Benson wasn't the kind of person who believed in karma. Even after doing all sorts of crazy things, thanks to his father, who was a knight, he was able to walk on a solid path and turn into a knight under Barco. That was why he was proud of the fact that he was a knight. He was someone who enjoyed power and did his best for Barco.
What he did to Kevin was an expression of his loyalty. Usable to suppress his rising pride, he ridiculed his opponent even though he didn't know what would happen due to that.
'Is this karma?'
His future seemed dark. He had much experience with Roman Dmitry as he served directly under Anthony Barco. Although his position within the public had changed due to the incident with Blood Fang, Benson didn't believe the rumors. Well, it was a reasonable thought. Thinking of the Roman Dmitry he saw and experienced with his own eyes, he thought crossing a line would be fine, as well.
However, the reality was much different. Roman Dmitry cut down Homer with a single slash. As he watched the blood gush out of Homer's body, Benson felt goosebumps rise on his skin.
'I made a severe mistake.'
What if he had known the true face of Roman? Benson would have never dared to even lay a finger on Kevin and would have tried to stick with Dmitry, not Barco.
Nevertheless, the deed was already done. His life as a knight of Barco shackled him, and what he did came back to him like a boomerang—Viscount Barco ordered him to go on the stage. As he couldn't refuse it, he was now a mere death row prisoner.
'Fuck!'
People were looking at him, but no one cheered for him. In their eyes, he was already a corpse.
"I am Benson, representing Barco." He struggled to calm his trembling voice.
What kind of man will they send for the battle?
He knew that Lawrence had a 2-Star swordsman; obviously, the moment he entered the stage, Benson would undoubtedly die.
'Oh, God. Please save me just one more time.'
Just then, a person from Lawrence's side walked onto the stage. His face was familiar to Benson. He had a small physique, as well. Seeing him come up on the stage, Benson could hardly hold back the laughter in his mouth.
'He is my opponent?'
He was sure—the one in front of him was the boy soldier he had beaten at the banquet. Seeing him stepping up, Benson felt he had been given a chance to live.
'God! Thank you very much!'
He thought he would live through this. In his eyes, Kevin looked like easy prey.
Swish!
The final battle began.
Benson was relaxed. The flag was moved to signal the start of the fight, but he showed a relaxed attitude instead of rushing ahead.
"I doubted my eyes at first. No matter how they decided who to send, I didn't think you would be sent in as their last warrior."
Grin.
He laughed. His lips constantly curled up, unable to hide his happiness.
"Well, you must have wanted revenge. However, whether you came in intentionally or not, you have now been abandoned by the lord you serve. Think about it—if you were the one who had the authority to decide the final warrior, would you have let yourself come out? Of course not! This means you are of little use, and your future has been decided."
Grip.
He picked up the sword.
Kevin only continued to watch Benson silently. He moved the legs to a reasonable distance and pointed the sword at Benson.
"Cheeky bastard!"
Was it because of the relief that he would live? He felt his pride hurt seeing Kevin's actions.
Kevin slammed the ground and rushed for his opponent in the blink of an eye.
"Die!"
Tap!
Benson's movements were slow. Because of the previous confrontations, in which powerful people fought, the movements of Benson didn't stand out. Nevertheless, no one doubted that the winner would be Benson. It was because Benson's opponent was Kevin, who could be seen as a soldier who had started training only recently, and Benson had a physique that seemed like it could overwhelm Kevin at any given moment. The difference was obvious to the audience.
As Benson swung his sword with a heavy movement, Kevin turned his head slightly and dug into his opponent's arm.
Pat!
Blood dripped onto the floor.
Kevin's cheek had a slight cut, but he didn't care about that and aimed for Benson's chin while swinging the sword from the bottom toward the top. The area under the chin is never protected by armor. Thus, it was quite threatening.
Benson raised his arm to block the sword while simultaneously attacking Kevin in the stomach with his other arm.
Puak!
Benson blocked Kevin's attack. Kevin couldn't penetrate the black steel without Aura, and his expression distorted slightly at the hit to the stomach. However, he didn't step back.
Without a single groan, Kevin swung his sword toward the opponent's gap, once again, as if his stomach wasn't in pain. Honestly, Kevin's swinging speed was much faster than anyone else had expected.
