"The Field of Judgment is your right. Do you wish to forgo the trial?" the prince asked.
"Yes," Ferdinand replied. "The Centurions will always align with the highest authority, and the lieutenants will vote against me. I shall free myself."
"You are aware that we choose your opponent, and your accuser can even volunteer to fight you?" questioned the prince.
"I welcome the challenge," Ferdinand said with a calm smile. "I doubt my dear leader would risk losing to a banished one."
Everett, visibly upset, realized he was being goaded. Ferdinand, however, remained cool and collected.
"Very well," the prince declared. "Lieutenant Marsh shall be your opponent. He is a 4th rank peak, just like you."
Ferdinand had 120,000 mana, while Lieutenant Marsh had 90,000 mana. But neither one knew this about the other.
Everett, livid, wanted to take Ferdinand on himself. He had obtained the mana core from the Spider Queen and now boasted 150,000 mana. He was confident in his strength. But did not want to risk it.
"Can the Field of Judgment apply to a banished one?" Everett questioned, trying to find a way to stop Ferdinand from getting his way..
"The Field of Judgment applies to everyone," the prince stated firmly. "If your conviction is strong enough, you can defeat anyone. Your truth becomes the truth if you win."
This principle showcased how the Luna Kingdom operated: might made right. The strongest in any contest dictated the truth, transforming their personal convictions into the accepted reality.
"Are we in agreement then?" the prince asked, glancing at Ferdinand, who nodded in acceptance, then at the lieutenant to his right, who also nodded.
"The match will begin after a short recess. You will both use your main weapons, and you may fight to kill and can surrender at any time. If you lose, Trainee Ferdinand, your punishment will be execution."
The fight would take place in the exhibition arena at the center of the highborn camp. It was remarkable that such a camp existed solely because of a prince and a few highborns, while the trainees' camp consisted mainly of tents.
The arena, with its few benches and seating areas, surrounded a 50-meter diameter circle of sand where the battle would occur. Despite limited seating, all 400 trainees and the 100 people at highborn camp were present. The highborns and their aides got front-row seats, while the trainees mostly stood.
Lieutenant Marsh, a dual short sword wielder specializing in wind manipulation, was 25 years old.
Ferdinand, using a lance, had a significant advantage due to its reach and the open terrain. While Marsh warmed up, getting a feel for the arena, Ferdinand stood shackled at the far end, waiting to be released.
There would be no overseer for the match; the rules were simple: fight until death or surrender.
Theo and the others, though positioned at the back, could see well enough. They watched Lieutenant Marsh's precise and fluid movements, recognizing him as one of the camp's greatest forces. They were eager to see how Ferdinand would compare.
Though Ferdinand seemed to be merely waiting, he was performing breathing exercises. 'Best case scenario, they let me use my lance. I will strike first. Marsh is a fast and strong-willed soldier. If I can show my strength right at the beginning, he will start hesitating and doubting himself. That's how I win. I have to fight my way and control the rhythm,' Ferdinand planned, calming himself before the match.
Ferdinand knew he was strong, but he had learned that strategy and preparation were crucial. The almost ten-year age difference meant that what Marsh had in experience, Ferdinand had to make up for in preparation.
Marsh was a wind elementalist, while Ferdinand was a dual elementalist of wind and fire, giving him another advantage. As he breathed and planned, he analyzed Marsh's movements, reviewing his opponent before the match.
'I am a lieutenant. I am strong. I will kill him as fast as possible. There will be no third chance for this trash. Today he dies by my hand,' Marsh thought. He was a straightforward warrior, focused on ending the fight quickly.
As officers approached to release Ferdinand, they somehow blocked themselves from view. Everett was there to release him and hand him his weapons. "Your only chance will be to surrender if you want to live," Everett said, using a stylet to wound Ferdinand before the match. Ferdinand's eyes widened in surprise.
The stylet created a deep puncture wound on Ferdinand's right side. Everett turned to an officer and had him conceal the injury.
Ferdinand was livid, glaring at Everett with a deep, furious look.
"What were you expecting? I've gone this far, and I know how strong you are. In a fair fight, nine times out of ten, you defeat Marsh. You will be my lap dog whether you like it or not. It's your only chance. Now go out there and surrender, you piece of shit," Everett spewed venomously at Ferdinand.
Ferdinand instantly inspected his body, feeling internal bleeding. As soon as he was released, he put his hand to his side and cauterized the wound with his fire. The remaining damage would have to heal on its own as he readied himself for battle.
As both fighters approached the middle of the arena, Prince Argyle stood and commanded, "Prepare yourselves! Begin!"
At that moment, Everette tossed Ferdinand's lance to the back of the arena. Ferdinand ran backward to retrieve it, staggering slightly as he steeled himself. Marsh did not waste a second; as soon as the match began, he rushed toward Ferdinand, swinging both of his swords in swift horizontal movements, aiming for an instant kill.
