Baris’ match was with none other than the prince of the Boltis Kingdom, Baltian. It was quite mean for the table of matches to have them compete right away, but it was better than not being able to meet.

Davey could feel that the stadium was riled up with excitement from the previous match. Since each and every participant were outstanding, their combative battles were surely different than just a regular brawl.

Baris headed up to the battlefield with a solemn but determined expression. There wasn’t a hint of fear on his face. He had a claymore almost the size of his body, but its blade was rather dull since this was a no-killing duel.

Although there was a magic circle and exceptionally skilled priests standing by, someone could easily die even before treatment if they were hit the wrong way with a threatening weapon.

“What if he gets hurt from rushing in like a bull?”

“Baris has lots of experience. He’ll be fine.”

“That’s true, but….”

Winley usually assisted in the back of the army, but Baris was usually in the front when they were defeating the Fire Gang in the countryside. Perhaps it was due to his personality. Davey could only express his condolences to the knights, who were probably very busy trying to keep the siblings safe.

Davey then saw Baltian come up on the opposite side of the stadium with a longsword. He expected Baltian to be in a bad mood because of the humiliation from last night’s incident, but Baltian looked frighteningly emotionless.

“Although the blade is dull, attacking with murderous intent is strictly forbidden! Do not use your blade energy with your weapon.” After the mage in a robe quietly reminded the combatants, he set up a barrier surrounding the battlefield to stop the force of their fight from reaching the audience.

Baris had a hostile gaze, but he only silently glared at Baltian. On the other hand, Baltian just silently pulled out his sword.

“Begin!”

As soon as the match began, Baris and Baltian ran toward each other. Baris mainly used a destructive sword technique that utilized his strength, while Baltian used an irregular teasing-like sword technique with his longsword. In terms of level, swordsmanship, or the type of technique, Baris was at an advantage, and the stadium’s atmosphere was unfavorable to Baltian because of his dishonorable behavior. In fact, those who saw him at the banquet seemed like they had no expectations for Baltian. However…

“Huh?” To everyone’s surprise, Baltian charged straight toward Baris’ sword. They wondered if the prince had become more skilled.

‘No.’ Davey could sense a strange, but familiar feeling from Baltian.

Clang!! Clash!! Baris and Baltian were both skilled at the ‘Expert’ level and had strengthened their bodies using mana. Clang!! Clash!! They were colliding so powerfully that sparks seemed to fly when the dull blades clashed.

The wildly excited audience were in complete silence while watching the unexpected close match. They were so focused on the battle that they swallowed their screams and had sweat on their palms.

Baltian, who was now utilizing a unique strength sword technique instead of his usual irregular one, exhibited physical abilities way past the level he showed Davey the day before.

‘He couldn’t have grown that much in such a short period of time.’

Baltian’s swordsmanship was so unfamiliar that he seemed like a completely different person. It was almost to the point where Baris might have been in trouble if Davey did not wake his mana the day before.

Clang!! The two seemingly fought with all of their strength. Then, they backed away from each other at the same time.

“Wow… I’ve never seen him move that swiftly…” Winley exclaimed.

Baris seemed surprised at how improved his own physical abilities were compared to before, but he was also shocked by how Baltian fought back with a strength sword technique rather than his usual irregular technique.

“He’s grown a lot,” Davey commented, feeling a little proud of Baris. The kid who used to randomly swing his wooden sword, yelling that he would certainly become a knight, had grown a lot. At the same time, Davey also acknowledged that Baltian was being weird right now.

“I didn’t think you’d use the strength sword this well.” Baris told Baltian while catching his breath, but all Baltian did was lift his longsword and silently rush towards Baris again. Baltian’s face remained as emotionless as before.

Davey sensed the strange, yet familiar feeling once again.

“Brother, is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” As Davey replied calmly, he focused his devil mana on his eyes. He casted a spell non-verbally, and he could now see things that weren’t visible before. It was a spell of black magic that could see the inside of someone. Noticing the energy in Baltian, he frowned.

“What’s that?” Davey felt that something was wrong. He stood up just as the battle between Baris and Baltian ended.

Meanwhile, as he tried to end the match, Baltian dashed towards Baris’ sword. It was as if he was forcing Baris to open himself to an attack. Although Baris reflexively twisted the path of his sword and tried to attack again, Baltian did not miss that short opportunity and swung his sword. Then, a red energy momentarily surrounded Baltian’s sword, and he pierced it through Baris’ heart without hesitation.

