Chapter 10

Suddenly the table started to quiet down as Damien felt a group of students approaching. Turning his head around, he saw a student named Thomas that was part of the genius section of the cafeteria in their age group.

"So, Damien, I heard that you are stronger than you are letting others know. But to me, you look like a no-good weakling that just knows how to lean on your background to drive fear into others. I demand a spar with you after school!" Thomas announced for the surrounding tables to hear.

Eavesdropping on their conversation, many of the upperclassmen on the other side of the cafeteria could only laugh and snicker since they were always looking down on those younger than them. Some upperclassmen were even taking bets among each other.

Thomas was a large and muscular individual despite his young age. With his raw physical strength, his swordsmanship was lacking, but he made up for this technical weakness by pouring all his power into his thrusts and swings.

Hearing Thomas announcing such a request, Damien turned back around to finish eating, showing Thomas that he was not worthy to even hold a conversation with him. Unwilling to accept the current turn of events, Thomas shouted out in anger.

"Did you hear me? You weak little bug! I said that I challenge you to spar!" Thomas couldn't swallow his anger as he reached out to Damien's shoulder to turn him back around forcefully. Except, once Thomas's hand reached Damien's shoulder, he instead grabbed his head and slammed Damien's face into his plate filled with food.

Damien and the rest of the table were taken off guard. All of Damien's friends started to withdraw their weapons to help protect him as Damien turned towards Thomas once again with a blank face. Damien did not care about being provoked, but at this moment, his reputation would take a dive and that would possibly affect that man who took him in.

"Good, very good! If you are not going to hide with your tail between your legs, meet me at the arena behind the school after classes are dismissed for the day. I will teach you what it means to be part of the genius circle!" laughing in ridicule, Thomas and his followers walked away, leaving Damien and his friend behind.

"Yeah, you should retreat! We are not afraid of you or your lackeys Thomas!" Damien's friends including Morty started to shout out towards them. Their group of friends were usually extremely neutral, but now that a true foe appeared, they were not going to hold themselves back in the slightest.

Within the academy, quite a few alliances were formed between groups of friends and other groups. Although this served no purpose other than increasing one's level of influence, many groups of friends chose to do this so that they could increase their power in the world of politics.

Due to the constant power struggle of those who would seek political power, some groups such as Damien's would remain neutral to every other group so that if one side's influence outmatched the other sides, they would still be on friendly terms with everyone.

The reason that Thomas and his followers chose to instigate a situation with Damien's group was that he was part of an alliance that catered to an influential political group within the Church of Light. By flexing their strength, Thomas would gain more favour from his political group, and he felt that Damien's group had no real backing to pose a threat.

Damien's group was filled with several individuals who had strong family ties when it came to cities on a smaller scale compared to the rest of the world. However, they were unable to shake any influential family from better-off regions that controlled more land. Though they were not considered weak by any means, they were still considered just average overall.

"You guys can quiet down now that they are gone," Damien told his friends once he finished wiping off his face. "I will put on a show after school that will prove our strength as a group and will prove my personal strength to everyone as well!" with a fire burning in his eyes, Damien sat back down to finish eating before their next class began.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly, as word spread throughout the academy about the fight. The field agent that took Damien in had a well-established reputation within the tower, and Thomas's political ties were also well established. The word that there would be a spar taking place, started to lift the eyebrows of some teachers and upperclassmen.

With the scene set, the final classes of the day we're finally dismissed. As the majority of the students who had nothing else more pressing to attend to as well as some of the academy's faculty made their way over to the arena, Damien remained in the classroom with Morty and Joel.