16 The Duel

A duel was different from any of the spars I had with father or Mark.

As I walked towards the Training Grounds I saw many people that were normally busy with other matters, like the Young Miss of this Noble Household I currently work for!

The House Master's daughter was indeed a girl with B Rank Magical Talent. Looking at her pure silver hair that signified the strength of her Light Attribute, my eyes couldn't help but twitch a little as I felt my inferiority.

Her talent was the strongest in the kingdom's younger generation of noble Elemental Specialists. Even if she couldn't compare to my parents right now, the potential she showed already indicated that she will surpass them in future. This is especially true considering her attainments in Fire Manipulation and swordsmanship.

She looked at me curiously as I made my way towards the temporary arena made by the servants of the Swordwick Household. All of them looked like they were looking to watch a good fight!

I didn't really hide much of my abilities in the past five years and as I was about to battle against a strong opponent like that arrogant prick. There were many of them that were probably secretly betting on who would win this match.

I made my way to the Arena with a confident stride. My parents who were walking beside the House Master watched the battle from a seat that was prepared beforehand. Only they had the right to sit with the Swordwick Duke of the Drakeyol Kingdom due to their special position in the household.

The Swordwick Duke was also known as a C Rank Magical Talent just like my parents but the overall combat ability of this sharp-eyed, well-built man far exceeded my parents by a large margin.

The reason was simple, that silver-haired old Swordsman has his own unique Secret Art that can be used in sync with his Aura Manifestation.

Aura Manifestation can be said to be more of a passive ability created by the Sword God. Since most humans couldn't bring out the technique's true strengths, the only way for others to increase their power was by making their own 'active' type abilities instead.

Aura Manifestation was the first Art to be made in human history and after the weak human race saw the potential of Arts, many more were created after it through countless experimentations.

Duke Swordwick's 'Infinite Swords' was one of such Arts that was passed down through his noble bloodline. Although I haven't seen it myself, it is said that when he uses his Art, a large amount of swords are able to be formed using his Mana in order to cut down his enemies.

Even though I already had the eighty years of memories from my past life since birth, I wasn't easily able to create Secret Arts that others had never seen or heard of before. No wonder my parents said that Arts were hard to create Arts without a clear goal!

Well... at least I was able to bring my strength up by a notch through mixing magic and science. Looks like it's time to test if my abilities can be used in an real battle against a strong opponent.

Both of us stood centre stage, awaiting to hear the rules of the challenge.

In this duel, we were each given strict orders to not use any magical equipment and to not lethally injure our opponent using our abilities.

I looked at that massive prick that was holding his wooden spear in disgust while warming up by swinging my wooden knife and wooden sword.

The Aura Clad I wore seeped into my flesh and bones but didn't release out of my skin. The reason I did so was because this was the only way an Rank F Magical Talent like me could cover my entire body with Aura. The only downside to this method was having less physical resistance than others.

It's not that I doubted his abilities, I mean, how could a weak person earn the chance to become that little girl's personal butler? The fact that he wielded a spear gave me even more of an impression that he would be able to gain the upper hand in physical power.

However, what disgusted me to point of not wanting to have anything to do with him was the fact that this arrogant prick was actually looking down on me!

It doesn't take a genius to understand that he was probably the most talented among the younger generation of servants when it came to pure Magical Talent. His disdain towards me isn't something new because I've seen many people consider me as a weakling just because I've an Rank F Magical Talent.

Now that I think about it, looking at him in disgust is a waste of my time, I should just bash his face with my wooden sword then be done with it.

"Are both of you ready?" Mark asked strictly as he was refereeing the duel from the side. A Wind Specialist like him that focused his efforts into speed was usually required for duels because sometimes only a swift person could stop things from getting out of hand.

If any of us was to be in danger, he would always be ready to step in and stop us from breaking any rules. This was only natural in a fast-paced Duel.

"Ready." The giant youth stopped talking those friends his age and stepped onto the stage with an innocent smile. If I hadn't seen the contempt he had for me before, even I would have been fooled by that pure-hearted expression he wore as a mask.

"Ready." I held both my wooden knife and sword in reverse grip and declared.

Ah...! Looks like old habits die hard...

"Then let the Duel start." Mark announced. The audience were in rapped attention towards us as they tried to probe both our strengths.

"Simon Rainglow, just give up. You can't win against absolute power." The massive- I mean, 'innocent giant' asked in way that made him look magnanimous and kind-hearted. It was as if he was the kind and gentle older brother who was trying to advise his younger sibling from making a mistake.

This guy talks to much...!

My eyes couldn't help but gaze at him like he was some kind of mental patient as I switched to using an Elemental Transformation within my Aura.

