524 Lightning Dragon [6]

"I'm bored."

Over the course of Lightning Dragon's short life, the same words had been repeated so many times that he had also gotten bored of saying them. 

But he couldn't help it.

He had truly gotten bored.

'Prodigy.'

'Next Union head.'

'Humanity's hope.'

Originally known as Liam Nefeli, Lightning Dragon was once hailed as one of mankind's brightest prodigies.

In the past, he had attended the Lock, and that was where he gained his fame. 

In spite of this, he had no pleasant memories of the place. 

As a transfer student, he had great expectations when he first arrived at the Lock.

Why wouldn't he? It was supposed to be the number one academy in the human domain. 

It was a world filled to the brim with huge prodigies who would one day become the backbone of mankind.

His first year at the Lock was probably the best year he had ever had. His constant drive to improve himself, along with his friendship, kept life from becoming monotonous.

As a matter of fact, he had also acquired a rival while at the Lock. An individual who pushed him forward and followed him from behind. 

His name was...

What was it again? Givan? Gary? Gilbert? 

Ah, it was such a long time ago that he had already forgotten.

But those were truly fun days for Liam. 

It was probably the last time he had ever truly been happy. 

Unfortunately, those days never really lasted long. 

After his talent began to outshine everyone else's, his so-called 'friends' began to look at him differently.

It was no longer out of friendship, but out of greed. 

'If he becomes the next of the Union he will support me in the future.' 

'I should stay closer to him.'

'He will make a good connection.' 

They didn't need to say anything for him to understand what they were thinking. Their faces said it all. 

Life became duller from that point on. 

Despite this, he continued to train hard, and his strength continued to rise at an alarming rate. It had gotten to the point where almost all the big guilds in the human domain were salivating over him.

He would constantly get secret offers from the top guilds or even the Union itself.

He naturally rejected them.

He wasn't interested in such things. Responsibilities weren't his thing.

They were boring.

That said.

In spite of losing a lot of his friends, Liam kept staying at the Lock because of his rival, or should he say, best friend? 

Yeah...

That sounded about right.

Bests friend...

As far as he was concerned, he was the only one who hadn't given up on him.

…It was kind of fun. 

But, that too inevitably came to an end as his rival soon stopped comparing himself to him and pushing himself like he once did.

He tried to remedy the situation by holding back a lot, but in the end, his friend and rival found out about his intentions and stopped talking to him altogether.

Whenever they met thereafter, he would greet him with a short nod and disappear into the distance.

It was from that point on that Liam's world became dyed in grey. 

His life had become monotonous as nothing excited him anymore. 

"How boring…"

The boring life continued until he found himself on a school excursion trip along with his classmates during his third year of lock.

It was supposed to be a typical school trip, but reality proved to be quite different as they were suddenly attacked by demons. 

As it turned out, it wasn't just a random attack. 

The attack seemed to target all Lock students. Or at least on the surface as the true target was him as several Marquis-ranked demons were dispatched during the operation. 

In order to ensure the success of their plans, and stop any reinforcements from coming, the demons attacked several places simultaneously, including the Union.

As a precaution, the Lock had also put in place guards in case something like this happened, however, they too were stopped as the several Marquis ranked demons, including the Monolith members had arrived to stop them. 

Everyone, including his rival, ran away the moment they spotted the demon.

The only one that didn't run away that day was Liam. At that moment, he didn't stay behind because he wanted to save his classmates nor because he want to be a hero; he was filled with inexplicable excitement for the first time in a long time as his dull gray world finally regained some color 

As he stared at a powerful enemy, he felt an impending sense of doom.

So strong that it could kill him.

Yet, it also brought color to his dull gray world as he proceeded to attack the demon. 

As he attacked the demon, his eyes shone and a smile spread across his face.

Finally, someone who he could go all out against!

People would've called him crazy for suddenly attacking a demon like that if they had been present, but Liam didn't mind. As far as he was concerned, he only wanted to fight against the demon in front of him. Nothing else mattered to him. 

he wanted nothing more than to alleviate himself from the boredom that had been plaguing him for the past two years.

…but he was inevitably left disappointed that day.

Crash—! 

Crashing against one of the trees, the demon raised his head and gazed in his direction. His eyes were clearly clouded with fear.

"You…you're stronger than what the reports have said!"

"…ah that. I was holding back a lot of my strength." 

Scratching the back of his head as he stared at the Demon, Liam lazily put his sword away.

"How boring."

He ended up muttering as he stared at the demon in front of him.

"I guess I should finish this quickly."

It was at that moment.

"Wait, wait, did you just say that you were bored?"

Liam's brows furrowed, and his feet came to a stop.

"What about it?"

He asked. 

Putting his back against the tree, the demon pondered for a moment before asking.

"Why are you bored?"

"Why am I bored?"

Lowering his head, Liam thought for a moment.

Thinking back about his past experiences, and lack of challenge in his life, he calmly answered.

"Because I'm too strong."

"Too strong?"

"At least for my age. And the older ones won't fight me because they don't want to hurt me. They think that I am too precious to harm..."

The fact that the guilds were all keeping a close eye on him also contributed to his boredom, as they prevented him from getting into any fights that could endanger his life. Had it not been for the demon's carefully thought out plan, they would've probably already been here, protecting him. 

He understood their intentions, but their actions only served to increase his boredom.

