CHAPTER 525

“That was some power.” Clark said as Lexi returned from the arena with Emeris in tow. The young elf wasn’t injured but he was much more subdued after watching Ajax fight and losing his own duel to Lexi compared to how he was yesterday. “How did your grandfather get a sound spell to do that?”

Ajax was shocked and the surprise was clear on his face for a moment before he got himself under control. Despite being on the weaker and younger side Clark was still a champion and he had long since learned to recognise spells meant to amplify the voice or sound. While they might not have had direct combat applications they were very useful as distractions or in combination with Light illusions.

It wasn’t the power of the spell that Clark had focused on but rather just how little Mana was required to produce that level of power. “We made some discoveries in regards to how the spells work.” Lexi admitted, but disclose anything more.

“You don’t seem as antagonistic towards us as I had presumed.” Denisa said as she approached Ajax. “I can’t help but wonder why make a spectacle of our arrival with the kids?”

“That wasn’t something I arranged for you.” Ajax answered, aware that most of the imperials were focused on the conversation. “You just arrived as school finished, children would naturally be curious. If you came an hour earlier the streets would have been clear.”

“You actually finance something like the academy for all your commoners?” Denisa asked, shocked that the rumors their spies had reported just before they arrived were true. The information was sparse since school had just started so she hadn’t believed he was actually doing it.

“I consider it a worthwhile investment.” Ajax nodded. “Time will tell if it will pay off.”

According to the results he was seeing, school was already paying off but considering the upfront investment and the time until the first return was expected to be noticeable Ajax and his family fully expected it would be at least a decade before any of the nobles would notice just how meaningful the difference was.

With that Ajax turned his attention towards Benedict who stood on the arena floor for the second day in a row. This time he would truly have a chance to show his strength against another physical fighter.

“Two physically focused fighters, this might just be our longest match yet.” Ajax said as he took in the two fighters facing off.

There were several nods of agreement to his statement. Unlike mages, if two physical fighters were close in terms of skill then it wasn;t uncommon for fights to last for a while as Stamina slowly dwindled and both fighters would move towards a death by a thousand cuts approach.

As soon as the match began the difference between the two fighters was clear. Benedict had a higher Strength stat but his opponent had a higher Dexterity, add in the range of the polearm and the fight turned into a stalemate rather quickly.

“At least they are entertaining.” Cal chuckled as he reveled in his position as the only imperial to have won their duel so far, though his mood soured every time he saw the sorry state his brother’s attire was in following the duel with Ajax.

Benedict found himself on the offensive, trying to close the distance to his opponent. His higher Strength meant that every time his sword made contact with the polearm the weapon was sent wide, yet his opponent clearly knew what he was doing as he always went with the movement rather than try to oppose it and focused on his higher Dexterity to back up and make sure Benedict had no opening to land a hit.

“I think he’ll win this one.” Elara said as she watched the fight. “It might take him a while but he will outlast him as long as he maintains his careful approach.”

“He won’t mess up.” Xavier agreed with her. “He might not be the flashiest combatant but he doesn’t lack patience.”

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Out of all of the people Xavier had faced since he got his Legendary Skill Benedict was one of the most annoying. While Benedict wasn’t flashy with his combat he had been trained from a very young age and had mastered a variety of different styles that he could swap between. Against Xavier Benedict focused on a defensive style that left no opening in order to counter the almost clairvoyant predictions of his Legendary Skill.

Fifteen minutes into the duel and the crowd had started to lose interest despite the fight not slowing down at all. Benedict kept a consistent pressure but the clash of steel was nothing compared to the exchanges they had witnessed already in the previous duels.

“I talked with the elves, they will leave three of their people with us.” Tom said as he approached Ajax. Seeing the confusion on his brother's face Tom fought the sigh as he explained. “The deal you had in regards to them training our retainers.”

Ajax blushed a little in embarrassment as he had completely forgotten that part of the deal he had made. “They even agreed to let them stay a little longer and help train the slaves that House Septimus will send us.”

