Fighting With Carl (2)

Carl was getting increasingly impatient. Finally, he parried the sword and attacked Ian, but he was completely defended impeccably. 

"Woah!" 

The crowd cheered for Ian whenever he showed some good moves. As a Knight, Ian displayed perfection in every move during the fight. 

Attack, defense, speed, and elegance—everything a Knight should have was in his performance.

It was as if he was acting on stage as a main character while Carl was a simple add-on to show how magnificent he was. 

'Damn! Damn it, you all.' 

The more the crowd cheered, the more Carl got irritated, and the more mistakes he made. Ian also didn't forget to target his weaknesses, making him miserable. 

After seeing that the fight was almost over, just when Ian was about to use the finishing move to avoid variables, Carl made up his mind. 

'I can't lose this fight.'

His intuition was warning him, and his intuition had always been correct. 

So, this time, he didn't care about ethics and decided to stun the opponent with his mental power and finish him in one blow. 

This was not the first time he had used this method, and unless there was a Wizard near him, they wouldn't find anything wrong. 

'Let's see what you can do.' 

Carl sneered at Ian, who was preparing his finishing move and came closer imperceptibly. 

Seeing his behavior, Ruther, who was watching his performance, instantly understood what he was trying. 

"Boy, it is not good to cheat in such a competition. It might weigh on your conscience."

Ruther hurriedly advised against using such a despicable method as he didn't think this competition meant anything. 

However, if such a small matter became a block on your future path, it would be a loss for you. 

You know, a Wizard, although unscrupulous and heinous at times, needs a clear conscience in specific scenarios. 

If Ian and Carl were fighting in the wild, in a life-or-death situation, he wouldn't mind burning him into a cinder in a sneak attack. That had no consequences as this world was inherently a man-eat-man world. 

However, if you promised to fight by the rules and still used sneak attacks, your conscience would become impure.

It might not have any impact in the short run, but when pursuing a higher Wizard path, it could become a stumbling block. 

"Don't worry. I won't kill him; I will just severely injure him and stop. I have to win this fight." 

Carl didn't care about all that complicated stuff. He only knew that his intuition was telling him that he had to win this fight. 

"Boy, that's not what I'm saying." 

Ruther was still trying to persuade him, but Carl directly used his mental power, accurately attacking Ian in front of him. 

Ian was just about to use his Blade Breaker's move to win quickly when a sharp tingling sensation made him stagnate in his path. Even with Ethereal Disguise, the pain was overbearing. 

'Heh! I was just waiting for this moment.' 

However, Ian didn't panic since he already knew about Carl's treachery. But he didn't know what other trump card he had. That's why he was already waiting for this loophole he knew to exploit and win faster. 

Suddenly, he acted as if he was disoriented, and his movements became noticeably slower. 

'Finally!' 

Carl was overjoyed. Ready with his weapon, he lunged at Ian with the fiery sword. 

'Sigh!' Ruther just sighed but didn't say anything more. 

'Let's see how you defend now.' 

Just when Carl was near Ian ready to hack him, he suddenly heard a crisp breaking sound followed by a shattered gem on Ian's neck. 

Following this unexpected event, Ian suddenly looked at him as if he was perfectly sober, dodged his sword quickly, and swiped sharply at him, cutting his back deeply. 

Carl was completely dumbfounded and didn't know what had happened, forgetting to even defend himself.

Only after he felt a sharp pain in his back and blood flowing everywhere did he awaken. 

"Hiss!" 

He hadn't felt such pain in a long time. He never thought he would be pitied by his own treachery. The extreme pain in his back left him disoriented.

Just as he was feeling unwell, a sharp kick landed on his crouched figure in the abdomen, sending him flying out of the ring.

"Cough... Cough... Ugh..."

He couldn't help but cough up blood-filled phlegm in pain. Now, he was in agony all over his body, with no place spared.

'Fuck! Damn it, what happened?' 

He cursed, barely conscious on the ground, clutching his abdomen. He couldn't figure out how he lost when he was this close to winning. 

There had never been a case of someone waking in the middle of his mental attack. 

"Heh! This time, you kid seems unlucky." 

Ruther said from the ring while looking at the fragments of jade scattered on the ground. 

Although he didn't see clearly, he thought that since it broke just when Ian was mentally attacked, it must have been some kind of protective amulet. 

"Hah... hah..." 

Ian looked at Carl's embarrassing figure and didn't pursue further.

His mission was over, and he didn't want to target Carl actively, making him resent him to death—although he probably hated him now. 

At that moment, when he felt the tingling sensation in his mind, he quickly used the Ethereal Disguise at full speed and injected life energy into his mind to clear up instantly. 

Then, just when Carl was near him, he sent a sliver of life energy to break a makeshift gem pendant on his neck, making them think it was some kind of protective gear. 

After all, he didn't want Carl to know he was a Wizard Apprentice yet. Ian took a deep breath to calm his mind, completely ignoring the crowd's shouts. 

"This match, student Ian won." 

The referee directly announced the winner and asked the medical team to carry Carl out. He felt fortunate that Ian didn't kill the boy and only injured him. 

However, Ian swiftly exited the arena, away from the crowd, as his mind was filled with prompts from the system. 

Looking at the dense texts in his mind, a faint smile couldn't help but appear on his face, making him appear particularly handsome and riling up the crowd even more.