They both looked at each other and nodded with serious expressions.
Everyone was watching from the other side and their family and friends were there, so they couldn't disappoint them.
They also couldn't disappoint their opponent. They were technically teaching them and learning from them, so they at least had to take what they can and give what they could.
So, Eon took out Chip. His ninth favorite bow, which looked just like any normal, good-looking red-blue magic bow.
It was a divine artifact that can boost strength and energy recovery rate and could also fire deadly energy beams if needed, but mostly, he preferred using it for public spars.
It was a good-looking artifact and something people would easily mistake for a weaker (level-11) or 12 artifact, so it was best when used in minor spars like this one.
He didn't need something as strong as Tay, his normal-looking wooden bow of strength and swiftness, for something easy like this, so Chip was the best for now.
So, Eon was using his magic bow and Claudius was using a (level-12) magic sword that increased speed, strength, stamina recovery, and granted the skill [Charge] to the user.
People knew this sword and Eon's bow was eye-catching too, so there were cheers of excitement and well wishes to both sides coming from the other side.
It was a magnificent sword from an outside perspective, but Eon and Rein, who had seen many worldly artifacts just a while ago in that treasury, didn't find it much attractive.
Anyway, they both had to show the curtsey, so Eon started it.
"It is a nice sword, your highness."
If he had let him start the conversation, it could have been stretched much longer, and he didn't have much time. The clock was ticking, and the night was growing old.
"Likewise, young master Axion. It is rare to see such a perfect bow. The craftsman of that piece must have been amazing."
His eyes and appraisal skills could tell the bow was amazing even if he couldn't read its details, and Eon had a smile when he heard the compliments to the creator of this bow.
"Yes… she was amazing. Haaa… I wish you good luck."
The good kid was smart enough to understand he didn't want to talk about this when Eon just took out a silver quiver and placed it on his back.
He responded by taking a proper stance where he held his long sword in one hand, the blade tip facing down and a bit backward, and the beautiful blue blade gleamed under the clear moonlight.
He was a strong person, but his opponent was a long-range dealer who can definitely use magic, so he had to be careful of long and mid-range attacks.
He had faced magic archers before and he knew most were weak to close-range attacks, but getting near them was a tough task. Their defenses were just too powerful in general.
And the opponent he was facing was definitely strong. He couldn't take him lightly, even if he was just an archer.
He couldn't read his status window, so it was clear that the person before him was either very strong or had a very strong mental defense.
He knew he couldn't be careless, so he was going to give his all to this small spar.
Learning from him was a secondary thing but, why not?
If he had anything new to offer, he would gladly accept it. But he doubted he could do such a thing.
He was called a genius of magic and sword and could already integrate Mana and Aura to near perfection.
His innate skills allowed him to harmonize all the energies he could control. What's more, he could affect the harmony of the opponent's Mana or Aura.
He was confident of winning this if he played his cards right but, the cute guy was in for a surprise.
"Are you ready, gentlemen?"
They needed someone as a referee for their official duel and who would be best for the work if not their famous mysterious grandpa Zhen.
He was the referee for most of Eon's, Carla, Alf, other knights, and Rein's duels, so he was here this time too.
Technically, he was back at home and at a few other places too, but he was also certainly there and was a great help.
The two of them were ready, so, at his signal, the two young people nodded without any words.
They were excited, and so was everyone watching this spar from the other side.
They could see the clear smile on the auction master's face now that something fun was happening and even though he was facing a national genius, neither his mom nor he himself had a shred of hesitation in their eyes.
His mom and the family even had pity in their eyes, which confused them a little.
Sure, this boy was the hero of children's fairytales, but that was it. No one actually knew he was strong enough to even hold a candle against a normal knight, much less a genius like prince Claudius.
This was the first time they all were going to see this young one fight, but their pitiful expressions confused the strong people of the upper class.
There were strong knights and mages present in that crowd. Some of them even had high positions in the house of prism.
They felt strange while looking at the two young boys before them right now, and when they looked closely, they somewhat understood the reason for those pitiful reactions.
Prince Claudius was amazing. Everyone knew that. He was a genius seen once in centuries. His calm demeanor right now was definitely attractive to them.
But… his opponent was different. They had years and years of experience, so some of them could see it. They could see the impeccable posture of the young boy, his utter calmness in the face of a strong opponent, and more than anything, his utterly unbelievable eyes.
Those were no eyes of a child, that much was clear. And their hearts rose as they saw those eyes looking, observing, reading his opponent from top to down and from the skin to soul.
It strangely felt as if those eyes were looking at them, too. But they didn't know about his third eye and they had no need to know.
He sure was looking at them, but mostly, he was focused on his opponent.
They were excited to see them fight and this fight of theirs… was about to start.
He looked into his golden eyes while he kept looking into his bright red ones.
The breeze of the calm night flowed as the blue moonlight glistened on the perfect skins of two brave warriors.
They stood in the open area surrounded by beautiful plants holding their weapons as the people awaited their fight with excited hearts.
The two brave worriers finished examining their opponents, held their weapons strong, and when the signal from their old referee followed, a storm overtook the calmness of this serene night.
-Boooooooooooooom!
An explosion caused by the collision of strong weapons shook the area, created a giant crater in the middle of the two young warriors, and the shockwave almost threw back some of the young and weak spectators.
But thankfully, it was blocked by the countless magical barriers created by the mages of the crowd.
There were too many barriers. Enough that they wouldn't have to worry about this ongoing spar that had already surpassed their expectations.
It was difficult, and not many were able to catch what happened in that brief moment, but the eyes of the strong were able to clearly see that magnificent sight.
It happened in a brief moment, but as soon as they received the signal, the young archer had taken out three enchanted arrows with the properties of fire, wind, and earth.
The earth arrow was special as it combined with the fire arrow midway and the arrow with wind properties ignited the flames.
The resulting attack was strong, but the young prince saw it, covered his sword with dense light Mana particles, and perfectly cut the arrows in half, resulting in that enormous explosion.
But that wasn't the end…
Prince Claudius spun in the air, gathered wind under his feet, and kicked forward toward the opponent on the other side.
The bright young archer had seen it coming, so as soon as he finished his first attack, his body melted in the shadow under him and vanished from the place.
Prince Claudius was surprised, but it was too late to turn the sword.
The opponent had vanished from his place too quickly to understand, so the long sword ended up only thrusting into the ground, creating another giant crater.
It was easy to guess, but another attack was coming from his opponent, who had probably achieved more distance in that short moment.
He had to defend, so he cast a (tier-2) light attribute defensive barrier around himself.
The magic casting speed was too fast for a young person like him and it was as if he had used a skill, but that wasn't the case.
His parallel mind, special spell-casting skill that cut the magic casting time in half, coupled with his unique skill to harmonize and utilize the environmental Mana granted him a speed similar to skills.
It was a unique method of spell casting, just like Alf and Eon. But Eon had a better grasp on his spells.
And it was proven when as soon as he saw the barrier of light attribute when he came out of the shadow of the other side, he pulled back his bowstring, channeled some Mana, and materialized three of his scripted darkness attribute arrows.
Light and darkness, the opposite attributes naturally canceled each other, but as the spell arrows were stronger, they were going to be the best against the light attribute barrier.
The young prince had to do something… his powerful barrier was going to be crushed by the arrows after all.