[Arthur's POV]
I ran towards the guard on the left, a look of surprise flashing on his face.
When I was two meters away from him, he raised his hand and called out:
"Fire chain!'
Seeing this, I whispered:
"Mirror clone!"
An identical clone appeared in my position simultaneously as I teleported away.
A 5-meter-thick flaming chain wrapped around the clone, causing it to fall face-first on the ground.
Contrary to the result, the guard put on a grave face.
Before he could react, I silently teleported behind him, coated my right hand in a thick silver aura, and slapped out with force toward his ass.
My hand passed effortlessly through his armor like a knife through butter.
When I noticed that my hand was almost in contact with his skin, I expertly reduced the silver aura to a very large degree before I made contact.
*PAAAAAA!* A resounding slap echoed out.
The eyes of the guard bulged outward before his body was sent flying. A few seconds later, he landed face flat in a kneeling position with his ass pointing upward.
There, a gap could be seen in the armor with red burning skin shown in the open.
"Huhahahaha!" I bellowed out loudly. I could see the unnatural looks on the faces of my audience, and I could tell many of them were trying not to laugh. But I didn't care.
My laughter was cut short, though, as I saw a flash from the corner of my right eye.
I immediately turned around with my left hand stretched out and covered with a thick silver aura.
Clang!
I caught the sword thrust towards me, but I couldn't expel the sword to the void as I did before. I noticed that the sword was covered with a green aura, showing that the guard was contending with my laws using his own. Still, the blade wasn't able to cut into my palm, as it was restrained by my mana.
Very quickly, in a mere breath, I pulled the sword, drawing the guard closer to me. I already clenched my right hand into a fist, a thick silver aura covering it as I punched fiercely toward his stomach.
*Bang!*
"Huaaah!"
The second guard fell to his knees as he clenched his stomach tightly.
Silence.
There was absolute silence in the coliseum. Everything happened within a few seconds. The people could barely register what happened before the two guards fell.
One moment, they were trying their best not to laugh, and in the next, they were holding their breath.
It was almost as if an impossible feat had just happened.
The silence didn't bother me, though, as I simply turned to the Duke with a smug smile on my face.
'Heh.'
The serious look on the face of the duke quickly turned red when he met my eyes. I could tell from his expression that he felt embarrassed. Two guards from the strongest kingdom could not handle a small kid?
But he quickly collected himself and stretched his hand toward me as his low yet deep voice drifted into my ears:
"Freeze!"
"Mirror clone."
There was no hesitation in my action. For some reason, my mind felt clearer than ever. I could see every minute movement of the duke as if he were standing right in front of me. It felt as if the distance between us was non-existent.
An intoxicating feeling washed over my body, as I felt my blood rush faster and my heart beat faster, as if it would burst out of my rib cage any moment from now.
And yet, despite all this, my mind remained clear.
'What is this feeling...'
The mirror clone who replaced me froze immediately as the ground and the surrounding air around it were turned into an icy domain.
But I ignored all these, as my body appeared high above the head of the Duke. Using the force of gravity to my advantage, I barreled down with my right leg whipped vertically toward his head.
He raised his head slightly and gazed up at me calmly, as he merely raised his left hand to block my kick.
Seeing my attack was ineffective, I lightly kicked off his right shoulder with my left leg and flipped in the opposite direction with grace.
"Tch..." An annoyed grunt leaked out from my mouth.
I could instantly tell from that exchange that the duke was the real deal.
While still in mid-air, a serene voice drifted into my ears:
"Ice blades!"
Tens of blades made from ice were summoned and directed toward me. Their smooth surfaces reflected the bright rays of the sun, as their sharp edges glistened ominously.
'Is he trying to kill me?'
Despite thinking this, I looked at the approaching attack calmly, and responded by lifting both hands, my left hand facing the direction of the ice blades and my right hand directed above the Duke.
"Receive!" I commanded in a deep voice.
The space in front of me rippled like the surface of a lake, and all the ice blades got sucked into it.
Still completing my flip in the air, my body almost upright, I locked eyes with the surprised Duke, my right hand still directed above him as I voiced out lightly.
"Reflect!"
The space above the duke rippled, and tens of ice blades rained down heavily from it.
The duke was taken aback, as he did not expect such an attack. However, he still kept his composure and called out quickly with both hands raised.
"Ice shield!"
The tens of ice blades collided with a gigantic ice shield, causing a frosty air that shortly blocked all vision to spread out around the duke.
When the scene cleared out, what the people saw shook them to the core.
There, a young silver-haired boy was standing mere inches from the duke, his left hand placed in his pocket as he silently looked at him.
Whereas, the duke still had both hands stretched high as he maintained his posture for casting an 'ice shield'.
There was a small lapse of silence before the people in the coliseum erupted in a clamor.
...
"What the bloody hell?!"
"How is this possible?"
"Isn't the duke said to be in the 'master realm'?"
"Is he? How come he can't even handle a little kid then?"
The people discussed with disbelief in their voices. They didn't expect the Duke of the strongest kingdom to look so weak before a little child.
However, what they didn't know was that the duke wasn't weak; the little boy was just abnormally strong. Most importantly, the duke was distracted after blocking the attack, as he received another voice transmission at that deciding moment.
It seemed the rulers of the other kingdoms were able to tell what happened, as they remained calm. They couldn't help but thank their lucky stars that they had not acted out.
From how that monster was handling the situation, they could tell that this silver-haired boy was not simple.
It was then that a voice filled with power and brimming with pride lightly echoed out:
"Interesting!"
The noisy coliseum instantly became silent as the compelling voice surprisingly came from the direction…of the king!
*****
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