The First Battle

"The rule is simple, no deadly attack, the match will end when someone surrenders or fall to the ground."

Vincent explains the rule while waiting for Ark to take his position.

"Who will be the referee then? Leaving a competitor to uphold the rules seems very dangerous if someone got too much in the moment."

Ark knew how dangerous this type of training can be without someone supervising.

Sometimes you are just too strong and accidentally crippled or kill someone in a fight.

"The referee is my maid. She has experience."

"Ok, if you said so!"

Ark quickly examines Vincent's maid and is quite impressed.

She knows how to properly control her mana so she is always combat ready, she keeps her hand low so she can quickly draw out a weapon, etc.

Just by the look, Ark can tell that this maid has a lot of combat experience.

"Or you want your maid to take the job, but I warn you, the risk isn't worth it~"

Vincent mocks Julia, she can't even do the maid's job properly, how can she be a referee!

"No! this one I can do it!"

Julia defends herself, before realizing that she talks over her master's head again.

"Don't worry, Julia. Defending one's pride is something all humans should do."

Ark calms Julia down before talking to Vincent.

"Before we start, let's make it a bit more interesting, shall we?"

"Hm? How?"

"Let's make a bet."

Ark smiles devilishly.

"Oh!! I like that! What would the prize be then?"

"If You win, I will take your offer, even the part where I have to let go of my maid."

"Nice! wait, Are you already decided to join me, but taunted me so we can just battle?"

Vincent felt quite surprised, by the look of it, Ark isn't the battle hunger type at all, he is too calm and collected.

"Hahaha! No."

Ark laughs before getting serious.

"This is a battle of pride between noble descendants, I felt without some proper reward it would not be interesting and the watcher will think it a fraud to show off your power."

"So, what do you say? What to make a bet that you are stronger than me, or you are afraid?"

"…I accept my reward, but what about you? What do you want from me?"

As a royal bloodline, he can't just accept any bet that would have a bad long-term effect.

"Oh, not thing much, If I win I just want you to make sure that every time you see me, remember you are weaker than me, that's all."

"YOU!! Are you making a fool of me?!"

Every time Vincent thinks Ark is talking like a civilized noble, he quickly turns the conversation into an insult.

"No, I really mean it."

Ark really does mean what he said, he can see how big Vincent's ego is just by talking to him for 5 minutes.

He needs to get humble fast, or he will fall.

"I-I just can't understand you! But FINE! I take the bet! If you lose you must obey me, if you win, I will recognize you are stronger!"

Vincent's flow of mana erupts, the air around the battlefield suddenly cooling down and forming a mist.

"Wow! Just by sheer mana alone, he transforms the environment!"

"That kid sure has a death wish, not just Westrich but also Watersor?!"

The Audience is getting excited to see the battle.

Will it be a good battle between noble or public execution from royal to ungrateful noble?

But Ark is unfazed.

"Well, my part is a bit different but whatever, Referee, please, count to 3 and we start!"

Ark beckon and take up a battle stance.

"…."

The maid was silent.

"Just do as he said."

Vincent commanded while taking up his battle stance too.

Ark is firm and defensive; he puts both of his hands out in front while Vincent is aggressive, he raises both hands, ready to cast a spell.

"1."

The cold and chilling voice came out from Vincent's maid.

"2"

The beauty of a voice is like a siren in the black sea, luring a traveler to her.

"3"

And make them fight.

"Ice knives!"

The moment his maid counts to 3, Vincent creates 3 blue crystal knives in thin air and sends them flying to Ark.

The knife coming from 3 directions at a dangerously fast speed!

'That kid!'

Ark grin, that kid wants him dead!

The sharpness and cold of the ice can easily kill someone that wasn't prepared.

But if you want to kill a hero, you should be better!

'Hero defensive style first form Energy glove!'

The mana around his hand suddenly compresses to create an invisible glove, and by sheer physical skill, Ark catches all of the knives! And crush it!

*crack*

All three ice knives shattered to dust and disappeared leaving Ark no harm.

"Is that all you got?"

Ark taunted.

"No, that was just a test to check your strength…"

Vincent smiles nervously, he did try to end the fight there.

"Then you better hurry or else I will end the fight now."

Ark clenches his fist and steps up forward.

The move looks so simple, but for some reason, it makes Vincent shiver and panic.

"Don't come near me! Ice lance!"

This time Vincent sends a giant pillar of ice Ark's way to grit his teeth.

This is level 2 magic!

Ark looking straight at the pillar and punching right into it!

"You idiot!"

*BOOM!!*

The ice lance explodes mid-way and the cold air engulfs the arena.

"What is this cold! I'm freezing!"

The audience who were touched by the mist felt the coldness penetrate to their bones.

Can't imagine how it would feel to get directly hit by it.

"Trigger the spell manually, you do have a good teacher."

Ark's voice can be heard through the mist and the mist started to fade.

At the point of explosion, the Ark appears standing still with zero harm to be seen.

