-Tuesday Afternoon, 8th Of the 1st Month, Year 910-

After Rachel and Nina's fight, I slowly lost interest in the other matches. So, I ended up spending most of my time chatting with Johnny and Jasmine. We talked about some of the good fights we saw, sharing our opinion on the matches. Every now and then, Johnny would match himself up against some of the other applicants, making me and Jasmine laugh.

"So you're saying that you could beat the girl with purple Weapon Qi, but what about the girl with the katana?" Hearing Jasmine's question, Johnny stops boasting and goes quiet.

"...Uh, I don't think I can beat her," Johnny scratches his head with a frustrated expression.

"Mm," Jasmine nods, agreeing with Johnny, "She was really fast, I don't think I can beat her either."

"It's not just her speed though, from the way she was fighting, it looks like she has a lot of experience," Shaking my head, I add, "If it was only her speed, I could probably find a way to manage, but the way she fights, from her movements to her Qi usage is hard to deal with."

Johnny clenches his fist and shouts, "I still want to try fighting her, though!"

I smile, thinking the same thing, 'Her being strong only makes me want to fight her more, I won't get any stronger if I'm scared of fighting someone stronger than me.'

"Number 666 wins!" Mrs. Janson announces another winner after a boy knocks his opponent off the platform with a Qi Wave.

Hearing her announcement, Number 666 helps his opponent get up, and they leave the center together.

Seeing them enter the spectator area, Mrs. Janson calls out the next two, "Number 639 and Number 718, you're up!"

'Isn't Number 639, Percy?' I look over in his direction, and he glares at me like he's going to bite me.

"Looks like I finally get to see that guy fight, but who's his opponent?" Hearing Johnny's words, I turn away from Percy and start looking for his opponent.

"-Isn't that the boy who was late this morning?" Jasmine whispers, looking over to our left.

Following her eyes, I spot him gazing at the platform with a bored expression on his face. He looks over at Percy for a moment and sighs before turning away and walking towards the exit.

"You!" Percy clenches his fist and glares at his back, but instead of paying any more attention to him, he walks out of the spectator's area, leaving him behind. With a red face, Percy chases after him.

"Haha, did you see his face? He got mad so fast!" Johnny laughs at his reaction. "But I wonder if he can fight, cause now that he made that guy mad, he's not going to hold back."

"I don't know, I didn't see him fight in the first round," I shake my head and turn to Jasmine, "What's his fighting style like?"

"Um, I can't really explain it. He used a sword, but all he did was dodge and deflect his opponent's attacks without using any Qi. Eventually, time ran out, so it ended with a draw," Jasmine explains, looking a little confused herself.

"Huh, what kind of fight is that?" She shakes her head at Johnny's comment since she doesn't have an answer.

"Well, how do you think he'll do against Percy?" I ask her what I want to know the most, 'If he's stronger than Percy, then I might not be able to beat him right now.'

Again, she shakes her head, "I'm not sure, he didn't seem weak, but it's hard to say that he's strong."

"Alright," Looks like I just have to wait and see.

A couple of minutes later, they both stand on the platform, facing each other with their weapons in hand.

"My name is Percy Carter, son of Marchioness Elizabeth Carter of the Loreen Province! How dare you disrespect me!" Percy announces as he gets into his stance with his spear in hand.

"My name is Millaaaarrdd-" He introduces himself while stretching his back, "...My bad, I had a really bad knot in my back. My name's Millard."

"As expected of a commoner, you know nothing of manners," Percy laughs with a grin on his face.

"This is why I can't stand nobles, they're always so uptight," Millard sighs and shrugs his shoulders, "I'm ready."

'How is that ready?' He's not even in a stance, he's just standing there with his sword, hanging loosely in his hand.

Mrs. Janson starts the match, "Begin!"

Without holding anything back, Percy shouts, "Enchant!"

With his spear covered in a blue aura, he charges forward.

Faced with his charge, Millard opens his eyes fully and says, "Dividing Enchantment."

But nothing happens, or at least, it looks like nothing happened. His sword still looks the same, and it's not glowing with any aura.

'What? His sword doesn't even give off an aura?' I take a closer look and shake my head, 'No, I can definitely feel something there, but I can't see anything?'

"What's going on!?" Some applicants shout out in confusion.

