-1Chapter 17: Rivalry

Culex yawned as he waited for him to be awarded the match. He knew, for a fact, that his opponent wouldn't show, and that was alright by him. He noticed one of the proctors who attended the day he was tested, who was helping organize the tournament, coming his way. The proctor stopped and declared him the victory. Culex chuckled and thanked the proctor as he started walking out but was stopped by May.

"Hold on there, rival." said May. Culex turned around and gave her a confused look

"Rival?" asked Culex. May nodded. "I haven't even beat you once, how can you consider me your rival?"

"Simple because you keep wanting to duel me to win, but that's not important. It looks a little odd that someone wouldn't show up to duel, especially against you." said May, with an inquisitive look in her eyes.

"Are you implying something?" asked Culex, responding to her with the same look she had.

"Yes. I smell foul play." said May. Culex chuckled as he pulled a small puppet, almost identical to the one he used to steal Crowler's papers with.

"I don't do Foul play. Personally, I like to call it strategic advantage." said Culex. May glared.

"But that's chea-" May stopped mid-sentenced as Culex put the puppet against her chest. "What are you doing?" Culex chuckled as from the puppet's mouth and limbs, several mechanical spiders came out and went inside her shirt.

"Bosom buddies. See ya later, rival." said Culex, laughing as May moved, trying to get the spiders away from her. She shouted to get them off, but couldn't and merely panicked. Culex left the room, and walked for a night stroll in the forest.

"Well that was fairly mean." said Culex, smiling a bit. "I wonder if Izual is enjoying his gift."

Izual sighed. He knew he would have to get revenge for this.

"Smile a little, Izzy-kun." said Suri, with almost a childish glee as she lifted her arms and used them to constrict and push Izual deeper in her bosom. Izual blushed more. He muffled something to her shirt. Then realized something. She was moving her arms. She wasn't paralyzed! But how? Right now, that was the least of Izual's worries. He kept trying to talk, but it all came muffled till Suri released her grasp. Izual took a nice big breath as his nose wasn't pressed down.

"Why are you so upset?" she asked, almost like a child. "Sum ego non pulchellus vobis(Am I not pretty to you)?" Izual looked at her, unsure of what to say. He was surprised at her talking latin, only person he knew who could speak Latin in this island was Culex, and he doubted that Culex would have taught her all that in a few seconds.

"How do you know latin?" he asked, as recovered his breath.

"Silly, it's my language." she said, smiling with her childish face. Izual's rose an eyebrow. Just who was this girl?"Can you help me sit up?" asked Izual. She giggled and lifted him a bit to sit her up.

Meanwhile, Jaden looked at May on the floor, panting. It had been quite a struggle to remove those mechanical spiders that lied next to May on the floor, smashed. Her clothes had some tears, but nothing too badly. She stood up and growled.

"I am going to kill that bas-" said May, but Jaden stopped him sentence.

"You okay?" asked Jaden. She turned to face him and glared.

"Do I look okay?" she asked. Jaden wasn't sure what to say. She always seemed so peaceful.

"I just never seen you angry." said Jaden, "That's all." May sighed.

"That guy angers me sometimes." said May, starting to get more calm. "Just a big troublemaker."

"Maybe you should get to know him before you start making accusations." said Jaden. May looked at him.

"What do you mean?" asked May, confused.

"Well, you never know why people act one way. Maybe they had some trouble in their past? I am just saying you should know who he is before you insult him, that's all." said Jaden. May thought about it. IT did make sense.

"But how?" asked May.

"Why not just ask him?" suggest Jaden. Sounded simple enough.

"Maybe, but he probably wouldn't even listen to me." said May.

"She might not listen to May, his rival but might listen to May, the hot duelist. Either way, it's your choice. I am gonna go okay?" said Jaden. "Later." With that, he started walking away as May pondered her thoughts. Meanwhile, Christy caught up with Jaden.

"I saw what you did back there, you really think Culex had trouble in his past?" asked Christy.

"Nope." said Jaden, grinning.

"So why did you tell her that?" asked Christy.

"I figured it be hilarious if she did it." said Jaden, chuckling. Christy chuckled.

Culex stopped near the border of the island and sat, resting against a tree. He liked the sound of waves crashing against the border. It was soothing.

