Demon Legacy - Chapter 24 The Be

Walking out of the test hall, Kaden was in a bit of a bad mood.

“How did you do?” Chet asked.

They had been sitting on opposite ends of the hall, so they couldn’t see each other during the test.

“Horribly.” Kaden thought he was likely to end up in last place for the physics ranking.

“Me too.” Damien was in the same boat, not having studied for the test at all. However the only reason it bothered him, was that his father might turn more strict if he dropped down a class.

“What about you Chet?” Kaden noticed that Chet seemed to be in a much better mood than him and Damien.

“I’m not quite sure, but I think I did alright.” Chet said.

A few months before the mid terms, he had begun studying for all of the written tests.

At the time he had also invited Kaden and Damien to join him, but of course both of them had declined. Damien spent all his time playing games instead, while Kaden was focused on his training.

Kaden did have a lot to show for his efforts. After reaching the 13th level of Body Tempering, he was 3 whole levels ahead of Chet and Raphael, the two strongest on the rankings behind him.

He was bummed out at the possibility of dropping down to the special classes, but he still had a plan that could save him.

“If I just defeat everyone in one move during the tournament, the academy will have no choice but to give me enough points to stay in the elite class.” Despite all the people around, Kaden spoke these words nonchalantly. He didn’t care if they heard him.

If someone else had said those words, Chet might have thought they were being presumptuous. But he had sparred with him many times and knew that Kaden was holding back.

“One move? Aren’t you being a bit too arrogant?” A haughty voice broke into the conversation.

Naturally it was Raphael. He had seen Kaden talking and walked over, intending to bring him down a notch. As always, he was followed around every where by his two cronies.

“Do you have a problem with what I said?” Kaden frowned.

Raphael’s presence only worsened his already bad mood. For some reason this annoying fly just kept pestering him whenever he saw a chance.

“Yeah I do. You’re talking way too big right now. You haven’t even fought anyone from the elite class, yet you think you can defeat us all in one move? You always hide behind your friend Chet, refusing to spar with anyone else. I made an offer to spar twice, but you were too afraid to accept both times. What makes you think you can defeat me, let alone in one move?”

“Hm?” Kaden raised an eyebrow, “Hold on a second, you think I declined because I’m scared of you?”

“If not that, then what?” Raphael had a cocky grin on his face. He was sure that he had struck a nerve.

“You’re such a moron” Kaden couldn’t control his disbelief, “I didn’t fight you because it would be a waste of my time. The only technique you have is that mediocre one from Bright-Star Dojo right? Oh and the Student Fist Art of course, but I’ve seen your accomplishments in that, nothing special.”

Among the wealthy families in the capital, the Bright-Star Dojo was a bit of a joke. Few parents on planet Aldera were willing to send their kids to the dojo, so most of their recruits came from the worse off planets in the Federation.

“Tsk. Maybe I don’t have the same fancy techniques you do, but you’re calling me the moron? I did fine on my test, how about you? I saw you kept looking at me during the test. You worried about how you did? Knowing you, your results will probably be the worst in our class, ss expected of the true moron. Even if you have better techniques, they’re wasted on you.” Raphael laughed.

“Yeah you’re right, I did pretty bad on the test. However it won’t matter as long as I beat your stupid ass, which is a given. You’re only slightly ahead of Chet in strength, I bet if you two were to fight, he would come out on top.”

After sparring together for months, Kaden was confident that Chet could take down Raphael.

“There’s no way either of you could beat me.” Raphael said, crossing his arms.

“You want to bet on it? We’re on opposite brackets for the tournament and I’ll meet Chet in the semi-final. After I beat you in the final, you and Chet will have to fight for second place.” Kaden was certain that Chet would make it to the semi-final.

“Sure I’ll bet. The question is if you will, or were you just bluffing before?” Raphael’s lips curled into a smile.

The dojo paid him a stipend, but it wasn’t a lot. It would be good if he could win some money from this rich kid.

“Hey are you sure about this?” Chet put a hand on Kaden’s shoulder. Having the bet rely on him made him a bit nervous, after all he didn’t know if he was capable of beating Raphael.

“Maybe you should listen to him. I’ll still let you back out now if you’re getting cold feet.” Raphael chimed in from the side, acting like he had good intentions.

