Chapter 218: To the Death

Eileen coldly observed the expressions of the two beside her, then smiled faintly and patted Lady Spring Rain's arm. "Don't worry, Spring Rain, your Oath Knight will be fine."

Lady Spring Rain nodded blankly, her autumn-water-like eyes fixed on Rayan.

In the arena, Judge Trevor looked at Imperius with a stern face. "Lord Imperius, are you sure you want this to be a fight to the death?"

"Yes."

Imperius glanced at Rayan. "I just don't know if Lord Rayan dares to accept the challenge."

Rayan smiled faintly and said nonchalantly, "Although taking your life is of no use to me, since you suggested it, let's make it a fight to the death."

Trevor frowned deeply, but as a judge, he couldn't mix in personal opinions, so he nodded to Rayan and Imperius, then loudly announced, "Betting is closed, the match begins, to the death!"

"To the death! To the death!"

The audience in the stands all stood up to watch. They knew this would surely be a match that could go down in history.

Trevor spurred his horse away, and the gong for the duel immediately sounded.

Imperius, in contrast to his defensive stance in the previous round, roared as orange Battle Qi instantly enveloped his body. A glint of cold light flashed first, then his spear shot out like a dragon, bringing a mountain-crushing force toward Rayan.

Rayan felt his heart pounding, and his breath becoming difficult. Even a simple attack was wielded by Imperius with such lethality. The subsequent attacks would undoubtedly be even more intense.

Excellent, this was the kind of blood-pumping, adrenaline-surging feeling he wanted!

With a thought, Crow Sword unsheathed, and Apprentice-level orange Battle Qi quickly imbued the broad hilt of Crow Sword. Facing Imperius's fierce attack, Rayan first dodged nimbly using Gale Boots, then swung out a Crescent Slash.

Imperius's thrust followed Rayan's movements, not only avoiding the sword gang power-filled Crescent Slash but also striking at Rayan's throat from an incredible angle—an astonishing move that made Rayan secretly marvel at its brilliance.

Moreover, this was likely not a simple thrust. Rayan anticipated that if he retracted Crow Sword to block, he would remain trapped in a defensive posture.

As a weapon, the sword is balanced in attack and defense, with its offensive capabilities slightly superior. The spear, however, is less balanced, being more suited to offense and weaker in defense. If Imperius entered an offensive rhythm, no sword technique could withstand the onslaught of the flaming long spear.

Therefore, the only solution was not to retract Crow Sword but to continue attacking, forcing Imperius to retract his spear for defense. Once the spear was forced into defense, Imperius's advantage would be nullified.

With this thought, Rayan immediately twisted his wrist and, finding an opening, swiftly thrust towards Imperius's heart.

Imperius was shocked. His thrusting move had only taken a moment, leaving his heart unprotected for just a fraction of a second. Yet, Rayan had seized this fleeting vulnerability, driving Crow Sword straight in—

If he let Crow Sword strike, his flaming long spear would pierce Rayan's throat and come out the back of his neck, but his own heart would be pierced by Rayan's Crow Sword. The result would be mutual destruction.

Imperius wasn't afraid of death, but if he died this way, who would help his mistress Phoenix Lady assassinate the Holy Light envoy Eileen?

Gritting his teeth, Imperius twirled the flaming long spear and retracted it to block Rayan's Crow Sword.

"Very good!"

Rayan's face showed a rare smile. He slashed continuously with Crow Sword, using the simplest overhead strikes, but with great speed, enhanced by Apprentice-level Battle Qi and pure sword gang power. Imperius, on the other hand, found himself unable to keep up, forced into a defensive position.

Each strike of Crow Sword landed on Imperius's spear shaft, numbing his hands and causing his blood to surge. Imperius, known for his long spear prowess for many years, especially his initial thrusts that even a Senior Hero like Trevor wouldn't dare face head-on, found himself completely suppressed by Rayan before he could fully unleash his spear's power.

Rayan's simple techniques prevented Imperius from capitalizing on the spear's advantages. As a weapon, the spear is not well-suited for close-range blocking. So, despite Rayan's ordinary moves and numerous openings, Imperius couldn't exploit them.

Rayan's relentless slashes, like a street brawler, paid no heed to openings. At this moment, no matter how big the openings, Imperius couldn't counterattack. Although this attack style couldn't immediately harm Imperius or break through his Battle Qi defense, seeing Imperius's increasingly tense wrinkles gave Rayan immense satisfaction.

Moreover, although Crow Sword wasn't particularly sharp, its weight was a significant advantage in slashing. The dragon steel-forged blade remained undamaged, while Imperius's spear shaft was already covered in shallow dents.

Rayan continuously slashed over a hundred times, yet Imperius still had no opportunity to counterattack. This made the usually calm and experienced Imperius unable to hold back any longer.

