Asher stepped outside, arriving at a clear, large area behind the castle. Everyone had already gathered around. Some stood on trees as they watched from above in order to catch every moment of the battle. Some stood at the side, some stood at the front.
Asher walked to the front, where Emperor Zolthemir had designated as their battlefield. Ryan was already standing there. As the son of a Duke, who had been raised with discipline since birth, he stood composed and with an air of nobility around him.
A calm schadenfreude smile could be seen on his face, which literally interpreted: "I’m gonna take my time, enjoy this fight and your pain."
Asher didn’t return the smile. He simply arrived in front of Ryan with calm strides. He didn’t have enough brain capacity to go around caring about or thinking deeply about a guy he had just met a few minutes ago.
Emperor Zolthemir arrived between Asher and Ryan and started speaking.
"This duel will end when one of you gives up or falls unconscious, or when one is about to receive a fatal injury and I step in. No Bloodline abilities, no Astra, this is purely physical."
He paused, allowing Asher and Ryan to absorb and understand his words.
"Remember, this duel involves fifty percent of your household’s earnings on the line, so make it interesting. Now draw your weapons," Emperor Zolthemir said with a smile.
Virelass flashed into Asher’s hands. It gleamed under the moonlight, its silver reflecting the moon’s rays.
Everyone knew the Wargrave family could awaken soul weapons. Their eyes traced every inch and corner of Virelass, trying to see through her and discern her secrets.
’Will he show us the ability the rapier holds?’ they all wondered. To them, it seemed like the only way for Asher to win this spar was to rely on the ability of his soul weapon.
But with the Emperor banning the use of Bloodline abilities, Asher had no hope, or so they thought.
In Ryan’s hand, his own sword appeared as he stared Asher dead in the eyes.
Seeing both of them ready, the Emperor vanished, his voice sounding like an echo as he disappeared: "Begin."
Without even waiting for a beat, Ryan instantly blurred forward, crossing meters within seconds, his sword already screaming towards Asher’s neck.
Asher didn’t move. He simply watched the sword approaching his neck. Seeing this, the nobles thought Asher wasn’t fast enough to react.
Just as the sword was about to connect, Virelass flashed forward. With a resonating clang, the two blades met.
Ryan frowned. He couldn’t believe Asher had kept up. After all, Asher had only just awakened. Even with the Wargrave’s physique, it should have been impossible to match his speed.
He moved again, his sword changing targets this time as it sliced toward Asher’s chest, threatening to tear it open.
’Weak,’ Asher thought. His mind could telegraph everything Ryan did before he even did it, his breath, his muscle contractions, his heartbeat.
Asher sensed it all, his Omni Perception showing everything to him like it was written in a book.
Asher didn’t bother blocking this time. He simply sidestepped. His right knee instantly swept upward. With a bam, it detonated against Ryan’s ribs.
Pain exploded at the point of impact, but before Ryan could regain his footing, Asher was already there. Virelass floated in the air as if giving up on this useless spar.
Asher’s fist connected with Ryan’s temple like a battering ram. Ryan felt his consciousness flicker in and out.
He couldn’t understand what was happening. One moment he had attacked, and the next, he was being beaten down. His eyes couldn’t even follow the speed of Asher’s movements.
But Asher didn’t wait. He moved without pausing. A sweeping kick to the knees, Ryan buckled and dropped to the ground. He blinked as his sides crashed against the earth.
He opened his eyes just in time to see a fist screaming down from above toward his face. His body reacted on instinct as he instantly threw himself to the side, frantically dodging.
But Asher’s fist didn’t impact the floor beneath him. His hand froze mid-motion, then instantly changed rhythm as his elbow snapped sideways toward Ryan’s gut.
He could read Ryan, he had already seen him dodging before he even moved. Asher had simply adjusted to Ryan’s movements.
Ryan’s sword instantly flashed as he tried to slice Asher’s elbow with its sharp edge and cleave his arm off at once. But in a blur of motion, Asher’s body rotated. His torso, waist, and shoulders flowed to the side, his footwork guiding him seamlessly.
His hand shot upward like a launched rocket, tearing through the air as it slammed into Ryan’s chin. The sound of impact exploded in everyone’s ears as the crack of bone and teeth breaking echoed.
The force of the impact lifted Ryan off the ground briefly, but before his feet could land again, Asher’s knuckles blasted against his nose.
Ryan’s head jerked backward, his neck following in tandem, before his entire body was dragged by the force and inertia as he rolled backward.
Asher walked toward Ryan with calm strides, his purple eyes unconcerned for the boy struggling to stand.
Ryan felt pain from every part of his body. His nerves sent only signals of torment. He was still just a kid, he couldn’t shut them out. His mind and body ached, but he didn’t scream. His father was watching.
Yet at the same time, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Asher was never supposed to be this strong physically, it was impossible. He couldn’t understand how Asher had been so fast that he couldn’t keep up with his movements.
’If only I could use Astra... I could augment my movement and attacks. I would have buried him in bones,’ his mind raged.
He wanted to use his Bloodline abilities and Astra, but he knew he couldn’t simply throw away the Emperor’s orders.
His eyes shifted to his father, who looked at him with an expressionless face. He knew, even though the man showed no emotion, that was only because various nobles were gathered here, watching. Otherwise, Rhydion’s face would have twisted into a frown.
Ryan’s gaze shifted from his father back to the cause of this impossibility before him.
But all his eyes met was a foot crushing down from above like a hammer. It impacted his face with a sickening bam. His head slammed into the ground, and the earth beneath his skull buckled as spiderweb-like cracks spread out.
But Asher wasn’t done.
He removed his foot, crimson blood dripping from it. His leg moved as it changed position. It hovered over Ryan’s knee like an ominous UFO, then it crashed downward.
Then it came, the sound of bones shattering under pure, unrestrained force. Ryan’s leg snapped as the bones turned to dust.
Ryan couldn’t bear the pain anymore. A piercing scream tore through his throat.
"Aaaaaaargh!"
His voice tore through the air, slamming into everyone’s ears like thunder.
But Asher didn’t care. His foot moved like a viper, instantly crushing Ryan’s larynx. Instantly, the scream vanished, as if it had never existed.
Asher didn’t pause. His foot lifted again. Ryan’s eyes widened in horror. Asher was no different than an extremely dangerous Emovira in his eyes. He watched helplessly as the foot crashed down again against his second knee.
But he couldn’t scream. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even give up, he needed his voice for that.
Asher’s foot descended yet again as he crushed Ryan’s elbows like they were nothing but twigs.
With that, Ryan fell unconscious. He couldn’t survive that kind of pain.
Asher stood with a calm gaze as he stared down at the mangled boy called Ryan, who now lay half-dead.