However Raphael’s goal was to make it impossible for Kaden to back out. If Kaden called off the bet now, he would be acquiescing to Raphael’s statement that he was afraid.

“No need for you to concern yourself with that, I’m not backing out.” Kaden didn’t even consider Raphael’s offer before refusing it.

But he had to do something about Chet’s worries. It was hard for Chet to look at it with an objective standpoint like Kaden did.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s slightly stronger, but your family technique more than makes up for that. It’s way better than the technique he got from his dojo. Also from what I’ve seen, your accomplishments in the Student Fist Art are much better than his. We’ve been sparring together for months, trust me, you can beat him.” Kaden did his best to encourage Chet and give him some confidence.

“Okay, I’ll do it.” Chet nodded, the trust Kaden put into him eased some of the pressure he was feeling.

“Great.” Kaden gave Chet a clap on the shoulder and turned his attention back to Raphael.

“So How much do you want to bet?” Kaden purposely made Raphael put forth the first number.

Raphael considered it for a while, he didn’t have all that much money and he certainly couldn’t afford to lose it.

Over time a crowd had formed, watching the exchange take place. Now that there were people watching, Raphael knew he couldn’t offer too small an amount or he would lose face in front of everyone here.

“Let’s do 1000 units.” Raphael finally spoke.

“1000?” Kaden frowned at the low number, “Isn’t that too little? That’s not even worth my time. What would I do with such a small amount of money.”

“If you want to lose more that’s fine, 1500!” Raphael’s statement shocked the people watching.

To most of them, 1500 units for a mere bet was already a substantial amount of money.

However for Kaden it wasn’t a satisfactory amount. In fact it wasn’t even enough to catch his interest. He had to provoke Raphael and drive the price up a bit more.

“Is that really all you have? You backwater dwellers sure are poor.” Kaden targeted Raphael’s weak point in front of the crowd.

“What number do you want?” Raphael started to get irritated as Kaden denied both of his offers, embarrasing him in front of everyone.

“Well, I was thinking something like 8000, but I doubt you have that much. I guess 3000 will have to do.” Kaden figured that somewhere around 3000 would be the absolute limit.

Raphael hesitated at the high number. 1500 units was already making him feel the pinch, it was most of the money he had. Only by saving as much as he could for months, had he barely managed to save up 2000 units. There was no way he could afford the 3000 unit bet.

But then again, as long as he won he wouldn’t have to pay and it it would be fine right? Even if he somehow lost to Kaden, he was confident that there was no way he would also lose to Chet.

Kaden felt Raphael’s hesitation and decided to provoke him some more, “Perhaps you can’t afford it?”

“I can!” Raphael responded immediately with a lie. Under the eyes of all the people watching, he couldn’t back down.

“Well why aren’t you accepting the bet?” Kaden asked, inciting discussion from the crowd.

Raphael gulped, Kaden’s question had put him on the spot with no other option, “Fine, let’s do it.”

“Just so it’s clear, the bet is that both Chet and I will beat you at the combat tournament. I get 3000 units if we both win, you get 3000 units if you defeat either of us. Correct?” Kaden was happy to see Raphael agree. The amount still wasn’t as much as he would’ve liked, only 1000 more than he got every week, but he would be glad to take it from that bothersome guy.

“Yes.” Raphael confirmed the contents of the bet.

“Good, now take a look around.” Kaden gestured around him at the people watching, “There are so many witnesses here. You better not renege on the bet later when you come to regret it.”

“I’m not the one who’ll get scared, you are!” Raphael yelled back.

There was no way out for either of them now.

“Sure sure, no need for all the talk, we’ll find out the truth soon enough.” Kaden waved as he walked off with Chet and Damien, leaving Raphael behind.

“Boss, was this really a good idea? I feel like he pulled one over on you.” One of Raphael’s friends asked.

“Of course I am. Besides theres no point in talking about it now, I can’t back out.”

After calming down, Raphael was starting to get a bit uncertain. The money had risen to an amount higher than he could afford very quickly.

“Anyway, worst case I only have to defeat that Chet guy. It should be easy, I’m ranked ahead of him on the leaderboards after all.”

“But boss You were the one who said it didn’t matter that Kaden was ranked ahead of you.”

“Right.” Raphael felt a bit awkward, he had forgotten that he had said that, “Well… This is different.”