Ferdinand dodged by jumping backward, aligning himself to avoid both blades and causing Marsh to miss. While in the air, a three-tier ring glowed around Ferdinand, summoning a wall of flame that divided him from Marsh. Ferdinand landed with a backward roll, using the flame wall to buy enough time to reach his lance.
Marsh immediately activated his own three-tier ring, and a burst of air penetrated the wall, using Ferdinand's own flames against him. A typhoon of air and flames surged toward Ferdinand. Quickly, without forming a ring, Ferdinand summoned a powerful, invisible wall of wind that surged outwards, encasing him in a swirling vortex. This compressed air current acted as a barrier, deflecting flames, embers, and shrapnel from the explosion. The wind also carried a faint, chilling sensation that dampened the heat from nearby flames, keeping Ferdinand safe. This technique was known as the "Wall of Whispers."
Marsh's eyes widened in surprise. The Wall of Whispers was a tier-2 level spell that most wind users could employ, but its effects shouldn't be strong enough to completely protect against a combination of two tier-3 spells. What Ferdinand had just displayed was a Wall of Whispers at its highest level.
Marsh hesitated for a moment, bewildered, and Ferdinand used this to his advantage. Again, without casting a ring, he placed both hands on his lance and struck the ground with it. As he did so, fire began to expand from the sand toward Marsh. Marsh then cast a tier-3 spell, creating a cyclone of air around him, forming a Whirlwind Ward.
Ferdinand continued casting spells, and it wasn't clear to everyone why. Was he trying to tire Marsh out or draw as much mana from him as possible?
"Why doesn't he do something else? Marsh clearly can't see him because of the whirlwind. Can't he now go on the attack and catch him by surprise?" Theo asked.
"Maybe he is thinking about how to attack. Just like you said, Whirlwind Ward is an incredibly strong defensive spell, but your visibility is almost zero," Amber replied, recognizing the spell and understanding its mechanics.
'This idiot, I can use this spell for days on end. What is he trying to prove?' Marsh wondered.
Suddenly, the sand started to swallow Marsh up, causing him to sink. Ferdinand dissipated his fire spell, and Marsh did the same, revealing Marsh's legs trapped in the sand.
"Guess you didn't know that if you heat sand enough, it becomes glass and fluid-like, it was easy because your whirlwind only acted on top of the sand but my heat worked on the whole field, over and under" Ferdinand snickered. The entirety of the arena where Ferdinand had been using his spell had turned to glass.
Marsh was livid, unable to believe he had been caught off guard like that. At that moment, Ferdinand hesitated, taking too long to make a move. As he finally started toward the Lieutenant, Marsh activated a tier-5 spell, his rage fueling a desire to destroy Ferdinand then and there.
Ferdinand dropped to one knee. It wasn't hesitation; he was exhausted and in pain from Everette's earlier ploy to weaken him. His insides felt like they were burning up. He cast a wind healing spell on himself, and a beautiful green aura engulfed him.
"Something's wrong. Why does he look like he's in pain when Lieutenant Marsh hasn't landed a single blow? What's going on?" Theo asked, his voice tinged with concern.
None of his companions answered, but they all shared the same unease.
"This match is just for show. The outcome was decided the moment they accused him of treason. They must have done something to him; he's casting a healing spell on himself," Prim explained to Theo, her voice steady but worried.
Marsh smiled as he prepared to cast his strongest spell. He didn't think Ferdinand was hurt; he believed Ferdinand must have expended a lot of mana.
"Go, Silver Gryphon!" Lieutenant Marsh screamed as he cast his spell.
This spell summoned a powerful wind elemental that took the shape of a majestic gryphon, a legendary creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. The gryphon was formed entirely of swirling wind, its body a churning mass of white and grey imitating a silver aura.
As it flew high up in the air, it dived straight at Ferdinand. Ferdinand had used this time to heal his internal injuries, but when he tried to move toward Marsh, he felt intense pain in his chest, which he attributed to a hemothorax—blood inside the chest cavity. His healing spell, a tier-3 spell called Zephyr's Embrace, used up a lot of mana, about 800 mana per second.
A swirling green aura, invigorating and cool like a gentle breeze, engulfed him. This wind carried restorative properties that mended wounds, soothed aches, and accelerated the healing process. Minor injuries healed instantly, while more severe ones knitted themselves back together at a faster pace. It had almost healed him entirely, but he could only manage to use it for two minutes, using up 96k of his mana. Combined with the 7k it took him to trap Marsh, he now had less than 20k mana left.
As Ferdinand looked up, the Gryphon was almost upon him. Everyone watched as the gryphon reached Ferdinand, and a massive impact wave expanded throughout the arena. Glass and sand were blasted everywhere, forcing everyone to cover themselves from the debris.
Theo and the rest were looking intently at where Ferdinand had been standing, their hearts pounding with fear and hope. "I hope he's alright," Theo muttered, his voice barely audible amidst the chaos, reflecting the shared worry among his friends.