There was no suspense in the duel—it was purely a one-sided slaughter.
Everyone who had been watching from the start thought the same way and believed that Winnie had no chance of winning.
However, just at this moment, as Winnie stood up, his speed suddenly increased. The wind-like pace caught the apprentice retainer, who was used to Winnie’s sluggish charges, completely off guard.
Lightweight Armor: Removes all armor weight, significantly increasing speed for a short period of time.
In addition to that, Winnie had deliberately conserved his energy all along. The exhaustion he had shown earlier was entirely feigned, designed to make his opponent believe that his stamina was depleted, causing him to relax his guard.
Perhaps an experienced warrior might have seen through this, but for this rookie apprentice retainer, it was enough.
At this moment, Winnie didn’t need to slow his pace. His armor felt as light as air, and with the added speed boost, he dashed forward like the wind!
In just a few breaths, he was already right next to the apprentice retainer!
Having grown accustomed to Winnie’s slow charges, the apprentice was caught completely off guard. After a brief moment of panic, he realized it was too late to nock an arrow, and instinctively drew his sword to face his opponent.
His inexperience caused a delay in his reaction, and just as he moved, Winnie used his two-meter-long spear to knock the sword out of the apprentice’s grasp before he could even get a solid hold.
At this moment, the advantage of using a spear in mid-range combat became evident.
Without a sword in his hand, the apprentice retainer didn’t even have time to draw his bow.
The situation reversed so suddenly that the apprentice retainer had no time to react. He was about to be completely outplayed in front of everyone.
However, while the apprentice had not yet realized what was happening, the two dragon knights in the stands had caught on immediately.
Seeing the situation, the more hot-tempered knight couldn’t care less about the single combat rules and immediately stood up, shouting to the apprentice.
"Quick! Use magic to blow him up! His Soul Art can’t defend against magic!"
The apprentice retainer immediately reacted, realizing it was a critical moment. Overcome with panic, he disregarded the side effects of using the Bow Arm magic, and forgetting that this was just a friendly duel, he raised his hand, releasing a fiery fireball from his palm.
The angry dragon knight was so excited at this point, he seemed to forget all the knightly principles he had once recited. Or perhaps, to him, those were just meaningless words.
Fully focused on the battle, he didn’t notice the cold gaze coming from the main seating.
Aeciphysis shook her head.
This had already gone beyond the realm of a friendly duel. To everyone’s eyes, the one about to take the fireball was just an ordinary person who had only recently absorbed a Soul Art and had no elemental resistance.
Armor Fort had no elemental resistance, which meant that Winnie, an ordinary person, was about to take the full brunt of this fireball with his physical body. If things went wrong, it could easily be deadly.
Mirecia immediately stood up, her golden twin tails swaying as she moved, but with such close-range magic, no one could do anything in time.
The fireball shot forward, and at that moment, Winnie’s spear was only a step away from the apprentice retainer’s light armor.
Ignoring the rapidly approaching heat, Winnie did not stop his charge, continuing forward with unwavering determination!
The scene seemed to freeze at that moment.
The next second...
Boom! Boom! The fireball exploded right on Winnie’s chest!
"Winnie!" Mirecia, still calm, immediately addressed her maid, who was equally stunned.
"Karin, go to the church and bring Priest Vaughn immediately!"
"Ah, yes!" Karin snapped out of her stupor and hurried off, not even bothering with a curtsy.
The explosion caused a small amount of black smoke to rise, making it impossible for the spectators to see the outcome clearly.
After the explosion, everything seemed to settle into silence.
The apprentice retainer, still in a dazed state, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. Then, to his bewildered eyes, he witnessed a scene he would never forget.
The once shiny fish-scale armor was now charred, the burn marks visible, cracks revealing the faint remains of flames, and even the red plume atop his helmet had turned to ash.
The armored figure, ignoring the burns on his body, pushed through the flames and black smoke, charging forward. With a single thrust, the spear pierced the apprentice’s light armor and pushed him into the arena wall.
The apprentice retainer didn’t care about the pain; he saw something far more terrifying.
From the dark slit of the helmet, two glowing red eyes seemed to shoot out, like demons from hell.
W-What is this??
Is this... really a person...??
The apprentice retainer’s pupils shrank, and he saw the armored figure, holding him firmly against the wall, slowly move in front of him, speaking each word clearly.
"Want to compete in cruelty and evil?"
"You’re not worthy."
A cold, withering wind seemed to blow past him, and the apprentice retainer’s legs went weak. He sat down on the ground.
Winnie drew his spear back up and stood with one hand resting on it, calmly looking down at his opponent, who was now begging for mercy.
The wind blew the flag tied to the spear, and victory was the reward the goddess gave to the brave.
He had won.
Mirecia watched the battered but unyielding figure, her eyes filled with disbelief and a complex emotion she couldn’t describe.
No matter whether the motive was simply to show off or to act cruel, this was something the old Winnie would have never been able to do.
Aeciphysis, resting her chin on her hand, looked at Winnie with an amused gaze.
This Winnie was definitely much smarter than the one in the previous life.
Could it be... he was also a reincarnator? Or perhaps he knew about her being a reincarnator?
A doubt flashed through Aeciphysis's mind, but she shook her head lightly.
Well, time would reveal everything. This devil would eventually have his tail exposed.
The silver-haired fairy-like girl flipped her hair and withdrew her gaze. She never paid much attention to those who didn’t interest her. If it weren’t for the fact that Winnie would eventually become a villain and had a ‘life-and-death’ relationship with her, needing to find his flaws and eliminate the threat early on, she wouldn’t waste any extra attention on him.
Compared to people who didn’t matter, her dear Mirecia was far more important, wasn’t she?
Revenge was just an appetizer. If you removed the revenge aspect, Winnie was insignificant to her.
With that thought, the silver-haired girl slyly smiled at the blonde twin-tailed girl next to her, her smile playful and charming.
"Get ready, Mirecia. The ‘prey’ I’ve chosen can’t escape my grasp."
"Remember to keep your promise." She silently turned her gaze to the young knight beside her and extended her hand. "The forty gold coins we agreed on. Not a single one less."
"......" The knight next to her looked conflicted, clearly not expecting this outcome. Before he could speak, the hot-tempered knight voiced his thoughts.
"Master Winnie, you’ve gone too far! It’s just a duel! What have you done to our knight's apprentice?!"
"Look at you acting all innocent after getting beaten, just like I imagined—playing the victim after being the villain," Winnie mocked. "But this time, you will pay up."
"Or do you want to renege in front of the royal family?" As he spoke, Winnie glanced at Mirecia’s direction.
"Winnie, do you know what that means? Are you provoking the Angry Dragon Knights?!" the hot-tempered knight snapped.
"I don’t like explaining myself to people who don’t understand human language, because it’s pointless." Winnie lifted his chin. "Pay up."
"You..." The other knight quickly stopped his irate colleague. This big guy may not have realized it, but he had already sensed it.
The cold gaze from the main seating had already turned icy.