…Honestly, he had gotten so bored that he had started questioning whether living was worth it.

It was then that.

"…All you want is excitement right?"

The demon asked him. Turning his head to look at him, Liam shook his head.

"I know what you're trying to do. I won't fall for it. I'm not going to sign a demon contract."

"I'm not asking you to sign a contract."

But it was then that the demon shook his head as he murmured in a barely audible tone. Still enough for Liam to hear.

"I'm not crazy enough to sign a contract with you."

"...Then what do you want?"

He took a step forward and raised his hand, prepared to kill the demon at any second.

Lifting his head up to stare at Liam, the demon quickly said.

"What if I tell you of a place where you can fight at your heart's content with your life on the line?"

Liam's hand came to a pause.

"…Speak."

A grin manifested across the demon's face as he quickly started to inform Liam about the arena located in the demon realm.

The more Liam heard, the more relaxed his hand became as an interest soon flashed across his face.

"…and the winner will become the Overlord of the arena."

"Interesting."

A thin smile spread across Liam's face as he thought back on the details of the arena.

Thinking for a bit, he asked.

"How do I go there?"

"…You must come with me to the demon realm."

Liam's brows furrowed when he heard this.

"How would I know that you aren't messing with me?"

It was at that moment.

Spurt!

The demon suddenly raised his hand and proceeded to pierce his stomach with his sharp nails. black blood spilled on the ground, and the demon slowly pulled out a pulsating orb.

He then proceeded to toss it in Liam's direction. 

"Here you go."

Catching it, Liam looked at the demon in confusion. 

"What's this?"

"It's my core."

The demon answered.

"With it, you control my life and death. Is this enough proof that I will keep my words?"

Staring at the orb for a couple of seconds, Liam nodded his head.

"Alright."

Spurt—

Out of nowhere, he cut off his arm and blood spilled everywhere. 

His actions shocked the demon.

"You…what are you doing?"

Staring at the arm on the ground, Liam put the demon core away and proclaimed.

"From this day forth, Liam Nefeli is dead. He died during a fight against a demon trying to save his classmates." 

Turning around, he proceeded to slash the demon's head.

His figure disappeared after that.

His disappearance would eventually lead to him becoming missing in action, and he would eventually be proclaimed as dead when they became unable to locate any clues about him regardless of the many years that had passed.

After that, Liam entered the demon world and that was how he entered the arena. 

At first, he was excited. Meeting new opponents, and being able to fight them with his life on the line to his heart's content...

It felt as though he was back at the Lock! 

But...

"Bored." 

The excitement was short-lived as he suffered the same fate as in the past. 

He had once again become too strong. 

...The feeling of losing. He had long forgotten it, and his days in the arena slowly started to become duller and duller. 

'Will I ever not be bored?' 

After spending exactly four years in the arena, his world once again became gray as he no longer even cared about winning. 

...Or so he thought. 

Crack. Crack.

Staring at the cracks forming around him, Lightning Dragon found his heart beating at a much faster rate than usual. 

Unknowingly, a smile spread across his face as he gazed at his opponent. White hair, deep blue eyes, and he also seemed to be younger than him...

His sword slowly slipped from its scabbard as he muttered under his breath. 

"This... this is what I wanted...."

For the first time in a very long time, he had finally felt a feeling that he had long forgotten. 

Excitement. 

Ba..Thump...Ba...Thump! 

As he felt the tremendous power revolving around him, the back of his hair suddenly stood and his heart raced. His opponent's attack was ready. 

"This feeling of death..." 

Feeling the power contained within his opponent's attack, Lightning Dragon's grip on the sword tightened. While closely observing his opponent's technique, his eyes began to strain as he concentrated on the flow of mana. 

Drip. Drip. 

As he poured all of his mana into them, blood started falling from beneath his eyes. But he didn't care, he didn't want to care. 

Even if he died, he didn't want to miss this feeling. 

...This thrill. 

"Done." 

It was then that he finally stopped pouring mana into his eyes as he slowly took a stance. 

It took a bit, but he had finally memorized his opponent's mana flow and was ready to attack. 

As he stared at his sword, he thought. 

'What a powerful technique. It's a pity I will forget this later...' 

Upon redirecting his mana the same way as his opponent was, Lightning Dragon slowly pulled away at the sword. 

Crackle. Crackle. 

A crackle of lightning began to spread around him as he slowly drew away from the sword. 

It was then that something happened. 

Crash. 

An ear-shattering sound rang out as one of the distant rings shattered. 

"Huh?" 

While Lightning Dragon was preparing to fully pull away from his sword, he suddenly lost control over his lightning psyons. His arm came to an abrupt stop. 

It was only for a brief moment, but that moment proved to be fatal. 

"Shit..." 

Gazing in the direction of the approaching rings, Lightning Dragon cursed. 

But it was too late for him to do anything. 

Crack. Crack. Crack. 

In a flash, the fissures around him opened, and bright flashes of light shot toward him. Wherever he looked, he would find a bright light heading in his direction. 

Crash. Crash. 

When that happened, the discs in the distance shattered one after another, stopping him from using his lightning psyons.

Unable to use his lightning psyons, the only thing he could do was dully stand in the middle of the arena. 

Staring at the incoming attacks, Lightning Dragon slowly lowered his hands and muttered. 

"...This was a good fight."