Chapter 30: Wait, where is the flaw?

[Earth Splitting Slash]

Clarence’s heavy strike came in.

Xi Ya watched for the right moment and leaped toward his side and rear.

In the game, that attack had a near-180-degree arc.

Dodging backward or to the side would still get caught; only the opponent’s diagonal rear was the sole blind spot.

“He actually dodged?”

Seeing his swing miss, Clarence immediately turned and swept horizontally.

Several tiny magic arrays appeared on his sword, and a few chunks of gravel flew out.

Xi Ya was still in midair.

He hurriedly raised his sword to block, deflecting most of the gravel, but a few pieces cut his arm.

Hiss—

Xi Ya landed, the pain twisting his mouth as he covered the wound with his left hand.

“Hahaha, commoner, how does it feel? Does it hurt?”

Seeing Xi Ya’s gesture, Clarence laughed smugly.

‘This Clarence is already using magic to sneak attack.’

Xi Ya clicked his tongue internally.

He glanced at the spectators outside the arena.

None of them had noticed Clarence’s underhanded move.

From their perspective, Clarence was just flicking leftover dirt off his blade.

“Try this one!”

Clarence channeled mana again.

Several streams of brown mana converged like quicksand, forming a small sandy tornado around the sword.

[Rock Impact]

The next second, Clarence shot forward in a whoosh and appeared right in front of Xi Ya.

Xi Ya reacted just in time, instinctively dodging to the right.

The sandy tornado brushed past his side and scraped his left shoulder.

So fast! I almost…

Before Xi Ya could recover from the close call, his peripheral vision caught Clarence’s lips curling.

He wasn’t planning to stop.

He kept pouring in mana.

The gravel in the tornado grew denser, and the iron sword at its core flashed with a strong yellow light, as if it might explode at any moment.

Not good.

Clarence was going to detonate the gravel on his sword, and from this distance, Xi Ya couldn’t dodge.

‘What do I do?’

He realized he was now extremely close to Clarence—within the range of his sword swing.

If he couldn’t dodge, he’d just have to counterattack!

Xi Ya stomped off the ground, gripped his sword with both hands, and swung with all his strength at Clarence’s waist.

“Ugh!”

Clarence’s waist took a heavy blow.

His body arched in pain, his sword drooped toward the ground, and the mana he’d built up discharged.

BOOM—

The ground erupted into a large spiderweb of cracks.

Using the shockwave, Xi Ya leaped out of the blast radius, unharmed by the splash damage.

But Clarence was cut by his own gravel and fell to one knee.

The audience outside fell silent for a second.

“What’s going on? How can Clarence not even beat a commoner?”

“Tsk, tsk. Yesterday he was boasting he’d teach that commoner a lesson, and now he’s the one getting taught. How embarrassing.”

Murmurs rose again.

Many students started gossiping about Clarence.

Clarence was already furious.

Hearing the very people he’d called over talking behind his back sent him into a rage.

“You damn lowborn! Go die!!!”

He lost all reason and started slashing wildly at Xi Ya, unleashing sword techniques without any form.

The entire dueling ground was riddled with craters, and gravel flew everywhere.

He swung his sword like he was swatting flies, each strike so fierce it seemed aimed to split the floor.

But no matter how he swung, he couldn’t touch Xi Ya.

Even though Clarence looked like a madman flailing uselessly, Xi Ya was actually dodging in a panic, cursing under his breath.

‘He’s spamming techniques like they cost no mana, and there’s no cooldown—how am I supposed to play this?’

“Dodge! Keep dodging!”

Clarence roared.

Xi Ya panted heavily.

His evasion was slowing down.

His stamina was nearly exhausted.

At this rate, Clarence would eventually crush him.

He retreated to the edge of the arena, hoping to open some distance and rest for a few seconds to recover.

“Xi Ya, keep it up!” a voice called from behind him.

It was Dailina.

Xi Ya felt a warmth in his heart—but only for a moment.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t some hot-blooded manga where hearing a pretty girl cheer gave you instant power.

That didn’t exist.

His legs had been shaking for a while now.

His arms were too sore to lift.

He had no strength left.

Then he glanced at Feili and saw her watching him with that same half-smirk.

That look made Xi Ya panic.

The thought of her mocking him with that sarcastic tone if he lost made him clench his teeth.

No, I have to go all out!

After gritting through several more exchanges, Clarence finally slammed his sword into the barrier at the edge.

The iron blade got stuck in a break in the railing.

Perfect chance!

Xi Ya sprinted behind Clarence, using the last of his mana to strengthen his arms.

Just then, Clarence pulled his sword free and spun around frantically.

Now!

Seizing that fleeting opening, Xi Ya swung his sword low, aiming to sweep Clarence’s legs.

‘Good, as long as I hit his biggest weak point…’

Huh?

Wait—where’s the weak point?

Xi Ya realized he was swinging straight at Clarence’s groin.

‘Stop, stop! I can’t hit there!’

He jerked his sword upward at the last second.

The blade grazed just in front of Clarence’s crotch.

The iron sword struck Clarence’s abdomen hard.

His eyes rolled back.

The sword fell from his hand.

He dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach.

Xi Ya pulled back and put away his sword, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

‘That was close—I almost gave Clarence a sex change.’

Even though sword duels allowed injuries and deaths, one should still show restraint.

If Viscount Sweet came knocking because Xi Ya made Clarence incapable of having heirs, that would be trouble.

Now Clarence seemed unconscious.

That probably meant he won, right?

The audience outside had already erupted into chaos.

“What? Clarence lost?”

“Didn’t he say he was going to teach that commoner a lesson? How is he the one kneeling?”

“He can’t even beat a commoner, and he still claims he should be in the Elite Class?”

The student council referee took a few seconds to register what happened, clearly shocked.

When she saw Xi Ya looking at her, she announced:

“…The sword duel is decided. Xi Ya wins!”

On the high platform, Griffin tugged at his beard in disbelief.

“This… how is this possible? My analysis was correct! Clarence completely outclasses Xi Ya in both mana and strength. So why did the outcome differ?”

Griffin grew more agitated with every word.

He even pulled out two strands of beard.

“It must be a fluke! Yes, a fluke! Who knew this Clarence had no composure and let anger cloud his judgment so easily! Kaelan, don’t you think so? Huh? Kaelan, what are you looking at?”

Griffin turned to Kaelan for confirmation but found Kaelan wasn’t listening.

Instead, he was staring pensively at the field.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just a bit surprised too.”

Kaelan snapped out of it, extended his hand, and smiled.

“Alright, you lost. Hand over the silver coin.”

“Tch!”

Griffin reluctantly raised his hand.

A flash of white light, and a silver coin appeared in his palm.

He then smacked it hard onto Kaelan’s hand.

“I lost this time, but I’ll win next time!”

“Ha, sure. I’ll be waiting.”

Kaelan chuckled and pocketed the coin.

His gaze returned to the field, landing on the black-haired boy who was still catching his breath.

‘This student’s movements… they resemble Teacher’s quite a bit.’