Chapter 691: Elion Vs Paladin Althea

“Who do you think is going to win?” Mayumi asked as they stood to one side of a large, open courtyard. Maya shrugged, her gaze resting on the two figures before them.

“Your guess is as good as mine. She looks strong, and Elion is strong too, but I can’t say I know what he’s capable of at full strength. For some reason, he’s always holding back.”

“Wait, you’re saying he’s been holding back this whole time?” Mayumi asked. When Maya nodded calmly, her confusion only deepened. “But why?”

Maya shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ve barely seen a fraction of what he’s capable of.”

“This should be an interesting fight, then,” Cole said, and Uta nodded beside him.

“Of course Big Bro Elion is going to win!” Yaana chimed in, wearing a beaming smile with her hands planted on her hips. There wasn’t a single shred of doubt in her mind.

Solara listened quietly to their conversation while watching the pair facing one another across the centre of the paved courtyard. Princess Isla stood beside her, waiting with a curious expression.

“What brought this on?” Isla asked, turning towards Solara. “I’ve never seen Paladin Althea behave this way.”

Solara sighed deeply beneath her veil. “She must have felt the need to restore her honour. Althea can be rather headstrong at times, so she probably decided that challenging him to a duel was the only way to do that.”

“I can’t say I approve of this behaviour,” she continued, looking back towards the courtyard. “But since he agreed, there’s nothing I can do but watch.”

“Though I hope she won’t go too far,” Solara added. In her mind, no matter how talented Elion was, there was no way he could defeat a paladin of Althea’s level, even with her strength suppressed.

That suppression wasn’t merely for appearances, either. Having broken one of the essential rules governing entry into this world, Althea could no longer exert strength beyond that of a High Mage.

However, her skills remained intact, which was why Solara felt so confident about the outcome.

Still, the restriction raised another question in her mind. How had the people who now called this world home managed to bypass it when they had first arrived?

That was a mystery Solara wished to understand, but for the moment, she focused on the matter at hand.

‘Let’s see what you’re capable of.’

Elion regarded Althea with a steady gaze. He didn’t know what she hoped to achieve by challenging him to a duel, but he sure as hell wasn’t backing down. In fact, he almost felt like laughing.

‘She must be very confident that she can beat me.’

He had already suspected that she couldn’t exert her true strength: After all, there was no way she could be a sage and young enough to enter the legacy world legally.

He had already talked it over with the system, he reduced strength was the price she was paying for breaking his strength, so she wasn’t a true sage in her current state, though she was undoubtedly more experienced than him.

A small smile appeared on his face as she drew both sabres from their sheaths, regarding him coldly.

Albert stood on the other side of the courtyard, opposite Maya and the others, ready to oversee the duel. “Are you both ready?” he asked.

Elion nodded, drawing Kurogoroshi with a resounding shing! A moment later, he threw the sheath into his storage space, freeing himself of anything that might interfere with his movements.

‘I might have to go all out,’ he thought, settling into his stance.

He didn’t like that he would have to break one of Dorian’s rules, but he absolutely wanted to win this fight, not just win, but overpower her in an almost embarrassing manner.

She clearly wanted to put him in his place, and there was no way he would let her. In fact, part of him wanted to do the same to her… to absolutely demolish her and show her who the boss was.

After all, what could be more satisfying than putting a stuck-up bitch in her place?

‘Only a handful of things, honestly!’

“Begin!”

Albert swung his hand, and Althea’s figure flickered before disappearing from sight. At the same moment, Elion entered a state of absolute focus.

A cold tingle raced along his neck, his instincts screaming a warning.

He didn’t need to form a conscious thought before moving; with his feet planted firmly against the ground, he leaned his upper body back just as Althea appeared before him.

Her left arm was already outstretched, the edge of her sabre cutting through the space his neck had occupied a moment earlier. However, her second blade was already descending, poised to cut him down before he could recover from his awkward position.

Time seemed to slow.

Elion smirked up at the beautiful paladin, whose face was now above his own. She hadn’t bothered wearing her helm, which, in his opinion, was a clear sign of disrespect. Yet the fleeting shock on her face when she noticed his smile was utterly satisfying.

He made no immediate attempt to counter her, even though his eyes followed every movement with perfect clarity. His expression almost seemed to say, I can, but you aren’t worthy.

Then, within that brief but terribly swift exchange, Elion finally moved.

His blade flowed from its resting position with the fluidity of running water, rising smoothly despite his awkward stance.

At the same time, he used Temporary State Conversion to boost his speed. He wanted her to understand that she couldn’t beat him, and that meant striking in a way she couldn’t evade.

Mana surged through his body at a speed that would have left most mages utterly stupefied. Before Althea’s descending blade could reach him, he had already formed a spell within a fraction of a millisecond.

A small section of earth rose beneath her foot just as she stepped down, upsetting her footing.

The movement was slight, but its timing was almost mercilessly precise, coinciding perfectly with the upward sweep of Elion’s sword.

By the time she recognised the disturbance beneath her, his blade was already ascending towards her torso.

Suddenly, she understood why he hadn’t bothered retreating or raising his sword to block her second attack. She had been about to scoff at his apparent inability to respond, but now a chilling realisation seized her.

‘I can’t move!’

From the beginning, she had never considered the possibility of losing. His first dodge had seemed like little more than a fluke, and she had followed it with an attack that should have left him no room to escape.

Yet now, it felt as though she had been dancing in the palm of his hand throughout the entire exchange.

In that instant, she understood one terrible truth.

The depths of his strength were unfathomable!

Boom!

Kurogoroshi swept upward as Elion unleashed Flowing Edge, striking across Althea’s torso and sending her flying across the courtyard.

An explosive fire spell erupted with the blow, its thunderous detonation reverberating through the open space as she hurtled into the arched bridge at the far end.

Stone cracked beneath the impact. Sections of the bridge’s low wall collapsed around her, raising a thick cloud of dust and scattering fragments across the paving.

That strike should have ended the fight then and there.

The spectators could only stare in shock.

An exchange that had lasted little more than a split second had ended with Althea being flung across the courtyard, while Elion remained standing tall and completely untouched.

His sword was still extended in the follow-through of his blow, though a faint frown marred his handsome features.

Of everyone watching, Solara was perhaps the most stunned. Without realising it, her breathing had quickened, her gaze shifting between Elion and the broken stonework.

‘She lost that exchange!’

But as she looked towards the place where Althea had struck the bridge, she noticed movement beneath the settling dust. A moment later, the paladin emerged from the debris.

“You blocked it,” Elion said.

He swung Kurogoroshi lightly a few times in his hand, a small smile returning to his face as he regarded her. “It would have been disappointing to defeat you in a single exchange.”

He had felt an obstruction at the very last second, so she had probably raised a barrier to block the attack.

Honestly, he had thought he had her, but if that was all it took to bring down a Sage, he would have had to reconsider his opinion of them.