Shuren could tell that Jake had grown considerably compared to when they had dueled before.
‘That bastard's been sharpening his blade.’
Just how fiercely had his desire for revenge against Shuren burned for him to grow this much?
In a way, perhaps he was similar to Shuren now.
After all, Shuren hated Jak Pellantz and the Pellantz Family.
But compared to Shuren in his previous life, his current self was far too weak.
Forget Jak, he could not even defeat the current head of the Pellantz Family.
He could not yet properly wield the power of the Fire Dragon either.
‘……But beating Jake right in front of me isn't a problem at all.’
Shuren found Jake, who was staring at him with a solemn expression, almost cute.
Even so, he did not let his guard down.
For all appearances, Jake was still a child of the Pellantz Family, and of the direct line at that.
‘He might have some hidden trump card.’
The Pellantz Family was the foremost family on the continent.
The fact that they had maintained that prestige until now meant their reputation was not empty.
‘And his left sleeve.’
The sleeve had been tied in an unnatural manner.
It was a method assassins commonly used when hiding concealed weapons.
‘Surely he isn't going to use a hidden weapon?’
Still, just in case, Shuren decided to prepare for that possibility.
Jake merely watched Shuren warily and made no move.
‘He's scared, huh?’
Shuren could tell just by looking into his eyes.
At this rate, they would remain locked in a standoff, so Shuren decided to move first.
“You told me to come at you…… so here I come!”
Shuren kicked off the ground and shot forward.
The distance between him and Jake vanished in an instant.
Jake looked startled and swung his sword to defend himself.
It was an instinctive movement.
Clean and without unnecessary motion.
Another trainee might have been caught off guard.
But to Shuren, Jake's movements looked slow and clumsy.
CLANG—!
His first attack was blocked.
Jake seized the opportunity and thrust his sword.
Shuren avoided the strike with a slight twist of his body.
SWISH—!
Using the recoil, he swung his sword toward Jake's side.
CLANG—!
The sword struck Jake's armor head-on.
“Urgh!”
Jake groaned.
The blow tore through his armor and left a wound beneath it.
‘I see it. An opening.’
Shuren gave him no time to rest.
In the brief instant Jake staggered from the intense pain, Shuren thrust his sword toward his forearm.
SHNK—!
Jake hurriedly pulled himself backward, but the sword still pierced his forearm shallowly.
The difference in skill was unmistakable.
To anyone watching from afar, it would have looked as though Shuren were toying with Jake.
‘Should I push harder?’
Shuren looked at Jake, who was panting heavily.
If he pressed forward now, he could inflict a critical wound and eliminate him.
But not yet.
What Shuren truly wanted could not be obtained simply by eliminating Jake.
He decided to wait for Jake to counterattack.
Jake understood that as well.
“……What are you doing? Are you going easy on me?”
Jake growled.
Shuren merely shrugged.
“Urgh!”
Jake endured the pain and charged.
It was a powerful strike reinforced with mana.
SWISH! WHOOSH—!
Shuren widened the distance in an instant and leisurely avoided the attacks.
“You even brought in someone from outside to tutor you, but somehow you seem weaker than before?”
Shuren snickered.
He was deliberately provoking Jake's anger.
Jake's face twisted.
“I haven't shown you everything I can do yet.”
“Keep bluffing.”
As expected, children were easy to handle.
Provoke them, and their emotions flared exactly as expected.
Jake drew up his mana.
Then he assumed a stance and charged at Shuren.
‘That stance……’
It was the same stance Jake had used when preparing his family's secret art during their previous duel.
This time, however, he did not waste time showing off.
‘So the bastard can learn after all.’
Thinking that, Shuren read the path of Jake's sword.
Jake thrust toward Shuren's upper body.
Shuren twisted aside.
Jake then forcibly turned his body and followed with a spinning slash.
CLANG-CLANG—!
Shuren raised his sword and blocked it.
Jake's sword was knocked away.
“Urgh!”
Even then, Jake kept both hands tightly wrapped around the hilt.
Mana began being drawn toward the sword.
The Sword Aura surrounding it grew denser.
The people watching through the crystal sphere were startled.
Jake was about to use one of the Pellantz Family's secret sword techniques.
It was a sight familiar to them.
The Pellantz Family's first secret art.
Wave Slash.
“He can use that at his age……!”
“What a genius!”
The people watching cried out in admiration.
Meanwhile, Shuren was surprised as well.
‘He shouldn't have enough mana yet to properly use a secret sword technique.’
It was exactly as Shuren expected.
Jake's mana was nearly depleted.
‘Ah. That tutor must've forced him to learn it.’
The situation was obvious.
He had likely been taught to use it as a trump card.
Still, for a technique he was forcing himself to use, Jake's movements contained remarkably little waste.
‘So he really does have Pellantz blood.’
None of the other trainees Jake had faced would have been able to withstand this attack.
Except Shuren.
‘If I were still myself from my previous life, I wouldn't have been able to block it.’
But things were different now.
Not only had he resolved the Calamity Flame, he had reached the point where he could use its principle to his advantage.
The constant release of fire energy.
The principle behind breaking the curse was to keep the Mana Ring spinning at all times, releasing the energy of fire outward.
Using that principle, he released the mana that normally filled the Ring.
Then he layered that power onto the fire energy he was already constantly releasing……
HUMMMMM!
Shuren drew up his mana in an instant and amplified his Sword Aura.
FWOOSH!
The Ring within Shuren's body spun fiercely.
He concentrated into his sword all the power he normally dispersed to hold back the Calamity Flame.
CLANG—!
Sword collided with sword.
Shuren successfully blocked Jake's strike.
