A couple of hours later, Reid stood across from Darren in the arena. Almost everything had played out the sa as before, with only minor variations.
"This will be a one-on-one duel. No external interference. Victory is determined by surrender, incapacitation, or if I deem one of you unable to continue. Understood?" Just as in Reid’s future mories, the commander said.
""Yes Sir"" the two replied in unison.
"Good" the commander then proceeded to step aside "then, begin!"
Again, with an exaggerated motion, he summoned the aberration which was exactly what Reid was waiting for.
"Alright buddy, let end it fast this ti" he said as he summoned Beel by his side.
Due to the rging, even his forged beasts had beco on with their future selves so they also had mories of what happened during the duel.
Before Darren could order his forged-beast to attack, Beel activated its [Basic Gluttony Domain].
Unlike last ti, where Reid had let the fight drag on, this ti he intended to end it before things spiraled out of control.
The space around them suddenly beca dark, and both Darren and his forged beast found themselves in a completely empty void with large red compound eyes filled with hunger staring at them.
"What’s—?" Darren’s eyes widened as his connection to his forged beast suddenly weakened.
Reid didn’t waste ti.
"Beel, [Consu]."
An inescapable suction force pulled the creature towards Beel’s gaping maw, like a black hole.
It shrieked and its limbs thrashing as it tried to escape the pull, but all its attempts were useless as it got completely devoured by Beel.
Darren staggered backward, his face twisting in pain as his bond with the aberration was abruptly severed.
Before he could even process what had happened, his forged beast was gone, completely devoured by Beel.
The entire arena fell into stunned silence.
The fight had ended before it had even begun.
Reid exhaled, rolling his shoulders as Beel licked its lips, releasing a satisfied hum.
This ti, it had extracted the mories from the forged beast with [mory Devour] before completely absorbing it.
"That’s one problem solved," Reid muttered. "Now, let’s see what mories you have, Darren."
He slowly walked towards Darren who was still reeling in pain from the severed connection between him and the forged beast.
Reid outstretched his hand, copying [mory Devour] from Beel and using it to extract/devour mories of the past few days.
The domain was released as soon Reid got what he wanted, leaving a passed out Darren on the arena floor.
"The match is over," the commander walked into the arena and announced in a steady voice "Winner, Reid Fletcher."
The look he gave Reid showed that he had so questions but chose not to ask, instead he turned to the unconscious Darren and called for the dics.
Two dical officers rushed onto the field, quickly assessing Darren’s condition before placing him on a stretcher.
If anyone else amongst the cadets wanted to challenge Reid, they had completely buried that thought.
After this fight with Darren, it’d take a while before another cadet will be brave enough to challenge him again.
After all, Darren and Reid were supposed to be in the sa rank but the fight quickly ended with Darren not even getting a chance to fight back.
He also lost his forged beast in the process and that was a risk most of the cadets weren’t ready to take. He continued walking towards his team as the spectators kept eyes on him.
"That was badass" Clara comnted as soon as he was close enough.
"Yeah" Dean agreed "I knew you were strong, but this is a whole other level."
The others mostly had the sa thing to say, well except Lisa who was keeping a close eye on his face and expression.
"Are you okay?" she asked "You seem completely exhausted."
Reid had tried using [Rewind] on himself to get back his lost soul power but it didn’t work since he was technically still in the past, and he couldn’t rewind back to before the rge happened.
"I’m fine," he assured "just a bit tired from all the forging I’ve been doing with master Garrick."
Although Lisa accepted the explanation, that didn’t an she believed him. After all, she had t all his forged beasts and to so extent, knew what they were capable of.
Lisa narrowed her eyes slightly but didn’t push further—for now. Instead, she just crossed her arms and sighed.
"Let’s get you sowhere you can rest, then" Marcus suggested and with the others agreeing, they moved towards the tower.
"We’ll be crashing in your room, boss" Clara said with a grin "I wonder how your room looks like."
"Let’s get you sowhere you can rest, then," Marcus suggested. The others nodded in agreent as they began making their way toward the tower.
