In a grassy opening on the outskirts of the imperial capital, the air felt unusually heavy despite the clear sky overhead, and even the wind seemed reluctant to disturb the silence that had settled between the four figures present.
Two boys stood facing each other at the center of the clearing, separated by only a few steps of distance, and yet it felt as though an invisible gulf lay between them.
Both held wooden swords in their hands. wooden swords were simple training weapons with no edge, no enchantments, and no room for fatal injuries.
Will stood calmly, his posture relaxed but grounded, his feet positioned naturally as if he had stood this way countless times before without conscious thought.
His expression was composed, bordering on indifferent, and his grip on the wooden sword was neither tight nor loose as its blade rested on his shoulders like it was some kind of hammer.
Opposite him stood Ethan, whose sharp eyes were locked onto Will with unwavering intensity. His breathing was steady, but beneath that lay tension, anticipation, and a trace of something far more dangerous, jealousy.
His wooden sword was held firmly, his stance textbook-perfect, refined through countless hours of practice under the Sword Saint's guidance.
At a short distance away, Klaus stood with his arms folded, his gaze fixed on both of them, while Brian remained slightly behind him, alert and ready to intervene if things went wrong.
"Would you like to propose any rules before the duel starts?" Will asked calmly, turning his head slightly toward Klaus without moving from his position.
Klaus narrowed his eyes at the young man for a moment longer before responding.
"No use of mana. The battle will be purely sword-based. Strength, skill, and understanding alone will decide the outcome."
If earlier Klaus had been confident that Ethan would dominate the fight, that confidence had now eroded into something far less stable.
The boy standing across from his disciple did not behave like an unawakened, nor did he carry himself like someone inexperienced.
Something about Will felt fundamentally wrong, and Klaus trusted his instincts more than appearances.
Inside Will's mind, the system spoke with a hint of concern.
[Host, you are aware that you cannot use the Tempest Sword Technique on him, correct? And using the God-rank technique is absolutely not advisable. Even without mana, it could kill the young man.]
Will responded internally without hesitation, his tone steady and unconcerned. "Relax. I will stick to basic footwork, simple slashes, and clean stabs. If things escalate, I will rely on sword intent alone."
[You say that like 'sword intent' is not already horrifying for his level.]
"I will be careful," Will replied, although the system could not tell whether he meant careful with Ethan or for himself.
Across from him, Ethan stared intently, his jaw tightening slightly as he studied Will's calm demeanor.
This was the first time he had seen his master take such an interest in someone his age, and the earlier conversation had left an unpleasant knot twisting in his chest.
"What are you hiding that makes you so confident?" Ethan wondered silently.
Strangely, as he looked at Will, he felt an unsettling sense of familiarity, as though their paths had brushed against each other long before this moment, even though he could not recall such a meeting.
"How ironic," Will thought quietly. "This is Ethan's first duel ever, and it happens to be against me."
[Host, he is clearly jealous of you. Look at his expression, he is practically oscillating.]
"I honestly could not care less," Will replied internally as his gaze returned to Ethan.
Brian stepped forward, positioning himself between the two boys, and swept his hand sharply through the air. "Begin."
The instant the word left his mouth, the ground beneath Ethan's feet erupted into a small burst of dust as he vanished from his position and reappeared beside Will with startling speed.
His wooden sword swung in a clean, horizontal arc aimed directly at Will's side, sharp and precise.
Will did not hesitate. Without shifting his position, he raised his wooden sword and blocked the strike using the blunt side, his stance firm and balanced as one foot planted solidly behind the other.
With a subtle twist of his wrist, Will parried the blade away, and Ethan slid backward several steps as the force behind the parry rippled through his arms.
Ethan let out a short laugh, his confidence flaring. "Funny. A few minutes ago, you claimed you did not know how to use a sword."
Will did not respond. He remained where he stood, silent and unmoving with no change of expression.
Ethan narrowed his eyes and attacked again, this time with greater caution.
He appeared in front of Will with a feint, stabbing toward his midsection, and when Will blocked instinctively, Ethan shifted his weight and attempted to land a swift kick aimed at Will's neck.
"Heh. Playing dirty now?" Will muttered, a faint smirk appearing as he caught Ethan's leg mid-kick and twisted his body, using momentum rather than brute force to hurl Ethan away.
Ethan crashed into the ground several meters away, rolling before managing to regain his footing.
[I have to admit, his judgment is sharp], the system commented.
[After realizing he could not win in a direct exchange, he immediately switched tactics.]
"If he did not adapt like that," Will replied internally, "he would not be the protagonist."
Will stepped forward calmly. "My turn."
In a blur of movement, he appeared above Ethan, who had not yet fully stabilized his feet, and delivered a simple vertical strike. There was no flourish, no wasted motion, and no visible effort behind the swing.
Ethan's eyes gleamed as he raised his wooden sword to block, confident that he could counterattack immediately afterward. To him, the strike looked ordinary, almost careless.
Only Klaus and Brian sensed the terrifying force behind it.
"Damn," Klaus muttered under his breath, a slow smile spreading across his face.
The moment the wooden swords collided, a sharp crack echoed through the clearing as Ethan's sword shattered into splinters, fragments slicing across his skin and forcing him to stagger backward in shock.
Will stepped away quietly, lowering his sword and allowing Ethan space to recover.
Ethan stared at the broken remains in his hand, his fingers trembling as the reality of what had just happened settled in. He had misjudged not just Will's strength, but the very foundation of his skill.
When he looked up, expecting another attack, what he saw unsettled him far more.
Will stood several steps away with his arms folded, his guard completely lowered, his posture relaxed as though Ethan posed no threat whatsoever.
For the first time since his rapid rise under Klaus's tutelage, Ethan felt his confidence crack.
He straightened slowly, drew in a breath, and spoke with forced calm. "I will try one last move. If you block it, I accept my loss."
He discarded the broken hilt and picked up a wooden stick from the ground. As he settled into position, the atmosphere shifted sharply, and Will immediately recognized the stance.
Brian glanced at Klaus. "Should we stop him?"
Klaus shook his head without hesitation. "No."
Ethan's voice rang out clearly. "Tempest Sword, Second Form: Thunderclap Sever."
As the stick swung, the air compressed violently, and a shockwave burst outward, tearing through the ground and shaking nearby trees.
Dust rose in a thick cloud, and the sheer force of a saint-rank technique even though executed without infusing mana still distorted the space around them.
The shockwave spread through the area and dust rose from the ground masking Will's figure from Ethan.
Nonetheless, for Ethan the shockwave had already reached his opponent and had injured him surely, or so he thought.
Once the shockwave stopped and the dust settled eventually, to Ethan's and the other two men's surprise.
Will stood at his place unaffected without a single scratch. a shiny golden translucent barrier covered him.
"you!! you used mana!!" Ethan spoke aloud since to him the golden barrier looked like some light element based barrier that Will had used.
"That is sword intent," Klaus said calmly, breaking the tension.
Realization struck Ethan like a blade to the chest, slowly and steadily his widened eyes returned to normal and his gaze shifted from Will's figure to the ground beneath in contemplation.
"I lost," he whispered.
Will sighed lightly and turned to Klaus "Well, that escalated quickly."
A small grin broke out as he silently looked at him for his rewards.
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A/N: Guys please pray to the God of web novels that my contract for this book gets approved