The Mana surge suddenly doubled and the ground started to shake as if an earthquake was underway.

Pieces of stone and rock rose from the ground and cracked apart into fist-sized chunks. A hurricane of stone was formed on the arena, and the howling of wind gave it an ever more menacing feeling.

"I surrender!" Tabbris suddenly shouted from the inside of the storm.

"What? I can't hear you!" Gerald shouted back, increasing his assault. Cracks and explosions of stone, as they hit the armor, produced an even greater rumbling sound.

"I give up! I surrender! Please, I'm sorry! You win!" Tabbris shouted at the top of his lungs. Sand and dust already entered the gaps in his armor and tiny cuts appeared on his skin.

Gerald controlled the storm for a few more seconds before releasing his control. The rocks fell from the sky and the sand and dust covered the place. The arena was ruined and it looked like the aftermath of a heavy bombardment.

"Haaah! Thank you…for going easy on me...and my sister," Tabbris said with difficulty after catching his breath. He was completely exhausted and dirty. He looked nothing like the charming young man he was before.

"You are welcome," Gerald answered calmly and offered him a hand. "You did well."

Tabbris Northendark took his hand and pulled himself up, "Thanks."

Woooooooooo!

The crowd went wild! They have never before seen a display like that before, it was ruthless and beautiful at the same time!

"Such a beautiful displa-"

"Ahem!" A man suddenly loudly cleared his throat, attracting the attention of everyone. It was the Guildmaster of Auralba.

"What the fuck do you punks think you are doing?! Why does this place look like a tornado just went through?! Who's responsible for this?!"

Gerald scratched his cheek and smiled wryly, "I might have gone a bit too far, hehe…"

"I'll take care of it," Tabbris said and went to the Guildmaster. He apologized profusely and explained the entire situation.

"A duel?! You turned the entire place to rubble, for a duel?!" the man exploded.

Tabbris Northendark quickly pushed a money pouch into his hands and assured the man it would not happen again.

"Well… I'll let it slide this one time," the Guildmaster said with a calmer voice as he glanced at the gold inside the pouch. "But you are still banned from coming back for a month! Now get the fuck out!"

Tabbris gave another apologetic smile once more and quickly gathered his people and left. He didn't even look back at Gerald, almost as if they never even met.

"Can we go to see the King now, please?" Arthur begged with tears in his eyes. He promised the King he would come back quickly, but now it was already hours later. He was desperate. A surge of air suddenly swirled around Gerald, removing every speck of dust from his clothes.

"Sure, let's go see the top dog of this place!" he said as a mysterious light shone in his eyes.

Arthur sighed in despair. 'Why is this young man increasing in his arrogance? Why do I have to be his guardian? The potential rewards are not worth it, damn it!'

As he led them towards the royal palace, the youngsters behind him chatted excitedly.

"Gerald! I didn't know you were this strong! He couldn't do anything to you!" Xilia excitedly punched the air. Her sister, Qiona, nodded like a maniac while her eyes sparkled as she looked at him

"Brother Gerald is so cool! I want to learn to fight like that too!"

While those two shouted and laughed, Elly simply smiled not saying anything. Meanwhile, Sera's face changed continuously from happy to sad. She was happy because her teammate was so strong, and sad because she was so far behind.

"I don't know if showing off was maybe too much. The news of you defeating the leader of Phoenix Knights will spread like wildfire through the Kingdom. In a few weeks everyone will know what happened even if the Northendark family doesn't do anything," Arthur said with concern.

Gerald simply shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I already came to terms with it before the fight started. I actually held back considerably because I wanted to push myself to see how far I can go without using magic… I have to say that if we were on an equal playing field, I would have lost, there's no doubt about it!"

"Really?!" Everyone turned to look at him at once, "How is this possible? He couldn't even hurt you one bit! Granted, you couldn't hit him as well, but still…"

Gerald shook his head, "He was way more skillful than me, and his movements were something I almost couldn't keep up with…The difference was that I had more strategies at my disposal while he was used to doing the same thing for many years and became too accustomed to it," he explained.

"In a real fight, instead of threatening to destroy his armor, I could have used my superior strength to capture him and simply slowly cut off his head. I could have also closed in on him, breaking his water barrier and made him eat flames. Or I could take him a few thousand meters into the air and let gravity do the work. I know his armor can absorb much of the impact, but I reckon it would have been enough for at least a concussion."

Arthur rolled his eyes and sarcastically commented, "What, you can even fly now? Heh..."

Gerald jolted for an instant, realizing he spoke too much. Luckily Arthur didn't take his words seriously, and the girls didn't react since they already knew.

He decided it was best to ignore the remark and then spoke, "There are many things I could have done… I could drown him for example. Although he can control water, if I interfered with his magic, he couldn't do a thing. Then there is the option of simply piling a bunch of stones on top of him and trapping him inside. Although I know he is capable of manipulating Earth magic, so…"

As Gerald went over all the options he had, his friends felt their breathing become increasingly difficult, including Arthur. They already thought his actions were too reckless, but now they realized he truly chose one of the less crazy options.

'Oh god! Please don't do anything crazy when we meet the King! Gods, please, protect my sanity, I beg of you…' Arthur prayed silently in his heart.

"How did you manage to stay rational? I thought you went mad after he mentioned your...hand," Elly asked. She couldn't quite believe he came up with so many options on the spot in the middle of the fight.

"Oh, I don't actually care about my hand," Gerald answered calmly.

"What?!"

He elaborated, "I have come to terms with my loss long ago, and it doesn't bother me at all if people talk about it. I just needed an excuse to act crazy, that's all."

"Pfft!" Sera suddenly burst out laughing, "Haha, that totally sounds like something you would do!"

"Eh," Gerald scratched his head and smiled, "Honestly, this Tabbris seems like a good guy, just his sister is a little annoying. Besides, it's not like we have some irreconcilable conflict, and most people deserve a second chance."

"Let's just hope this is the end of it. We should hurry to meet the King now, we are almost there," Arthur said as they closed in on the royal estate.

The palace was on top of a hill, overlooking the entire city. It was surrounded by high walls and a spiked bronze fence, with a guard tower every one hundred meters or so.

From far away it looked more of a military fortress than a palace, but that was only on the outside.

Once they crossed the front gates, the lavish and beautiful garden opened up in their sight. Beautiful flowers and elegant trees decorated the place, with trimmed hedges and tall stone statues of animals and people, giving the place a grand feeling.

A water fountain sparkled in the sunlight on each side of the main stone-paved road.

"Woah! I thought our mansion was grand, but this…" Xilia gasped. The palace was made of pristine white marble, with tall stone pillars and statues enriching its appearance.

Flags with the royal coat of arms flapped in the wind majestically and guards stood straight, guarding the premises.

"Of course, the Royal family is the richest after all! They are the ones with the highest power in the Kingdom, so it's only right for them to have the most extravagant place."