Gon kept quiet.
"I'll tell you why", Milo said as he stepped closer to Gon. "It's because you're a weak little mana-less loser".
By now the servants and guards passing by had stopped to witness the altercation.
They, and a few other visitors had now formed a small crowd.
Gon shook his head. He wasn't going to tolerate such insults from anybody, especially when there were so many people watching them.
He knew milo was a child prodigy who was very skilled with the sword but to let him trample on him right now would let everyone else continue to treat him like crap.
"What did you say?", He asked in an angry voice, stepping toward Milo.
Milo was shocked that Gon was talking back and even stepped close to him, he seemed to not be scared of him.
However, he smiled. He just wanted to tease Gon for being a loser, nothing more.
If Gon wanted a beating as well, then it was on him.
He stepped forward. "I said you were a loser Gon. What are you going to do about it, fight me?"
He smirked. There was no way in hell Gon would agree; everyone in this kingdom knew how skillful he was.
This made him surprised when Gon nodded. "Yes I'll fight you".
****
When Milo first called Gon a loser, the Duke had been walking with his friend, the right hand man of the King and so he witnessed it.
His friend had wanted to step forward to immediately put a stop to the bullying but the duke told him not to worry and continue with the conversation.
As they talked, the confrontation between the two boys grew until now they had both challenged each other.
Once again, the friend wanted to step in to prevent Gon from being hurt.
But the Duke held him back.
"But he's going to hurt", The friend protested. "Surely you know Milo is one of the best young mages in the kingdom".
The Duke shook his head. "Gon has made his bed, now he must lie on it".
The friend couldn't understand how a man would leave his son to get hurt but he was powerless to do anything about it so he stayed back with the Duke to watch.
***
After Milo had gotten over his brief shock at Gon accepting his challenge, he smirked.
"Are you a sure you know what you're doing?" He asked.
Gon didn't falter. "You will learn to respect me, Whether the easy way or the hard way".
His words angered Milo; Who was this little punk talking to in such manner?
He was going to show him a lesson he would never forget.
He pulled out his sword. "When I'm done with you and you feel nothing but pain, just remember that you brought this on yourself".
Gon didn't have a sword since he wasn't mage and for a moment he looked around, confused.
One of the guards eventually took off his sword and handed it to Gon.
Gon took the sword and tested its weight, trying to get used to carrying it.
But he didn't even have time to do that before Milo rushed at him, swinging his sword at his head.
Gon hastily raised the sword to block the swing.
The two swords clashed with a metallic clang and the force pushed Gon back.
He stumbled to the ground.
Everyone watching gasped. Although, it wasn't illegal to aim for the head; mages were obliged to not fight to the death.
Milo had just broken an important obligation, he had tried to kill a mage when he would have waited to see if he would surrender first.
Gon panted and quickly got to his feet. He knew now that Milo wouldn't go easy on him so he had to be very alert and ready to block any blows.
Milo rushed at him again and once again, Gon blocked the swing with his sword.
And once again, the force threw him backwards.
Milo laughed. "You're so pathetic. I'm even surprised you can hold the sword right".
This statement further angered Gon and he got to his feet.
He needed to deal with Milo.
He held his sword tightly and scowled at Milo.
Milo smirked before lunging at Gon again.
Gon dodged out of the way in time and swung his sword at the back of Milo.
But Milo was fast and he quickly spun around and blocked it.
He then launched another swing at Gon.
This time, Gon remebered the new skills his system gave him and activated shadow step.
What Milo saw as he swung was that his sword slashed empty air.
He looked around in confusion wondering where Gon was.
Then Gon stepped out of the shadows behind him and slashed his sword on his arm.
Milo saw the attack a little too late and as a result, he couldn't pull back his arm on time.
Therefore, the sword grazed his arm, causing a flesh wound.
The crowd watching the fight gasped. They couldn't exactly believed what they just watched. The talentless Gon had just defeated the prodigy Milo.
And it was the manner in which he did it that surprised them.
"Did he just use shadow step?", One of them asked, his eyes popping out of his socket.
"I think so", Another replied.
"But how is that possible?" A third man asked. "He doesn't have Mana".
"I don't understand either. Was it a trick he used?" The first one said.
"It can't be, that was the shadow step, I've seen it be executed many times", A fourth man replied.
And so on they mumbled amongst themselves while Milo continued to bleed.
However, at that moment, the duchess and the countess had finished their discussion and were heading out.
Therefore, they stepped out to see Milo bleeding.
The countess screamed in horror.
The Duke stepped forward from the shadow then.
He commanded the guards to take Milo for treatment immediately.
He then looked at Gon with a grim frown on his face.
"Come with me, son", He said sternly.
As Gon followed him, he realized something, that was the first time the Duke had called him "son" in a long while.