"K--"

...

"Ka--haha!"

Lyrian broke out into a laugh.

"Ugh... your smile is getting annoying now. What's the point in laughing when you know you are faced with someone you cannot beat? It's saddening, honestly. Have you gone mad or something?"

Spade spoke with Disdain, slightly annoyed at this point.

"I'll show you why you shouldn't be laughing right now."

Spade brandished his long, silver blade. He hovered it in the air, pointing it at Lyrian.

"Finally... it's time to fight."

Lyrian didn't care to explain anything to Spade. He didn't even walk to talk. All he wanted to do was test out his new powerfully, and that included his experience after going through 100+ battles in the tower.

Without warning, he spread his hands out to the side like a bird freeing its wings.

"Don't be foolish."

Spade's gaze suddenly became sharp as he stared at Lyrian with viper-like eyes.

"Unsheath your blade."

To this, Lyrian simply smiled before bringing his hands together and clapping loudly. His palms were Enhanced, so the sound of the clap quickly boomed throughout the room. The force of it shot directly towards Spade, and as soon as the gust of air from the clap pushed his hair slightly, Lyrian appeared in front of him.

Spade's eyes widened in shock, as he swung his blade up from fighting instinct alone. Lyrian sidestepped the sweep, swiftly kicking his opponent's right leg as Spade nearly lost balance.

Holding himself up with his sword before falling onto his face, Spade quickly dashed forward before turning around, having created some space between him and Lyrian. Or at least, that's what he thought.

Lyrian had traveled along with him and was behind him. He only realized this when he felt a sudden thud thrust into his back out of nowhere, pushing some air out of his lungs as he gasped and stepped forward.

Gritting his teeth, Spade flicked his wrist, as his blade was abruptly enveloped in a purple coat of poison.

"You were hiding your strength? Then I won't go easy on you either."

He said, looking around as Lyrian had already disappeared from his sight.

Suddenly, Lyrian appeared in front of him once again, an excited smile on his face, as he abruptly slashed at Spade with his obsidian blade.

Spade moved his sword up, blocking the attack as he stepped to the side and threw his own precise attack towards Lyrian. His speed was much faster than before, forcing Lyrian to actually block.

"Good!"

Lyrian remarked as the two exchanged several blows. Their swords twanged in the air as Lyrian began driving Spade back. But to disrupt his opponent's momentum, Spade executed a series of calculated sidesteps while launching his own relentless attacks. Lyrian found himself struggling to keep up, lacking the sword skills to easily counter Spade's learned techniques.

Despite this, however, Lyrian's sheer power and speed, which were higher than Spade's allowed him to propel himself further in the fight. Enhancing his limbs at the correct moments, Lyrian began unleashing his own barrage of attacks.

Enhancing his legs, he swiftly evaded all of Spade's attacks. The poison from his blade splurted in the air from time to time, but even that was avoided. Lyrian darted around Spade, poking and prodding with his sword, throwing a multitude of different sword attacks.

He thursted to the right, then slashed to the left, all before striking forward in the middle. The moves were relentless, causing Spade to get pushed back more and more, and continuously faster at that.

In the middle of all of this, Lyrian was just having fun. Finally, he suddenly stopped. Allowing Spade to leap backward a bit. He was panting, speechless. He looked at Glis, but couldn't help but keep his gaze for long.

Spade felt something that he hadn't felt for years... embarrassment? Humiliation? He didn't even know at this point. All he knew was that the smiling devil in front of him was monstrous. Fighting him was like fighting some sort of damn wolf pretending to be a sheep.

"Arrgh! How am I losing to you!?"

Spade exclaimed in frustration.

"The question you should be asking right now is," Lyrian put on a mocking expression and voice, "Why did he stop attacking all of a sudden?"

Spade didn't speak, simply thinking of what to do next.

'Damn it... damn! The bastard really did hide his strength. No... or maybe it was that he gained strength suddenly? I wasn't paying attention, but he was saying something about an elixir when I entered the room. Did he cheat? Drink a powerful growth elixir before the fight? Yes... that must have been it. There's no other explanation for this.'

"The answer is... because I'm bored. You were weaker than I thought."

Lyrian said, sheathing his sword. historical

"What? Are you not going to eliminate me?"

Spade blurted out, not even conscious of what he was saying, but just genuinely curious.

"Huh? Haha! So you do know that It's impossible to beat me at your current state, huh? Pfft! I didn't actually think you'd admit it. But, for your information, no. I am going to eliminate you, but even faster than with a sword."

Hearing this, Spade positioned his blade in front of him as he covered a defensive stance. Lyrian cocked his hand back, as a mini vortex of green mana began swirling around his fist.

He also Enhanced his legs, preparing to launch off. Spade gritted his teeth and gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands.

"Something big... come on then, bastard! You can't defeat me!"

He yelled, as Lyrian suddenly boosted forward, propelled by his legs. He hastily appeared in front of Spade before the boy could even react and unleashed his fist straight into his gut, wrenching it from the outside.

Spade was lifted up into the air as green mana electrified Lyrian's eyes and mouth, his roar resounding through the cave. A splurt of blood dashed out of his opponent's mouth. Spade's eyes had rolled back into his head, and with a final push, his body flew up and crashed into the ceiling of the room, before thudding down into the ground.

At that precise moment, he disappeared from his spot.

'Eliminated.'