DMHS 13

The vacant lot went silent, like cold water had been poured over it.

“……”

“……”

Frederick’s arm, lowering the handkerchief covering his face, trembled.

When he pulled it away, a red mark in the shape of the handkerchief remained on his face.

“You brought death upon yourself. Do not resent me.”

Mana gathered around Frederick. The place where the most mana concentrated was his feet.

Frederick suddenly kicked forward. For an ordinary person it would have been powerful enough to send them flying with a blow to the stomach. But Kian had already kept his distance, predicting Frederick’s attack.

In the end Frederick delivered a huge miss. With a boom, dirt dust rose from the ground.

“You seem to have some sense.”

Anger filled Frederick’s eyes. Kian gave no answer and only observed Frederick’s movements. That was the reason Kian had accepted the duel in the first place.

‘I am curious about the movements of a battle mage.’

Kian wanted to know the attack pattern of a battle mage and how they used mana.

Frederick, not knowing he was only being observed, faced Kian with all his strength. As the distance between them widened, Frederick used magic.

–Ring of Fire!

Flame rings shot out from his hands one after another. Kian stepped back to dodge the attack.

Crash

Flames struck the dirt ground. As the distance still did not close, Frederick again cast magic.

–Pillar of Fire!

Battle mages seemed to mainly use fire magic for offense. Among the four elemental magics of air, water, fire, and earth, in destructive power nothing was as effective as flames. His thoughts lasted only a moment. Before long, pillars of fire surrounded Kian in a circle. Kian looked at the blazing flames.

‘What will the next attack be?’

Frederick seemed to take his waiting differently, and he laughed in triumph.

“Now you are coming to your senses? But it is already too late!”

A fist, strengthened with mana and fire attribute, pushed straight through the flames. Kian, who had read Frederick’s movement, moved lightly and dodged the punch.

“You run well like a rat!”

This time a fist shot from the other side. Kian tilted his head slightly to the side and avoided the attack.

‘Binding the enemy with magic and attacking with martial skill, that is the basic pattern.’

The wall of fire narrowed in. Now even a slight move would scorch him. Then a long leg swept quickly under the flames. Kian hopped up.

‘It is unexpected that martial skill has a heavier weight than magic.’

The flames came right in front of him. The ends of his hair burned crisp under the high heat. At this rate he would be burned alive. But Kian knew Frederick would not attack like that.

‘If he meant to burn me with magic, he would not have done it this way.’

As expected, he was not wrong. Just before the flames engulfed Kian, a hand shot out from across the fire pillars and pulled his collar.

As Kian was pulled out, the many fire pillars merged into one giant pillar, soaring high into the sky and vanishing.

Fwoooosh!

The people looked up following the pillar of fire.

“Wow.”

At that moment, Kian hit down Frederick’s hand with the edge of his own hand. The hand gripping his collar dropped away. But Frederick did not give up there. He showed even greater confidence in close combat.

“I will make you regret not dying in the fire pit.”

Mana gathered in Frederick’s hand. His hand glowed bluish. He stretched his hand toward Kian’s collar at high speed. Kian stepped half a step back and slipped away from Frederick’s grasp. Then, without giving him a chance to breathe, he quickly attacked.

A body strengthened with mana not only gained superior strength, it also hardly tired.

As Frederick seemed displeased with Kian dodging every attack, his strikes were focused solely on seizing him.

Left, right, left, right, right again. Right.

Frederick reached for his collar, arms, hands, even his hair.

Whish. Whish, whish.

Kian twisted his head, raised his arm, and pulled in his stomach.

This time magic shot in from the center. It was a magic arrow that spread out in five directions at once. Judging by the rope pattern engraved on the magic arrowheads, it seemed they had the function of binding the opponent even if they only grazed them.

‘Ah.’

Kian shifted his weight backward. And just before his head hit the ground, he curled his body and rolled backward. A cloud of dusty dirt billowed up.

‘He is definitely a troublesome opponent.’

