Chapter 1 — The Prelude To The Prelude (5)

There was a prolonged period of silence until...

"Pft..."

I turned to see the woman sitting beside me, who seemed to find Leon's statement amusing. She was trembling with suppressed laughter, clearly struggling to contain herself.

Suddenly, Marcus burst out laughing. He erupted into fits of laughter, clutching his stomach as he did so.

"Ha... Haha... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! That's a funny thing to say, Leon! Hilarious!"

The spectators also found the comment amusing and joined in with their own laughter. It was a natural reaction to a humorous statement. I suppose that everyone here found Leon's remark to be quite comical. After all, it was humorous to make someone take you seriously when you weren't worth taking seriously in the first place.

Leon appeared taken aback by the reaction, and his unusual stance relaxed slightly.

"And why, pray tell, do you believe you have the power to harm me? It's quite comical, really, considering your poor performance against Phebe. A girl, no less, and you still lost to her."

I guessed that did happen. Leon was indeed defeated by a girl. It wasn't that the girl, named Phebe, was very good at swordsmanship, that you could consider her having a talent for it. In fact, she only had average skill in it as she was more adept in the art of barrier magic. Despite that, Leon still lost to her.

Leon's current demeanor suggested he did not appreciate being reminded of his defeat, "...Are you going to take this seriously or not?" he demanded, his voice low and seething with anger.

Marcus merely laughed in response, seemingly unfazed by Leon's anger. "Just come at me," he taunted, "you won't be able to lay a finger on me, anyway. Besides, fighting like this is enough to defeat you."

His words only served to further incense Leon, who felt his anger mounting with every passing moment. "Are you underestimating me?" he spat, his eyes blazing with fury.

"If anything, I'm making a fool out of you."

The conversation between Leon and Marcus seemed to be going in circles, with Leon repeatedly insisting that Marcus take the duel seriously, and Marcus responding by making fun of Leon. The conversation continued in circles, with neither side making any progress. It became increasingly apparent that Marcus had no intention of taking the duel seriously from the outset.

"I suppose you're ready to get hurt, then."

Finally, after what seemed like an endless back-and-forth, Leon decided that he had had enough. He realized that Marcus would never yield to his warnings. He decided to take matters into his own hands and make the first move.

Leon assumed his peculiar stance once more before kicking off the ground and charging towards Marcus with wild abandon. His movements were unrefined, and it was evident that his swordsmanship skills were lacking. As soon as Marcus entered his swinging range, he brought down his sword with all his might.

"You lack elegance in your swordsmanship," Marcus taunted as he effortlessly dodged Leon's attack, a smirk spreading across his face. "If you want to have a chance at besting me, you should practice more. Though, I must admit, it's a funny thought. No matter how hard you swing that sword, you cannot defeat me." With a chuckle, he raised his own wooden sword to a mid-level position and gestured for Leon to make his move. "But let's see what you've got anyway."

Leon swung his sword at Marcus, but his blade found nothing but empty air. Marcus was dodging with remarkable ease, conserving his energy and movements. From the way they were fighting, it was clear to me that Marcus held the upper hand.

However, Leon couldn't afford to lose this duel. The stakes had been set, and if he lost, he would be forced to leave the school immediately. Leon's future was on the line, and he needed to defeat Marcus to secure it.

"Don't think you've won yet just because you dodged my attacks! We're just getting started!"

There was a noticeable tremble in Leon's voice as he spoke, but it wasn't the kind of tremble that would come from fear or being shaken. It was more like a tremble of anger.

The girl beside me shared the same view, whispering to herself, "Allowing your emotions to take over will hinder your strategic thinking. The moment you lose control of your emotions, your opponent has already won."

I thought she was speaking to me at first, but when I glanced at her, she was sipping her tea while intently watching the duel.

I couldn't agree more with her observation. In any situation, be it a violent confrontation like a duel, strategy and logic should take precedence over emotion.

I shifted my attention towards the duel and witnessed Leon's approach towards Marcus, sword raised in hand. Despite Leon's aggressive approach, Marcus remained unfazed, maintaining his posture and wearing a confident grin. His sword dangled loosely by his side, as he awaited Leon's attack.

As Leon closed in on Marcus, his sword poised to strike, Marcus made no attempt to change his stance or expression. With a swift movement, Leon's sword came down towards Marcus, but to his surprise, he missed his target. Marcus had evaded his strike with such fluid and effortless movements that it appeared as if he had not even moved at all. His grace and precision were simply astounding.

"Tch...!"

Leon attempted a thrust aimed at Marcus' solar plexus, but his blade merely cut through the air. Marcus effortlessly evaded it with a slight movement of his body, taunting Leon, "Is that all you've got?"