"Man, I need to get out more…" said Culex to himself. Then, he noticed someone going through the bushes. He slowly noticed the figure coming out. It was May. Instantly, a grin came to his face. He noticed the tears in her close, though he had expected worse. He expected her to come and mad but was confused when she came with a grin.

"Hey Cu." said May. Culex was confused.

"Cu? What happened to rival?" asked Culex, as he noticed her sitting down next to him.

"You didn't like it." said May as she sat next to him, and started playing with his hair. "Beside, it's cute. It fits your appearance." Culex eyed her. He wasn't one to complain about compliments, however, he knew May wasn't that way.

"What about the puppet incident, with the spiders?" he asked, hoping to see some flinching by May. He noticed the smallest of twitches in her expression but she simply giggled. He smiled as she had already failed.

"That was just as joke, silly." said May, then she looked down with an almost flawless face of shyness. "Besides, it felt almost…good." Culex was caught off-guard. If it wasn't for the fact he knew it was fake, then he would be worried. He even started to doubt he actually saw the flinch. He decided to play back.

"I can do it again, if you'd like." said Culex, giving her an evil grin. May was caught off guard by this. "I would even do it more…personal." And that was the key blow. May opened her mouth to speak but no words. She wouldn't be taken down so easy, however.

"Really?" she managed to say, trying to buy time.

"Yup." said Culex, grinning. "I'd even do it now, if you'd like." May looked at him, wanting to slap him but held her anger.

"That would be fun, but I don't fool around with guys I don't know much about, if you know what I mean." said May. Matter of fact, she didn't "fool around" with any guy, regarding the use of expression in this context.

"You didn't seem to mind the bosom buddies, maybe you want more for later?" asked Culex. May stopped playing with his hair, and moved her hand across his neck. Culex felt the cool skin, and enjoyed the feeling. She gently removed her hand. May wasn't sure what to say, so Culex just looked at her.

"So what is that you are looking for May? You are not good at acting."

"Can't blame me for trying eh?" said May. Culex shrugged.

"Perhaps. Though those bosom buddies were fun." said Culex. May glared at him.

"No way. Not fun. At all. Why did you do that?" asked May.

"It was funny. Besides, you ranting about me cheating is not good, yes?" said Culex.

"I suppose, but that was really mean. And it hurt." said May, frowning a bit.

"Get over it." said Culex, a tad harshly.

"Were you always like this?" she asked. He gave her a questioning look.

"What do you mean?" asked Culex.

"Were you always so mean?" asked May. Culex sighed.
"It is the nature of where I was born, so yes." said Culex. It was May's turn to be confused.

"What do you mean?" asked May. Culex looked up.

"I'm not from around here." said Culex simply.

"Like Izual?" asked May. Culex chuckled at her choice of comparison.

"Yes. Izual and I are very alike yet completely different." said Culex. May was about to ask something but Culex answered it. "We were raised in different clans."

"Clans still exist?" asked May, who thought that was an ancient concept. Culex chuckled.

"Yes, my clan was…different, however." said Culex. "We were a clan that were, respectively, more powerful than Izual's. We were more aggressive, unlike Izual's."

"Aggressive?" asked May, unsure of what he meant."Yes, my clan was very embodiment of pride. You wanted power. The more power you had, the better you were. It was everyone for himself." said Culex, chuckling as he relaxed bit more, leaning against the tree, getting comfortably. May was going to ask something but Culex answered it. "Yes, we were a clan. But our purpose was to serve our ruler. Even though we might get sent as team, the point was to accomplish the goal. If someone died, it didn't matter as long as the goal was accomplished. However, we trained hard for that not too happen."

"So, did you held funerals for the dead people?" asked May, intrigued by this. Culex shook his head.

"Not really. We didn't really care of our deaths. What bother us was the fact that someone could defeat one of us, which forced us to train harder. It was all to accomplish whatever our leader desired. Though we were very talented at what we did."

"So how did you manage to fight so well?" asked May, also wondering who the leader was. Culex looked around, then looked around.

"Keep it a secret." said Culex as he removed his glove, and showed a black circle on his palm, the whole inside circle black. May looked at it.

