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Chapter 183  

“Why? What is it?”

She was breathing roughly so she seemed to have come in a rush. “That…I think you should go to the training ground right now.”

“Training ground? What is it?”

“Well… His Excellency and Barden are having a duel.”

“Oh that…”

“Lunia, I’m not going to the training ground today.”

“It’s not that!” Lunia grabbed a hold of Amethyst, frustrated at her reaction. “Madam, you see his lord, his lord….”

“Alec? What about him?”

Lunia swallowed a hard.

Lunia decided to speak straightforwardly. “It is a duel but not in the normal sense…”

“Why not?”

“I have led armies to war with his lord in the in the battlefield before…,” said Lunia, “His eyes. He intends to kill…”“What?!”

“Yes, he has lost himself,” said Lunia, “The lord intends to kill Barden.”

“No way! Why would Alec do that?!”

“That I wouldn’t know! Do you know of anything?” asked Lunia.

“No. But….”

“But?”

“He told me not to come to the training ground this morning!”

“Oh no!”

“Lunia! Lead the way!”

“Okay!”

With an uneasy heart, Amethyst followed Lunia’s lead and ran towards the training ground.

***

“I believe I promised you a duel, previously?”

“Yes!” Barden, who was full of determination, stood in front of Alexcent.

“Today seems about right.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, wait till the end to thank me.”

“It’s an honor to be able to duel with you, my lord!”

Hill, the leads and all the knights were gathered in the training ground to witness the duel. Everyone was focused on the duel between Barden, who graduated from the top academy of the Empire, and Alexcent, the best magician of the Empire.

Hill found it strange because Gen never came to the training ground.

Sensing Hill looking at him, Gen turned to Hill. He nodded towards him, acknowledging his presence. The nod said too many things to ignore. “Oh god no!” exclaimed Hill and turned to the duel. He should have stopped the duel, but it had already begun.

Barden collected all his energy and let it flow to his sword. It emitted a pure blue aura that resembled him.

“To think you have this kind of skill…how surprising!” Alexcent pretended to be surprised and grabbed his sword. Then he let his own energy flow to his sword. A redness, similar to the color his eyes, wrapped Alexcent’s sword and his entire body.Barden was taken aback by the amount of energy he was exuding.

Barden, who had never been to the war, was a rookie when it came to such things. He naively believed that Alexcent was going to give it all to test and teach him.

He was unaware that Alexcent had other intentions.

Buer and Leyrian noticed then that something was off. They approached Hill and asked in a whisper. “Captain, shouldn’t we stop them?”

“How are you going to stop a duel that’s already begun?”

“But…Isn’t he trying to kill him?”

“If we leave it like this, Barden will die.”

“Which is why Gen is here.”

“What?!”

Buer glanced over and studied Gen’s face. “Then….!”

“Yes. I suppose…Gen will take care of things afterwards. We are simply here to serve as witnesses.”

At Hill’s last words, Buer and Leyrian shut their mouths. The sound of swords clashing filled the grounds.

The blue flaming sword narrowly passed over Alexcent’s shirt.

Alexcent, who had avoided the sword without a single attack, hit the blade flying toward him as if he had made up his mind.

His eyes changed. It lost its radiance and turned cold. His eyes started to register objects and people as the equivalent. His eyes were no longer the eyes of a human and looked at others as though they were objects that moved.

Barden’s hands started to shake from fear. In fact, his entire body seemed to tremble. Even so he tried his best to wield his sword. He was well aware that he had no chance of beating the duke. He never had that much of an expectation, but he had thought that he could at least offer a good fight. His goal from the start had been to at least cut away a button of his shirt.

He pretended to avoid Alexcent’s strike and attacked hitting his hand.

“Gah!” Alexcent cried out as he grabbed a hold of his torn shirt. His blood stained his shirt red. Blood dripped from his arm.

“My lord are you alright?!” exclaimed Barden.

Alexcent calmly turned to Barden dissuading him from running to him. “This duel is not over yet,” he said.

“But you are bleeding…”

“It’s a duel,” said the duke, “You can’t afford to care about enemies and their injuries in a duel, Barden.”

Alexcent raised his sword with the other hand and charged at Barden. “You should take care of your neck,” said him in a low voice, “It won’t be there the next time.”