Veer's thoughts rapidly churned as Rheon drove higher into the air and aimed straight towards him. Just at the last second, he dodged right and raised his right leg to kick Rheon in the abdomen. Just before that could hit Rheon, Rheon's left hand grabbed his leg, but Veer immediately followed with a horizontal splitting slash with his katana, slicing the air. Rheon was forced to parry with his rapier, but the force was so strong that he moved three steps back.
There were loud gasps from the audience. Meanwhile, Eryssa and Eleana had serious expressions on their faces. Alicia had a smile on her face as though she was genuinely enjoying this. Noelle had seemingly disappeared in that brief moment of clash. Kerin was laughing in the distance, "He is trying to impress Lady Eleana again." John shook his head. Eryssa's brother, Erin, had a dissatisfied face as he kept his eyes on Veer.
Rheon looked at Veer and said, "Ha, even after all that, you are still an unstoppable knight." Veer's expression darkened at his words as he parried Rheon's incoming attack and performed a counter thrust. Rheon barely managed to evade it, but still, it made a sharp scratching sound against his armour.
Rheon suddenly held his sword with both hands as his body went a bit down and the sword over his shoulder. Kerin mumbled, "Crap!" Rheon suddenly burst forward and performed an uppercut. Veer parried that with both his hands on the sword, but the force was so great that he landed a few feet back.
Veer suddenly kept his sword very straight at a low stance as Rheon was approaching again and thrust it forward. Rheon dodged that and then swung immediately at Veer. Veer had sheathed his sword and suddenly unsheathed it, and surprisingly, that parried Rheon's sword. Everyone was dumbfounded, including Eleana, as Veer performed a splitting slash at Rheon, whose stance got broken. Rheon barely managed to protect himself as his armour shattered. Blood flowed as Rheon made a distance between him and Veer. Rheon slowly looked at Veer with a deep expression.
Rheon's expression became unreadable as he murmured and chanted something, and his sword seemed to emit faint yellowish hues. Eleana, in the distance, had a look of shock on her face as she shouted, "This is forbidden for knights! How dare you!" She swiftly crossed the distance in a flash, but before she could enter the arena, she was stopped by the guardian.
The audience was in an uproar as they moved further back. Knights got into position to protect their respective persons. The guardian, who had his head bandaged with black stripes and had black armour, indicated his immense power and knightship.
The guardian said, "Ma'am, I will report that to the majesty, but for now let the match end first." Eleana's brows became displeased as she threatened, "Sir Valyn, are you really going to overlook this serious crime?" Valyn said, "Ma'am, please understand. It has already gone out of control."
At that time, onlookers understood that something very serious was going on. Many tried to exit through the door, but they were closed.
The atmosphere became really strange. What was going to be a simple fight suddenly seemed to become a horror play. In the arena, Veer was just looking straight at Rheon. He needed to win; otherwise, there might be huge casualties in this celebration, he thought.
The only good thing was that she was here, as he glanced at Eleana, who was now silent, pointing her straight sword at the guardian.
The guardian Valyn also pulled over his sword. The sword was a black greatsword that he kept on his shoulder. Rheon laughed menacingly and dashed forward with his sword. Yellow hues surrounded his sword as it pointed straight at Veer.
Veer could feel the menacing power of the flame-like hues and could sense that dodging it completely would be impossible. He dodged at the most effective time and also kept his katana to parry or stop the hues. There was a shessh sizzling sound, and Rheon was suddenly standing behind Veer. Veer had a deep tear at his left abdomen. There were faint yellow hues attached there.
So Veer realised he could not let Rheon make any more attacks as he forcefully endured the pain. He would undoubtedly lose. He realised he really was in a very bad situation.
With no ideas, he focused his breath and sheathed the katana to perform the great art he had just learnt—or rather remembered. The atmosphere suddenly became more chilly. The prince Erin was laughing hard, "That's it! That's what I want! It will finally become mine." Kerin, meanwhile, suddenly unsheathed his sword and prepared to dash to the prince but was stopped by John, who shook his head and said, "Protect Princess Eryssa. That is more important for us." Kerin nodded and sheathed his sword as both of them went near Eryssa.
Valyn said to Eleana in a deep voice, "You should not have come today. Always putting your nose everywhere." His sword, which had white patches, shined gently as he gave a roar and unleashed a barrage of attacks, which had very irregular timings, on Eleana that shook the very castle. Eleana's whole figure shined briefly, and her sword seemed to come to life as it parried each of the guardian's attacks with great precision and jumped whenever the sword seemed to create a floor disturbance attack. Wherever she landed after each attack had a deep dent on the castle floor.
Despite the knights' efforts to protect the people, it seemed many were slightly injured by the lingering shock waves of the guardian's attacks.
As Veer prepared to unleash the sword art that came to his mind, his energy seemed to rapidly drain as his muscles tightened around his grip and upper elbow. Strange currents were flowing through him in an intangible manner which he could not explain but only feel. He felt as though there were millions of currents flowing through every part of his body.
Rheon, meanwhile, had already moved to his previous position and was looking at Veer gravely as a very translucent yellow mist seemed to surround him. Veer dashed forward, and even before he came near Rheon, there were two sharp air-slashing strikes that lurched at Rheon from both sides.
Rheon parried the two attacks seemingly coming from the air from left and right. Just at that moment, Veer's sword came very near to Rheon as there was a bright flash of katana swing. The yellow mist was cut off by the attack barely as it reached Rheon's body.
The separated mist was beginning to make a veil again, but before that there were five wild strikes seemingly coming out of nowhere. Veer dropped his sword out of exhaustion and looked ahead to see a bloody sight of Rheon. So he managed to hit him after all, even with that mist. It seemed it was the correct choice to use the style.
As he was dropping to the ground, Rheon, who was also falling, was smiling lightly and said, "A knight should never abandon his sword... Thanks for granting me free..." He dropped dead just like that. Veer was feeling a little lost, but his body gave out and he also fell on the floor as he heard loud gasps from all around.