An amethyst glow appeared under my skin and caused his words to be swallowed down his throat. His eyes narrow in seriousness as he found I probably wouldn't be that easy to deal with. It wasn't easy finding someone like myself who could mimic the Lightning Attribute... However, having another Elemental Transformation under my belt didn't mean much...

Looks like I underestimated him, it looks like he knows just how dangerous and Fake Lightning Attributed Aura actually was. He must have also trained at a very young age just like myself to have such an impeccably strong mind and will. Not that I'm surprised...

"I'm sorry for looking down on you. Let us have a good fight." He said while readying his wooden spear into a formal stance. The opal glow of his released Earth Aura that far exceeded the size my puny Lightning Aura, but his face didn't show its previous arrogance and instead had his eyes showed pure confidence of his abilities.

We didn't talk with our voices but instead used our weapons to attack one another, both of us charged at the same time as we readied our Combat Arts.

A bolt of purple electricity sparked out of the transparent Lightning Aura glowing under my skin as I clashed with his head on. My sword movements were quickly followed up by a swift knife that tried to poke a hole into his defences. He altered the Earth Aura around his body to conjure an Earthen Armour that blocked every one of my attacks after slapped away his spear.

Our figures moved everywhere around the stage as we clashed but none of us was able to gain an upper hand in any of our bouts. The armour he created out of his Earth Aura was so thick that every one of my attacks that were coated in Lightning Aura weren't able to pierce through deeply enough to cause any sort of significant damage.

That said, his position wasn't any better than mind considering how vastly superior my my combat experience was compared to his.

His heavy wooden spear was always redirected using my sword no matter which angle he stabbed towards me using his Earth Aura covered spear.

His spear was like machine gun as its afterimages stabbed towards my stomach. The increase in his physical abilities were quite outstanding considering just how he wasn't using the right Aura Transformation for increasing speed of physical attacks...

I had to keep my wooden weapons close to my body as I parried every single one of his thrusts while taking steps back towards the edge of the arena. It looked like he was thinking of suppressing me and throwing me out of the ring using everything he has!

Too bad his expectations were truly disappointed by the fact that I already predicted this situation. The Elemental Transformation of Lightning might not have the greatest potential when it comes to long and drawn out battles but its extreme burst of power after a few seconds of storing power was the strongest of all the attributes a Swordsman's Aura could produce!

Just when I got to the edge of the arena, I released all the stored energy of my Lightning Aura into a burst of power! I redirected his assault and sliced my wooden sword onto his Earthen Armour! I wasn't able to break through his defences but the force of my attack strongly pushed him back...

I didn't allow him to figure out what was going on as I switched my Elemental Transformation to Wind in order to get closer to him before changing it again into Fire Aura in order to continue pressuring him. The shocked expression on Jack's face quickly faded as he swiftly manipulated the Earth Aura covering his body.

The Earth Attribute had the greatest capabilities when it comes to defence so it was only natural that Jack didn't have trouble defending himself from my attacks. The swordsmanship I displayed may have been strong, but it wasn't enough to injure him at all.

This damn annoying turtle...!

Looking at how he was slowly regaining his footing, I frowned as I didn't want to lose the momentum I gained from my surprise attack. Others might not be able to understand but I knew clearly that having 'momentum' in battle was advantageous in many ways.

Instead of changing my Elemental Transformation, I decided to patiently overlay my Lightning Aura on top of my Fire Aura in order to store energy.

Jack's mouth twitched at the scene of my Aura taking on two distinct hues and seemed a little panicked. He once again went onto the attack after forcefully trying to break my momentum by standing his ground.

Although he wasn't perfectly successful in breaking my momentum, he was still able to fight back and put himself in a position where he would be able to stop me from saving too much energy!

The amount of energy a Lightning Specialist could store within his Lightning Aura was dependent on the user's control over their own Mana.

I was one of the best in the household when it came to control over Mana so it was natural I could've stored enough energy to throw him off the arena if he gave me enough time to charge...

He made the right decision when it came to his next course of action, but how could I just let him stop me from charging my Lightning Aura?

I swiftly changed into a more defensive sword stance, the very same one I used against my father to block his attacks and parried with shorter bursts of Lightning Aura. The people looking at my swordsmanship would only see me constantly changing the Elemental Transformations within my body while also always keeping my Lightning Aura costed at all times to store and release small, tiny bursts of kinetic energy.

The unpredictability of my swordsmanship showed itself as I was able to hold my own against Jack without having to take any steps back!

Jack also wasn't able to forcefully push me towards the edge again, which allowed me to relax a little as we clashed. My mind constantly sharpening as I focused on his moves.

It may look like we're even on the outside, but I knew clearly that his plan was probably to exhaust my Mana. A confident smile etched across his face as the shock he displayed towards my skills faded. I don't know whether to praise his stable mind or curse the fact that his assumptions were spot on!!!

Looks like it's time to get serious!