Chapter 8 First Duel II

"Lightning spear."

Lightning emerged from her right arm and flowed down to her staff, it then increased in intensity before being fired at Evan.

**CCRACKLLEEE!

**BOOOOMMM!!

It exploded without a loud roar, hitting Evan who was concentrating on defending against the Magic Bullets.

The lightning bolt could turn a huge tree into charcoal instantly, and it was twice as strong as what a level 10 mage was supposed to be able to cast.

Some of the sand on the ground melted from the blow, and the people watching couldn't help but gulp in fear.

'These kids are less than level twenty, right?'

It was then that a voice rang out in surprise.

"That's a tier two spell! Something only level 35 and above should be able to use!!"

Evan walked out from the epicentre of the attack. His shirt was a mess, but he didn't have any wounds.

Laurene had expected this, even if he was weak, he was the still leader of the new generation seven heroes, there had to be a reason he was the leader after all.

Looking closely, a small white light could be seen surrounding Evan's body. He dashed towards Laurene in the short moment she was unable to cast spells due to using a spell above her tier.

**SWISH!! CLANGG!! SSWISHHH!! CLANGGGG!!!

She displayed amazing staff skills in blocking his blows, however, she was a mage, one who was half Evan's level.

Defending against his attacks for long was not possible for her, she ducked out of the path of his sword and rolled backward.

Standing up, she shook her hair to remove the sand that got on it. Since her 'cooldown' was over, she fired a few magic bullets to distract him, which he blocked with ease.

He then took a deep breath and the light on his body seemed to glow brighter. The duke who had just arrived with the emperor seemed to notice it.

'He's awakened to paladin?'

That was the bloodline skill of the Del Eris Family, Paladin.

It gave basic strength and defensive boosts, alongside the effect of amplifying the power of each attack done by a sword. The amplification increased exponentially on each consecutive attack.

The sword in Evan's hand began glowing a slight white light too, it moved like a whip several times, with the sword's acceleration creating afterimages.

**PITT!

Blood splattered out.

Even with the help of her high perception granted by the artifact on her wrist, Laurene got injured. Evan had swung from a distance which the sword could not reach Laurene, but a line of blood was still drawn on Laurene's cheek.

The emperor who saw this was enraged but he could not interfere, he feared making things worse for his daughter.

Controlling his strength to the degree where he could break them up without harming them was not exactly something he was confident in.

He already sent word for the captain of the imperial guard to be summoned to break up the fight.

The duke's knights were also afraid of interfering and causing any of the two to be injured. They could not bear the responsibility of such an action.

Evan realized this but he ignored this and continued swinging his sword, he was using a sword movement called 'Soft sword'.

It was based on moving one's blade in a curved fashion like a whip. Once a whip struck, it would become as hard as a mace. Similarly, the power of the curved sword was launched at Laurene's face!

'Indeed, this technique…!'

Laurene stopped breathing while inwardly admiring it. She recognized it too, it was one of the previous second's favourite techniques.

? At a close distance, it was faster and more powerful than Magic Bullet. The snake-like orbit was difficult to read, and it was not a technique she could cope with, even for expert swordsmen much less a level 10 mage like her.

Above all, it wasn't a technique that ended with one or two hits. Instead, the attacks poured out like rain.

No, it was like a snake with tens of heads.

**PINGGG!!!

The protective lightning magic she used as a shield was pierced like it was a piece of cloth. She was not good at using defence magic, like the one which shielded her whole body. It was also not good against a single-point attack.

However, if she reduced the defence area, a mistake of a few millimetres would lead to a fatal injury.

'I can't block it. I should avoid it.'

She cast body-strengthening magic and attempted to escape from his range, however, Evan would not let her go so easily.

He grinned and increased the intensity of her attacks causing Laurene to click her tongue in annoyance.

"Damn it. Fire storm!"

She casted another tier two magic, one that created a small storm of flames, this caused Evan to back away instinctively for fear of being burnt.

As for Laurene, her magic was exhausted, casting two tier two spells at her level was already a feat on its own.

When the firestorm died down, Evan realized her magic was low, he then charged at a faster speed than before.

While he was sure that she had a trump card she hadn't used, but he was not going to back away because of that.

The moment he got close to her, she smiled and unleashed her trump card.

"Holy Spear!"

A divine spell, one that made use of a different energy source, divinity, not magic.

The National Religion of the Great Western Empire was one that served the goddess Artemisia.

They had claimed the princess was a candidate for the position of the saint and was to be sent to the church for training once.

Although the emperor denied their claims, they still stood their ground.

This was the reason why.

The princess possessed the ability to use a limited amount of Divinity, an energy type higher than the holy magic the church always used, one that only very few bishops and cardinals were able to use.

Her attack was supposed to be strong enough to break through the defences offered by Evan's paladin skill and damage him greatly, however, for some reason Evan felt he could block it without problems.

And that he did.

The spear hit him right in the chest, however, to her surprise, he took no damage whatsoever. Laurene also suddenly lost strength in her legs and dropped to the ground.

Looking up, she saw Evan's sword placed right under her chin.

"I win."

He smiled brightly as he did that and used his hand to help her up. He then used the paladin skill's limited healing ability to heal the cut on her face.

This was because the emperor was already storming over angrily with the duke and imperial guard captain in tow.