In the Royal Palace atop the mighty plateau of Erar, within a luxurious room, stood Prince Blake Bancroft, who was watching the beautiful garden around the castle's outer courtyard through his window, admiring the beauty of nature.
He then turned his head as he gazed at the depths of the great hall, until his eyes landed on the door.
"I'm entering the hall, your Majesty!" At this mont, the sound of a voice drifted out, following which the door was gently pushed open and a middle-aged man with an exceptionally calm facial expression entered the hall.
"Your Majesty, the ssenger from Rhodesweld has arrived," the middle aged man quietly stated, his gaze respectfully riveted in the direction of the Prince in front of him.
"And? Did anything change, Minister Burne?" the Prince asked, running a hand through his long hair.
"No, your Majesty," Minister Burne said as he glanced at the Prince, and moved closer to him, in defiance of all convention that one should wait for the Prince's permission in order to move. "There's nothing to report. Or at least, not anything that's beneficial to us. To be quite frank, I believe we're running out of ti."
"You do not need to state the obvious to , Minister.." The Prince turned his head and spoke as he gazed at the depths of the great hall. "I know everything that I need to know. After all, I did have a lot of ti to think about everything."
"I'm sorry, your Majesty. Sorry to place this burden on your shoulders, and sorry to bring you into this situation all of a sudden." Minister Burne guiltily exclaid.
The Prince folded his arms and shook his head, "It's not your fault that my father was a weak minded ruler, Minister Burne. And trust when I say that this might be for the best. As for the future of Argria, I will do everything in my power to protect it."
At this mont, the Prince took a step forward and walked towards the balcony. Tapping his chin with a finger, he asked, "What's the situation with the Academies?"
"The Academies are still hostile against the Royal Family, but there are so factions who support us, and the number seems to be increasing," Minister Burne replied, and the Prince nodded his head in response.
"It appears that my low opinion of the Academies is not inaccurate," the Prince muttered. He raised his head up and looked at the sky, and continued, "No matter. Sooner or later, we'll end up victorious, for it is only us who can save Argria from destruction!"
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Dayton Palr, who was on the platform, was the center of the crowd's attention. Reverence could be seen in the eyes of the spectators as they gazed at Dayton.
"Dayton, you really are the pride of our academy!" Gerald Bancroft, the headmaster of the Silver Moon Academy laughed as he nodded to him.
And as for Claude, his countenance which had remained indifferent throughout the match. He was not caught up by the passion of the crowd. On the contrary, Claude was extrely calm. He had paid close attention to the battle between Dayton and Flynn, studying the combat prowess and techniques displayed by Dayton.
"Claude Rayforth of the Golden Avarice Academy versus Nathan Archers of the Silver Moon Academy."
At this mont, the voice of the aged figure drifted over, and he stood up from his seat to head towards the platform.
"Be careful," Just before he could head out, however, Senior Beldon turned to look at Claude and spoke slowly, causing Claude to abruptly stop and turn around, giving him a look of confusion.
"Your opponent," As he spoke, Beldon pointed to the young man standing on the platform, and continued. "Let's just say that there's more to him than ets the eye.."
Senior Beldon didn't say anything else and turned silent, indicating that it was all the information he would provide, and Claude gazed in the direction of the young man standing on the platform who showed no emotion on his face, and he couldn't help but feel like sothing was off.
"You really aren't planning on elaborating what you ant?" Claude turned around and looked at Senior Beldon with an annoyed face, but the latter just smiled in response.
"Hey, if you can act secretive, so can I.." Senior Beldon laughed, causing Claude to roll his eyes.
"Fine then keep your secrets," Claude, who wasn't planning on continuing the argunt, walked towards the platform. As soon as he entered the platform, he took a good look at his opponent, Nathan Archers from the Silver Moon Academy.
'Strange,' Claude couldn't help but raise his eyebrows as he analysed his opponent. Compared to the other participants, the young man standing in front of him didn't look extraordinary in the least. Claude rembered the fight Nathan had in the first round, and it wasn't noteworthy either. Even his appearance was simply 'decent'.
'He's normal.. In fact, I'd say he's a bit too normal,' Claude narrowed his eyes as the both of them faced each other, and the two overwhelming auras began clashing against each other with equal harshness.
'Nathan Archer, just what are you hiding?' Excitent flickered in Claude's eyes as he blasted out with the Invisible Sword Technique. In the short gap, the most simple and powerful attack had the best effect.
But the instant Claude attacked with his Invisible Sword Technique, Nathan had reacted by throwing out his palm forward, causing a string of arrows that glowed with golden light to shoot out from them, interweaving in a beautiful dance as they zood towards Claude.
Boom!
The collision between the two attacks knocked Nathan backwards, while Claude who had trained Body Strengthening Technique was able to reduce the impact of the collision, and using the Floating Footsteps technique, he went in for another strike!
How quick was Claude? When Claude appeared in front of him, Nathan couldn't help but get startled by how fast he was. He was much faster than he was in his previous match, and as a result, caught Nathan off-guard. Claude imdiately took advantage of this by sending out a palm attack.
Star Fury Palm Strike!
He blasted out, as an enormous pressure smashed downwards, right in Nathan's direction. Which could have been a major problem, except that right before the very mont of contact, Nathan flinched fast enough, executing his own footwork technique and sprung backwards.
Woosh!
The footwork technique that he utilised wasn't anything special, but it did provide a jumpstart that created a bit of distance between him and Claude's attack. At least enough for him to raise his right arm.
Peng!
From his hand shot out a sharp beam of sword light that collided with the Palm Strike, and a thunderous sound rocked the stage, pushing back both Claude and Nathan.
'I knew sothing was off,' Claude's eyes glinted in surprise when he locked gazes with Nathan Archer, and a devilish smile appeared on his face which caused Nathan to shudder involuntarily. 'He's not a normal student, he's an experienced fighter!'
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