He diversifies the flow of mist outside so the audience gets harmed and not him.

"But you shouldn't stop the attack, try again!"

Ark throws something back in Vincent's way.

It is a snowball created by the shard of ice lance's mist!

*Pat*

The snowball lands on Vincent's face, embarrassing him to the core.

"You!! you a lump of dead meat!"

Everyone can see the anger on Vincent's face, around him, are 4 ice lances that start forming.

'Wow, this kid is something.'

Ark was impressed by Vincent's skill and law talent, 4 level 2 spells at once at the age of 5!

This kid's future is limitless!

"DIE!!!!"

Vincent screams in anger, now he really wants Ark's Dead!

This time the four lances coming at Ark from the 4 directions, 4 giant pillars of ice create a pseudo ice prison that traps Ark inside.

If he blocks it, it will explode, and it came from 4 directions. There is no place he can direct it out.

So what he needs to do is simple.

"Woah! That nearly got me there"

He jumps and lets the 4 pillar pieces through the ground arena and stands on top of them.

"YOU!!!"

*BOOM*

In anger, Vincent detonates the lances point blank.

"Young master!"

Julia screams with despair, the explosive from 4 level 2 spells is deadly!

Even if the receiver uses [absorbs element], the damage from coldness is still considered dangerous!

"If he dies, you better watch your sleep, you little f-!!!"

She said to Vincent but before she could finish her sentence, a mysterious hand closed her mouth.

"Julia, I like that you worry about me, but that's a little bit too far, ok?"

Ark appears in front of Julia, virtually unharmed.

"How did you escape from the explosion!"

"Just dodged them? I mean up is safe you know. Should have created 5 lances."

Ark turns back from Julia and starts walking slowly toward Vincent.

"You know the property of Ice magic is water and wind combined, right?"

While walking, Ark creates one ice knife without chanting.

"Just like fire magic ignites, water magic flows."

He throws the ice knife at a slow speed around ¼ of Vincent's ice knife speed.

"Are you lecturing me? ME?!"

Vincent counters Ark's move by creating his ice knife and throwing it to intercept Ark's.

With this trajectory, the two knives should collide, but Ark's ice knife just stops mid-way and slices Vincent's knife, shattering it, before flying back to Ark's hand.

"I saw you control the direction of the knife and lances but why not go further? The water's flow is endless, you know?"

Ark juggles the ice knife in his hand before throwing it at Vincent again.

"Ice barrier!"

An ice wall appears and blocks the knives successfully, but the shattered knife didn't disappear, the piece formed back together and stopped in front of Vincent's forehand.

"And because it's Ice, the wind property can help guide the flow back when it gets disrupted, the property of wind, guide, is very useful you know? Don't just use it to only amplify the speed of attack."

Ark walks up to Vincent and stops while staring into the boy's eye.

"H-How? HOW DID YOU KNOW ALL OF THIS?!"

Vincent screams in anger, but his mana is depleted.

"Aren't you got a good teacher? This should be the very basics of magic learning!"

The answer makes Vincent shocked, and it makes Ark question himself.

"Right?"

He looks around for confirmation but gets the head shake in unison as an answer.

What Ark is saying is something they will learn after they get their next big test in life, the affinity test.

"What?"

He is dumbfounded, is the educational system that bad or have they got some secret plan for this day and age?

"Ok, let's settle this duel then."

Ark turns his head to Vincent's maid because he knows Vincent isn't gonna accept his defeat.

"You win, Son of Anderson."

Vincent's maid politely declares her master's defeat.

There is no way her master could possibly win this.

"No! I just finish recovering my ma-"

Ark's knife got closer to Vincent's mount and got his mouth closer to Vincent's ear.

"When a stronger opponent lets you walk away, don't speak and do it, so you can have a second chance."

Ark whispered, before letting Vincent go free and cancel his knife.

"Let's go grab some food, Julia. I'm starting to get hungry."

"Yes! LET'S GO! GO! GO!"

Julia happily accepts her master's offer with a giant smile on her face.

Of course, she is happy, her master just defends her pride with a landslide victory!

And two of them leaving the battleground, just like that.

"….."

Vincent didn't wait to receive more embarrassment, he quickly storms out while his maid follows.

After walking for a while, the two got out of the crowded area and got to a quiet place.

And then Vincent slaps his maid with pure anger.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TEACH ME ALL OF THAT!!!"

"BECAUSE OF YOU, I LOSE TO SOME LOWLY NOBLE HOUSE!!!"

He continued slapping till he felt tired.

The maid's face turns from white to red in Vincent's hand shape, but she still doesn't express any emotion.

"I just taught you what the master wanted you to know."

She explains calmly.

"BUT I'M YOUR MASTER!! AND I COMMAND YOU TO TEACH ME MORE!!!"

Vincent shouted before he got blacked out of exhaustion.

His maid quickly grabs him before he falls to the ground and whispers.

"Yes, my master."