The muscles that had been trained by farming and doing chores exerted unnatural strength. Thus, the place between Benson's forearm and torso was cut sharply.
Slash!
"Kuak!"
Benson gulped back his groan. It was an unexpected counterattack. Then, Benson slammed his opponent's body.
Kevin bounced back, and as he rolled on the ground, Benson instantly jumped right in and slashed toward his opponent.
"Die!"
Puak!
Due to the brief difference, Kevin quickly evaded, smashed his sword into the ground, and quickly used the repulsive force he gained from that to reduce the distance between Benson and him. It looked like he didn't want any more clashes and wanted to end the battle quickly.
Kevin and Benson—as there was a physical difference between a boy and an adult, their attack and speed were naturally different.
Kevin instinctively knew that he would have to move faster and end this while sticking to his opponent, so he never lost his focus, even when his cheek was cut and he was thrown to the ground.
Kang!
Kakakang!
Their swords collided. Obviously, Benson overwhelmed his opponent due to his physical advantage, but he couldn't make any decisive attacks.
"You bastard!" Benson's face flushed red. His self-esteem was hurt. His opponent was nothing but a kid. Against him, who had the title of a knight, Keving was still just a child. Yet, he couldn't end the battle? His stomach churned due to his fury. He initially tried to end this fight by making him unconscious, but after looking at Kevin now, his eyes became red with anger, and he lost his rationality.
'I will definitely kill him.' He changed his mind. Even if it resulted in him getting hurt, he wanted to punish Kevin, the boy who didn't realize who he was dealing with.
"How dare you?!"
Swish!
Kevin titled his head as Benson swung the sword with all his might. The moment when the whispers around him went silent, Benson rushed ahead.
In a position where he had given up his defense to some extent, he launched a series of attacks like a storm, and Kevin had to step back and forth to not get hit by them.
Each time their attacks clashed, Kevin's body staggered. Even if his sword was blocked, Benson wouldn't stop and kept pushing Kevin further backward.
Now, the results of the battle were clear to most of the audience—It would be Benson's victory.
Another result wasn't as expected. That was because, in the current situation, the difference in the physical strength of the warriors was quite vast, and Kevin couldn't have grown so much in two months that he would be able to defeat a knight.
Kang!
"…!"
Kevin's arm bounced back, unable to handle his opponent's strength. Benson, who noticed it, decided to make a follow-up attack.
Swish!
His sword even cut the wind. Truly, it was a desperate crisis.
Seeing Kevin try to attack back, Benson decided to end this.
'A sword like that cannot pierce my armor!'
In a battle like this, the value of armor couldn't be ignored.
However, Benson's eyes widened as if they would tear apart just before his sword cut through Kevin.
Slash!
Srrng!
Kevin's sword, which was glowing red, cut through Benson's armor, and dozens of blood drops splashed in front of his eyes.
Roman once said that using Ghost Illusion Demonic Martial Arts1 was a way to grow faster than any other technique if one could handle the pain and suffering that came from it.
Yes, the Ghost Illusion Demonic Martial Arts inhabited Kevin's mind from the day he cut his hand off.
-Kill! Kill! Kill!
-That fucking bastard is hurting you right now!
-Get revenge against him now!
The Ghosts of the Ghost Illusion Demonic Martial Arts were whispering that to him. Actually, they were all just hallucinations. The Ghosts of the Ghost Illusion Demonic Martial Arts don't actually exist but still confuse one's mind. Thus, Kevin looked at Benson with burning eyes. The physical pain was nothing to him. Even when Benson's fist hit his stomach, it was nothing compared to the pain of cutting his own hand off.
He endured it. He suppressed the pain and narrowed the distance between him and his opponent.
-Avoid!
-Be careful!
His instincts said that. It seemed like his opponent would swing the sword from top to bottom.
Kevin believed the Ghosts' words and avoided his opponent's attack with a short delay. Benson's sword passed right in front of his eyes. In a situation where he could die due to the slightest carelessness, Kevin felt alive.
'I want to be more useful to my liege.'
Chris was chosen as the first warrior. Naturally, Kevin felt envious when he looked at Chris, who took down a 3-Star knight. Obviously, he made up his mind to follow Roman before Chris did, and he hated the fact that he couldn't be better than him.