"Hey Ryner, something weird is happening, right? Because I think I can feel his Qi moving around his sword, but...I can't see it," Johnny shakes my shoulder, trying to get an answer, but I can only shake my head.

"I don't understand what's happening either," My eyes turn to Mrs. Janson like some of the other applicants but-

"I don't understand what's happening right now either," She shakes her head, "I've never seen anything like this before, but I do know that he's using Qi, but it's a very transparent Qi. I have no idea how he's cultivating it or what technique he's using."

'If even an instructor doesn't know, then doesn't that make this guy really strange?' I clench my fist, feeling frustrated, 'I don't know if I can win against him and his invisible Qi.'

"Seriously? You can't even enchant your weapon properly!?" Percy taunts as he thrust his spear at him, and just like Jasmine described it earlier, he easily deflects his attack, but he doesn't take advantage of the opening and lets Percy recover.

"You!" Percy rushes at him and attacks him with a barrage of weaker thrusts.

Swish! Shing! Swish! Shing! Swish! Shing!

But just like before, he easily deflects all of them as if he can read Percy's movements.

"Huh?" Focusing on Percy's spear, I notice something strange, 'His Qi is getting...weaker?'

"What's wrong?" Hearing Jasmine's question, I tell her, "I think that the Qi around Percy's spear is getting weaker?"

"Ah!" Jasmine gasps, "You're right!"

"Really?" Johnny scratches his head with his eyebrows scrunched up.

'I guess Johnny isn't that good at sensing Qi. He's even worse than me, and as for Jasmine, considering her amazing control in those techniques she used earlier, it makes sense that she could notice it the moment that I pointed it out,' I sigh, feeling a little jealous.

Swish! Shing! Swish! Shing!

Millard continues to deflect Percy's attacks without fighting back.

"Haaa, Haaa," Percy's breathing starts to get heavier as he continues his barrage. Suddenly, he gathers a lot of Qi in his spear and shouts "-Mighty Thrust!"

He thrusts his Qi charged spear at Millard.

Shhiiinngg!!!

Even Millard is forced to take a couple steps back, after deflecting that attack.

"Ha, Ha, Ha..." After that attack, his breathing is even shorter and heavier than before, but he Enchants his spear again and starts his barrage all over again.

Swish!

"What's wrong? Feeling tired? I guess the Great Percy Carter isn't so great after all," Millard jumps back, dodging Percy's thrust with a slight smile on his face.

"You!! Mighty Thrust!!!" Percy charges forward and thrust his spear at his chest.

Swish! Shiiiinng!!

"C'mon! You can do better than that, can't you, Oh So Great Percy Carter?" He laughs and deflects his thrust again, "Or maybe you can't?"

Swish! Swish! Shing! Swish! Shing!

He taunts Percy while easily deflecting and dodging his attacks, and with every thrust, Percy's breathing gets heavier, and his Qi gets weaker.

"You! Why won't you attack you?" Percy shouts in anger.

"Seriously, it's like he's playing with him. He's broken Percy's stance multiple times now, yet he hasn't even attacked him once and just gives him the chance to recover," Johnny comments with a frown.

"I don't know why he won't attack," I shake my head, confused by his actions.

Swish! Cling!

"You should try something different, at this rate you're never going to land a hit on me," Millard laughs as he knocks Percy's spear up.

Swish! Shing! Cling!

"Answer me!!" Percy thrust his spear forward, but Millard deflects it into the ground.

"Haaa, If I'm being honest, I just don't feel like attacking you," He shrugs his shoulders.

"Maybe-" Jasmine suddenly speaks up but stops herself from continuing.

"What's up?" I shake her shoulder a little, trying to get her to talk.

"...Maybe he doesn't care about winning?" Jasmine tells me with a questioning tone.

"What do you-" Before I can finish, Millard, says something shocking.

"Actually, I'm done," Millard drops his sword and puts his hands up, "I don't feel like fighting you anymore. I surrender."

"Whaaaaat!?" I'm just as confused as everyone else.

'Why is he surrendering? He was winning, wasn't he?' I frown, feeling that his actions are weird.

"...Number 639 wins," Mrs. Janson announces the winner with a small frown.

"Wait! Why did you surrender!?" Percy calls out to Millard as he walks off the platform.

"You're boring," He shakes his head and sighs, as he continues to walk away.

"You!!" Left standing alone on the platform, Percy clenches his fist with a frustrated expression.