Heinz smiled contentedly as he saw Prince Lucien taking ten steps back from the sheer force of impact, his hands trembling from the aftershock of the attack. His smiling expression from a moment ago vanished, replaced with a look of wounded pride. The prince released his colossal bloodlust onto him. Finally ready to take this seriously.
Heinz narrowed his eyes. He had heard from Axel multiple times that the prince was a vicious snake who often fooled everyone around him. Most of the time, the front and facial expressions he shows are, in fact, fake. He may be all friendly on the outside, but deep inside, he’s a prideful and vengeful bastard who is exceptionally full of himself. But he doesn’t let that sense of superiority within himself dictate his actions, instead. He maintains a cautious attitude.
Heinz was unsure how Axel had discovered these deep details about the prince. Still, he intended to utilize those psychological tricks as much as possible at the moment, considering what Axel had revealed to him about the prince’s complicated character. The only times he is truly genuine, and maybe even careless, are when it comes to his mother and sister. That’s his weakness, like any other typical man who deeply cares for his family—something Heinz can respect silently, at least.
So, now that this whole matter was related to Lumina, if he considered the prince’s words to be true, Axel had somehow put Lumina’s life in danger. Since Heinz was Axel’s closest friend. The prince took out some of his anger on him. Not that Heinz had any intention of getting along with the pretentious golden bastard in the first place. Though Axel kept many things secret from him, the guy was at least genuine when it came to their friendship and did not differentiate between people based on their family status in the slightest.
Using the prince’s angered moment, Heinz doubled down on attacking him, leveraging the domination spear art’s advantageous qualities and the spear itself. His warlord aspect continued to provide a continuous stream of waraura. His warlord aspect not only offered the form of energy known as war aura, but it also worked rapidly, enhancing his abilities in mid-battle. The special affinity of this aspect with the domination spear art performed by the rune weapon made by Axel was truly impeccable.
He continues to improve in mid-battle. It was beneficial against the prince. But Lucien wasn’t a sitting duck either. Nor did he lack any overpowered qualities in any way. But some would even say that he had too much of it. Using his mighty constitution and a special sword art which Heinz had no idea of, the clash between spear and sword was in a kind of standstill.
But Heinz could easily see that he was being pushed backwards. Heck, Lucien was probably not even using all of his strength from what he could see. He was holding back on his strength and focusing more on the technique; it seems the prideful son of a bitch wanted to prove that he was better than a mere commoner even in terms of pure technique, without using his core advantages.
Just as Heinz thought, the golden prince spoke, a tone of royal authority in his statement, "I could just beat the crap out of you, if I use all of my strength. But you’re not worth it. Just the use of the Royal sword art is more than enough to take down a peasant like you."
"The only reason you’re even holding on against me is because of that rune weapon that bastard created. If not for that, what would you be? Despite having a four-star aspect, you lack talent in the path of magic. What a waste of a four-star aspect, truly."
A small cut appeared on the cheek of the handsome prince as he was too busy talking shit in the middle of fighting. Blood started coming out of a cut on Lucien’s cheek. Heinz immediately pulled back the spear, rotating it like a fan, attacking the prince again, targeting his jaw this time. Again, the attack was blocked without too much effort. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N()velFire.net
Lucien smiled, not being bothered by the cut on his cheek, while Heinz frowned. What he said was indeed correct. Without the rune spear, what would he amount to? Nothing, absolutely nothing in front of the royal prince. Who was born with everything. The very kind of privilege he hated with all of his heart.
Lucien taunted, "What? Cat got your tongue, or is it a mouse? Not so talkative now, are you?"
"What did you say just a moment ago? You will show me the brutality of this world? Oh, Heinz Gil, you have no idea of the countless assassination attempts I have survived ever since I was a child. The royal palace that you think is so beautiful, powerful, and luxurious from the outside is, in reality, a death ground where we simply kill each other. Much more brutal than the streets you grew up in."
"So, do not fucking talk about something which you know nothing about. It’s downright revolting. You’re nothing but a trash who complains about the unfairness of life, without being able to do anything about it. If you don’t like something, then do something about it, change it for the future. But are you capable of that?"
Each of Lucien’s words carried a genuine trace of emotion. For the first time, the prince was letting out his true feelings in front of another.
More clashes between the Domination Spear and the Silverthorne sword continued, pushing Heinz gradually back. Despite its power and brutality, the Domination Spear’s art was just as taxing on his body as its overwhelming power. Heinz’s mere human body could not keep up with it any longer. Having already spent every bit of his war aura. His stamina was at an all-time low. But his will was absolute, unyielding. He couldn’t give up. Not now, not in front of the damn prince.
Otherwise, he will get to Axel. But even his unyielding willpower had to finally admit defeat to the absolute exhaustion his body was experiencing for the very first time, in a long time. Heinz slumped down to the ground after one final blow from Lucien on the back of his head. Lucien breathed in and out a few times loudly, catching his breath, calming his heart.
He examined his own body for a moment, two cuts on both of his cheeks, and a light injury on the nose. Multiple places on his body had similar cut marks, from the aftermath of the domination spear art. Lucien frowned, and a sense of complete disgust surfaced about himself. A human, a somewhat talented mere human, had been able to cause this many scratches and cuts on his body, while he had the blood of the Golden Dragon running through his veins.
Even though he did not use his complete strength, and the integration of the dragon bloodline within him was just 3%, the very fact that Heinz was able to wield such a powerful and deadly spear art, which could, in fact, counter the Suncrest Royal Sword art. It was unthinkable. It was arguably the most powerful sword art in all of humanity, strictly reserved for the members of the royal family. The last three forms of sword art are exclusive to the king himself.
The minor scratches all over his body healed in an instant, courtesy of the dragon’s blood. But his sour mood remained.