I Can Copy Curses

Orion followed behind Erza quietly, thinking that if he hadn't received the note Tracy had slipped into his pocket, the entire situation wouldn't have ended so easily. In the worst-case scenario, he might have been expelled from the guild by now.

'Is my luck finally turning around?' he wondered as he continued to follow her.

Not long after, they arrived at the door leading to the guild's combat hall.

"There's only one who can be selected, so let me see your real strength this time," Erza said, looking at him before opening the door and walking in.

Orion shrugged and followed her inside. As for showing his real strength, that wouldn't happen anytime soon—no gold-rank expert could force him to use his full powers.

Entering the combat hall, he was immediately greeted by a huge crowd of people, and Orion was surprised to see that the combat hall had been transformed into an arena-like platform. People were seated all around the hall, and in the center of the arena was the area where the real combat would take place.

As a frequent visitor to the combat hall, Orion could tell that the seating area had been recently added. In all his previous visits, the combat hall had been a spacious area used for training and fighting, with nothing like the current seating arrangement.

'It seems this is arranged especially for the selection,' Orion thought, realizing that even the guild was taking the Dollas Academy seriously.

"Let's go. I'll introduce you to your competitors." Erza led Orion toward a group of people in the hall.

"Ray, you're here!" Shuna waved at him when she saw him and Erza making their way over.

Orion nodded to her and saw that there were only six people in the group. Adding him, that made seven—there were still three missing.

"Everyone, this is Ray. I've told you guys about him, remember? He'll be participating in the assessment with you for that one spot," Erza introduced him to the other participants, but their reactions were rather cold. Some nodded to him out of courtesy for Erza, while others outright ignored him.

Orion's expression didn't change a bit when he saw their reactions.

However, Erza found their attitude toward Orion interesting but chose not to interfere.

"Alright, Ray, take care. I have to go now," Erza said before leaving.

Orion noticed that the other guild members participating were around his age, the age of Ray, but they didn't seem too keen on talking to him, ignoring him as one would ignore an ant walking by.

He understood the reason behind their attitude—his strength only appeared to be around early gold rank, making them believe he wasn't worth their time.

Well, neither were they to Orion.

Looking around, he saw many familiar faces from dungeon raids, but the number of new faces surpassed those he knew.

"Have you heard about what happened to Orion Darkwood?"

At that moment, a very interesting conversation reached his ears. Turning around, he realized it was the group of participants who were talking about him.

"It's said that he was the strongest genius of the three domains and even in the entire universe," Shuna replied, her eyes sparkling with wonder.

"Not only that, but I've heard he could defeat peak gold-rank experts when he was just in iron rank," said a broad-shouldered guy, his eyes shining with fascination.

"Rudy, Shuna, you two are both fascinated by this Orion, so you should know what happened to him, right?" another one chimed in. He looked rather thin, with noticeable eye bags on his face.

Both Shuna and Rudy's faces darkened when Patrick asked about what had happened to Orion.

"You two are hopeless," another individual joined their conversation. It was a lady with dark blue hair named Kiara.

"I know what happened to him," a man with neatly combed hair and a very neat black suit and tie said to them. His name was Roman.

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He looked at them, adjusted his glasses, and said, "It's said that he killed many high-ranking members of the three domains and even some young masters of the Archons. In the end, he betrayed the human race with his family and fled the three domains." He spoke loudly and proudly.

Orion sneered when he heard this, feeling deep anguish burn inside him as he listened to how the Ten Seats had portrayed him to others.

"I have some inside information. Do you want to hear it?" the last one of the group butted in at that moment. He had long hair down to his shoulders, and his skin appeared tanned.

"What is it, Josh?" Roman asked curiously.

"Hehe," Josh smiled and said, "It's said that he somehow killed Merlin the Magician."

"What? He killed Merlin the Magician?" Rudy exclaimed loudly but then realized where he was and immediately lowered his head.

Everyone in the hall heard him, and their faces showed various expressions—some angry, some disgusted, and some sympathetic, but it wasn't clear who they were feeling such emotions toward.

"Rudy, you dummy! You're still a moron," Kiara scolded.

Orion chuckled lightly after hearing their conversation. It was amusing to him how rumors had a way of taking on a life of their own, twisting and turning the truth until it was almost unrecognizable.

From the way they spoke, it was clear that his deeds had spread far and wide across the entire universe, becoming the stuff of legends. Yet, as with all stories that travel such vast distances, the details had been altered, embellished, and distorted in countless ways.

He knew that only those who had been present at that fateful banquet—and who had managed to survive until the very end—would ever know the real truth of what had transpired.

The events of that night were burned into his memory, a series of moments that had defined him and set him on the path he now walked. But to hear others speak of it, with all their wild exaggerations and half-truths, was almost surreal.

'Stories have a funny way of growing bigger with each telling,' Orion thought to himself, still amused.

"It seems everyone is here," a playful voice sounded, and a man with golden hair walked over to the group. He looked quite handsome, wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans. He appeared rather casual.

He was followed by two other individuals—one was a man who seemed to be in deep thought, submerged in his own world, and the other was a lady, aloof and arrogant.

"Reilly," Josh muttered in a solemn tone.

"Yo, Josh, you don't seem happy to see me arrive," Reilly teased Josh when he reached them.

"You value yourself too much," Josh sneered.

"I know, since I'm the strongest here, and I'll be going ahead, leaving you all behind," Reilly laughed mockingly before his attention was drawn to Orion, standing beside them with a bored look.

"Hey, who are you? I've never seen you around here before," he asked Orion.

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