Chapter 10: Messed Up

This sword is terrifying; Leo, standing at the center of the vortex, seems to control the entire world.

Will die!!

Facing this sword, Yuris saw his own death. In the face of such destructive power, his proud talent seemed so insignificant, utterly unremarkable.

“No!!”

He struggled to let out a roar, his throat hoarse, stiffened to the point of only being able to emit a silent scream, the fear on his face growing more intense, sinking into endless despair.

A huge white sword light rushed towards him, and the entire world disappeared.

“Tick-tock! Tick-tock!”

Cold sweat dripped from his face as Yuris weakly knelt on the ground, supporting his trembling body with his hands, his whole body soaked in cold sweat.

“What happened? Why is Yuris kneeling?”

In the eyes of the audience, Leo simply raised the wooden sword, swung it down, and then Yuris knelt.

Is this a joke?

“You said before that once you make a move, I won’t have a chance to act. That statement should be reversed; once I make a move, you will never have a chance to act again. But looking at the current situation, I overestimated you.”

The wooden sword in Leo’s hand shattered into fragments, scattering with the wind.

He couldn’t even withstand Leo’s momentum, let alone be his opponent.

Yuris made no response; the fear remaining on his face had not faded, immersed in that sword, losing his will to fight.

The referee was a bit confused; Yuris clearly had no will to fight and didn’t know how to declare the result.

“I won this duel.”

Leo seemed to be speaking to Yuris, but also to himself.

This reminded the referee, “Yuris has lost his will to fight; I declare the winner is Leo!”

“What happened? Impossible!”

“There’s a conspiracy! There must be a conspiracy!”

“Nonsense, how could it end like this? It must be a fixed match.”

It was too sudden; Leo inexplicably won, and they completely didn’t understand what happened.

“A conspiracy; it must be a conspiracy. Yuris teamed up with Leo to scam our gold coins.”

Most people present had placed bets, and they had bet on Yuris. Now that Yuris was defeated, their gold coins were naturally wasted, and these people could not accept this outcome.

Especially those who had bet their entire fortune, left with nothing, only to jump off a building.

“Go to hell, Yuris! And you, super newcomer, give me back my gold coins!”

“That’s right! Give me back my gold coins!”

Some people angrily threw their belongings towards the duel platform, suspecting that Yuris had scammed them.

The atmosphere on site changed abruptly; everyone was cursing Yuris, while Yuris seemed oblivious, his expression numb.

Suddenly, the space between Yuris and Leo, the ground of the duel platform, cracked open, a straight sword mark extending forward, stopping in front of Yuris.

A blood-red mark suddenly appeared on Yuris’s chest, blood dripping onto the ground.

This phenomenon perfectly responded to the audience, and the cursing abruptly stopped.

“Could it be? Yuris really lost?”

“Who is that guy? He actually defeated the rumored Yuris with one sword.”

“I didn’t notice before, but suddenly I find this guy a bit handsome.”

At this moment, Leo’s figure appeared so mysterious and unfathomable in the eyes of the audience.

However, for those who lost gold coins, they still couldn’t accept it!

“Is it cheating? How could Yuris lose to an unknown commoner?”

“Using a wooden sword makes it even more impossible to defeat Yuris; that wooden sword must have a problem.”

“That’s right; it might be a prop.”

“Definitely a prop, and a disposable one at that.”

“How despicable! To rely on props in a duel.”

Dueling does not explicitly prohibit the use of props, but for the sake of fairness, almost no one would use props in a duel unless there was animosity between the two parties.

So even if Leo used props, it could only be said that he did not adhere to ethics.

Losing would be fine, but as long as he won, some people could not accept it.

For a moment, this argument gained the upper hand, and those who supported Leo fell silent.

The audience’s anger instantly turned towards Leo, and they began to curse him.

“How foolish, but it doesn’t matter; after all, I won. If you don’t agree, come down and compete.”

Leo sneered at the audience.

He still held back against Yuris; otherwise, that sword just now could have sliced Yuris in half, and now it only cut his skin, not a serious injury.

But the audience couldn’t understand.

Only those proficient in swordsmanship could see through it; such people were few.

No matter how strong one was, if they didn’t delve deeply into swordsmanship, it would only be like seeing flowers in the fog.

The matter was already over; Leo quickly slipped away, or he would be overwhelmed by the crowd wanting to beat him.

As for the gold coins won from the bets, he could only find Heles to claim them later.

The scene became chaotic, and the one who triggered this chaos, Leo, had long since disappeared, while the audience frantically searched for him.

After a long time, the duel arena finally calmed down; those who should leave had mostly left.

The members of the Empire’s Sun team stayed by Yuris’s side.

“What happened? What did you see?” Fromm asked.

“A sword, an incredibly stunning sword; I completely lost.”

“You are the genius Yuris, a disciple of the Sword Saint. Your talent is unique. This time, you didn’t understand your opponent; next time, it will definitely be you who wins. Cheer up,” Fromm comforted.

“No, I am too weak. My cultivation is not enough. That sword refreshed my understanding; I saw my own weakness and powerlessness. Under that sword, no matter how hard I try, even if I cultivate for another hundred years, I have no confidence to face that sword. That is a sword from a completely different path, entirely different from the swordsmanship I have learned since childhood. Perhaps my master has never encountered that kind of swordsmanship.”

Yuris recalled that earth-shattering swordsmanship, still feeling a lingering fear.

Fromm felt that his description was a bit exaggerated; he didn’t have a deep understanding of swordsmanship and only thought Leo’s swordsmanship was somewhat impressive. As for what Yuris described, it was completely an exaggeration, but he believed Yuris would pull himself together.

“I’m still far from it. I will chase after his footsteps to become stronger. One day, I will challenge him again, even if it means flying into the fire.”

Flames ignited in Yuris’s eyes; he was very unwilling, unwilling to be so weak. He would continue to hone himself, keep challenging, even if he failed countless times, even if he could never win, he would not give up. This was his obsession with swordsmanship.

“I’m sorry, Captain Fromm. Until I break through myself, I may not be able to join the Empire’s Sun team for a while.”

“Act according to your own thoughts; the Empire’s Sun team welcomes your joining at any time.”

Fromm gave Yuris the greatest tolerance and understanding.

“Thank you!”

……

“Oh no!”

Calming down, Leo realized how sensational his actions were. Not long after school started, he was provoked, and in a moment of impulse, he used all his strength to win against the academy’s super newcomer in front of a large crowd. Shouldn’t such a sudden event be something the protagonist enjoys?

He, Leo, was clearly just an ordinary student; how did he end up with the protagonist’s script?

To live a stable life afterward, he could only hide for a while.

“Leo actually won.”

If we talk about who benefited the most from this incident, it would undoubtedly be Angie, who bet a hundred gold coins on Leo and now received a thousand gold coins.

Although Leo won in a muddled way, Angie still happily accepted it. She didn’t lack gold coins, but she didn’t care about having more gold coins either.

“I should treat Leo to a meal when I get the chance, hmm, as a thank you.”

Except for Angie, most of the people who placed bets probably couldn’t smile.

Those who bet on Leo along with the silver-haired girl were fine; they recovered a bit, and some even made a small profit.

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