(Rodova Military Academy – Practical Combat Grounds)
Over the next two weeks, Leo trained like an absolute maniac, pushing himself a step beyond what even he believed he was capable of, as he drove himself to failure every single day.
It got to a point, where even the instructors started to fear for his sanity and health, as they very verbally voiced their concerns, warning Leo about the pitfalls of burning out and overtraining—but Leo only dug in deeper.
Because the moment Su Yang officially broke through to the Grandmaster tier?
Everything changed.
—---------
The first thing Su Yang did after his breakthrough was challenge Leo to a spar.
Not out of arrogance, but because he genuinely wanted to test his new strength against the one person he measured himself against in this academy, which was Leo.
Their rivalry had been brewing since day one.
In their first week, Su Yang had absolutely wiped the floor with him.
And for the better part of the first three months of their academy life, he maintained that lead—his raw talent and excellent upbringing making up the difference every time they clashed.
But then Leo started to find his rhythm.
His new fighting style took shape, and it made him fluid, precise and unpredictable.
As slowly, the tides started to turn.
Spars that once ended in decisive losses for Leo began to lean his way.
Until recently, when Su Yang could barely touch him anymore, because Leo had become just that fast and unpredictable for him to take on.
But now?
Now the dynamic had changed again.
As with Su Yang becoming a Grandmaster first, the power difference once again started to lean his way.
—---------
The moment their first spar after Su Yang's breakthrough to Grandmaster began, Leo immediately sensed that something was wrong.
He couldn't put his finger on it at first—because it wasn't Su Yang's presence, his footwork, or even the way he gripped his blade that unsettled him—but rather, it was his eyes.
Those golden, eerily calm eyes threw Leo off balance, as just meeting his gaze sent a subtle shiver crawling down his spine—one he hadn't felt since that day in the Rodova Mess Hall, when he had first locked eyes with Yu Shen.
And today, Su Yang's eyes carried that same pressure. That same unspoken warning. And that was what alarmed Leo first.
Su Yang's bloodline skill, [Domination], had never once worked on Leo before—not even slightly.
But now, as those golden eyes stared straight through him, Leo felt the unmistakable pull of Su Yang's will pressing against his own.
Not overwhelming, but sharp enough to make his body tense and his thoughts sharpen with unease.
And in that moment, Leo's jaw clenched as realization struck.
[Domination] became more potent the wider the strength gap was between the user and their opponent—and while it had failed to affect Leo in the past, back when their powers were evenly matched, that balance had now shifted.
As with Leo falling behind, [Domination] had finally taken hold.
And as the first clash of blades erupted between them, Leo discovered it wasn't just the passive pressure that had changed.
Everything about Su Yang felt different.
His footwork was crisper, his speed faster, and the sheer weight behind every movement was simply overwhelming.
Within seconds, Leo found himself on the backfoot, forced into a reactive stance, as if he were a cornered mouse facing down a hungry tiger.
Whoosh—
Su Yang's sword came crashing down in a familiar arc, activating the basic move [Vertical Slash]—a technique Leo had blocked dozens of times before.
But this time?
When Leo raised both daggers to intercept the blow, the sheer force of the strike sent a jarring vibration through his bones, numbing his arms even as he managed to block it.
CLANG—!
He staggered back, blinking in disbelief.
'The skill… it's the same move… the same execution… but the power output—'
It was completely different.
Shockingly different.
Because while the move and the man delivering it hadn't changed, the realm he now stood in had.
Su Yang, now a Grandmaster, was playing by a different set of rules.
Everything about him had leveled up—not just his strength, but his perception, his movement, his capacity to read and control the tempo of battle—and it showed with every passing second.
There was an old saying in the combat world—
"Even the weakest Grandmaster is stronger than the strongest Master."
Leo had always dismissed that line as a dramatic exaggeration.
But he couldn't do so anymore.
Not after this.
Not after watching the same Su Yang who had been struggling to land hits on him, suddenly dominate their match so thoroughly that Leo couldn't even mount a decent defense.
