"Gaius, clear the area. No one is to come within ten meters of the dueling area. Duke Angmar and I shall be the witnesses and judges of this duel. Violators will be charged with treason."

Aiden Duke’s voice rang out.

The rules of the duel were thus established.

Raylo nodded in satisfaction.

"In that case, I accept your challenge, Eliot."

He didn’t retrieve his Divine Weapon, Broken Flow. ’He wouldn’t need it to deal with Eliot.’

To the astonishment of the assembled nobles, Raylo casually drew a Knight’s Longsword.

The blade was long and slender, of a common design. It was a standard-issue military weapon, part of the first batch forged by the Valen Family of Red Iron Castle after they joined the Black Stone Territory.

In Eliot’s eyes, this act was a blatant humiliation.

"You..."

Eliot trembled with rage.

As instructed, two guards brought Eliot his sword.

It was a magnificent Long Sword, inlaid with sapphires and its hilt engraved with the royal crest.

Eliot snatched the sword and gripped it tightly. The familiar weapon helped him regain a shred of his confidence.

He strode to the center of the floor, facing Raylo from across the hall.

"Raylo! You are far too arrogant!"

He pointed his sword at Raylo, trying to reclaim some of his bravado with words.

"I was promoted to Earth Knight three years ago! My Fighting Spirit Cultivation is far beyond that of someone like you, who only managed to scrape your way to the threshold of Great Knight through some lucky fluke!"

"Today, I will show you that a true Knight’s honor is built on absolute power!"

His voice was full of bluster, a transparent attempt to mask his fear.

However, Raylo paid his shouting no mind.

He simply gave the Knight Sword an unhurried heft, acclimating to its weight and balance.

Then, a surging wave of Magic Power erupted from his body, no longer concealed in the slightest.

HUMMM!

The standard-issue Long Sword in his hand emitted a low hum as slender, silver arcs of electricity slithered across the blade like tiny snakes, letting out soft crackles.

At the same time, he raised his left hand slightly. An even more violent mass of the Lightning Element began to gather in his palm, forming an unstable Thunderball that pulsed with terrifying energy.

In that moment, he was no longer just a Knight.

Magic Power and Fighting Spirit, two completely different systems of power, merged perfectly within him.

He seemed to transform into an impending storm.

The atmosphere in the great hall instantly grew heavy, thick with oppression.

Duke Angmar’s pupils contracted. The amused look on his face vanished completely, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity.

A flicker of astonishment also crossed Aiden Duke’s eyes.

The eruption of Fighting Spirit and Magic Power was that of an Earth Knight.

Everyone present gasped. They never expected that in just one short year, Raylo had also advanced to become an Earth Knight. His speed of advancement was simply staggering.

Eliot, however, was dumbstruck, as if struck by lightning. He could clearly feel the immense aura radiating from Raylo, an aura that far surpassed that of an ordinary Great Knight. The pure, violent Lightning Magic Power in particular sent a tremor of fear through his heart.

"Impossible... How can you be..."

Raylo gave him no chance to spout more nonsense. He raised his eyes and uttered two words.

"Let’s begin."

The instant the words left his mouth, the Magic Power throughout his body surged violently!

"RAAAAAAGH!"

Overwhelmed by Raylo’s aura, Eliot’s pride drove him to let out a beastly roar.

At that moment, all his humiliation and resentment transformed into furious Fighting Spirit. A brilliant aura of Fighting Spirit erupted from his body, enveloping him completely.

The might of an Earth Knight was on full display. His raging Fighting Spirit caused the very air to thrum, generating a sudden gust of wind.

He drove his legs down hard, and the marble tiles beneath his feet cracked under the force. He shot forward like an enraged bull, charging straight for Raylo!

For an Earth Knight, a distance of less than ten meters could be crossed in the blink of an eye.

But Raylo moved as well.

And when he moved, he was faster than Eliot, and his movement was far stranger.

There was no earth-shattering boom beneath his feet, only a series of faint, crackling sparks of electricity.

As he moved, the silver lightning from his rapid steps spread out across the polished floor, forming a vast, flickering spiderweb of electricity!

"Lightning Speed!"

Empowered by his Lightning Magic Power, Raylo’s figure became a blur of electrical afterimages, closing the distance with Eliot at a speed that defied the laws of physics.

The distance between them closed in an instant.

Ten meters, five meters, three meters!

Just as Eliot raised his Long Sword, preparing to overwhelm technique with brute force and crush Raylo—man and sword alike—with the immense Fighting Spirit of an Earth Knight.

Raylo made his move.

It was not his sword hand that moved, but his left—the one that had been gathering the Thunderball all along!

He thrust his left hand forward, fingers splayed.

KZZZRT!

The Thunderball spinning in his palm instantly transformed into a raging torrent of lightning that, faster than a thunderclap, slammed squarely into Eliot’s face.

Eliot didn’t even have time to scream.

His charge came to a dead stop, his body flung backward by the immense force.

His vision went white, and his ears filled with a piercing whine. Every strand of his hair stood on end, charred and curled. His handsome face was now a blackened mess.

His mind went blank, the flow of his Fighting Spirit completely broken.

A fatal opening.

For Raylo, it was more than enough.

In the same instant the lightning erupted, Raylo used his forward momentum to flash past the stunned Eliot.

An impossibly fast silver gleam, like a meteor streaking across the night sky, flashed and vanished.

*Pfft.*

It was a faint sound, almost drowned out by the pounding hearts of everyone in the hall.

Raylo’s figure appeared several meters behind Eliot, where he slowly came to a halt.

The Knight Sword was gone from his hand, leaving him empty-handed.

He slowly turned around.

You could have heard a pin drop in the great hall.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the two figures on the floor.

Time itself seemed to slow.

Eliot was still frozen in his forward-charging posture, his body rigid.

The dazed look on his face from the lightning strike slowly gave way to incomprehensible confusion.

Slowly, with great difficulty, he lowered his head.

There, in the center of his chest, the all-too-familiar standard-issue Knight’s Longsword was buried to the hilt.

Blood welled up from the wound around the blade, gushing out to quickly stain his robes red.

His Life Force was rapidly draining away with the loss of blood.

He couldn’t understand.

He couldn’t understand at all.

’Why?’

’Why was the Earth Knight’s Fighting Spirit I took so much pride in as fragile as paper before him?’

’Why was he so fast?’

’Wasn’t he just supposed to be some lucky Great Knight?’

Countless questions swirled in his mind, but none would ever be answered.

He raised his head to look at Raylo in the distance. The eyes once filled with venom and resentment now held only overwhelming shock and terror.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but only a mouthful of blood gurgled up his throat.

"Urk..."

His last ounce of strength finally gave out, and his knees buckled.

Then, his entire body crashed to the floor with a heavy thud.

His eyes remained wide open, staring lifelessly at the ornate frescoes on the great hall’s ceiling.

He could not rest in peace.