Hands and feet came flying in at unexpected timings, and once one got used to that, magic would follow.

Before he knew it, a smile that he could not erase spread across Kian’s lips. Frederick, seeing that the distance had widened, drove in long-range magic.

–Fire Explosion!

A small fireball flew at Kian’s feet.

Kian moved his feet nimbly like a dancer and dodged every fireball that struck the ground.

By now, the spectators began to react.

“Sir Frederick’s magic is amazing, but is it not also amazing that Sir Semes dodges every one of them?”

“That is true. Clearly the advantage lies with Sir Frederick. Yet I do not know why it does not feel like he is winning.”

“I am only asking out of pure curiosity. Can knights dodge Fire Explosion magic with just footwork?”

That was the signal that the duel was nearing its end. Kian looked for a chance to strike Frederick’s neck when no one else could see.

After they clashed, Kian planned to knock Frederick unconscious and then pretend to faint himself, letting the match end in confusion.

Leaving the opponent with the feeling of neither losing nor winning was Kian’s particular way. Kian changed his approach from only evading.

Suddenly twisting his ankle and bending forward to charge, Frederick’s eyes widened.

‘Now.’

Kian reached for the back of Frederick’s neck. But before he could strike, Frederick’s body collapsed forward helplessly.

He had been struck by someone other than Kian.

The unexpected movement made Kian froze.

Boom!

With an explosion of dirt rising from the ground, Kian fell to the ground. The unconscious Frederick landed flat on top of him. The South Party people pushed through the dust and came closer.

“Did Sir Semes win?”

“Rather, Sir Frederick lost consciousness! We must call a physician. His breathing is normal for now, so let us all carry him to Marigold Palace!”

“I will fetch a physician!”

The surroundings grew noisy in an instant. When the one sent for a stretcher returned, they laid Frederick on it. Before leaving, Gavin looked at Kian with unreadable eyes. This time, Kian met Gavin’s gaze without a smile.

“Phew.”

Only after everyone left did Kian trace again the presence he had felt just now.

‘There was foreign mana mixed in.’

It had not been his imagination. Someone had appeared during the duel and attacked Frederick. Of course, the attack had only been a blow to the back of the neck to knock him out.

The opponent had appeared suddenly, knocked Frederick unconscious, and vanished without a trace.

‘Could there be someone of that level inside the palace?’

Kian could not believe it. At present, the number of people who could hide their presence so well he could not detect it was countable on one hand.

His former comrades Rowan and Betias. Beyond them, only a few beings of another dimension.

‘Who in the world is it?’

Dark energy flickered and gathered around Kian. His left eye turned red, then black again, repeating. A dark energy beyond words spread through his whole body.

The tension of an imminent clash subsided in an instant.

‘…No need to get worked up. I just need to be careful from now on.’

Kian sighed and slowly opened and closed his hand. The sinister energy around him vanished. His left eye also returned to its usual black.

Kian grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, then let it fall.

As he walked toward Marigold Palace, there was not the slightest hint of regret in his back.

After that incident, the South Party people openly avoided Kian.
Even Frederick, whom Kian thought might challenge him again, lowered his gaze and turned away when he saw him.

‘It is convenient since troublesome matters have decreased.’

Maybe he should have used force earlier.

The next day, with such uncharacteristic thoughts, Kian went to the vacant lot where the North Party gathered. Daisy, the representative of the North Party, greeted Kian with a delighted face.

“Welcome. I was just thinking that Sir Semes would need a space to practice. Please feel free to use our place anytime you wish.”

Kian asked directly. “Did you hear the news yesterday?”

“Of course.”

By now, it seemed Kian had come to be known among the candidates as a “fallen noble who hid his strength.”

“But that is not the only reason. From the beginning, I expected Sir Semes to be a great talent.”

“Why did you think that?”

“The eyes.”

Daisy’s clear eyes stared at Kian.
“I grew up in a knight family. By looking at eyes, one can read a person’s spirit. That is not something that can be hidden even if one tries.”