Chapter 38 - Test Completed

The combat test was supposed to have ended however the moderator didn't dare end the match. This was due to the voice he heard in his ear a few minutes ago.

When Arthur got injured, he was about to end the match however he heard a voice sounding in his ear,

"Don't, let him continue till he doesn't want to anymore."

That was when he realized someone was standing beside him, he looked back to see a woman with silver hair and dark eyes. He had lived in Aeturn most of his life so there was no way he did not recognize who she was.

'Devil Princess Cattleya!'

He then remembered the one who was currently battling an instructor was none other than her son, Prince Arthur. He wondered why she wanted him to extend the fight at first, however he simply gave up on thinking about it and agreed.

He just stared at the battle occurring in front of him that had gotten the attention of the thousands of spectators in the hall, even those who were watching from outside, on their phones or televisions. The other matches had long ended and both the examinees and instructors had eyes on his match.

In the VIP seats, the directors of the royal academy looked at the royal family members who seemed to have complete faith in Arthur being able to defeat someone an entire realm above him without using any energies, Creuserey and Cattleya were even making bets on how long it would take the instructor to lose.

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Since Arthur's sword had broken, he was ready to use his hands to complete the fight, but the instructor passed him one of his blades.

"Is this allowed?"

"Who knows?"

The both of them chuckled to each other, and the next moment the instructor disappeared.

The moment Arthur thought that, he swung his sword to the side.

'He should be there!'

He heard the sound of a sword clashing against another sword; the instructor had stopped his sword.

Maybe, if Arthur's swordsmanship was not as good as it was, he would have been ended after the first surprise attack. The instructor wasn't only fast.

Every being has their own rhythm. Their breathing rhythm, heartbeat(s) rhythm… etc.

By being in complete sync with their own rhythm, people are able to easily use high grade techniques that are disconnected from their recognition.

"Can you see me?"

"Well, I wonder."

Despite their physical strengths being on the same level, their years of training and technique mastery were different. It's also impossible to see through each other's thoughts. However, Arthur knew what kind of attack the instructor will do in certain situations. He had predicted his style in the earlier exchange. Therefore, he was able to attack him with his sword.

"You have quite the good sword arm."

"Unfortunately, hand to hand combat is more of my style you know, it'd have been perfect if I could use aura to strengthen my body."

They were conversing amidst the flurry of attacks like normal, then suddenly the air around Arthur changed, the instructor who was about to attack backed away instantly. His sword wasn't even pointed at Arthur. Laughing lightly Arthur held up his free hand and asked,

"Not coming? Low rank Instructor?"

The instructor turned his sword towards Arthur.

"I am Griphi, even if I'm only low ranked, I am still an instructor of the royal academy, do not underestimate me."

"Worry not, I'm taking you seriously, definitely not underestimating you."

Although Arthur said that, it was true that Arthur had not been taking this seriously from the start.

Honestly, he felt that there's nothing the school could possibly teach him, even the Varona realm that his great-grandfather's legacy was supposedly hidden in could be easily accessed with his authority as a prince so he doesn't need to go to the school.

In battle training, he has two of the strongest entities in the entire universe training him, what can instructors of the academy possibly teach him?

The only reason he agreed to go to the school was because he'd stand out if he didn't, rumors would spread about him causing unwanted eyes to fall upon him again. They'd begin theorizing why he didn't attend the academy all devils attend, in the end some might resort to dirty tactics to confirm their theories.

That, he does not want, so he had no choice but to go just to avoid unwanted attention. Even if he isn't actually serious and gets bad grades, it would still be fine. He looked at Griphi in front of him who still seemed to believe he had a chance of defeating him.

'It doesn't matter how good he was compared to other grandmasters on his home planet, he was just a fish in a large pond who didn't know how vast the oceans were, in other words, he's just third rate, still even a third rate grandmaster can probably defeat the average master, unfortunately, I'm far from the 'average' master.'

The next moment Griphi flew towards Arthur with the speed of a bullet.

However.

Arthur's figure disappeared, causing his sword to strike air.

"Wha?!"

Immediately afterwards, Arthur was standing behind him. In a mere moment, his back had already been compromised.

He cannot move.

As if forgetting about the flow of time, Griphi held his sword still, and even stopped breathing, concentrating every last drop of his concentration towards his back.

No one moved.

Indeed, Arthur was only standing back to back with Griphi. Then came a single question.

"You said not to underestimate you but perhaps you're the one underestimating me?"

Griphi's face distorted with the burning humiliation. Immediately, he turned round with a sharp mowing attack.

But there was no longer anyone there.

"How cou-...?!"

He realized that Arthur was now standing a few feet away from the reach of his sword.

"This thing is tiring, no wonder he said you need energy to do it properly."

Griphi recognized the technique Arthur just used. It was a combination of stealthy steps and breathing techniques from martial arts. It is impossible for one to recognize in detail everything they see or hear, even if they have parallel minds, some information is unconsciously discarded by their brain(s).

What Arthur just used was a technique that hides oneself in their opponents unconscious mind, it can only be used in one on one fights so it's perfect for the current situation.

Griphi was clearly seeing and sensing Arthur's movements, but his conscious mind categorized it as unnecessary information, this continued until the last moment, when Arthur had already completed his movement.

