"He is cheating! I'm sure he used some kind of drug to enhance his strength!" Dina exclaimed in anger when she saw how the rapier-wielding young man suppressed Claus.
The emperor and the empress were silent. As powerful powerhouses, they obviously could see the same Dina could see.
However–
"It's not certain it was a kind of drug, right? Perhaps it was a secret technique. Plus, nobody said drugs were forbidden."
"But it's despicable! And I'm sure it was a drug. How do you explain the berserk mana then?"
Alan frowned and said nothing. Instead, it was the emperor who spoke up.
"Dina, you seem in favor of that young man, huh."
Dina was stunned. She panicked inwardly, but fortunately, she managed to keep a poker face on the outside.
"… Now that I have to marry someone against my will, I just hope I can marry someone honorable. Not someone despicable like that."
The emperor furrowed his brows. A trace of guilt passed briefly through his eyes, but he quickly got rid of that.
He knew he was being unfair to his daughter, but at this point in time, he cared little about that.
If Dina became the empress, it meant that little bastard was going to be her right hand. He could not allow that.
"Speaking of which, don't you think the young man, Clark, got tired a bit too quickly?" Lilia spoke up at that moment.
"Mm? Do you mean there is anything wrong with him?" The emperor asked curiously.
"… I'm not sure. I only think he got tired too quickly."
"Perhaps he is not in top condition?"
"Perhaps." The empress said softly.
However, nobody in the booth noticed the concern in her voice.
…
I was panting heavily as I looked at the enemy in front of me.
Even now, he was advancing towards me slowly, completely unhurried.
If I'm not wrong, the effects of [Last Will] last around ten minutes. In other words, if he took the drug just before coming to the stage, he still has around eight minutes of use.
In other words, he probably thinks he has enough time to defeat me easily.
Unfortunately for him, I'm just feigning everything.
I'm just trying to make Alan think everything is in his control before destroying his hopes completely.
Now, what should I do?
Mm, it will be bad if I defeat him too easily… What if I wait until the effects of the drug fade out? But then, I will have to wait for another eight minutes.
I'm rather reluctant to waste all that time with this young man.
While I was thinking about how to defeat him, the young man moved again.
His rapier pierced through the air, flying towards me at an incredible speed.
I jumped aside once more, avoiding the attack as the young man followed it with several consecutive thrusts that sealed most of my routes of escape.
I gritted my teeth and extended my two hands, gathering mana on them and creating two whirlpools of energy I used to parry several of the stabs away. Then, I joined the two whirlpools into one bigger whirlpool I swung towards the young man.
However, he just filled his rapier with a river of wild and berserk mana, using it to crush the whirlpool apart and pierce towards my chest.
"Die!"
Hearing the calm voice of my enemy, I twisted my body, avoiding the attack. However, the berserk mana around his rapier managed to hit my body.
In the last second, I crossed my arms in front of me, blocking the attack as I was flung away.
"Ugh…"
Grunting slightly, I twisted my body in the air and landed on my feet.
However, my breathing was much heavier than before.
By this point, the audience was completely silent. They watched our battle with expressions of nervousness and excitement.
Many of them were cheering towards me, shouting me to not give up; but even more of them were shouting for my opponent to quickly defeat me.
Hearing that, the young man took a deep breath and started to gather mana on his rapier.
"You are a strong opponent. To be honest, I'm not confident in defeating you under normal circumstances. I'm sorry I have to defeat you like this."
I took a deep breath and shook my head with a gentle smile.
"Don't worry, everything is fair in love and war."
"You are right." The young man chuckled. Meanwhile, the mana in his rapier was quickly compressed, turning into a deadly-looking two-meters-long rapier blade made of purely mana.
"As a sign of respect, allow me to send you out with my strongest attack."
Upon saying that, he kicked the ground and thrust his rapier towards me.
In an instant, all the mana in the surroundings rushed towards his rapier. It created a pillar of energy that pierced towards me!
In front of that attack, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Then, my hands moved slowly, forming a circle.
It was a slow movement, but for some reason, it seemed incredibly fast at the same time.
In the next second–
*Boom!!!*
His attack reached me.
An explosion resounded in the stage, shaking the arena and raising a cloud of dust that covered the sight of all the spectators.
Everybody fell silent. The emperor, the empress, and the spectators stared at the cloud of dust with bated breaths.
Then, the dust slowly flew away, revealing the result of our clash.
There, I was panting heavily as I kneeled on the ground with the rapier almost touching my forehead.
The young man, on the other hand, was standing in front of me with his back straight.
But suddenly–
"… To think you were still hiding something like that." He said with a bitter smile.
The next second–
*Spurt!*
Blood spurted out from several parts of his body.
And the young man collapsed on the ground.