As Cain laid slumped against the wall he had just crashed into, everyone except Adrianna who knew Marcus' strength, looked between Cain and Marcus with disbelief.
For the young future knights, they could not believe how easily Cain who was the strongest of their group was defeated.
At the same time, the knights especially Cain's master Kase, were surprised by the power that Marcus had demonstrated. He had overpowered Cain without even using any enhancement skills, winning solely with superior stats and the enchantments on his gear, and none of them were confident they could do the same.
However, their shock soon turned to worry as Marcus approached the unconscious Cain who was now bleeding profusely from his head.
With his scythe slumped over his shoulder Marcus looked like the personification of death and some of them were afraid that he would finish Cain off because of his use of a tier four spell that could have been lethal.
Except instead of attacking or harming Cain in any way, Marcus touched his head and a soft light enveloped him.
"Minor Cure."
Simply saying the name of his tier one healing spell now that he could fake having the skill chant shortening, Marcus channeled his magic into Cain's head causing the bleeding to stop and the cuts on him to begin closing.
After that Kase came running over to check on his apprentice and seeing that he was okay now looked at Marcus with a slightly hostile gaze and said, "What level are you?"
Looking at Kase with indifference Marcus just shrugged his shoulders before saying, "Lower than you at thirty-seven, but higher than him at twenty-eight. If you really want to know, just ask Adrianna or if you have creature appraisal, go ahead and use it."
A scowl then appeared on Kase's face as Marcus walked away and he picked up Cain before walking towards Adrianna intently.
Walking back into the center of the ring Marcus looked towards the remaining future knights who all had fear on their faces and said, "So which one of you wants to go next."
However, none of them volunteered to go next, a couple of them actually looking towards their mentors for help only to see them staring back resolutely.
With the exception of Kase the other knights were in on the "training" session that Adrianna had set up and were not going to give their apprentices a lifeline.
The five terrified future knights then began discussing who was going to go next, arguing for a bit before ultimately drawing lots.
Once they had finished deciding on their order, the unlucky one to go first was Kieran who was the weakest at only level twenty-five.
'Damn maybe I should have gone a bit easier on Cain, he seems genuinely afraid of me. I mean the poor guy is shaking.'
Seeing the young guy across from him so scared, Marcus let out a sigh before saying, "No need to be nervous, as long as you come at me earnestly, I will not hit you as hard as I did Cain."
Kieran hearing this and seeing the angelic smile that Marcus was shooting him immediately felt his heart calm down a bit.
He then took out his weapon which was bo staff made out of some type of magical wood.
'Hm, I do not recognize that material, better be a bit careful just in case.'
Wielding his scythe in a battle-ready stance, Marcus slowly approached Kieran testing the waters to see what was going to happen.
Stepping into range Marcus sent a relatively weak slash towards his opponent hoping to gauge his reaction, only to find that Kieran intercepted his scythe with his staff.
"Diiiiiiing."
A loud reverberation traveled down Marcus's scythe as the staff impacted its blade and Marcus felt it in his hand as his scythe began shacking violently.
It was at this moment that he realized that Kieran had not been shacking earlier because of fear but as a means to charge up an attack.
'That sneaky little… crap.'
Kieran not letting the miraculous opening he had created pass him by, lunged towards Marcus trying to jam his staff into his stomach.
Reacting quickly, Marcus let go of his scythe that was still trembling violently and jumped out the way successfully dodging Kieran's attack, though losing his weapon in the process.
Jumping back a few dozen feet, Marcus could only admonish himself for getting overconfident especially since that was the lesson he was supposed to be teaching.
'Great I wanted to see what he was capable of but instead I got caught up in his trap. Though his power is interesting, it is probably not a type of magic since he did not chant anything. Now how do I approach this.'
While analyzing his opponent's ability and thinking of a strategy, Marcus carefully watched waiting for him to make the next move.
After just a couple of seconds Kieran rushed forward pushing the attack now that Marcus had lost his weapon.
Of course, even without his weapon Marcus was far from defenseless, as simply activated his mana body skill and lunged forward slipping by as Kieran tried to swing at him.
Marcus then sent a swift chop to his left hand causing it to let go of the staff as a sharp pain assaulted him.
Feeling that he was in trouble Kieran tried to use his speed burst skill to run away only to find that as he leapt backwards, Marcus had already placed his leg in between his as he tripped and tumbled over.
Crashing into the ground and skidding a few feet, Kieran tried to get his bearings again as soon as he had stopped, but before he could get up, found Marcus' open hand right in front of his face.
Staring at Marcus' hand, Kieran wanted to fight back, but an overwhelming sense of dread seemed to be emanating from the open hand as if with one move it could end his life.
"I surrender."
Kieran understanding he had been beaten, decided to give up rather than try and fight back and feel the world of pain that would have been waiting for him had he resisted further.
Hearing Kieran surrender, Marcus removed his hand from his face and relaxed his posture before saying, "That was a good fight, I have not seen an attack like yours before, but it really caught me off guard."
Kieran nodded his head towards Marcus happy to have the genuine praise, but he still had a bitter taste in his mouth from being so handily defeated even after gaining an early advantage.
'Well, that was interesting. I got to see a new ability and Kieran seems to think the least highly of himself out of all of them, probably because he has the lowest level. Although in terms of potential I think he is better than Cain who is far too full of himself.'
After Kieran left the ring, he went over to the others, a dejected look on his face as the next opponent came up.
This time it was Amara who promptly pulled out a dagger that was made of a mithril although its color was crystal clear instead of the normal light blue.
'Hm it must have been smelted with some type of monster to cause it to change color like that. I am not sure exactly what its properties are though.'
Looking at the dagger with professional curiosity, Marcus nearly lost track that he was in the middle of a fight until he watched Amara disappeared from his sight.
'Invisibility? No refraction, she is bending the light around her.'
No longer being able to see his opponent, Marcus opened up his other senses hoping to find her, but without any extrasensory skills he came up empty.
That was until he felt a sense of danger coming from his left side and in response Marcus jumped abruptly as a small sphere fell close to where he had been, and a viscous liquid burst from it.
Watching the liquid that had just appeared, Marcus saw it rapidly harden and could immediately tell it was some type of restraining agent.
With a smile on his face Marcus began looking around and found that his opponent had once again hidden, but Marcus also had some tricks up his sleeve.
"My turn. Iron Threads."
Casting his tier two iron magic spell, over thirty individual threads came out of his two hands and began snaking across the battlefield.
The threads soon began encompassing the entire training ring until Marcus saw a slight puff of dust in one area and he realized what had happened.
'Now.'
After waiting just, a moment Marcus swung the blunt side of his scythe into he air seemingly at nothing, until there was a loud thump followed by a pained grunt.
Amara then became visible again as her concentration was lost as Marcus smacked his scythe against her body, after she had jumped towards him in a last-ditch effort to avoid his iron threads.
Slamming into the ground, Amara jumped back up onto her feet with incredibly agility as she looked towards Marcus only to see that he was gone.
"Behind you."
Amara hearing Marcus' voice from behind instinctively thrust he dagger backwards, but found her arm soon grasped by a vice like grip.
With his opponent's arm in his grip, Marcus applied more and more strength until she dropped her weapon before placing his scythe next to her neck and saying, "You lose."
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