Chapter 97: Alone[12]
Leon swung his sword directly at Asher’s head.
Asher could not react in time.
He only managed to move his head slightly backward, but the sword still grazed his left eye as he retreated.
After making contact, the blade passed by, and Asher immediately teleported away again.
But he was not unharmed this time.
His left eye had been severely wounded and was bleeding heavily.
The eye was almost completely destroyed, and he could no longer see through it.
The whole battlefield went silent.
Roselia then wore a proud expression and said in a confident tone, "Look at this. I guess he is not that much of a monster as you were calling him. In the end, he is still a student like us—nothing special and nothing to worry about. The spirits were really overreacting."
Celestine, who had a surprised expression after seeing the attack actually land on Asher, looked at Roselia and thought, ’This girl is still the same, full of pride and arrogance.’
She then looked at Asher’s figure and thought, ’What human? That guy defeated more than a hundred students, then defeated the greatest talents on the entire continent, and he is not even in his best condition right now. Yet he only lost a single eye. And you have the audacity to call him a normal student? If this guy is not a monster, then no one is qualified to be called a monster. If it were not for the fact that I have to defeat him at any cost to repay my humiliation, I would not even battle him again. But I guess, in the end, even he is not unbeatable.’
But the most surprised one was Leon, who had managed to destroy one of Asher’s eyes. He thought, ’I did it. I really did it.’
Then he looked at Asher and said, "I guess after losing your mana, as well as your almost perfect defense, even you can be wounded. And it looks like exhaustion is really taking its toll on you, if you were not able to react to my new speed."
He then paused and looked at the ground beneath Asher, where blood was dripping from his eye. Then he said, "I guess, in the end, even you can actually bleed."
Asher, who had his head lowered toward the ground, slowly looked toward the three of them.
As soon as they saw his face, all three of their expressions became serious. They had expected to see some sign of pain on his face, but his expression remained calm and indifferent, as if losing an eye was not a painful thing at all.
Before they could fully process that fact, Asher raised his right hand and gouged out his completely destroyed eye. He then threw it onto the ground before casually stopping the bleeding.
The moment the destroyed eye hit the ground, the entire battlefield fell into an eerie silence once again.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Leon felt his confidence slowly disappear.
Asher stood there with one eye missing, blood still staining part of his face, yet his expression remained completely unchanged. There was no anger, no pain, and no frustration.
It was as if the injury meant absolutely nothing to him.
A strange feeling began to rise within Leon’s chest.
Fear.
For the first time since landing the attack, he started to wonder whether injuring Asher had been an achievement... or a mistake.
Asher glanced at the destroyed eye lying on the ground before shifting his gaze toward the three of them.
His remaining eye was calm.
Far too calm.
"Are you done?" he asked.
His voice was neither loud nor threatening.
Yet the simple question caused all three of them to tense up.
Roselia’s proud expression disappeared completely.
Even Leon felt his body become stiff.
Because they all realized the same thing.
Despite everything that had happened...
Despite the injuries.
Despite the exhaustion.
Despite fighting countless battles before facing them.
Asher still did not look like someone who believed he could lose.
Asher then looked at them and smiled.
The moment he smiled, the feeling of fear in their hearts intensified.
None of them moved or tried to attack him, even though he seemed to be at his weakest right now.
Then Asher spoke with a smile on his face, despite missing one eye.
"You seem to have spent a lot of time on your coordination. That was really good teamwork. You must have practiced really hard just to defeat me. I am truly honored."
His eye then shifted toward Leon.
"And Leon, you really are lucky, aren’t you?"
Asher then looked at Roselia and Celestine before saying,
"Practicing alone with two beautiful princesses... it must have been a very enjoyable training period."
Then he looked back at Leon and continued,
"Want me to talk to the Royal Family of the Elves and the Voltaris Family about your marriage to them? Then you can live with a harem of beautiful princesses like some protagonist from a fantasy novel."
All three of them were about to say something, but Asher’s smile suddenly became terrifying.
Then he said,
"But Leon, you aimed for my head. If I hadn’t dodged, I might have died. And that is against the rules of the test—you are not supposed to try to kill your opponent."
The moment Asher finished speaking, a heavy killing intent descended upon everyone present.
Leon was about to argue that Asher had also nearly killed many students.
But then he remembered.
Asher’s attacks were always aimed at parts of the body that would never cause fatal injuries. Even when attacking the head, he used punches rather than a mana blade. He had never truly attacked with the intention to kill.
And attempting to kill the son of a Duke in broad daylight was the same as inviting death upon himself, even for someone like him.
Still, Leon looked at Asher and said,
"I thought you would block it with your defense. I didn’t expect that you couldn’t maintain it anymore. It was just a mistake."
Asher listened to him before revealing a look of realization.
"Oh, I see. A mistake."
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Well, mistakes happen."
For a brief moment, Leon felt relieved.
Then Asher’s smile widened.
"But unfortunately, I am not mature enough to forgive."
The atmosphere instantly became colder.
"So I will also try to kill you for real."
Asher’s remaining eye stared directly into Leon’s soul.
"And I am sure you will be able to survive... since I am really weak right now."
A/N:- Trying to improve my Cliffhanger skills,hope you think this is enough