It was a technique that Creuserey drilled into Arthur's body every day, for over six months. At this point, Arthur could use it almost perfectly.

To those watching, it would seem like the instructor was striking air on purpose, but the truth was that he unconsciously ignored Arthur's movements. Only the sufficiently skilled were able to see through what he just did.

Griphi recovered himself and Attacked with an even faster speed than before. The white blade cleaved the air, flying straight towards Arthur's neck.

However.

Arthur easily received the attack. Griphi tried to lock their swords together into a pushing contest.

But Arthur instead let all the strength out of his sword and used Griphi's momentum to fling him away.

The last possible moment before smashing into the wall, Griphi performed a flip, then he recovered his stance.

But the disturbance in his heart was now clear on his face.

Neither of them moved .

For Arthur, he was simply choosing not to move.

For Griphi, he cannot move.

Because he was under the illusion that every single one of his moves had been sealed.

"Haaaaa!!"

Along with his roar, he swung his sword.

Thrusts with the speed of a raging whirlwind.

Continuous slashes with the fierceness of a raging fire.

But.

Not a single attack landed.

"AAAAaaaaaaaAAAAHHHHHHH!!"

His battle cry echoed around the quiet arena emptily.

It is almost like a practice session between an adult and a child.

Layla watched this fight with enormous shock.

She knew Arthur was strong and skilled, she had seen him fight many times after all. But even so she did not expect that he would be able to deal with Griphi so handily.

**Kan . Kan . Kan .

The sword sounds ringing out are so light as to be out of place here. It is unmistakably the sound of a practice session.

The both white swords drew their arcs through the air. Before she knew it, Layla found herself mesmerized by the fight. It was the same for everyone else, they were drawn deeper and deeper, unable to tear their eyes away.

This was not what one would expect from a fight between a grandmaster and a master unable to use energy.

At one point, Griphi's body had crashed on the ground so many times that he was barely able to stand anymore, the ground had been cut up from the force of his sword swings yet not a single attack landed.

Arthur calmly dodged his swings and threw a kick to his stomach, sending him flying. Before he could hit the wall, Arthur had already arrived to send another kick to him up in the air.

Jumping up higher and faster than expected, Arthur punched him back to the ground.

Griphi's body bounced back up in the air, and Arthur who had already landed on the ground, dashed to him with speed one would not expect from a twelve year old, sending another kick towards Griphi.

Surprisingly, he was able to block it, but that was only the first. Arthur sent more punches and kicks towards him at frightening speeds. His sword was long discarded on the floor so he could not counter attack properly, he wasn't skilled in hand to hand combat.

'This is why he's third rate, he lost his sword and he can't fight back properly, why does the academy use these clowns for the tests.'

Arthur decided to end this. He put one foot back and readied himself in a side stance. He grasped the hilt of his white sword with both hands then set it horizontal to his waist. It was all to maximize the velocity and the maneuverability of his sword.

Layla recognized that stance, it was the one he used during their first duel after all. For some reason he never used it again after that day.

However it wasn't that he couldn't use it but that he didn't, that day he felt he used something else other than the technique, but he hadn't been able to tell what that thing was.

Surprisingly, he felt he could do it again now, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Griphi had picked up his sword and was readying an aura attack. The two of them faced each other, one with eyes wide open and the other with eyes shut tightly.

The next moment, they both moved.

The world around him felt slow, the movement of Griphi's sword, the cheers and jeers around him. Everything was slow.

'This is it!'

**CRACK!!

'Ha!, i finally got it right! I thought school was going to be boring but if the exams are like this then..'

"Scratch that! School is fun!"

Griphi's sword was broken before he was even able to release his attack, the aura that filled the sword, exploded in his face, with that and Arthur's diagonal slash that cut from his shoulder to his waist, it was impossible for him to fight anymore.

Even if he was a devil and could regenerate, it would take time, the match was effectively over.

There were cheers from the audience, none of the examinees had defeated the instructors so for those who came just to see the fights, Arthur's match was enough to make them happy.

Some other examinees who had been beaten badly by the instructors also cheered for Arthur as they felt he had paid the instructors back. He waved the sword in his hand around in response to the cheers.

Throwing the sword on the ground, Arthur walked back to his seat without a care in the world.

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The matches soon continued after that, however the atmosphere in the VIP seats was tense, even the directors who were supposed to be annoyed that an instructor had lost were scared. That was expected, because Cattleya and Creuserey had released their auras without warning.

Fortunately, Diablo reacted quickly and contained it otherwise all the beings in the arena would have passed out due to fear.

Inglis and Aurora were surprised since they never expected Creuserey to go along with Cattleya's whims and do such a thing however the words they heard made them shut their mouths.

"He's reached the peak of the superior stage, that's my son for you."

"Well, he's my student too. However that's not the main issue."

"Yes, I noticed it too, he did that again."

"Are you sure he can't use magic, no matter how I look at it, he definitely did right there."

"It was unconscious, although he can't use his magic at will, he's unconsciously manipulating the ambient mana."

Creuserey relaxed on his seat and sighed, looking at Cattleya he spoke,

"He's hiding something from us."

"He definitely is, that move, it's not the first time he's done it, so it was definitely on purpose."

"Even though you said he's unconsciously using magic, it didn't feel that way to me."

"How did it feel to you then dear brother?"

"It felt more like.....the power of a law."