A duel was different from any of the spars I had with father or Mark.

As I walked towards the Training Grounds, I saw many people that were usually busy with other matter, like the Young Miss of this noble Household.

The House Master's daughter was indeed a girl with B Rank Magical Talent, looking at her pure silver hair that signified the strength of her Mana Origin, my eyes couldn't help but twitch a little as I felt my inferiority.

Her talent was the strongest in the entire kingdoms younger generation of Combatants, even if she couldn't compare to my parents right now, the potential she showed already indicated that she will surpass them in future.

She looked at me curiously as I made my way towards the temporal arena made by the servants of the Swordwick Household that were looking to watch a good fight. I didn't really hide much of my abilities in the past five years, and as I was about to battle against a strong opponent like that massive prick, there were many of them that were probably secretly betting who would win.

I made my way to the Arena with a confident stride. My parents who were walking beside the House Master watched the battle from a seat that was prepared beforehand, only they had the right to sit with the Swordwick Duke of the Drakeyol Kingdom due to their own efforts and talent in magical power.

The Swordwick Duke was also known as a B Rank Magical Talent just like my parents but the overall combat ability of that sharp-eyed, well-built man far exceeded my parents by a large margin.

The reason was simple, that silver-haired old Swordsman has his own special Art that can be used in sync with his Aura Manifestation.

Aura Manifestation can be said to be more of a passive ability created by a the Sword God, and since most humans can't bring out the techniques true strengths, the only way for others to increase their strength is by making their own 'active' abilities instead.

Aura Manifestation was the first Art to be made in human history, and after the weak human race saw the potential of Arts, many more were created after it through countless experimentations.

Duke Swordwick's 'Astral Swords' was one of such Arts that was passed down through his noble bloodline. Although I haven't seen it myself, it is said that when he uses his Art, a large amount of swords are able to be formed using his Mana in order to cut down his enemies.

Even though I already had the eighty years of memories of my previous life since birth, I wasn't able to create my own personal Art, no wonder my parents said that Arts were hard to create without a clear goal in mind.

Well, at least I was able to bring my strength up by a notch through mixing magic and science. Looks like it's time to test if my abilities can be used in an real battle against a strong opponent.

In this duel, we were each given strict orders to not use any magical equipment and to not lethally injure our opponent using our abilities.

I look at that massive prick that was holding his wooden spear in disgust while warming up by swinging my wooden knife and wooden sword.

It's not that I doubted his abilities, I mean, how could a weak person earn the chance to become that little girl's personal butler? The fact that he uses a spear gave me even more of an impression that he would be able to gain the upper hand in physical power.

However, what disgusted me to point of not wanting to have anything to do with him was the fact that he was an arrogant prick who looked down on me.

It doesn't take a genius to understand that he was probably the most talented among the younger generation of servants when it came to pure Magical Talent. His disdain towards me isn't something new because I've seen many people consider me as a weakling just because I've an F Rank Magical Talent.

Now that I think about it, looking at him in disgust is a waste of my time, I should just bash his face with my wooden sword then be done with it.

"Are both of you ready?" Mark asks strictly as he was refereeing the duel from the side. A Wind Swordsman like him that focuses his effort in speed is usually needed in duels because sometimes only a fast person can stop things from getting out of hand.

If any of us was to be in danger, he would always be ready to step in and stop us from m breaking any rules.

"Ready." The giant youth stopped talking those friends his age and stepped onto the stage with an innocent smile. If I hadn't seen the contempt he had for me before, even I would have been fooled by that pure-hearted expression he wears as a mask.

"Ready." I held both my wooden knife and sword in reverse grip and declare.

"Then let the Duel start." Mark announces. The audience was in rapped attention towards us as they tried to probe both our strengths.

"Simon Rainglow, just give up, you can't win against absolute power." The massive- I mean, 'innocent giant' asks in way that made him look magnanimous and kind-hearted.

This guy talks to much...

My eyes couldn't help but gaze at him like he was some kind of mental patient as I released my Aura Manifestation.

An amethyst glow surrounds my body and causes his words to be swallowed down his throat. His eyes narrow in seriousness as he found I probably wouldn't be that easy to deal with.

Looks like I underestimated him, it looks like he knows just how dangerous as Anti-Magic ability like Lightning Aura actually is, he must have trained at a very young age just like myself.

"I'm sorry for looking down on you. Let us have a good fight." He says while readying his wooden spear into a formal stance. The opal glow of his released Earth Aura that far exceeded the size my puny Lightning Aura, but his face didn't show its previous arrogance, and instead had his eyes showed pure confidence of his abilities.

We didn't talk with our voices, but instead used our weapons to attack one another, both of us charged at the same time as we readied our Spells.

A bolt of purple electricity sparked out of my Aura as I clashed with his head on, my sword movements was quickly followed up by a knife that tried to poke a hole in his defences, while he used the Earth Aura around his body to create an Earth Armour that blocked every one of my attacks.

Our figures moved everywhere around the stage as we clashed but none of us was able to gain an upper hand in any of our bouts. The armour he created out of his Earth Aura was so thick that every one of my attacks that were coated in lightning wasn't able to pierce through deeply enough to hurt him.

That said, his position wasn't any better because my combat experience was too rich, his heavy spear was always redirected using my swords.

It may look like we're even on the outside, but I knew clearly that his plan was probably to exhaust my Mana, a confident smile etched across his face as the shock he displayed towards my skills faded. I don't know whether to praise his stable mind or curse the fact that his assumptions were spot on.

Looks like it's time to get serious!