Clang
Block
Clang—
Every exchange ended with Leo being driven back.
Every attempt at a counter was anticipated and intercepted.
It felt like he was back in week one of the academy—helpless, scrambling, trying to survive, while Su Yang stood towering above him, untouchable.
'He's like Major Hen now…' Leo thought, panting heavily as he slid across the arena floor, ribs throbbing from a brutal kick.
Su Yang hadn't become invincible—but the gap between them had widened more than Leo ever expected.
And the worst part?
He wasn't even using new techniques.
Just the same old ones—reused, recycled, but now amplified by the sheer force and finesse of a Grandmaster.
And that was the true horror of it.
Because the same techniques Leo once dismissed as predictable were now being delivered with such precision and overwhelming pressure, that they felt brand new again.
As apparently, that's what becoming a Grandmaster truly meant.
As one not only improved in every measurable physical, mental and magical metrics when they tiered up.
But they also improved everything associated with those metrics, such as skills and their outputs.
For if both a Grandmaster mage and a Master mage who had mastered (Fireball) to the same (Perfect) grade, unleashed it at once.
If the Master mage could burn down 1 tree using it, then the Grandmaster would burn down 10.
As such was the sheer power output difference between tiers.
—-------
"Sheesh…. I had completely forgotten about the sensation of beating your ass so thoroughly.
I had forgotten how enjoyable it was—" Su Yang said, after their spar was over, as he seemed to be in visibly high spirits.
"Nice one, Yang–" Leo replied back, as he lay sprawled on the floor, covering his eyes with his arm, as he recalled the mistakes he made in this fight with an impassive face.
"You've got to catch-up to me, Skyshard. Don't let me get too far ahead, or people will forget you're my rival!" Su Yang said in a joking tone, as Leo only hummed in reply.
"Mmhmm—"
In the first place, he never cared about their friendship or rivalry as deeply as Su Yang did, however, he did not dislike it either.
For him Su Yang was a measuring stick who motivated him to be his best, which was why he kept him around, but there were no deeper feelings involved.
However, that was not the case for Su Yang, who saw a genuine friend and a lifelong brother in Leo, as taking a seat beside him, Yang finally spoke what was weighing heavily on his mind for the past few months.
"I know the class doesn't laugh at us anymore—not like they did after we lost to the seniors during the early days," Su Yang muttered, his voice low but sharp.
"But that's not enough for me. Not even close. I won't be satisfied until I smash Minerva and Yu Shen's smug faces into the dirt in front of everyone—and laugh while doing it. That's the only kind of revenge that matters."
He turned to Leo then, his gaze fierce.
"You and me, Skyshard—we're nobles. We carry the blood of gods in our veins. And these filthy commoners? They're nothing. They were born from dirt and will return to it."
"I don't care how much Rodova preaches equality or how proud they are of building this academy on 'merit'—because I know exactly what happens if we let commoners think they're equal to us."
His voice dropped a notch, laced with venom.
"They'll become the next oppressors of this universe. Just like David. That man hates us—not because we're bad people—but because we remind him of what he'll never be."
Su Yang paused, his hands clenched so tightly his knuckles went white.
"Can you imagine if David were the Principal of Rodova?" he said, voice rising with disbelief. "Do you honestly think he'd let us train like this? That he'd ever give us a fair shot at graduating?"
"No. He'd sabotage us at every turn—because he's blinded by his obsession with lifting up the commoners. He'd never care about our struggles, no matter how hard we try."
"And that's exactly why we can't ever let them look down on us."
He exhaled hard, his eyes burning with conviction.
"We have to keep reminding them who truly rules this universe. Because the second they start believing we're equals—that's when the chaos begins. That's when everything falls apart."
"To me? The commoners are a bigger threat to this universe than the Evil Cult ever was," Su Yang declared, the hatred in his voice thick and unfiltered.
Then, after a long breath, he turned to Leo again.
"In the end, it's us against the universe, brother."
His lips curled into a cold, determined smile.
"So you'd better keep up, because I won't be waiting for you for too long, and also because we have to remind this academy of who its real owners are."