Crack!!! A blue barrier of force burst out from Baris’ body, blocked Baltian’s attack, then broke and disappeared.

11. Let Me Borrow Your Sword

The continental swordsmanship competition was where the exceptionally skilled competed with each other, but it was similar to a sport, where no-killing was the fundamental rule. However, Baltian broke the two most important rules: not attacking with murderous intent and not using his blade energy. Filled with shock, the audience began to murmur among themselves.

Those who were trained in swordsmanship all knew about the blue barrier of force. It was a self-made barrier that those, who were skilled higher than ‘Advanced Expert’, used. The barrier of force was basically one’s own mana moving to protect its owner from a fatal attack. Those who could cast the barrier of force were seen as having a higher level than ‘Advanced Expert’, which was the point where one would begin to have a strong immunity from magic. There were many cases of people training in the sword only to be devastated because they couldn’t overcome this level, but Baris had broken through that at the age of 14. All Davey did was slightly massage Baris’ hardened mana, but that alone increased his level.

Of course, it was difficult for Baris to ease the force of the entire blow by himself. The eerie, red blade energy Baltian exhibited wasn’t normal, and Baris, who had just casted the barrier of force, was still new to the ‘Advanced Expert’ level.

“Cough!” Baris coughed up a small amount of blood with a pale face, then he slowly stood up.

“The battle is over! Prince Baltian! Since you have broken both rules, you are disqualified!” As the mage furiously shouted, the knights quickly went up to the battlefield and surrounded Baltian to contain him.

However, Baltian did nothing but emotionlessly cock his head in an unnatural way. Then, he moved his mouth, as if he was going to say something. “Grr… Croak…” The strange sound that came out of his mouth was hardly human.

“Prince Baltian de Boltis of the Boltis Kingdom! Your impertinent actions at this competition, which is held to promote harmony in the Alliance of Nations, can only be assumed as the intentions of the Boltis Kingdom.” The administration of the Duchy of Felicity, the hosting country, shouted in anger.

It would be no light matter if Baris or any other participant had been killed here. They all attended as the representatives of their country, and among them were royalty or children of a famous martial arts family. Although they were young, they were valuable. If anything happened to them, it was obvious the countries would protest with everything they had. And once that occured, the countries would all abandon harmony and leap to “an eye for an eye” mentality.

Everyone knew that most of the neighboring countries were just waiting for a justification to participate if two small countries ever went to war.

However, Baltian made no excuses and just cocked his head as the administration of the Duchy of Felicity spoke. The administration shouted as if it was the final ultimatum, “From the hosting country’s perspective, Prince Baltian, your actions for revenge were malicious and deliberate! If you do not offer any explanation, we will formally protest against the Boltis Kingdom as the current host of the continental swordsmanship competition that’s held by the Alliance of Nations!”

“Wait!”

“Wait a moment! The actions of the prince were not to cause any conflict!”

A formal protest certainly wasn’t something the Boltis Kingdom wanted. The nobles of Boltis, who rushed up to the battlefield, were sweating bullets as they tried to ease the situation.

“Prince Baltian! Please speak… Keugh!!”

Baltian, staying still and silent, cocked his head to an unnatural angle and grabbed the head of a noble nearby. Crack!!! It only took seconds for the noble’s head to burst like a watermelon hit with a baseball bat, and the faces of those watching from the stadium went pale.

* * *

Baltian began making strange noises with his mouth wide open, as if he was laughing. He started dripping currents of red energy from his hands, as well as his sword. It was chilling to see the red energy surrounding his body like a thick, sticky, oozing liquid.

“Kyahhh!!!”

“Ahhhhh!!!”

After a short silence, people in the stadium began to scream. This competition was supposed to be a friendly, sporting battle, but the current level of chaos… It was similar to an Olympian grabbing someone’s head and popping it open.

Baltian gave an eerie smile, then his eyes began to move uncontrollably. As his eyes turned bloodshot, he became monstrous as strange veins started popping out of his skin. His teeth also began lengthening like those of vampires from ghost tales.

‘Infection… If they created an infected person with a blade energy, they certainly weren’t an ordinary vampire.’ Figuring it out instinctively, Davey squinted to see Baltian more clearly. Davey could feel that Baltian was no longer the guy he knew from looking at the flow of Baltian’s mana. The normal flow of mana that was supposed to be in living creatures was gone, and all that was left was this strange and unnatural energy current.

Baris looked up at Davey with a pale face as Davey approached him. Davey completely ignored the standing Baltian, who was surrounded by knights.