Chapter 105: Arthremis

"Arthremis? Oh Arthremis. Yes, yes… Go in this way for now, Mr. Laplace" rubbing his hands together, he invited Cylius to the bar.

Inside the bar, Cylius could see many people sitting and drinking. 

There were no people working, only the robots. You order something through the screen and the robots will serve you.

They walked along for some time before appearing near the barista, a wall in front of them. 

"Private room B-8" the fatty brought out a card and showed them to the robot acting as the barista. As soon as he showed that, a path opened up in the front, the metal wall giving way to them. After it had opened up, a pathway emerged, where a pleasant smell was coming from. 

"This way. Our meeting place is in a separate place" the fatty led the way. After going through quite some doors, they ended up in front of a black metal door. Flushing the card at it, it naturally opened up, revealing a large room. 

The setting of the room was just like the bar outside; before they got into the pathway.

"I'll go now, Mr. Laplace" 

Inside it, he could see quite an amount of people chatting with each other. They were relaxed at the moment, flirting with people while also drinking and playing. 

They were all different. Short, tall, male, female… But all of them had one similarity. That was the red symbol placed on their clothes. The content of the symbol was complex. 

It described a red place, a place decorated by countless flames that seemed to devour the human soul in no amount of time. Just seeing it made one feel hotter. 

However, within this hellish place, there was a single hand that looked even more hotter than the place it was surrounded by. 

Each of the symbols contained a mysterious effect, making the person hat looked into it feel like they were actually within the place. It was definitely an enchanted equipment. 

This was the symbol of the group 'Flaming Hand'. 

The group was a small group among all of the groups within the academy. Only created by first stage students, its influence was rather small. 

There was only one semi convert within the group, which was their leader. A group that wasn't worthy of his attention at all. But the thing was, how did they manage to invite Arthremis in?

As a person that didn't belong to any faction, many large groups had scouted him. Although it says that he turned all of them down. 

Was he going to create his own group? 

So he was using this group 'Flaming Hand' as a foundation? 

He was a destiny child. He definitely had ambitions of his own, so this was likely. 

But he didn't care about that. He only had one goal; it was meeting with Arthremis and analyzing his abilities. He didn't really care about the others and since he was in his other identity, Laplace, he wouldn't be restrained in his actions. 

"Hi, Mr. Laplace. I am Fikkun, the leader of the group - Flaming Hand." a person over four meters tall approached him. He was bulky, with much of his muscles shown and along with the path of scales on his face, he was the type to attract attention toward himself. 

He was a person of the Scaled Giant race, it was a race that had a human physique except that they had scales as protection and a giant body. 

They could grow as big as mountains and had extraordinary strength. 

This was his shrunken state where he compressed his body in order to move comfortably within the spaceship. 

Looking him up and down, he gave out a monotone reply, implying to continue on with his sentence. 

"Yes." 

The leader wasn't fazed by his reply at all. One could only expect such a thing from a genius. 

"Mr.Laplace… I wonder what you came here for? Perhaps it's related to the match we are having today with Arthremis…?" 

"Yes, you guessed it right. I am here to join the match."

He saw from the memory that Arthremis was going to fight with the Flaming Hands group. 

It said that there would be three matches which Arthremis will fight with the three chosen people one by one. If Arthremis were to win all of them, he will become the Flaming Hand group's leader while if he loses even once, he will join the group and pay up a certain amount of credits. 

"Then Mr. Laplace, I am sure you have something to offer? Otherwise, I'm afraid I can't let you join-" with a cunning merchant's smile, Fikkun continued but was cut off by Cylius. 

"It's not a request nor a deal. It's an order" Cylius blankly replied. 

It would have more of an impact if he were to beat this destiny child young. Before it matures, he will leave a deep impact on him that he won't forget so that he could use him later. 

Considering he wasn't expecting anyone powerful in such a small group, he will surely be surprised. 

Hearing the reply, Fikkun's smile immediately got down. And what came in return was a deadly silence. 

"Can you say that again Mr. Laplace?" the words slipped out of his mouth. 

"It's an order that you will make me join your match against Arthremis. Otherwise, I will tear down your whole faction." 

"I'm sure you are saying what you are meaning Mr. Laplace? It's not easy to beat down a group's leader, not to mention a whole faction. It's not good to play with a knife, Mr. Laplace" the eyes of Fikkun narrowed into a slit, as faint traces of threat started coming out. 