"We’ll be crashing in your room, boss," Clara added with a mischievous grin. "I wonder what your room looks like."
Reid sighed but didn’t argue "you’ll be surprised how normal it looks."
"I’ll be the judge of that" She said, still keeping the grin on his face.
"You really are loud, you know that?" Damien, who was walking with them comnted with an annoyed frown on his face.
"Excuse you!" Clara gasped dramatically, placing a hand on her chest. "I’m sorry if not everyone is a kill joy like you.’"
"More like not everyone is as annoying as you," Damien shot back.
"Pfft, you just wish you were fun to be around as I am" She sounded smug saying that.
"If you’re what people refer to as fun these days then I’d rather remain as I currently am" Damien rolled his eyes.
Dean chuckled, shaking his head. "You two bicker like an old married couple."
That earned him glares from both Clara and Damien.
"Take that back," they said in unison.
"Nope" Dean denied and the two suddenly started chasing him.
Reid, ignoring their antics, kept walking, his mind still half-focused on the mories he had extracted from Darren. He had gone through them quickly while the fight wrapped up, but he needed ti to sort through the details.
Lisa, walking beside him, noticed his distant look. Her brows furrowed slightly, but she didn’t press him yet.
They quickly reached the tower with Dean who was completely out of breath still refusing to take his words back.
When they reached Reid’s room, he scanned his ID which unlocked the door and he pushed it open.
Clara was the first to rush inside. "Alright, let’s see what secrets you’re hiding, boss!"
"Oh wow," She said, looking around. "It’s... actually kinda plain."
She completely scanned the entire room, clearly underwheld. The room was clean, well-organized, and lacked any sort of personal touch beyond the basic necessities. A simple bed, a desk with a few neatly stacked books, a tv and a closet.
"I can’t believe this is all you have in your room" she then turned to Reid, hands on her hips. "Where’s the hidden stash of suspicious manga? The secret entrance to the training rooms?"
"Why would I have those?" Reid asked, genuinely confused "and what suspicious manga?"
"This is so boring! You should at least have so posters or sothing" Clara ignored the question and dramatically groaned.
"That’s enough," Lisa cut off her nitpicking "we ca here so Reid could rest."
Reid gave Lisa a small nod of thanks before stepping into the bathroom to wash his face, rubbing his temple slightly.
He could feel the exhaustion creeping in, from his recent battle, ti travel and from the ntal strain of rging his past and future selves.
Sorting through Darren’s mories wasn’t helping either—there were so things that required more ti to process.
"Alright, fine," Clara huffed, plopping down onto his bed without hesitation. "But I call dibs on the bed!"
"Like hell you do," Damien grabbed her by the collar and dragged her off. "Reid’s the one who needs to rest."
Reid returned from the bathroom and sat down his bed while the others sat on the bean bags and sofas in the room.
Reid proceeded to release his forged beasts from his inventory, before allowing Rusty to use [Rewind] on him again.
Unlike his earlier attempt with soul power, this ti, he imdiately felt the headache fade away.
After that was done, the forged beast hopped off his lap heading to play with Reid’s other forged beasts.
Atlas and Axie on the other hand imdiately moved towards Lisa, demanding pets from her.
"They already like you this much?" Clara said with a pout. Atlas had ignored her for Lisa and the other forged beasts were not approaching her either.
Lisa chuckled, scratching behind Atlas’s ears while using her other hand to rub Axie’s smooth head.
"Guess I just have that effect on them," she teased, giving Clara a smug look.
"Unfair. I want to pet the cute ones too" Clara crossed her arms and pouted.
Axie, sensing her frustration, blinked at her in clear recognition before smugly turning its head away, clearly enjoying the attention from Lisa.
"Traitor," Clara muttered under her breath.
She continued pouting for a few minutes before Atlas moved to her lap, allowing her to pet it.
The room remained a bit quiet for a few minutes before Reid suddenly said,
"I might have so information on the cult"
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