Ajax was very glad for that news. Since the slaves would all be non-human it would mean that most of them would have access to their Mana, unlike humans the rest of the humanoids didn’t view Mana access as such a dichotomy in their paths, so many of them included the use of Mana in their training even without focusing on it to the level of a hybrid combatant.

He didn’t have a chance to truly focus on it however as the balanced exchanges taking place in the arena finally changed. In what Ajax thought was a very inspired move he noticed how Benedict just pushed out one hundred Mana with just [Expel Mana] right after his opponent's foot slipped for a moment following the clash of their weapons.

“He’s a hybrid fighter as well?” Sandor was shocked since that didn’t line up at all with the information they had on the young Steelblade.

“No, that was just [Expel Mana].” Clark reassured the royal.

It was clear that Benedict’s opponent had come to the same wrong conclusion and his defensive style fell apart as he prepared for a spell that never came while regaining his footing. Benedict didn’t give up that opening as he finally closed the distance.

“That is some precision.” Aranor said with approval as he watched Benedict weave between powerful strikes meant to keep his opponents weapon out of the way while also keeping them from moving away to some lighter hits meant to be just strong enough to break through the defensive enchantments. Four swings of his sword and one shield bash later Benedict broke through his opponents final defensive enchantment much to the cheer of the crowd.

“They’re cheering because it's finally over.” Cal laughed as he picked up on less enthusiastic cheers compared to the rest of the duels.

“Everything alright?” Lexi asked Ajax as she noticed him more subdued than he would normally be after their friend's victory.

“I think Helmeth came specifically to fight me.” Ajax made sure that the imperials didn’t hear his comment. It was something he realized when he thought about how well suited every single person had been to this style of duel, unlike the elves they weren’t here for dungeons with dueling on the side. This was a team picked specifically to duel. “More than that I think the emperor sent him as a test for me.”

“I think you’re right.” Anna nodded as she started thinking. “They most likely expected the duel to be in regards to whatever agreement was going to be struck about a possible match with Fluffy but he came here to fight you.”

“I doubt Sandor or Denisa even knew about it.” Xavier said, he had been paying close attention to the both of them throughout Ajax’s duel. “I think the emperor used House Septimus as a way to test you, Clark had a front seat to your duel and you weren’t holding back.”

“What happened to you in the Empire must have made them very curious.” Arianwyn said. “The third servant from the right, he was at the tournament in the Republic. Most likely here to compare your progress with back then.”

Elara and Anna were both a bit surprised to hear that Arianwyn had some idea of what happened with Ajax in the Empire but both Ajax and Lexi were aware that Xavier was going to share the information about evolution with her during her stay.

“I’ll see if I can take some of the attention off you.” Anna said as she started to head down from the stands and for the arena floor. With the previous duel not damaging the arena there was no need for any repairs.

“Maybe this duel will end up being closer.” Sandor said,as he approached the group once again once he saw them all gathered like that, a brief frown in Elara and Arianwyn’s direction was all there was to indicate his displeasure at how close Ajax and his friends were with the elves.

“Depends how you look at it.” Xavier said as he watched Anna take her position with a smile he recognised that still made him uneasy. “It will definitely end faster.”

As soon as the duel started both mages started chanting yet while Anna’s opponent launched a water blast with her opening spell Anna continued chanting even as the spell broke her first enchantment.

“Here it comes.” Lexi said with a cheery voice as she saw Anna was reaching the end of her chant only after her opponent had finished her second chant and a wall of water surrounded her.

Ajax was sure there was at least four hundred Mana packed into the fireball Anna launched. She had chanted for so long that her opponent finished a third very quick chant to launch a small water ball into the path of the fireball but it did nothing as it evaporated into steam before it even reached the flames.

It was only once the spell made contact with the water wall that Ajax realized it wasn’t just a fireball, that was Anna’s firebomb. The water wall took a lot of the spell’s heat but it was clear her opponent didn’t expect the force of the detonation. All three of her enchantments were broken as she was launched backwards with Lancel quickly using a spell to catch her before the fragile mage was smashed into the arena wall.

‘She really follows through’ Ajax suppressed a chuckle as he thought about Anna’s words to take some of the attention off him.