After his loss, Endra was left shocked and confused, a mix of anger, disappointment, and bewilderment filling his expression.
Endra wasn't like other high-status nobles who cared about his superiority or bloodline. All he wanted was to make his family proud by achieving many accomplishments in Anaviotis, eventually becoming the heir to the family head.
But, even with all the expectations bound on his shoulders and aspirations, he lost to a no named kid. There were no retakes to Anaviotis. Now, his entire family would suffer because of him.
As he continued to drown in his sorrows, Leonidas on the other hand sheathed his sword calmly, and as he did, his eyes quickly regained their color, his pupils finally reappearing.
The crowd also began to disperse, but not without being threatened by a new fear, that being Leonidas the 'peasant'.
As Lyrian witnessed some of those walking away, he could see on their face that their egos about their noble superiority were crushed right then and there. Most, however, were still ignorant, but wary nonetheless.
Following Leonidas' victory, Glis also began her match with another person who happened to have blue magic potential.
Needless to say, she dominated her opponent and swiftly ended the match without a scratch on her body.
Even though it was a quick match, Lyrian got to see just how she used her magical powers, namely ice ones.
Finally, after many hours of waiting around, when everyone looked to have just about finished their fights, a fight announcer exclaimed, "Silvus Yaltan and Lyrian Theageld, please come to arena 2x2!"
With this, a roar of cheer reverberated from the crowd of nobles. They wouldn't go on without celebrating the name of a member of the supreme royal family after all.
'I guess it's time...' Lyrian thought to himself, nearing the arena at the same time as Silvus.
Nearly all of the kids also gathered around their arena to see the bout, no one willing to miss this spectacle of drama.
Lyrian looked up at Zysrial who sat at the pinnacle of the balcony.
The young man rested his head on his palm, calm and composed with his sword leaning against his thigh. From the looks of it, he wasn't doubtful at all of his younger brother's victory.
'He probably think's going to be a clean sweep.' Lyrian said in his mind, finally arriving at the arena before hopping up onto it.
Seeing his face and clothes, many whispers began to spread throughout the crowd of nobles, teachers, and representatives from other schools.
Although his name was thrown around here and there during the magic potential testing, not everyone had gotten to know him.
As he stood there, confidently staring his opponent in the eyes with a slight grin of excitement on his face, many were thrown his by odd behavior.
"Is that a way to act when facing the young lord?"
Some began to spout in the crowd.
"Hey, kid! Drop down on your knees and start praying, this is going to be depressing for you!"
"Ahaha! Don't be so rude, maybe he has a chance..."
"Puh! Ahaha! Yeah right! What the heck could that ragged-clothed little snot do to the young master!?"
The mockery was clear, loud enough for Lyrian to hear, but he couldn't give less of a shit about that.
Right now, he just wanted to focus on winning this match, and also try to use the fist-enhancing technique that he tried to perfect the night before.
As the sound slowly calmed down, everyone settling in for the duel to begin, the announcer finally began to speak.
"Alright, get ready duelers. 3! 2!" He began to yell out, as the tension and anticipation began to grow throughout.
"1! Fight!"
As the duel began, none of the two moved.
Lyrian wanted to first gauge his opponent's techniques, not wanting to barge in suddenly while being unprepared, while Silvus had other plans in mind.
"As I said before, even though you are a black sheep, you are still just a sheep." He spoke, causing silence to hush over the crowd.
"Do you know what happens when a sheep tries to attack an apex predator?" He said in a demeaning tone.
"They die a painful death! If I wanted to I could end this fight right now. All I would have to do is use a single spell right there," He said before beginning to point to different areas on Lyrian's body.
"There, there, and even there. It wouldn't take much, but before I do that, I want to teach you a real lesson on why someone of your calib-"
As he continued his speech that captivated the entire crowd, Lyrian thought to himself 'Is he going to start to lecture me? How boring...' With a disappointed expression.
"-er can not ever dare and oppose me. I come from a long generation of power--" Before Silvus could continue, he was abruptly cut off.
"Alright buddy, there is no need for an entire spiel of what you feel is important. How boring could you possibly be?" Lyrian blurted out of nowhere.
Hearing this, Zysrial intensified his eyes just slightly on Lyrian, while the entire crowd erupted into a cacophony of astonished gasps of astonishment.
"Do you think I care about how you feel? How could you possibly assume that I would just sit here and take this like some little coward? What you say makes no difference to me,"
Lyrian paused for a slight moment, allowing Silvius, who was currently taken aback by shock at his words, to catch up.
"You make no difference to me," Lyrian said, emphasizing "you" to really dig deep into Silvus' nerves.
"All you are is just a stepping stone to the actual entrance exam. So, now that we got that established, how about we actually do what we came here for? Let's have a fair fight."
The jaws of everyone present were dropped to the floor, including the fight announcer, examinees, nobles, royals, school representatives, and teachers.
Silvus was at a loss for words, even his mouth slightly agape.