"Kid, don't get cocky too soon—Repel!"

Imperius growled lowly, and immediately the Battle Qi on the flaming long spear surged, making the entire spear seem to burst into flames. The combination of Battle Qi and gang power, along with the rapid movements of the spear, created a huge impact that directly pushed Rayan away.

Rayan hurriedly used his own Battle Qi to neutralize Imperius's Battle Qi attack, avoiding injury. However, his body was still forced back into the range where the long spear could attack.

"Triple Thrust!"

Imperius gave Rayan no chance, raising his spear to thrust at Rayan. This time, he was even more cautious, afraid of giving Rayan another opportunity.

Knowing he couldn't confront Imperius's Triple Thrust head-on, Rayan activated his Gale Boots, using Gale Step to run around the arena at high speed.

Imperius chased after him with the spear, and wherever it pointed, the ground seemed to crumble, with dust and rubble flying everywhere. But no matter how powerful, it couldn't touch even the corner of Rayan's clothes.

The audience in the stands all held their breath, completely absorbed in the duel between the two.

On the noble stand, Lady Spring Rain's heart couldn't help but tighten as she saw Rayan constantly being pursued.

Eileen smiled and comforted her, "Don't worry, your Oath Knight is extremely clever. He knows he's weaker in Battle Qi compared to his opponent, so he's just waiting for an opportunity. Haven't you noticed that from the beginning, Imperius has expended a lot of Battle Qi, while Rayan has only used his Battle Qi for the simplest moves? The amount of Battle Qi he used is almost negligible. What he's doing now is just playing a game of cat and mouse, waiting for the old dog to get tired and reveal a flaw, then Rayan will deplete his Battle Qi again."

Eileen, being a Grand Magus equivalent to a Senior Hero, naturally had weight in her words. Spring Rain gratefully nodded, but then immediately worried that Eileen's previous predictions had been wrong. Would this one be wrong too... She was startled by the ominous thoughts in her mind and quickly chased away those chaotic ideas.

Fortunately, the situation in the arena was indeed as Eileen had predicted—Imperius couldn't catch Rayan and inevitably became a bit anxious. Several of his attacking moves became distorted. Rayan seized the moment, suddenly stopping and thrusting Crow Sword at Imperius's throat, repaying him with a "Thrust."

Imperius was startled and instinctively withdrew his spear to block—

Rayan started slashing again, striking repeatedly at Imperius's spear shaft, repeating the same actions as before.

Imperius, exhausted from defending, was filled with frustration. "Can't you use a different move?!"

"No."

Rayan sped up his slashing while answering seriously, "If I change my moves, you'll find an opportunity."

"Hmph, I thought you were a man who could face me in an honorable duel!"

Imperius gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't expect you to be a despicable person who only uses such unrefined moves to fight me!"

Rayan sneered coldly, "Taunting doesn't work on me. Besides, whether I'm a man or not, only the women who've slept with me have the right to comment. And don't bother about what moves I use; the match is still a long twenty minutes. I'm just playing with you for now, I'll decide when I'm done having fun."

"You... scoundrel!"

Failing to anger Rayan, Imperius found himself unable to endure any longer. His eyes flared with anger, and he shouted, once again using the highly Battle Qi-consuming "Repel."

Rayan, having anticipated this, saw the long spear turning red and immediately activated Gale Boots, twisting his body and running.

Imperius chased after him desperately, but he didn't dare concentrate most of his Battle Qi in his legs, so he couldn't catch up. Whenever he showed signs of giving up the chase, Rayan would turn back and strike him. If Imperius couldn't dodge in time and had to block with the spear shaft, Rayan would start another round of frenzied slashing.

Reluctantly, Imperius used "Repel" again.

Reluctantly, Imperius used "Repel" again and again.

The match had already gone on for a full ten minutes. Imperius had consumed more than half of his Battle Qi, yet he hadn't even touched a single hair on Rayan's head.

Such an opponent could only be described as "cunning." Imperius couldn't help but suspect that Rayan's initial arrogance—like claiming to win in one move or stepping on fingers—was entirely a setup. The real Rayan was a deeply cunning and unfathomable character. All his arrogance and patience were purposeful.

At such a young age, to have this level of cunning, it was hard to imagine how much hardship he had endured before.

Moreover, even in such a tense and thrilling duel, Rayan maintained a learning mindset. His moves increasingly showed the sharp offensive style of spear techniques. He had fully integrated the moves suitable for a spear into his sword techniques. Although it was impossible to pinpoint exactly which moves, Imperius knew Rayan had fully understood and mastered them.

At this point, Imperius recalled what Trevor had said to him before:

It is an honor to have Rayan as an opponent.