Chapter 121: Valerian vs Albedo!

As soon as the duel was confirmed, the field that was swirling in a sea of whispers fell into a tense silence as everyone gazed as the two combatants, and then slowly parted, instinctively forming a circle around the arena, drawing the battle lines as they all looked towards the center.

Valerian moved first. With a faint shimmer of crimson mist, a long spear materialized in his grasp. Its shaft was blackened steel, runes etched in silver spirals across its length, and the blade itself pulsed faintly with a hunger that felt alive.

The very air shivered around it, and the Demon students who supported Valerian all murmured in awe at the magnificent sight.

“The Bloodfang Spear…”

“They say it was quenched in the blood of a thousand humans during the Ancient Abyssal Wars…”

“A true Duskveil heirloom.”

Valerian spun it once, letting the silver-red blade catch the dim aurora light above, his smirk returning like a mask slipped back into place.

“And you, Human?” he said, his voice carrying like a whip crack. “What pathetic toy do you hope will save you when I tear you limb from limb?”

Albedo didn’t bother to react to Valerian’s insults, not wanting to give him any satisfaction. Instead, he simply raised his right hand, his calm expression unchanging as his will called forth the twin pistols.

With a flash of violet light, Havoc and Ruin appeared in his grasp, their frames glowing with light representing their modes. One pulses with crimson apocalypse flames, shifting restlessly like a beast caged while the other pulsed with arcane runes that released Gravitic power.

Valerian’s sneer deepened as he saw the guns, but there was the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth. His instincts were sharp enough to feel it, that those weapons weren’t normal.

Both of them unleashed their auras.

Albedo was Low Gold Rank, whilst Valerian was Mid Gold, and that only further bolstered his confidence.

And then, from the Demon ranks, a single voice rang out, cool and commanding.

“Enough posturing.”

Celeste.

The golden-eyed Demon Princess stepped forward, her whip at her hip twitching faintly like a serpent, her halberd’s edge catching the aurora’s gleam.

Her gaze swept across the circle, silencing the last of the whispers, before landing firmly on the two duelists.

“Valerian Duskveil,” she said, voice sharp as steel. “Albedo Neverwinter.”

She raised a single hand, her authority undeniable, her aura crashing over the gathered students like the weight of a mountain.

“This duel will proceed under my watch. As per the rules, You will fight until one yields… or until one can no longer stand.”

The students held their breath, the atmosphere thick enough to choke.

Celeste’s gaze lingered on Albedo, just faintly, before she dropped her hand.

“Begin.”

The word cracked across the field like thunder.

Albedo and Valerian moved.

~BOOM!~

The fight began with Valerian immediately going on the offensive, swinging his ferocious Spear violently towards Albedo like a guillotine, black steel and bloody light cleaving the air.

The ground where Albedo had just stood erupted in shards of stone, the shockwave thundering outward and forcing various students to step back even if they were far away, the shocks were so ferocious.

Havoc & Ruin clicked into their respective modes, Havoc in Infernal whilst Ruin was in Graviton mode, and Albedo immediately went on the offensive, beginning to fire off himself.

However, Albedo was no longer there, his body slipped past the blow, boots scraping lightly over the torn earth as he pivoted to the left, Havoc raised, the Infernal pistol snarling with crimson flame.

~BANG!~

The first shot cracked like thunder. A streak of hellfire whistled through the space between them, colliding against the arc of Valerian’s spear just as he twisted the weapon to parry.

~BOOM!~

The explosion rippled red light across the battlefield, fire licking against his armor before scattering into embers as Valerian used his mana to force the flames away before they rampaged too much and went on the counterattack.

Still, he couldn’t hit Albedo as his movements were too sharp and precise Each dodge was clean & each counter was deliberate.

And Albedo’s expression carried not the strain of desperation, but the calm focus of someone exploring the flow of battle, testing his limits like a smith tapping the edge of a blade.

Havoc roared again, and then Ruin joined it.

The pistols fired off in tandem, one spewing blazing infernos while the other collapsing air into invisible spheres of crushing gravitation.

Shots peppered the field like rain, kicking up earth and sending rippling detonations across the dueling ground. Valerian’s spear lashed out, deflecting, sweeping, forcing arcs of his aura into shields of blood to deflect the cascading barrage.

The Demon students roared their encouragement, but their cheers carried an edge of strain.

“Lord Valerian has him!”

“No Human could stand before him long!”

“Just wait until he stops running!”

However, despite their cheers, the confidence that usually remained firm in their voice was quite hollow as cracks appeared in their certainty.

Because they could all see, Albedo wasn’t scared or running.

He was flowing, his body moving with exceptional rhythm as he dodged Valerian’s attacks while constantly firing off his own.