His family had received favor from Roman. However, what did he do for Roman?
Just like Chris, he wanted to gain Roman's trust and carry out his orders faithfully; however, all he could do till now was see Benson insult Roman and then get beaten up by him.
Maybe it was a feeling of inferiority. Maybe it could be considered as too much loyalty. However, nothing changed the fact that Kevin wanted revenge now. He wanted to rip off the mouth of Benson with which that bastard dared to insult Roman! He wanted to be a useful sword for Roman Dmitry.
Just then,
Swish!
Benson initiated an attack. He was certain of his victory. He believed that he could win easily and jumped ahead. However, that was a mistake because he did not know Kevin's actual skills.
'Ghost Illusion Demonic Martial Arts.'
-Kakakaka!
-Kill him!
A red light shone from his sword while consuming a bit of mana. It was something he could use only for a fleeting time, but during that time, Kevin had enough power that he could even cut down steel.
Slash!
Thus, Benson's armor was cut. Naturally, the skin behind the armor was also cut, and red blood splashed into his eyes, while the majority of it gushed and dripped down.
"…!"
Benson was stunned. His expression turned to one that showed how much pain he was in, and he hurriedly swung his sword toward Kevin to get a chance to live.
However, contrary to what any normal human would do, Kevin did not avoid it. Naturally, his flesh on the shoulder was cut off due to the attack. Benson's sword raged at his body, but in return, his chest was torn open by Kevin's attack.
Kevin didn't care about it. Despite the flesh on his shoulder being cut down more horribly with each of his moments, in Kevin's vision and thoughts, there were only Benson's wounds. Once upon a time, Kevin was someone who was terrified of even having a slight cut on his finger. However, the child who once lived under the love of his parents had now grown up completely differently due to the challenges he faced in his life till now.
Kevin's expression turned even more ferocious. And for a moment, Benson's eyes met Kevin's. Instantly, his face was turned into one that contained fear due to realizing what a mistake he had made by ignoring Kevin. He tried to move away, but Kevin attacked even more cruelly.
Puak!
"Ahhhhh!" Benson screamed.
Now, he had no more power to use mana. He tried to fight his physical strength, but Kevin got on top of the collapsed Benson and crushed his upper body. Then, he grabbed his sword and stabbed and slashed toward his opponent ferociously, not even giving him the chance to stand up. Obviously, Kevin's arm was also in pain due to the wounds he had suffered, but he didn't care about it—all that mattered was to kill the opponent.
Puak! Puak!
Puak!
"Cough!"
Each time Kevin's sword was pulled out of his body, blood splattered everywhere around them. Benson, groaning while holding back the blood in his throat, struggled to push Kevin away. Nevertheless, his pathetic hands couldn't stop the onslaught. Even when he was using his hands to push Kevin away, Kevin didn't stop attacking. Finally, Benson's body shook at a certain moment, and seeing no reaction even after stabbing him multiple times, Kevin lifted his head.
"Kuak! Kuaaak!"
Benson's condition was so horrible that one couldn't even call him human anymore.
And obviously, Kevin was the winner of the final battle.
Everyone held their breath, seeing Kevin's appearance. He resembled a demon. Even if it was a fight in which the death of the opponent was natural, some of them could only keep their mouths shut, seeing the cruelty of Kevin.
Kevin stood up while staggering. His face was stained with blood, and blood was dripping down from his torn shoulder, but he walked as if he hadn't suffered any wounds.
Everyone's attention was focused on him. One step at a time, people followed his movements.
After walking for quite a while, Kevin arrived in front of Roman. As Roman was looking down at him, Kevin looked like a child wanting to be praised.
"I am back."
Hearing those words, Roman said, "You did well, Kevin."
Those words were enough. Hearing them, Kevin smiled brightly, as if he had won over the entire world.
The fight was over now. The battle between Barco and Lawrence had finally come to an end. Everyone had assumed Barco would win, but the results they saw today were good enough to shake the entire Cairo Kingdom.
3 wins out of 3 battles—Obviously, it was Lawrence's win. And the one at the center of it was unmistakably Roman Dmitry.
This was previously translated as Demonic Spirit Art.