Arriving at the bronze training ground, the young noble and Secessus prepare themselves for the duel. The shade demon summons his blood-bound spear, whilst the young noble named Tryzan Khiel unsheathes this steel Falchion. Again, there are gems embedded in the small hilt of this blade that give away the familiar sense of mana. Quite a surprising amount of it, seeing that the gems themselves aren't that big. Tryzan puts on his golden helmet that reflects the sunlight from it, whilst also checking the grip of his kite shield. The armor and shield are recently polished and the slightly curved falchion he wields recently sharpened.
"Same rules as the duel against the instructors. Everything goes, but no killing. Is that fine for you?" Secessus asks more grumbling so than properly asking the question.
"Very well, I will show you what a member of the Khiel family is capable of!" The young noble yells with a lot of fervor and determination.
Having said what they needed to say, the duel has officially begun. Tryzan is the one to close the distance as he charges forward, swinging the falchion with some speed behind it. Still, Secessus manages to easily block any of the young noble strikes. The young noble, having analyzed that Secessus uses a spear as his weapon, continues to stay next to him. Hoping to negate the range advantage between the different weapons. The young noble keeps his shield up at any given time and even sues it sometimes to bash his opponent. Either intending to damage him with it or trying to bring Secessus off balance.
Secessus is not shaken by these attempts of the young noble. Who whilst clearly trained is still nowhere near his level. Wielding his spear with precision, the shade demon pries at his opponent's defense. This is however made more difficult as the young noble is insistent on staying in a close rang with Secessus.
The finely made falchion ignites as a blue flame engulfs the steel sword. Seeing that there is no surprise in the eyes of Tryzan it seems to be something planned. Blocking the ensuing attacks is harder than before. The blue seems to be made out of some magical essence, as the flames are unnaturally well controlled and only seem to target Secessus.
Still, Secessus manages to easily deal with it, his innate magic far greater than some trifling flames.
'I guess being rich even has a lot of advantages when adventuring.' The demon thinks to himself, looking at his opponent.
In the eyes of the shade demon there stands an overconfident boy before him. At first, perhaps an overconfident boy with the skills to back up his loud mouth. Unfortunately, it seems that his skills are actually being backed up by fancy swords and well-made armor. People like Alessia don't have that luxury, yet he swaggers around claiming greatness for his family name! It was delusional, all your strength is given.
'Let's put it to the test.' A smirk appears on Secessus's face as he thought of an amusing plan.
The shade demon starts to purposefully unleash more of his aura to intimidate his opponent. Surprised by this overwhelming force of mana the young noble goes completely on the defensive kite shield firmly raised. Secessus manipulates every blood vessel he has as he strengthens his own body using blood magic. He doesn't even strike the shield with his spear anymore, as he just begins to pound it with his fist.
Quickly, the duel turns as Tryzan falls to the ground, still desperately using his shield against the onslaught of physical attacks pummeling him down.
His back hurts like hell as every time the shield gets punched, his back also gets pummeled into the ground. Cracks start to form on this finely made shield built by the best craftsmen in Durden. Seeing his what should have been impenetrable shield begin to break, Tryzan tries to regain some offense as swings his blue-flamed falchion toward Sol.
Unfortunately for the noble, instead of stabbing his opponent, he chose a large sideways swing. Seeing this desperate attempt, Secessus, who still holds his spear in his other free hand. Uses this the blood bound spear to clash against the blue flamed falchion. However, unlike before, Secessus is holding back. "The Clash" ended almost instantly, ending with the falchion shattering from the impact.
His sword shattered, and his shield cracked, Tryzan Khiel is in a lot of trouble. The difference in skill and experience is evident between them.
The young noble never expected to win on merit alone. However, looking at the gear used and seeing that the adventurer called "Sol" had no last name and was thus a commoner. Tryzan thought that he could bridge this gap with his superior equipment and the tutelage he received during his childhood.
The adventuring's guild is a fitting place to make a name for yourself. This is the case for commoners and also for nobles who aren't high up in their lineage. As the youngest child of the earl of Heydoningt, it was evident that he could not make a name for himself in their fiefdom. And unlike the third son of the family, he had no magical prowess.
The adventurer's guild should have been the ideal place to rise in status. Make himself more valuable than just the sixth son of Heydoningt.
But without his equipment, there is no bronze-ranked adventurer. Remove his status and riches, and you would have an average boy trying to use his average skills for a life that is far more than average.
He knew it, but worse, it seems his opponent knew it.
*CRACK* Some iron components and pieces of laminated wood fly against the noble's golden helmet as his shield shatters from the latest punch of his opponent.
"I surrender." The boy utters defeated, halting the lost duel.
With his equipment broken, so was the bravado and the facade of being a young noble.
Now there simply lies a boy. Defeated in a duel whilst scarred with a brutal reality.