Aravel

Chapter 23

The group were currently in the training grounds behind the palace itself.

Since the palace was surrounded by giant walls in the first place, it was difficult to ascertain what exactly the entire structure of the palace grounds was. As such, it honestly wasn't that surprising when Lunaria and Kaze found out about the existence of the training ground later on.

The training ground itself was pretty simple. While it was much smaller than the ones they had in school because there wasn't a reason for there to be one just as big within the palace area, it was still suitable for a duel. Plus, there were knights and mages standing around the area right now to ensure that in the events of an overkill attack happening or a fatal attack took place, they would be able to assist both the King and Kaze.

Kaze, who was currently standing in the area of the fight itself, was facing against the King. He held a sword that he had chosen from the palace's armoury in one hand, something that he wasn't too satisfied with but worked for the time being as a substitute to his usual sword. It was unfortunate but they couldn't find a sword similar to what Kaze had possessed before, once again emphasizing on the unique shape it had. Since this duel was decided rather sudden, Kaze had to get changed out of his outfit to ensure the minimum safety of himself

The King had a huge contrast in both aura and the current outfit Kaze wore. Wearing what that was normally training armour for the knights in general, it was still lavish enough to be considered something that had high impenetrable defence. The thing that threw Kaze off the most was how the giant sword compared to Chris when Chris used it. In the hands of an expert, it would even make a person cower in fear just based off the aura that Ethan had.

"Are you fine with us continuing, Kaze?" Ethan asked Kaze solemnly once more with his giant sword stuck into the ground next to him. "I know that you only recently recovered, so I don't want to force you to push yourself."

"Yes, Sir Ethan," Kaze pushed aside the fear that had begun to accumulate within and made a smile that showed he was certain of his decision. "As long as Your Majesty does not take the fight overboard."

"Don't worry, I will go easy on you," Ethan laughed aloud and picked up his giant sword with a single hand. "Oh right, you can use pure magic if you want to. My mages will be able to heal us if necessary."

Taking stance while Ethan stood there casually, sweat had already started to form on Kaze's forehead. The pressure that he felt was actually insane, and Ethan hadn't even begun to get serious yet. Right now, they were only duelling for the sake of analysing Kaze's fighting ability but Kaze was already taking this seriously. It didn't help that his friends were here to watch too, with the exception of the rest back at their house. They would probably die to watch a match like this: with Kaze against the King of the nation.

Unfortunately for Kaze, Lunaria had already anticipated something like this to happen and was using a magic device to display the scene before them. It connected to those back at home and they were able to watch the fight as well. Unknowingly, Kaze had more eyes than expected watching him. Lunaria didn't let Kaze know about this because there was a chance it would affect his performance, wanting him to go all out against Ethan.

Taking a deep breath, Kaze decided to test the waters first since he wasn't used to his sword. Plus, Ethan acting relaxed was also a sign that Kaze wasn't being taken seriously yet. This was the right time for him to strike first, considering that it might catch Ethan off-guard.

"Hmm, not attacking first?" Ethan broke Kaze's train of thoughts. "Then, please excuse me."

Throwing his giant sword lightly into the air, Ethan jumped up and kicked it right at Kaze.