Asher looked at Kevin who was walking towards him, and from a different direction, a face he remembered, Matthew, was also coming towards him.
Asher got up and held his sword as he stared at the two people coming towards him.
"It seems we will see a clash between the top 3 of the boys' leaderboard," Gazil spoke, and the audience cheered loudly. All three of them had their supporters in the crowd, but Matthew had the most, being from a common background, and second was Kevin.
The screen showed Kevin and Matthew walking towards Asher from his left and right respectively.
After they were in the range where they could attack and defend from each other, they stopped.
"I don't know who you are, but stay away from him. He is my target!" Kevin looked at Matthew and spoke.
"The name is Matthew, and why should I listen to you anyway?" Matthew looked at Kevin.
Asher was calm, and his face was indifferent. He was not in the same state as before when he faced Alan. Despite seeing the man who succeeded in almost killing him standing in front of him, he was calm. It was almost like his mind was somewhere else.
"Hahaha, you seem like a tough guy as you managed to arrive here so fast like me, but I will say it again: don't interfere." Kevin glared at Matthew.
"You talk too much," Asher spoke as he sighed, and a wave of killing intent hit Kevin and Matthew.
They got alerted as they raised their weapons at Asher. His crimson-red eyes made Matthew gulp as he felt fear from Asher. On the other hand, Kevin was cautious, but this much bloodlust was not enough to stagger him. Even Asher knew that Kevin had trained in hunting dungeon beasts like him, so he was also used to experiencing this much killing intent.
Asher dashed towards Kevin immediately and raised his sword as he swung it. Kevin was surprised at first, but he managed to block his strike. However, after he felt the force behind his attack, his eyes widened.
'Why does his strength seem higher than mine? Is he already an E+ Rank!?' Kevin thought to himself.
"HAAH," Kevin pushed his spear and back stepped, getting into a proper stance. He pointed the tip of his spear at Asher, making it clear that he was now ready for his attack.
Asher turned towards Matthew and dashed towards him, ignoring Kevin.
"What the-?" Kevin was shocked by Asher's move. Challenging another person while being in a duel was dumb.
"This bastard is mocking me," Kevin clenched his jaw as he saw Asher swing his sword in a similar manner, but unlike Kevin, Matthew sidestepped to dodge it.
Matthew immediately swung at Asher, but as his sword was nearing Asher's hand, his sword got countered.
"What!?!" Matthew immediately back stepped away from Asher, but he did not let his guard down.
Kevin frowned, seeing Asher's skill while countering Matthew's sword. But he went ahead and dashed towards Asher to initiate his attack, spinning his spear in his right hand.
He swung his spear, but Asher back stepped and dashed towards Kevin immediately, performing a slash that made a light cut on Kevin's shoulder. The suit would have stopped any major injury, but a small one would go through it.
It worked more as a protective device than armor, and it was meant to work that way.
"Argh," Kevin stepped away from Asher's range, touched his shoulder, and looked at his hand to see a bit of blood on it.
Kevin glared at Asher, unable to believe that he was being cornered by him even though they were two against one. It hurt his pride more than anything to see Asher's indifferent and calm face.
"Don't you underestimate me!" Kevin said, channeling his mana as his speed doubled.
Clang
Small sparks were produced as Asher diverted Kevin's spear with his sword, but Kevin did not stop. He continued to attack Asher, but he was unable to break his defense.
Meanwhile, Matthew was looking for an opening to eliminate Asher. He recognized Asher as a greater threat than Kevin and was not going to waste this opportunity, no matter how unfair or unethical it might seem.
He tried to get into Asher's blind spot while he was busy dealing with Kevin, but Asher was not even focused on Kevin at the moment. He was just toying with him.
"He is strong, but he's going to lose now that it's 1v2," Lishia spoke.
"I don't think so," Rewilh said, focused on the screen watching Asher.
"What amazing footwork," he thought as he watched Asher counter Kevin with perfect footwork.
In the Greville VIP room, Lucas was watching Asher's duel with all his focus. Even Arthur was looking forward to seeing what Asher would do now that he was in a 1v2 situation.
"Where is my dumb brother?" Nate thought to himself as Damian was shown on the screen for a long time.
As Asher toyed with Kevin, who was getting more and more agitated by his unsuccessful attempts to breach Asher's defenses, Asher made Kevin take a step back and felt a sword approaching his back. Asher turned and tilted his head to his left, and Matthew's sword missed Asher's neck.
Matthew looked into a pair of red eyes staring at him, but before he could move his sword, Asher ducked and punched Matthew right in the gut, making him cough.
Asher channeled his mana, coating his hands and legs, increasing his speed and strength even further. He did not give Matthew any escape as he kept attacking him, making him cough up blood. As he was performing a kick to Matthew's face, he noticed Kevin attacking his back with his spear.
Attacking someone from behind was not Kevin's usual style at all, but he was too agitated to even think about his morals.
Asher bent backwards, but Kevin was prepared for it and pushed his spear downwards. Asher pushed the ground with his legs, shifting himself to his right and dodging Kevin's attack.
Matthew wiped the blood from his mouth, channeling his mana to coat his arms and increase his strength. He tightened his grip on his sword and swung it at Asher. Both Matthew and Kevin were now attacking Asher together, which seemed a bit cowardly and made the crowd angry at both of them. More people cheered for Asher, but both of them were swept by Asher's flow as he kept toying with them. Only those who had experience with battles could tell that Kevin and Matthew were on the losing end.
"Why is Kevin losing to that bastard!" James said loudly, breaking the armrest of his chair.
"It seems the rumors about the heir of the Greville family were true after all," a person sitting in one of the VIP rooms spoke.
"Tell the chairman about this," he ordered his assistant, who immediately left the room.
Asher countered both Kevin's and Matthew's attacks as they grew more and more tired. He kicked Matthew in the stomach, making him fall to the ground, and immediately blocked Kevin's spear thrust with the edge of his sword. Both of them were now pushing each other's weapons, but Asher had the advantage, as he was a minor rank higher than Kevin.
"You are also weak, like that dumb bitch," Asher smirked, quietly muttering so that only Kevin could hear him.
"YOU FUCK-" Kevin cursed, but midway through, Asher pushed his spear, making him lose his balance. Kevin saw Asher turn and land a round kick on his face, making him fall to the ground.
Asher looked at both Matthew and Kevin, who were on the ground. But as he stepped forward, he noticed some mud shackles in between the thick grass. He dodged as he saw the shackles gripping the space where his legs were currently. He knew who used this kind of trick and turned to see a black-haired boy with pale green eyes, Sam Allister.
"Impressive, you even dodged that!" Sam spoke as he smiled towards Asher.
"Hehe, looks like you got your ass beaten," Sam looked to the right and saw Kevin, who was getting up with his eyes full of anger.
Sam pointed her spear at Asher and spoke, "Both of you, let's beat this guy first, then we can decide the winner amongst us later," he said.
"I don't need your help!" Kevin shouted as he stood with a cut on his mouth from Asher's kick.
"Neither do I," Matthew spoke with one of his hands still on his stomach where Asher had punched him many times.
"Well, I know I can't defeat him, and neither can you guys, so let's fight together," Sam spoke but he saw Asher raise his eyebrows slightly.
"Took you so long?" Asher questioned with a smirk on his face, confusing Sam, who looked behind to see Damian, who had many cuts on his body, coming towards them with a blood-covered sledgehammer on his shoulder.
"Cut me some slack, I am not good with directions," Damian shouted as he smiled.
Meanwhile, in another final location, Amelia, Elena, and Eva were looking at each other, neither of them moving, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om