Chapter 30: Duel [2]
"A friendly duel," Alaric said, "Aries and Julian — what do you say?"
Julian’s laugh came. "A duel?" He looked at Aries with his chin up and his arms crossed. "With this commoner? Are you serious, Master?"
The temperature of the training ground shifted without anyone casting anything.
Alaric exhaled slowly. "Julian." His hand came down on his student’s shoulder, firm. "Apologize to him. Right now."
Julian clicked his tongue and looked away. "Hmph. Pass."
’What is with this guy,’ Aries thought, managing a smile that wasn’t remotely friendly. ’Absolute nerve, talking like that in front of his own mentor.’
"Seriously," Valea murmured behind him, "what is his problem?"
Nico didn’t murmur anything. He stepped forward with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on Julian.
"Interesting," Nico said. "You talk that big, and you’re already backing off before anyone’s thrown a single punch. What’s wrong? scared of a commoner?"
Julian’s jaw locked. Mana crackled faintly around him. "What did you just say to me?"
"You heard me, royal brat." Nico took one slow step forward. "Guys like you are always the loudest about bloodlines and status. But when it actually comes time to prove something?" He tilted his head slightly. "Kittens pretending to be lions."
The silence that fell over the yard was immediate and complete.
Julian’s whole frame went rigid. "You commoner scum!" His finger snapped out toward Nico, voice carrying across the entire training ground. "Fine! You want a fight? I’ll give you one! And when I’m done, you will regret every single word that just came out of your mouth!"
"We’ll see," Nico said, completely unbothered.
The field cleared fast.
Everyone spread to the edges while Aries and Julian took opposite ends of the dueling ground.
From the sideline, Nico cupped both hands around his mouth. "ARIES! You better WIN! If you lose, every word I just said goes straight to hell and it’s YOUR fault!"
Aries’s eye twitched.
’Nobody asked you to open your mouth,’ he thought, smiling despite himself. ’And now if I lose, it’s my problem AND your reputation. Great contribution, Nico.’
Cedric stepped forward. "The rules are simple. First clean hit wins. I expect a fair fight from both sides." He looked between them once. "Ready?"
Julian rolled his shoulders back, smirking. "What’s the matter? Scared already, kid?"
Aries didn’t answer. He exhaled once and held Julian’s gaze.
’Kid,’ he thought. ’You’re only a year older than me, yet you’re calling me a kid? Never mind the fact that I’m actually older than you anyway, since I’m from another world. This guy’s ego is somehow bigger than the entire empire.’
Cedric raised his hand.
"Begin."
Julian moved immediately.
Behind him five water spears materialized, glimmering like liquid crystal, spinning in a tight formation around his arm.
He flicked his wrist and they launched, aimed at different heights so there was no single dodge that covered all of them.
Aries twisted sideways at the last second, the first spear grazing past his shoulder.
He dropped into a half-crouch for the second, feeling the tip cut through the air just above his hair.
The third, fourth, and fifth came fanned out. He threw himself backward into a roll, boots kicking up dust as the spears cracked into the ground where he’d been standing. Steam hissed up from wet sand.
’Water affinity,’ Aries noted, straightening. ’Fire versus water. Natural enemy of course it is.’
Julian clicked his tongue, grinning. "You can dodge. Cute. Let’s see how long that lasts."
Aries lifted one hand, orange light flickered at his fingertips. The temperature around him climbed. Then he snapped his wrist upward.
Three fireballs ignited around him. One curved right, one came from above, one spinning low, all targeting towards Julian simultaneously.
Julian’s expression shifted from smug to focused.
Blue mana flared across his palm as he brought one arm sweeping through the air in an arc.
"Fire affinity, huh? Impressive." Jets of water burst from his side, colliding with the fireballs midair.
"Is that all?" Julian’s voice came through the haze.
Steam exploded across the arena.
"I love this part," Julian continued, his silhouette visible through the mist as he spread both arms wide. "Watching people try."
Thin streams of water rose from the cracks in the ground beneath his boots, pulled upward by his mana.
A small tsunami inside a dueling field.
Aries looked at it coming.
Then he smiled just for himself.
’I think I can be able to use that now.’
The spot where he stood cracked from the force of his step.
In a flash, he was gone.
Julian’s wave hit empty ground and flooded across the arena in a crashing spread.
Julian spun around, scanning the mist — and Aries was directly behind him, coat settling from the movement.
"W-what—?!"
Flames coiled up Aries’s right arm, wrapping around his fist. He pulled back and drove it forward. Julian threw up a barrier of condensed water on pure instinct and the punch landed on it instead of landing on him.
The impact detonated through the barrier and sent the water exploding outward in a burst of vapor that threw Julian backward several meters.
He skidded, soaked completely, jaw tight, one knee nearly touching the ground before he caught himself.
On the sideline, Alaric had gone still.
"Flash Step," he said quietly. "He used Cedric’s Flash Step."
"I know." Cedric watched with a surprised expression himself.
"At his age." Alaric’s eyes tracked Aries across the field. "To think he learnt the flash step technique." A pause. "How were you able to teach something like that to that young boy Cedric?"
"I didn’t teach it to him," Cedric said. "He picked it up watching me."
A longer pause. "He— what?"
"Just like I said, I didn’t teach him."
Alaric was quiet for a moment. Then: "How old did you say he was?"
"Thirteen."
Another silence.
"At thirteen," Alaric said slowly, "I couldn’t control my element without burning my own arm. And this child just used an S-rank knight’s movement technique from memory in a live duel." He shook his head once.
Cedric’s eyes were still lingering on Aries.
"I know," he said. "That’s why I’m having him onboard with us."
Behind them, Eren was watching with his arms slowly uncrossing. "Did Aries just—"
"Yeah," Valea said amazed. "He really did."
"He could almost match us," Eren said. "Genuinely. Like, actually match us."
"I don’t care about that," Nico said, from where he was standing very rigid with veins visible at his temples. "I care about one thing." He turned to the group. "If he DARES to lose after all of that — I WILL KILL HIM!"
Valea and Eren looked at Nico sideways.
’Someone’s more invested in this than admitting the fact,’ both thought simultaneously.
Beside them, Adrian stood with both hands clenched at his sides, eyes fixed on the arena.
In the arena, Julian wiped water from his face with the back of his hand.
Aries rolled his neck once. "Sorry," he said, and he almost meant it. "I was just getting started."
Julian’s hands came up. The water on the ground around his boots rising in thin rippling tendrils.
Aries felt his own mana. Crimson heat surged upward, crackling outward in visible waves.
The ground between them trembled faintly, two elements pressing at each other across the space that separated them.
Julian’s eyes met his and stayed.
"Don’t think," Julian said quietly, and for the first time there was nothing mocking in it at all, "that move is going to work on me twice."
