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Chapter 92: Them Who Sit Above: Dora vs. Iris

Iris stood in front of the group with a smug look.

"You need a test subject for your assessments? Leave it to me! I'm tougher than anyone and not as tough as Lady Elizabeth, I'm definitely the best dummy!"

She smiled enthusiastically, Dora looked at her with disgust and rolled his eyes.

"No thanks."

"Huh? Why??? I'm the only person stronger than you, and I said first!"

"Please stop this, we get nothing by arguing, sounds familiar."

"... You didn't forget?... But I said sorry... What more should I do." She looked away, clutching her sword to her.

"Hm? Actually, that might be a good test." Midgard looked up.

"Mid, I'm trying to get revenge."

"I know, honey, but look at it this way, she is the perfect person to assess your level, the D-rank you could compete with a talented C-rank boy, maybe the C-rank you could defeat a B-rank genius."

She looked at the others who agreed.

Dora frowned and glanced at Iris who turned pink with emotion.

"It's not a question of level, it's a question of self-respect! I could test my talent differently!"

Iris flinched and looked down in pain.

Midgard crossed her arms, annoyed.

"And how? You cleared these Rifts solo like a walk in the park, what makes you think you won't do the same with the C-Rank Rifts? Or maybe you'll use a student weaker than Thomas?"

"You're not allowed to fight students either!" Candace groaned, soon supported by Mercy and Solaria.

"It sure would be a big fight, I mean, don't ya want to see what ya can do?"

"Yeah, my wonderful fighter, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to determine who is the strongest?"

Everyone gathered around him, forcing him to make this decision, with Zuri delivering the final blow in her own way.

"You are the best meat."

"Oh my God..."

A little later, Dora and Iris faced off in the arena.

The group stood at the edge of the field, silent in front of these two behemoths.

"Wait... Since his fight with Thomas affected the entire arena, are we really safe if these two fight now?" Moonra asked.

They looked at each other, then at Eryl.

"I doubt my shield will be enough this time, but I don't think it will get out of hand."

"You young people worry about everything, Elizabeth will intervene if things go south."

Elizabeth nodded and clenched her fist, worrying Freya about her own mentality.

In the middle of the field, Dora frowned more and more while Iris showed signs of joy.

"I should just refuse... It doesn't even sound interesting."

He sighed, not understanding the true meaning of this feeling.

From his point of view, he hated Iris, so he didn't want to fight her, but he didn't realize that something bigger was alerting him about the girl in front of him.

"Alright, then! Now that we're good, we MUST fight!"

"Who said we were good?"

"... How about I give you a free punch?"

Dora placed his hands on his hips, stretching his neck.

"A free punch, huh? Are you assuming I'll need one?"

"Huh? No, I didn't say that to offend-"

A powerful punch to the jaw silenced her.

The shock echoed throughout the arena, leaving the spectators paralyzed as they watched Dora in front of Iris whose head was turned to the side.

"There, free punch."

He squeezed his hand, looking at her, but the next moment he opened his eyes wide.

Iris placed a hand on her reddened cheek and turned around.

"Haha, good one, got me good, you little rascal, but I deserved it."

She laughed and raised her sword, with a determined smile.

"I guess we're even now? Can we then forget the past?"

Dora frowned and jumped back.

He looked at her for a few seconds, troubled by her reaction.

(I'm sure I could break everything with one punch before evolving... how did she...)

He was in a state of intense thought, what he was seeing was an obvious anomaly.

It was clear that as a B-rank, Iris was leagues above, but she took a punch from a Sin Avatar without even being thrown and without defending herself.

In comparison, he played with Thomas before he used his star power.

"Can we start now? I'll be serious, okay? Use... Wait, maybe I'll go small first, I've waited too long to get this over with."

Veins appeared on Dora's forehead.

"Who does she think... She's dealing with?"

*

*

The following moment would later be considered the premise of a natural disaster. All souls in the academy, surrounding buildings, and even further among the talented emissaries were facing the same direction.

"What is this?"

*

*

The arena was shining so brightly that it seemed even brighter than the sunlight. Suddenly, the ground started to shake again. Eryl was knocked down on her knees as her shield was taken away, but Elizabeth reacted quickly and deployed her own shield around them just a few hundredths of a second after Eryl's shield fell.

But despite her quick action, Mercy and Zuri lost consciousness, the others on their knees, and only Midgard and Candace were standing, the dean's irises glowing white.

"... This idiot..."

Dora's pressure reached a whole new level and expanded infinitely.

Its face was furious, and soon the earthquake subsided and the violence of the waves faded.

The field was perfectly lit, Dora standing on his kingdom, but as soon as he noticed Iris's face, he stopped his pressure.

Iris was trembling all over, a smile revealing deep madness on her lips.

She slowly raised her sword towards the sky, Dora, several meters in front of her was more and more in shock.

"I take back everything... Everything I said about this place, about this world... About you!"

Her foot lifted off the ground and her sword descended onto Dora. The arena shook violently, causing the building to crack.

In the academy, students came out of their rooms, thinking they had been attacked.

Elizabeth's shield floated above the ground, carrying everyone away.

Mercy and Zuri had come to their senses and looked with fear at the gigantic crater formed by Iris's attack.

The girl jumped out of the crater and looked behind her in distress.

