him.
"First day and already injured Prodigy-kid? But you pulled a nice move, you controlled 3 elements together on the first day and participated in the mock battle without even flinching."
He bent down as Haruka was lying on the floor, and the I-class/ranked Light user was healing Haruka; he barely showed any emotions, as if he heals people daily.
Jonatha continued:
"I saw what you did there, holding back because you knew it would finish him off, huh? I expected that much from you; that is why I didn't stop you. If I say that to everyone right now, they will think I took a liking to you because you and I have the same elements, though you have 3 elements."
Haruka: "But I didn't win... even by holding back... I am weak because I chose to be like this."
Just when the healer healed him, Haruka immediately got up and went back to room A-0174; he didn't even care if the class ended or not.
He went to the washroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
"Ugly… pathetic…"
"…a foolish jester wearing someone else's face."
"Get off!"
He mumbled as he was punching and stretching his face, trying to tear off his skin from his face.
"This isn't even my life…"
"I took it…"
"I killed him…βHaruka... Another me from another reality."
Pause.
"…and I still hesitate? To kill a random kid?"
After that, Yume and Saito came too, Haruka got out, and he was quieter now. Things weren't the same to him for some reason.
Haruka started to hate himself, even feeling guilty for having such thoughts.