CHAPTER 243: DUEL

Lance stared at Riven as his power continued to soar, then stretched out his hand and placed it on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance was stunned. He looked at Riven, he was powering up, and Riven touched him just like that?

He looked Riven in the eye, and what he saw wasn’t Riven, it was something else. He couldn’t name it, but it made his bones shiver. He looked at those eyes that seemed to devour all; he subconsciously took a step back. Realizing that he had backed away out of fear, he tried to step forward again and show his strength, but he was met with the same eyes, and his body refused to move.

"What do you think you are, Lance?" Riven asked a simple question, a question that should have been answered easily, yet somehow it became impossible for him to get an answer quickly.

Riven looked at him, same eyes. "What do you think you can do to me? You came at least with death, and I escaped it. I defied the inevitable. I didn’t die.

Do tell me, Lance, what gives you the confidence to stand before me and try to threaten me with your measly power?" Riven asked. He took a step closer, now standing inches away from Lance.

"Maybe once upon a time, you had some sort of power. Maybe once upon a time, you were my match. But you fell from that, and you’ll never be able to surpass it.

I don’t see you as an enemy or an opponent, because then I would be giving you credit beyond what you deserve. You are nothing but an ant that I’ll step on in my oath to strength, Hero Lance." He said that last part with the words dragged out.

Lance was fuming, his blood boiled, rage took over, and there was no more thinking. His body forced itself to move, and he turned around, attacking with all his strength, putting everything into his fist as he threw a punch.

Riven reacted in kind. He pivoted and turned his body around, thrusting and punching with everything that he had. Both fists traveled like they would rip through the air.

Bam! Bam!

Rather than a collision, their fists were caught by Quin. He stood in between them, both fists grabbed.

"Damn, you two were about to go all out here. You would have wrecked this balcony," he said. He looked at Riven and then looked at Lance.

He could tell that this clash was a long time coming. "Both of you want to fight it out, right? And show who truly is the strongest, right?" he asked. They didn’t answer, but he took their silence as their response.

"Good, then I’ll speak to the king. Tomorrow, at the Circle of Day, the capital arena will be open to everyone and all, the Hero and the Rank One of the Golden Set," Quin said.

Both of them had no issues with that. It was finally time that they had a real battle and finally put the issue to rest.

Riven pulled back his fist and walked into the banquet, while Lance stood there fuming. Quin looked at him for a bit and then spoke, "Only you know what it means to be a hero, so I pray you choose the right path." He said and walked in as well.

That night, all of the Golden Set were moved to the Royal Estate after the banquet, and they each took up a room in a massive mansion.

Word of the duel spread through the night. Not everyone knew what Riven looked like, but they knew the name of the current Rank One, and they also knew the Hero. So having a duel like this was a massive happening, and they all wanted to see.

Tickets to the arena sold like hotcakes in the night, and reservations for important people were made. In just one night, everything was set to see the greatest showdown of the younger generations.

Even students from the Royal Academy, from the mage tower, and from other academies that were in the capital at the time were ready to watch.

And as the sun rose on a beautiful day, everything was set in motion, people flocking to the arena to watch the duel.

Riven woke up early and snuck into the town. He scoured the town for a shop that would be open, a specific shop, and after half an hour, he found it.

A shop that sold masks. He managed to get his hands on one, a black ceramic mask. He donned the mask and immediately headed for the arena.

[.....]

The arena was filled to the brim. The cheers of people waiting for the duel filled the air, the atmosphere electric.

Already inside the arena was none other than Lance. He had his sword in hand as he waited for Riven to finally show.

And then a shadow came from the hallway. Footsteps echoed. The entire arena went quiet, everyone eager to see the Rank One.

He stepped out into the light, in full black dressing, a black coat, black trousers, and a black mask. Finally, in his hand was his black sword, Twilight.

Everyone was stunned when they saw his face covered. They wanted to see who this Riven was, and now they wouldn’t be able to.

Some boos came from the crowd, but Riven didn’t pay attention. He was here to defeat Lance and make him pay for all he did. He wasn’t here to show his face and have his identity revealed to thousands.

The amount of people that already knew who he was was too much. He didn’t want more of that.

"Hiding your face so that they don’t know who you are? I’ll shatter that mask," Lance said.

"You should worry more about surviving, not taking off my mask," Riven replied. Lance gritted his teeth and pointed his sword forward. "I’ll take back what belongs to me," Lance said.

The entire arena was filled to the brim, every noble in town, the king, all the other classmates, everyone was there to watch the fight that was about to happen.

The announcer came into the arena, having some sort of magical spell that allowed his voice to reach everywhere. He began speaking.

"A duel between the second rank of the Golden Set and the first rank: Lance versus Riven, START!"

As he roared the start, both parties shot forward. Their feet cracked the ground beneath them, dust rose high into the sky as they moved faster than the average eye could follow.

Lance attacked first, swinging upward. Riven immediately parried the sword. The sound of a sword grinding on another sword was loud; it filled the entire arena.

Both parties were pushed back a few steps, but then they lunged forward again with a more powerful attack. Their swords clashed, and the ground cracked.

The tension was high as the two of them locked eyes in a stalemate. The hatred could be seen in their eyes.

Blades rang like thunderclaps as Riven and Lance clashed, each strike bursting with raw force that cracked stone beneath their feet.

Sparks sprayed into the air as their swords collided, echoing like lightning across the arena. Lance roared and swung in a wide arc, his blade humming with power, but Riven twisted, slipping past the edge and countering with a slash so swift the crowd gasped.

Steel ground against steel, the sound sharp enough to rattle bones, their faces inches apart, eyes burning with fury. The impact forced shockwaves through the arena, knocking dust and rubble into the air.

Lance’s strength pushed forward like a storm, but Riven’s strikes cut sharper, colder, as if each blow carried the weight of inevitability itself.

They spun, blades flashing in blinding arcs, every strike a deadly promise. A single misstep meant death. Sword met sword again, a clash that split the stone floor like glass, and the arena trembled beneath their relentless battle.

Everyone was stunned. Both of them had only engaged in sword battle and were yet to use Mana, yet somehow they managed to cause all this.

The two of them clashed and were pushed back a couple of meters. Their feet skidded across the arena; they dug their swords into the ground to stop themselves from moving backward.

They looked up and then launched again, running even faster this time. Lance leaped into the air and came down with an overhead slash. Riven blocked from below.

Boom!

The ground beneath Riven cracked. He was pushed down to one knee, but it didn’t mean he was losing or would lose. He looked up, poured all his strength into that leg, and lifted fast, pushing Lance’s sword back and creating an opening for himself. Then he attacked.

Lance saw the sword coming for his chest and reacted fast. He flipped and barely dodged. Riven drove forward again, but this time Lance blocked it and pushed him back.

"Seems I’ll have to do more to defeat you," Lance said.