"No... Oh no... Please, no... D-Dora? Are you there?!"

She looked more stressed than ever, throwing down her sword and jumping into the crater.

It was then that Dora's finger appeared right in front of her.

"X"

A cross formed on the girl's face and a shockwave threw her backward at high speed, but she stopped mid-air and landed safely next to her sword.

Dora landed in front of her groaning, a facial expression that Thomas had made famous as a sign that he was in trouble.

"Oh thank God... No... Thank you... You're amazing... I hit you point blank, but you're okay... I'd be so devastated if I knocked you out by mistake..."

Dora's aura exploded once again, but this time his energy was more homogeneous and concentrated around him.

"Polymerization:... Alpha Body"

It burst into a bright light, Iris took her sword but kept it in its sheath, so as not to risk hurting her opponent.

Dora disappeared from the ground and reappeared above, the starry sky of Nebula behind him, but Iris remained focused on the void before her.

"... Yeah, you're not only powerful, but you're also very smart."

She launched a powerful sword strike in front of her and a wall of arrows and spears that were rushing towards her were destroyed.

Dora flinched and spread his arms.

"Sagit...!!!"

Iris smiled and leaned forward.

Dora flinched again and brought his hands together, he spread them and a large white sword appeared, making Iris tremble.

"... Aah... He... He did it... He really did it!"

She lost her concentration and put a hand over her mouth, almost crying with joy.

Freya, recovering from her shock, looked at her like crazy.

"... I see." Elizabeth raised her finger. "Miss Candace, she might actually be the worst person to fight Dora, he will be really angry if she continues."

"... If you wanted me to stop him, do you think it was wise to give me this information? I'm going to enjoy his downfall."

"Come on..."

Candace laughed maniacally, the noble looked at her with incomprehension and noticed that Midgard and Eryl were watching the fight in annoyance.

Noticing their reaction, Candace took the initiative to explain by puffing out her inexisting chest.

"It's a very beautiful story, Iris has fought many students throughout her brilliant scholarship, knights, heroes, hunters, mages, all classes! And among them, three students stood above: Barron, Hope, and Thomas."

*

Dora lunged at Iris, but she parried his sword strike before being thrown into the air by his gravitational magic.

*

"Hope was... well, you already know him, a good talker but he got knocked out on the first hit, Cid was a good distraction at most, which is normal for an E-rank, but Thomas was supposed to be her best challenge, but all their fights had the same pattern."

*

Dora fell to the ground and quickly leapt back, while Iris leaned on the arena's edge and charged at him with her sword. They collided in a flashy display of black and white, swords clashing.

*

"Every mage has the same weakness, their defense is generally low, so as soon as she hit Thomas, it was over. Now, aside from the speed difference, she didn't even need to go all out, all she had to do was wait when he used Nebula to hit him, very easy, and like everyone else, one hit and he was on the ground."

*

Dora crashed to the ground again, he stood up angrily and looked furiously at Iris who was breathing hard, but not because of fatigue, she smiled while blushing, expressing something inappropriate.

Dora gritted his teeth and spread his arms, yellow and black orb on both hands.

*

"So what happened earlier really moved her... I hate to compliment him but... He simultaneously defeated Thomas and Barron without a fight, when he created this sword he realized that... she would attack him directly, so he changed his style. It doesn't sound like anything, but it's something no one has ever done against her, it's literally like anticipating the move she was anticipating to make before he anticipated using Nebula. Plus, he lasts longer than anyone else, so... Hey, are you listening?"

She placed her hands on her hips, noticing everyone gawking and looking behind her.

"D-Dean... The arena..."

She froze and slowly turned around to finally see it.

Half of the arena behind her was completely destroyed.

Around it, gigantic chains rose to the sky, and two stars clashed everywhere.

At certain moments, a powerful shockwave occurred and Dora landed on the ground before bouncing back with an attack of some sort.

The clashes continued everywhere, Dora roaring with rage and Iris euphoric.

Another flash of lightning in the sky, and Dora flew across the stadium, landing next to a dormitory.

A new wave of energy occurred, and the students around felt unconscious.

Candace looked at the beautiful landscape of her academy, visible beyond the destroyed arena, and began to tremble.

"Ely?"

"... Miss?"

"Do you like death?"

"... No?"

"I can make them wish for it."

"... Roger."

She jumped in the sky.

Dora appeared above the arena, all the surrounding energy converging towards him.

"I will erase your happiness no matter how I have to do it! Aurum..."

Elisabeth's sacred foot made him crash right in front of Iris.

The girl continued to look at the sky, where Dora was supposed to be, she laughed with immense pleasure before returning to normal.

"... Uh... Uweh?... Where is the attack?"

"Here." Elizabeth appeared behind her and sent her into a dream world with a trowel.

The cataclysm of energy faded in the final air, leaving the spectacle of Dora and Iris unconscious on the ground, next to Elizabeth who did not dare look at Candace.

The rest of the arena collapsed, all the students within a 200-meter radius had fainted, and only the group under Elizabeth's shield had witnessed this apocalypse.

Iris's sword rested peacefully in its sheath, never able to see the sky.

Eryl, for the first time, showed anguish in her eyes, glancing at Midgard who was rolling her eyes, visibly annoyed.

(Even for the Twilight of the Gods... We shouldn't let something like this get stronger...)