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Chapter 168

After I spoke, both Huntington’s and Jordan’s expressions darkened. I saw a few glares from the crowds too. It seemed like Lady Sci was a sensitive subject for a lot of men in town who had lost their hearts to her beauty and mystery.

“I’ll be taking that blade back from you.” Huntington declared.

“Sadly, it isn’t part of the bet.” I shrugged.

I wouldn’t mind betting it for something better, but now I knew how good this sword was, few items would likely move me.

“A byline of academy law…” Jordan grinned. “If you die by accident, the property on your person goes to the victor.”

“I have a feeling you’ll say something like accidents happen.” I shook my head.

The rich did have it easy. Even if they killed me, it wouldn’t cause a major incident. My position within the Capala household might give them pause from assassinating me publicly, but if it was an accident, even a suspicious one, they could get away with it, especially when their families realized what was on the line.

I volunteered for this fight, and no matter how heavy-handed they acted trying to end me, they could always lie and say it was an accident. Even if it wasn’t convincing, the families would support the young master’s actions with all of their power. They’d bribe who they could bribe and gaslight everyone else. Even if someone did investigate and risk offending the families, the worst they’d ever receive was a slap on the wrist.

This was the kind of world this was. With the right kind of power, you could kill and steal in broad daylight. As long as you had the strength to back it up, there was no one to hold you accountable. It was no wonder there was such a clear divide. The mortals didn’t mix with the paragons, but I even felt there was a clear divide between the great families from the capital and the smaller families from places like this.

“Are you so eager to claim this sword?” I asked with a snicker, intending to escalate the situation. “You know, Mistress Sci gave me this blade. Are you sure you want something of hers? Wouldn’t Lady Giselle feel left out?”

“Don’t you dare speak of her!” Huntington spoke with a greater fury than he had shown before.

“He’s trying to anger you so you make mistakes during our fight. It means he’s not confident.” Jordan stated cooly.

“I won’t make mistakes.” Huntington scoffed. “Just do your job.”

“Hmph, I could say the same.”

“As for you.” He glared at me. “The sword belongs to the prince. I will give it to Lady Giselle to give back to the prince. She is his aunt, after all.”

I quickly hid the strange look on my face. Lady Giselle was the aunt to the prince? I knew she was someone big in the capitol, but I never would have imagined that. Since she was also Mistress Sci, didn’t that mean that the young prince was in love with his aunt? I mean, it seemed like several paragon families tended to keep love in the family, but this felt like a scandal, especially if he didn’t know her true identity. No wonder she went to such an extent to make sure I could reveal it!

It explained why she didn’t consider the sword more important. She likely had no romantic feelings for him at all. However, if she had his blade, why wouldn’t she return it to him somehow? Was she just afraid of breaking her nephew’s heart by returning it? As soon as I found out the identity of the sword, I doubted her reasoning.

I didn’t believe for a second that my garbage talk about extinct flowers was sufficient for her to give up something of such value. That means that she gave it to me for another reason. Was she trying to set me up for a situation like this? Before they saw the blade, they merely wanted to defeat me, but now they had killing intent in their eyes.

“Spirit, you should give up now.” I was surprised that Fate was standing at the edge of the platform calling to me.

I grinned. “Are you worried about me?”

She frowned. “I am friends with your fiancee. If you die, it will be inconvenient for her. Besides, it was my sister who asked me to intervene. If you won’t listen to my warnings, I have nothing else to say. ”

She turned away like that, and I looked up to see that Destiny had seemingly shown up as the crowds arrived and joined her older sister. She had a more worried expression on her face, and when our eyes met, she bit her lip. Ronald was stiff, finding himself suddenly sitting by two of his self-proclaimed beauties, although both of them seemed more concerned about me. I chuckled and turned back to Huntington and Jordan.

“Are we ready? Or are you frightened?” I asked.

Jordan snorted, pulling out a blade that didn’t look too bad. “The conditions remain unchanged. Even with that blade, you can’t change your fate.”

“Prepare yourself.” Hungtington brought out a massive hammer.

Since they hadn’t been carrying them before, they must have some kind of storage space similar to my Luminal Space. It was probably a storage ring. I had heard about them before, but I had never needed them.

“Are you all ready?” The instructor finally spoke up.

“Ready,” Huntington said, gripping his hammer tightly.

“Ready.” I lifted my blade, and my eyes narrowed.

“Begin!”

I was moving before he finished speaking, rushing forward and slashing with the sword. Jordan had expected it, his sword already in the path. I used the blade as a pivot and spun around him, bringing my weapon back toward him. Huntington had moved in front of him, using the handle of the hammer to block the strike.

I wasn’t expecting that, so I pulled my blade back, not willing to risk it being caught by his weapon. He took the initiative, swinging his hammer down with the weight of his body behind it. I barely dodged, and Jordan took the chance to thrust forward with his sword. As the pair fought together, I found them more difficult to handle than either individually. I had to jump back to offer some space.  In this exchange, they had won, the two growing more confident.

“Surprised?” Jordan asked. “I bet you convinced yourself we wouldn’t be able to fight as a team, that we would get in the way of each other. You underestimate all of our families. When we spar, who else do we have but those our age? We all grew up together, learning from the same instructors, and fighting to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We know each other’s battle style and can predict each other’s moves. A stranger like you could never understand, but you don’t need to. All you need to do is die!”

“You may know each other’s fighting style, thankfully you don’t know mine!” I snorted.

I knew I was just fronting. I had no fighting style unless street was a style. These guys were trained with techniques and skills. They knew how to wield their weapons. I still was no more knowledgeable than I had been during the tournament. My status was too large. I didn’t feel threatened by them, but it was still possible they could somehow win, so I had to be careful.

The pair attacked again. This time, their weapons were glowing and I could feel the hair on my arms standing. They were using mana and their techniques.

Jordan was the first to strike. He had a skill, and his speed was a bit faster than usual. His blade was coming straight toward my face, but I was already moving. I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, forcing him to drop the sword. Then, I stepped forward, my elbow crashing into his nose. It was a simple, brutal attack, and it sent him staggering backward.

“How did you-” he groaned, holding his face.

He didn’t have the chance to finish. I stepped past him and struck the handle of the hammer with the blade. It was enough to knock it from his hands, and I continued, striking Huntington across the face and then punching him in the stomach. The last punch had enough strength to send him flying backward into the barrier at the end of the platform. He had an expression of shock, not understanding how my strength was greater than his own.

I turned back to Jordan, who had managed to recover despite his broken nose. He let out a shout and attacked again. I ducked under his blade and punched him again. His body went limp and he fell to the ground.

The crowd was completely quiet. The entire exchange had only lasted about twenty seconds. In twenty seconds, I had taken down both of them. I didn’t use poison or tricks. I simply depended on my stats, but in such a quick defeat, no one could even predict how much power I had.