Unable to withstand Shuren's strength, Jake lost his grip on his sword.
‘No……!’
Jake stared in shock at the sword spinning through the air.
He had never imagined his attack would be blocked.
‘I'm screwed.’
His mana was almost completely exhausted.
And he no longer had a weapon in his hands.
What expressions were his parents making as they watched this scene?
‘……It's over.’
Jake dropped to his knees.
Shuren did not attack again.
For a moment, Jake's eyes moved toward his left sleeve.
The poisoned needle his father had given him to use if necessary.
‘Should I use it?’
Jake hesitated.
Shuren was well within range.
But the poison was deadly.
And the Ring's shield magic only blocked external impacts. It did not purify poison.
In other words, if Shuren were struck by the poisoned needle, he would die.
Was it really right to take someone's life merely to win here?
Jake was still young enough to fear such a thing.
He looked at Shuren.
“……!”
The moment he saw Shuren's eyes, he understood.
‘That bastard…… he's prepared for the poisoned needle.’
The way Shuren was watching him.
And the stance that allowed him to counterattack at any moment.
Even if Jake launched the poisoned needle now, Shuren looked fully capable of knocking it aside.
And if the poisoned needle attack failed, things would truly become disastrous.
They had been told that any means could be used to pass the exam, but that did not mean concealed weapons were permitted.
Moreover, the main family publicly upheld justice and proper order and treated assassination as taboo.
The prestige of Jake's family would collapse.
They would be pointed at as the family that had resorted to concealed weapons in nothing more than a Knight Training Center exam.
‘……I'd rather be expelled from the family myself than disgrace the family's honor any further.’
Jake finally gave up.
He lowered his head and decided to accept defeat.
Shuren felt relieved when he saw it.
‘At least the bastard's got a functioning brain.’
He guessed Jake must have gone through quite a struggle inside his head.
Step, step.
Shuren walked over and stopped in front of Jake.
Now, if he swung his sword and triggered the Ring's defensive magic, Jake would be eliminated.
Shuren reversed his grip on his sword and drove it downward.
***
Outside the Mock Dungeon, the people watching through the crystal spheres were in an uproar.
When Jake had suddenly used his secret sword technique, they had watched with bated breath.
And when Shuren blocked the attack, cries of dismay escaped them before they realized it.
The atmosphere outside could only turn gloomy.
Because of Shuren alone, children from influential families were now all on the verge of elimination.
Especially Jake.
For a direct-line child to fall so helplessly was almost unthinkable.
They were bewildered by this unprecedented situation and had no idea what to do.
And it was not as though the exam could simply be held again.
Trainees who were eliminated were not allowed to reenroll.
“Knight Commander! W-what in the world is going on?”
“The children of influential families are all about to fail!”
“Jake is from the direct line! If he fails here, it will be a disaster!”
“Exactly! Do you really think the Knight Training Center will be safe after this?”
The trainees' parents began protesting.
Most of them were the parents of Jake's group, whose children were sprawled across the projected images.
“We cannot interfere with the examination. The Pellantz Family is a family that upholds justice and proper order. If we instructors interfere, that would be manipulation, and it would be as serious a matter as shutting down the training center.”
The Knight Commander spoke firmly.
“Commander, come now. We are all members of the same Pellantz Family. Let us not be like this.”
Jake's father, Atun, approached and spoke.
‘The same Pellantz Family……?’
The Knight Commander found the words absurd.
The Pellantz Family discriminated more harshly than anyone based on ability and bloodline, yet now Atun was talking about them being members of the same family.
“What do you want?”
“If you wish, I can even push for your transfer to the First Knight Order. Please, cancel this exam somehow so that our son can challenge it again…….”
Atun was making an absurd request.
In a way, it was only natural that he would go this far.
A child of the direct line being eliminated was unthinkable.
‘Where did a natural disaster like that boy even come from……?!’
Shuren was nothing short of an unforeseen calamity.
‘If our son fails here, our position in the direct line will be in danger!’
All the effort accumulated by the previous generations would go to waste.
Jake's elimination had to be prevented at all costs.
“There is nothing we can do. Even if I were to interfere, the family head would certainly learn of it. How exactly do you intend to deal with the consequences then?”
The Knight Commander maintained the same position.
“Th-that bastard is about to swing his sword at my son! Gaaah……!”
Watching the crystal sphere, Atun was practically on the verge of fainting.
“Huh……?”
“Why's he doing that?”
Shuren had brought his sword down, but the tip struck the floor instead.
Everyone stared in confusion, unable to understand what he was doing.
[Hellooo~ Can you hear me?]
Then a voice came from the crystal sphere.
It was Shuren.
[Jake's parents! Are you watching? Could we talk for a moment?]
The Knight Commander hesitated.
Nothing like this had ever happened during an examination before.
‘Still, we aren't the ones interfering. He spoke to us first, so wouldn't it be fine?’
With that thought, the Knight Commander decided to watch how things unfolded.
He was also curious about what Shuren intended to do.
“You bastard! How dare you do this to my son……!”
[Now, now~ It seems you don't understand what situation your son is in…….]
Shuren casually swung his sword through the air.
[You shouldn't talk to me like that. I'll eliminate Jake and all the others too, you know?]
Countless gazes immediately turned toward Atun.
They belonged to the parents of the other children Shuren had mentioned.
[I'd like to negotiate.]
“……What do you want?”
[I'll personally make sure the kids here pass.]
Atun and everyone else were stunned by Shuren's words.
“R-really?”
[Of course. But I have a condition.]
“Name anything!”
[One chest of gold coins per person.]
“……What?”
[Oh, couldn't you hear me? One chest of gold coins for each person!]
Shuren named an outrageous price.