In response, Leon swung his sword to the right, then to the left, and then brought it downward before swinging it back up. Unfortunately, his movements lacked grace and finesse. His swings were devoid of any real skill, and he repeated the same predictable sequence of attacks—right, left, downward, upward— over and over again.

It was easy to anticipate where Leon's attacks would land, even for someone with basic knowledge of swordsmanship from textbooks, let alone an expert like Marcus. No wonder Marcus was able to dodge each of Leon's strikes with ease.

Marcus let out a deliberate sigh. "Your attacks are textbook knowledge, yet you can't even execute them perfectly. Are you sure you're an Asura?"

"Shut your mouth, Marcus! I will definitely land a hit! Just watch me!"

"Enjoyable as it was watching you fail to hit me, I'm bored now. At least try to be a little more amusing."

"I said shut your mouth!"

Leon swung his sword recklessly, left, right, upward, and downward. His movements were filled with urgency, as if he wanted to land a hit on Marcus no matter what. His eyes reflected impatience and anxiety, but they were still ablaze with fire. It was a sign that he wasn't broken yet, despite the noticeable difference in talent. But how long would he last? How long could he endure before he finally broke?

That was the question on my mind as I watched the ongoing duel before me.

...Five minutes had already passed since the duel had begun, which was longer than the usual duration of student duels, usually lasting only one to three minutes, or at best five minutes if both students were skilled in swordplay.

However, in this duel between Marcus and Leon, nothing had changed even after five minutes had elapsed. It wasn't as if they were in a stalemate, but rather Marcus was simply enjoying himself by toying with Leon.

As Leon took a swing at Marcus with his sword, his momentum was too great, causing him to lose his balance and fall face-first onto the ground

"My goodness, how unsightly... Did you trip over your own feet? Oh, dear, I hope you didn't hurt yourself," Marcus taunted. "I'm concerned for you, Leon."

"Don't get carried away!" Leon immediately got back up and swung his sword again at Marcus.

"Oops," Marcus exclaimed, narrowly dodging the swing. "Why are you so angry? I'm only worried about you. Can't you see that I'm just looking out for my cousin?"

Leon did not respond to Marcus and instead put all of his weight into swinging the sword. It was an unsightly display of swordsmanship, particularly because Leon was using large, clumsy movements. Based on this observation, it seemed only a matter of time before Leon would run out of breath.

...And just as I expected, after just a minute, Leon became winded, his shoulders heaving up and down violently.

"Haa... Haa... Haa..." he panted.

Upon seeing this, Marcus chuckled lightly to himself, but he still maintained his posture without any change.

"What? You're not tired yet, aren't you? I thought you said you could definitely land a hit on me. Was that all talk? I haven't even broken a sweat, and you haven't hit me yet."

Gasping for air, Leon replied, "I will... I definitely will...!"

"When? When I die of old age? Considering that you are demi-human and age slower than humans, maybe you'll take a swing at me when I'm in my grave. But that will take a long time, won't it? And even then, I doubt you can make me retract my words from beyond the grave."

Fueled by anger and determination, Leon retorted, "I will make you take back what you said about my parents right here and now! I swear I will land a hit!"

Leon took a deep breath and let out a bellow as he kicked the ground. Marcus just evaded his attack again with ease.

"You're being too loud," Marcus chided him. "Aren't you tired of this, Leon? No matter how many times you flail that sword recklessly, you will not hit me. Why not just accept your fate and withdraw from the school?"

"I won't give up! I'm going to make you eat your words!" Leon retorted.

"Is that so? Come at me then." Marcus beckoned him with his sword, and Leon charged towards him with his sword raised overhead.

Hs swung his sword once again, and again, and again, and again, and again at Marcus but...

"Haa...Haa...Why...can't I land a hit?"

It was such a quiet mumble that you couldn't hear it even if you were near him, but apparently, Marcus was close enough to hear him anyway.

"That's because of your incompetence, isn't it?"

Leon lifted his head slightly, still breathing heavily, and glared at Marcus.

Marcus, in his typical fashion, made a sarcastic comment, "Hey, don't glare like that. It ruins your cute face."

At that moment, I felt a rush of emotion that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It didn't take me long to realize that I was feeling angry, although I had no idea why I was feeling this way.

I managed to suppress my emotions and turned my attention back to the duel. But when I saw Leon's face contorting in an ugly expression, I inaudibly gulped. It looked like he was about to do something regrettable.

Leon's anger was evident in his voice as he responded, "Now, you've said it..."

The word "cute" seemed to have hit a nerve, and I could tell that things were about to get heated.

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Hi there, the author here! And well, I just want to share what happened to me today - I went to school this morning only to find out that I had just one class, and guess what? It only lasted for 10 minutes! Can you believe it? It took me a whopping three hours to get to school, and I got there only to sit for ten minutes. Talk about a bummer! Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to read this. If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to add it to your library. Love y'all!