Havoc spat a stream of explosive flame-shots that forced Valerian to constantly shift his footing, while Ruin’s graviton bursts warped the ground, dragging at his limbs, twisting the spear’s trajectory just enough to disrupt the elegance of his strikes.

And through it all, Albedo’s blue eyes gleamed, not desperate, but sharp, calculating, even faintly amused.

The more he slipped past Valerian’s attacks, the more frustrated the Vampire heir became at the situation he found himself in.

“STAND STILL!”Valerian’s roar split the air as he thrust forward, spear spiraling with blood aura. The tip elongated into a jagged crimson spike, lunging for Albedo’s chest with lethal precision.

Albedo leaned sideways. Just enough. The spear kissed past his ribs, tearing a shallow line through his jacket but nothing more. And before Valerian could withdraw the weapon,

~BANG!~

Ruin’s graviton shot struck the spear’s shaft, collapsing its aura mid-extension. The weapon jolted as if slammed by a hammer, its balance disrupted, and Valerian was forced to leap back or risk losing his grip entirely.

Valerian’s crimson eyes blazed with fury, his lips peeling back to reveal elongated fangs. His aura erupted, boiling with crimson haze, the ground around his feet cracking as if scorched by unseen flame.

But Albedo simply straightened, rolling his shoulder where the spear had grazed him. His pistols hung lazily at his sides, faint wisps of smoke curling from their barrels.

The faint smirk that curved his lips was deliberate, calculated, designed to carve itself deeper into Valerian’s pride.

“You seem upset,” Albedo said, voice calm enough to cut with a slight mocking tone at the end.

The silence that followed made the words louder, sharper, more poisonous.

The Demon supporters bristled, hissing like a cornered pack. But it was Valerian whose composure cracked most violently. His spear quivered in his grip, aura flaring with bloodlust so thick that even some of the Gold Rank students in the circle staggered under the weight.

“You dare mock me?!” Valerian’s voice rose in a screech of fury. “You crawl on borrowed strength, playing at war with those trinkets! But I will peel you open and show them all the hollow coward inside!”

He launched himself forward in a blur, spear spinning in a vicious storm. Each thrust blurred into the next, a rain of crimson arcs that could have skewered a lesser foe in an instant.

Albedo didn’t panic, firing off Crimson Apocalypse Flames from Havoc that clashed against the Spear, and Ruin fired off another Graviton slug that forced Valerian to overextend.

To the untrained eye, it looked like Albedo was being driven back. To those who could see, it was Valerian dancing to Albedo’s rhythm without even knowing it, it was a masterclass in effortlessly controlling the battlefield, and the Professors from above could easily realize that.

“You’ve got some student here Raphaeline,” Arannis said, already foreseeing the result of this duel.

Raphaeline just narrowed her crimson eyes, a smile tugging faintly at her lips, “Ah indeed he’s quite special,” she murmured, “he’s not fighting to win… he’s playing with him. Testing him. Feeling out his strength like a cat swatting at prey.”

Lilian’s gaze flickered as well, her arms crossed. She didn’t speak, but the faint twitch of her lips betrayed intrigue, she could see all the humiliation ongoing during the battle.

And Valerian was drowning in it.

At last, with a roar of rage, Valerian swung his spear in a wide, bloody arc, detonating the ground in a storm of crimson mist that blanketed the field.

“ENOUGH!”

The haze surged outward like a living sea, swallowing the circle in suffocating darkness. Students flinched back, shielding themselves from the oppressive aura.

But within the crimson mist, two sparks flared.

One, the cold gleam of a vampire’s spear and the other, twin points of violet fire, the muzzles of Havoc and Ruin, glowing like eyes in the dark.

~BANG~BANG~BANG!~

The shots rang out in perfect rhythm, cutting through the haze, carving streaks of flame and gravity that tore the mist apart. And as the smoke cleared, it was Valerian who staggered back, his armor scorched, his spear arm trembling under the relentless pressure.

Albedo stood untouched, smoke curling from his pistols, blue eyes glinting with cold amusement.

“I thought you said you’d tear me apart?” His voice carried, sharp and merciless. “So far, all I’ve seen is you flailing.”

The crowd erupted into chaos, gasps, murmurs, disbelief. The Demon supporters shouted furiously, the Humans and Elves stared in awe, and even the Professors leaned forward, rapt.

And Valerian, crimson eyes wild with humiliation, let out a roar that tore across the field, his aura spiking higher as he readied himself for the next exchange.

But in the center of it all, Albedo remained calm, pistols steady, his breath even.

He hadn’t even begun to fight seriously.

He was only getting warmed up.

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