"What is it?" asked May, then small strings started coming out of and she jumped back, startled. "What are those?"

"You see, my clan's blood has something special on it. For some reason, the blood vessels are large than usually, and emit a strange energy that produce these strings." said Culex, showing her the strings. They seemed to be like regular string, except for a faint green glow, slowly moving like worms. "I can also manipulate their size and length." He pulled them back, then a large, thick, string came out, taking almost the size of the big circle. "The number of strings I can pull are proportional to the size, of course." And with that, he pulled the giant string back, and made a thrusting motion with his hand, and several strings came out heading straight for tree. "They have almost infinite end." May was just in awe.

"That's…incredible!" she said, completely amazed. Culex chuckled.

"Yes, quite useful really." said Culex. "Works excellent with puppets. It seems energy can travel through these, making controlling the puppet a lot easier. Watch." He pulled the puppet he used to steal the papers off Dr. Crowler and the strings moved like worms, attaching to certain parts of it. Then, the strings moved and the puppet moved like a human.

"As a young boy, people had discovered my mind had developed more than those of the regular humans, which is why I'm here, I suppose."

"So you are saying you are genius?" asked May, still awed by the string. Culex chuckled.

"Nah. I may be a genius at creating puppets, but that's about it. However, my mind posses some strange attributes that come handy once in a while." said Culex. "Aslong as it serves the goal of the leader, it shall be enough."

"So who is this leader that you speak so much about?" asked May, curious.

"She is an exiled human. I guess you could say she's the perfect human, for she has no sin. Though she has gained a fame for being an succubus, she is not. But rather the mother of all succubus." said Culex

"What's a succubus?" asked May. She was not familiar with the term.

"Go look it up. Stupid author doesn't want me discussing much about it, and would rather reviewers look for it through Wikipedia or something of the like. In any case, her name is Lilith. She is the first woman of earth." said Culex. May laughed.

"You are joking, right? If by clan you mean cult, then I agree with you." said May, yet Culex just shook his head.
"It's no laughing matter. I'm sure you noticed Culex's emblem in his hand isn't exactly normal. His clan trapped Lilith in an imprisonment, for which she has been trying to break free for some time." said Culex. May thought about it. She had noticed some strange marks on Izual's hand. Maybe this wasn't such a crazy idea…

"So why did they trap Lilith?" asked May.

"Lilith was being forced to do something she didn't want to with Adam, the same Adam from the story of Adam and Eve, and she ran away from the Garden of Eden. From there, she had been exiled, and she had started to reproduce with a demon, creating countless succubi. The succubi were not her fault, however. She had not known their purpose, and let them free. Adam realized his mistake and wanted Lilith, so three angels were sent to get her. Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof." said Culex. "The angels tried to take her back, but she refused. They killed her demon mate, and said if she would not return, they would kill a hundred of her succubi a day, and she agreed. They essentially did so, and left her alone, to a certain extent. It seemed the world had entered a stage of peace, but it was not so." said Culex. May looked at him.

"What do you mean?" asked May, fascinated by the story.

"I shall discuss it a later day." said Culex. "Too much story for today." May sighed, but then grinned as she stood up.

"A pity, I had considered some of the things you suggested with you, see if I liked any." said May, with a mischievous grin. Culex was caught by surprise and looked up at her face. "But leaving me without an unfinished story? You killed the chance, Culex. Bye, rival." She smiled as she turned around and left. Culex quickly stood up, tried to chase her but tripped on a rock a few feet after he started running. His face hit the ground. He sighed.

"Well that was embarrassing." he said to himself. Then, he another voice in the surroundings.

"I agree as well." said the voice as a figure came out of the bushes, revealing to be Christy. He looked at her.

"How long have you been there?" he asked as he removed his face off the ground. He had hoped she hadn't seen him using the strings.

"Just long enough to catch her completely fooling you. Your face, and action, was priceless." said Christy, laughing. He clenched his fist.

"What. Ever." he said as he stood up and started walking away.

"You know, for someone who claim to be so good with girls, you just can't seem to deal with them eh?" said Christy then he snapped his finger and a trapped triggered spraying her with itchy powder.

"Knock yourself out." said Culex as Christ started itching like crazy and started scratching.