“Let the final begin!” the announcer exclaimed as loudly as he could, hyping everyone in the stadium. They screamed their lungs out.
Most people were rooting for the Ocean Outlaws, surprisingly. Maybe it was out of fear; I couldn’t tell. However, there were still a small number of people rooting for the underdogs—us.
I would’ve thought we would have convinced everyone by now that we were the strongest team in this tournament, but it seemed the prestige the Ocean Outlaws and Lurok held was on a whole different level compared to us.
After all, it was only natural, considering that this was their kingdom. If we became more popular than them in such a short time, I would actually pity them somewhat.
Nevertheless, what I was excited to see were the skills that Art would have.
It was the first time I was seeing him fight just like everyone else, and I was somewhat curious about how he would use his abilities. I could still remember the first time I had met his father vividly, and I wondered if he had even more talent than his lazy father.
Within seconds, the match began, and the first one to move was Art, which surprised me, as I thought he would have just waited for his opponent to attack him out of laziness. But he was actually moving first.
However, he seemed devoid of any strength as he moved forward. He barely held his sword, dragging it against the ground, walking so slowly that his speed could be compared to a 90-year-old grandmother. Most of my students were clearly mad at the way he acted since he didn’t seem to be giving his all whatsoever.
“Come on, Art! Actually try, put some strength in those muscles of yours!”
He looked back at them with a clear frown. “I’m actually walking toward him; what more do you even want from me?”
I laughed on the sidelines next to Lurok, who just couldn’t believe the student I had chosen to fight first.
My students turned in my direction as they heard me laughing my heart out. Most of them were frowning, mad about the decision I had made, and they didn’t hide their frustration.
“Professor, why did you pick him out of everyone?”
“That’s right, look at him. He doesn’t even want to fight!”
“He’s so lazy!”
I heard all those complaints but dismissed them instantly.
Instead, I pointed to the stage where Art was still walking in a straight line, and it seemed most people had missed something.
Art’s opponent hadn’t moved a single muscle since the fight had started, so why was everyone acting like he wasn’t putting in any effort while his opponent was also doing the same thing?
Still, I found it weird that, no matter what happened, Lurok’s man didn’t move. It was as if he was scared of what would happen to him if he moved. I couldn’t tell from where I was standing, but there was definitely something wrong—I could feel it, and when I looked over to Lurok, my theory confirmed itself.
“Why did you choose such a scaredy cat as your first fighter? Look at him, he won’t even move!” I said to Lurok, who was clenching his teeth right at that moment.
“Alex! Move your ass and fight, look at him. He doesn’t even want to fight you.”
It seemed Lurok’s voice brought Alex out of his reverie as he suddenly shook his head and pulled out the short sword that was around his waist, brandishing it high with pride. Then, Alex dashed forward extremely fast.
Those who weren’t used to such movement would lose sight of him, but he had moved right behind Art, who still hadn’t reacted as Alex’s sword was right over his head. It would strike down within a second.
If Art didn’t react, there was actually a chance that he would die in this fight. Alex’s sword slowly started coming down, but I just smiled when I saw this scene. I didn’t know why, but I had unwavering confidence in him.
I knew that nothing would happen to him; that’s why I didn’t move from my seat, letting the strike continue to move down, threatening the life of my student.
“Careful!” Olivia shouted from the sidelines. “Block it, or you’ll die!”
But just as the strike was about to touch Art’s head and kill him, his sword, which he had been dragging on the ground, blocked the strike. Art didn’t put much strength into his block, as his hand was pushed away as he blocked the attack.
However, everyone watching struggled to understand how such a thing was even possible. His sword, which he had dragged on the ground, had moved at such a fast speed out of nowhere.
“You! How did you do that?” Alex, Art’s opponent, shouted. He had thought that this was already his win when he saw the lack of reaction from his opponent. But out of nowhere, he had managed to stop his deadly strike.
However, even if his strike had been blocked, this gave him a lot of confidence, something that, for some reason, he lacked a lot at the start of the fight. Art yawned right in his face. “Do what? I just didn’t want to die. So, I guess it’s my turn to attack this time, right?”
Alex didn’t know why, but he felt shivers running down his spine as Art muttered those words, as if the attack that was about to be thrown his way would be much, much stronger than what he could handle at the moment.
Energy gathered around Art’s sword, and he lazily brought it above his head, preparing himself to strike down.
“Is that sword aura?!” Ariel exclaimed, unable to believe what she was seeing. “It is!” “Isn’t that something only achievable by those who understand their swordsmanship perfectly?”
Lurok, who was sitting right beside me, couldn’t believe it. “Just where did you find this kid… this is ridiculous.”
