Villain's Rising

"Next up, Kiara Vikteronva and Samael Gracefell."

What shook Sam out of his thoughts was the voice of the duel overseer, Karma.

She had just announced his matchup against Kiara.

"Sigh"

Letting out a short sigh, Sam looked over at Anthony who was walking toward them while gripping his arm.

It seemed like he was smiling.

'What's he smiling about?' Sam questioned in his mind.

"Sam, c'mon let's go!"

Shaking Sam out of her daze was the voice of Kiara.

She was standing beside Sam and pulling his short sleeve while pointing at the duel area.

"Karma announced our names!" She said, "C'mon let's duel!"

'And what is she so excited about?' Sam commented in his mind.

(Maybe she just wants to beat you keke!)

"Yeah, let's go," Sam said while nodding once before starting to walk toward the duel area.

Kiara followed behind with a frown.

'What is going on with him?' She couldn't help but question that in her mind while slightly tilting her head.

"Good luck you two!"

"Thank you, Tony!"

As they walked past Anthony, the flaxen-haired boy wished them good luck on their duel.

To which Kiara thanked him with a flushed smile while Sam kept walking as if he didn't hear him.

(Those two are getting really close)

'Damned if I care.'

Circling the dueling area, Sam stood at the far end and faced Kiara as she stepped into the circle.

(Will you win?) The voice in Sam's mind asked.

The question was purposefully framed that way.

Even if Sam was suppressing more than almost all of his powers, the question was if he was willing to win or not.

'We will see'

(Oh, come on! Just stop her motor functions and end this pointless duel! I doubt anyone will notice!)

'No, if she is suppressing her powers then I won't use mine either. Besides, we just saw what Anthony is capable of, I don't want to risk it.'

It was a sound argument.

Sam had yet to know what Willburn's 'eyes' are about. He tried spilling it out of Rebekah but the latter was too cautious.

Whenever he tries to bring up her eyes, Rebekah would just change the topic.

"Ready?" Karma asked while raising her hand.

"Yes."

"Yeah!"

"Rules are the same as before," Karma said before announcing the start of the duel. "Start!"

As soon as she said that, like a savage yet clever beast, Sam infused his body in lightning and began closing the distance between him and Kiara.

-Shrill!

What should've been 20 meters was reduced to 20 inches in just a matter of a split second.

With his whole body imbued in lightning, he looked like a bright flash of the blue lightning strike rather than a person.

However, before his hand could even touch Kiara, a wall of water erupted from the ground.

"Tsk!"

Clicking his tongue in frustration, Sam dispersed the lightning around his body and halted his charge.

At that moment, several sharpened shards of ice shot through Sam from behind the wall of water.

(Dayum! She is not that stupid!)

Without replying to the comment he just heard in his head, Sam cladded his both hands in lightning and shaped it like a pair of claws.

-Tak!

-Tak!

-Tak!

The shards of ice constantly kept on assaulting Sam as he kept on breaking them with his lightning claws at an inhumane speed.

After around 10 seconds of continuous assault, the ice shards stopped and the wall of water that was shooting upwards like a fountain fell down like a curtain.

But on the other side of the curtain, there was no one!

Sam narrowed his eyes with a frown. Where was Kiara?!

He was too busy dealing with the ice shards to have known what had happened.

But the view from the audience was clear.

Using the shards as a distraction and the wall of water as cover, Kiara circled around Sam and was about to strike him from behind.

In her hand was a spear made of condensed ice, which was ten times stronger than steel.

Pointing the spearhead at Sam's heart, she mercilessly thrust forward without caring for the safety of her childhood friend.

Karma was about to interfere and stop the duel until she noticed the expression on Sam's face.

He was grinning. A type of grin that sent chills down her spine.

-Cling!

-<strong>Clang</strong>!

The thrust was blocked by the lightning claw that Sam conjured as he turned around at the last second.

"We never fought seriously, right? I mean we fought that other day but you don't remember that." Sam said while gripping the ice spear.

Kiara tried to jerk his hand off the spear but her strength was not enough to shake off the black-haired boy's grip.

"You may think that you can win against me whenever you want, but there's a reason your father favors me over you!"

Kiara widened her eyes at those words. It stung her heart.

Partly because that was the first time she heard Sam saying something that mean to her.

And partly because what he said was true.

Her father does favor him more than her. And she could never understand why?!

But this was not the time to think about that.

Seeing that her struggle to free her spear was going in vain, Kiara gave up on it and hopped a few meters back.

-<strong>Tak</strong>!!

Using both his lightning claws, San shattered the ice spear in his hands and glared at Kiara.

Kiara didn't want to engage in close-quarter combat with Sam after witnessing that kind of reaction time from him.

Long-range is her best choice if she wanted to beat Sam with her limited powers.

'If only I could use my full powers!' She thought.

Unaware that even with her full powers, it wouldn't have made a difference.

"So you want a serious fight, Sam? Fine! Prepare yourself!" Declaring that, Kiara raised her hands.

As she did that, several orbs of water were created in the air around them.

Those orbs of water soon started elongating before they took the shape of spears and froze into ice.

The frozen spears were then aimed at the black-haired boy standing in the center.

(She is planning to rain down ice spears on you!)

'Thank you Mr. Obvious!'

After abruptly replying to the voice in his head sarcastically, Sam shrouded his whole body in lightning again.

Stimulating his muscles and strengthening them with electricity to achieve inhumane speed like a bolt of lightning, that's the move he named «<strong>GodSpeed</strong>».

With his eyes glimmering in scarlet hue, Sam glared at Kiara like a predator.

"Oh, I'm prepared! Bring it on!"