Chapter 122: Iris vs Ronel (1)
Only two people still hadn’t asked a question: Rana and Sirius.
"Can we refuse? That thing of yours looks difficult, and I really don’t want to become that strong."
Rana voiced aloud what many had only dared to think.
Gramm answered sharply, without the slightest hesitation.
"No."
Disheartened, she quietly sat back down.
No one truly wished to find out the cost of openly opposing Gramm.
With only Sirius left, he took a moment to think.
When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, almost solemn.
"What did you want? To become that strong, you must have gone through hell. So... what is your dream?"
Gramm remained silent for a moment, his gaze drifting somewhere between past and present.
"If I seek strength, it is to understand this world."
That answer reassured no one.
("He wants to become strong?") they all thought in disbelief.
It only raised more questions, but the time for questioning was over.
"Now that all your questions have been answered, let’s begin. First, we’ll see where each of you stands."
With a snap of his fingers, golden flames burst forth, instantly tracing a perfect circle in the middle of the room.
As everyone expected another demonstration, Gramm declared in an implacable tone:
"You will fight in duels. Give everything you have. Hold nothing back."
A murmur rippled through the group.
"Iris and Ronel, step forward."
Ronel was the first to enter the circle, a stretched smile curling her lips.
"When you say ’hold nothing back’... does that mean I can kill?"
"Wait, what?" Elizir exclaimed.
"Isn’t this supposed to be training?" Fidri added, incredulous.
"You may fight with all your strength, even with killing intent. I will intervene only if necessary."
Gramm’s answer was anything but reassuring.
Iris, however, didn’t dwell on it. She stepped into the ring in turn, adjusted her scarf, and said with a smile:
"I’m counting on you."
As the first two duelists took their places, the others stepped back. No further announcement was made.
The fight began.
Ronel reacted first.
Her emerald eyes gleamed with a menacing light as she adopted an offensive stance.
<< Thief’s Scythe >>
A long, circular black scythe emerged from nothingness.
The weapon exuded a sinister aura, saturated with a chilling murderous intent.
Without waiting, Ronel lunged at Iris, the blade carving a deadly arc.
"She’s trying to kill her?" Elizir muttered.
Iris, however, did not move.
The scythe swept past her, missing completely.
Ronel stopped dead, eyes wide.
A question was written plainly across her face.
"How... how did I miss?"
Iris smiled calmly.
One of her fingers rested against Ronel’s throat.
"If that had been a knife, you’d be dead."
Ronel trembled before leaping backward, her heart pounding wildly.
("I saw it coming... so why didn’t I react?")
"Your resonance... what is it exactly?" she asked warily.
Iris’s lips curved slightly.
Placing a finger to her lips, she murmured:
"It’s a secret."
"If you won’t talk, then just die!" Ronel roared.
She spun her scythe above her head before hurling it at full speed toward Iris.
Once again, Iris made no move.
The blade passed by her.
"Interesting..." Ronel murmured, as if she had grasped something.
---
Iris’s soul’s eyes perceived something new within her opponent.
A dark, dangerous resolve was taking shape.
("If I delay, she’ll figure it out.")
"Little brother," she said simply.
Sirius sighed.
"Give me two minutes."
No one understood what the twins meant until Sirius moved.
<< Nephele >>
The ring on his right hand dissolved into a white mist, which began to take shape.
("She wants it like before... No choice. I’ll have to build each piece separately.")
<< Stereos >>
The mist gradually solidified, slowly revealing the silhouette of a violin.
"What are you doing?" Gracia asked, intrigued.
"Iris’s favorite weapon."
She thought it looked more like a musical instrument, but held her tongue, waiting to see the outcome.
---
Meanwhile, Ronel didn’t wait for Iris to be armed.
Her emerald eyes burned with savage murderous intent. Her green-tinted hair flew wildly, her breathing turned ragged, her face twisted by a deranged exhilaration.
"I’m going to kill you... carve you up... and eat your boiled flesh..."
Then she leapt.
This time, Iris dodged barely.
The scythe grazed her cheek, leaving a thin cut.
A narrow trickle of blood flowed.
Ronel lazily licked the blood from her lips.
"I got you."
---
Outside the circle, the atmosphere was tense. Everyone turned toward Sirius, demanding an explanation.
Sirius hesitated over whether he should reveal the true power of the soul’s eyes.
Still, considering they would be training together for a full year.
("They’ll find out sooner or later. Keeping it a mystery won’t help.")
"Iris’s resonance allows her, among other things, to manipulate or influence her opponent’s emotions or state of mind," he explained calmly.
"The first time, she planted doubt in Ronel about her own positioning. Ronel believed Iris was on her left, when she was actually slightly to the right."
"So Iris trapped her in an illusion, and that’s why she missed?" Fidri concluded.
"No. It’s subtler than an illusion. Imagine you have to choose between two doors. You’re told only one is correct. You think, you choose, you approach. Just as you’re about to enter, the other door lights up. What do you do?"
Gracia answered without hesitation:
"I’d turn toward the light, convinced I made a mistake."
"Exactly. That’s doubt. Iris made Ronel believe she needed to adjust her trajectory, which caused her to miss. But this time, Ronel changed tactics."
"Then why did it work this time?" Elizir asked.
Sirius observed Ronel.
"What does she look like right now?" he asked.
"Like a lunatic escaped from an asylum," Elizir replied.
"That’s it. Ronel understood she had to stop thinking. By letting herself be overwhelmed by her murderous instinct, she’s no longer guided by reason, but by an uncontrollable impulse. Doubt has no hold on her anymore."
"Wait... If her power doesn’t work anymore, then Iris has already lost! Why doesn’t she give up?" Elizir cried.
Sirius burst out laughing, as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. Elizir felt stung, as though he were being treated like an idiot.
Lucy placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
"Doubt is only one string on Iris’s bow. Believe me, she won’t lose. She may seem gentle, kind, sometimes even harmless..."
She paused, then added in a deeper voice:
"But when she gets serious, she’s simply terrifying."
---
Back in the fight, Iris struggled to evade Ronel’s furious assaults, waiting patiently.
When the two minutes were up, Sirius threw the violin.
Iris caught it midair and retreated, creating distance.
She took her stance like a violinist, placed the bow on the strings, and began to play , a melody that seemed to resonate directly with the soul.
Gracia recognized the piece at the very first note.
"The Meditation from Thaïs, Act II prelude..." she whispered, captivated by its elegance.