Cylius didn't reply. Instead the number ten suddenly came up in the air, slowly decreasing by the second. 

After a moment of silence, Fikkun's voice once again came out. 

"Fine, but you have to defeat me in order to join the match. Otherwise, you will pay with your life" it was disadvantageous to both parties if they were to fight it out. Who knows, how many members of their group will be defeated. 

This Laplace was powerful, powerful enough to equal him in power. 

Cylius didn't reply. 

"Make way" he ordered to the surrounding students. He was going to fight directly within the bar. 

As Fikkun got into a basic fighting stance, flames started to arise from his body, making a fire armor. In contrast, Cylius didn't move at all. Just with his hands in his pocket, he looked as if he was casually standing on the street. 

He didn't need to spend any effort in order to fight with him. 

The members of the group, who were interested in their fight surrounded them in a circle, as they watched them prepare. 

"Alright! I'm coming, Laplace!" he immediately got into action, bolting towards Cylius. He was fast, and in no moment at all, he came near Cylius, just going to attack. Within the moment, the flames on his body raged even more, looking as if it was going to swallow him. 

"Ahh" shouting, the flames burned more and more, as the powerful punch of Fikkun was directed at Cylius. At the moment, the entirety of his body moved so that it was supporting this punch of his. 

This punch was even faster than the speed of sound as coming after the punch, came the huge boom sound. 

"Go boss! Win that arrogant prick!" 

"Put him in place, leader! A newcomer who hasn't had enough of the world!" 

"He will know defea-" 

However, all of it stopped just suddenly. 

A delicate finger, precisely, the index finger of Cylius came out, stopping the punch in place. It looked ridiculous, yet it happened. The cheers of the students stopped just as suddenly as the fist; the loud cheers had turned into a deathly silence. 

And the opposing two people, Cylius and Fikkun stood in place just like that. With Fikkun not being able to move at all. 

Then, Cylius slightly moved his finger, just appearing to flick him a little bit. 

But that little flick of Cylius made the still Fikkun suddenly fly backwards until they hit the walls of the bar. The wall made from wood strangely dented, before returning to normal once again after a moment. 

"Host, that would 100 credits for the repairment of the bar's walls." a notification came up as 100 credits were deducted from Fikkun's account.

"Do you realize the difference in our power?" came out the voice of Cylius, sounding so blank, yet so cold and indifferent. It seemed that this person thought of this giant before him as nothing but dust. 

"..." 

*Cough cough* splashing blood onto the ground, he coughed violently before muttering a single word. 

"Y... yes" after saying the word, he passed out, closing his eyes. 

The surrounding students didn't know what to do. What were they supposed to do,,,?

What was this power anyway? Can they really beat this monster?

No… the only ending at that point would be them suffering complete defeat and disbanding. 

It was better not to provoke him. 

"Leader!" Even though they have said that loudly, no one came out to help Fikkun. Who knew what this person would do? Would it allow them to help him? 

Cautiously, a person slowly closed to Fikkun, ready to bolt out of the way at anytime. 

After staring at him nervously for a while and seeing that he hadn't done anything, all of the students heaved a sigh of relief before coming to help Fikkun. 

'Faithful members to the leader… most of them decided to help the leader even though they were in danger meaning the loyalty of this group to their leader is very strong. 

Even if Arthremis were to seize this group and become their leader, it is likely that he will suffer disloyalty. It is likely that the members would drop out and form a new group or they would organize a rebellion at some point. Considering Arthremis' personality, the chance of them organizing a rebellion is greater.

The question is, would Arthremis' charm as a destiny child be able to affect their decision and make them betray their leader or will this situation grow to become a turning point for his personality? It all depends on how the heaven's will behind them decides to act. 

Considering it's not the same heaven's will that bore a grudge to me, it may be that it's trying to make its chosen destiny child get closer to me. Its most likely it would. And if it really does, there are two chances. It's trying to use me in order to fight against others or it is trying to kill me for various kinds of benefits…"

.....

1 hour later. 

Right as he was thinking about this, the sound of the door opening was heard as a person with blue hear and red eyes came in. 

His eyes shined in the room just like a piece of gem as it analyzed the surroundings. 

'Arthremis...' the eyes of Cylius, sitting within the dark corner shined.