I can expand my MAGIC ENDLESSLY?!-Chapter 6: One shouldn’t say

At the training hall, a wide open space had been cleared for the upcoming duel. The usual clang of weapons was gone. Guards had stopped swinging their swords altogether just to see the duel.

Word spread fast. A crowd had gathered maids, guards, and servants. The Nozvan family’s youngest son and the Skylark viscount’s youngest daughter would be having a duel!

"Will the young master really be okay? I heard the young miss already grasped the first form of Gale Cutter swordsmanship."

"Our swordsmanship isn’t inferior," one guard muttered, arms crossed. "But the problem is... the Young Master hasn’t even begun to grasp the true essence of Nozvan swordsmanship.

High above, watching from a stone balcony, stood Kairos’s mother beside Leia’s grandfather. Their expressions were unreadable, their gaze fixed on the clearing below. But deep down, one was worried, and the other was looking forward to it.

A few moments later,

On the stage Leia wore a plain combat suit reinforced with leather armor, having changed out of her formal dress.

In her hand was a slender sword.

Kairos, too, was standing right in front of her. Wearing the clothes he wore, he was also holding a sword, but longer, catching the light as he held it calmly.

The duel seemed meaningless, but he had already thought of this. Having a good relationship with the future Windblade empress is a good thing, but not like this; he will defeat her here. To make her hate him even more. That would make things easier, wouldn’t it? To break the engagement.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd as Leia adjusted her ponytail, her delicate face framed neatly. She took her stance, sword pointed toward him. Kairos mirrored her, raising his own blade.

"This will be a friendly duel. No mana use allowed. Am I clear?" the man standing a little far of them spoke. It was the same middle aged man who was training the new guards.

Both Kairos and Leia nodded silently.

Kairos lifted his sword, angling it calmly toward Leia. She raised hers high to her right, her other hand extended forward.

"You may begin!!"

Leia moved instantly, sprinting forward in a blur. Kairos didn’t flinch. He knew exactly how she’d strike.

Her sword came down in a sharp diagonal arc. Kairos raised his blade slightly to the side. Clang! blocking it cleanly.

Leia’s eyes widened, but only for a moment. She twisted her blade, sliding it against the flat of his sword before flicking it downward. His grip faltered just slightly.

She spun sharply, stepping to his exposed side. Her blade lashed out in a swift horizontal slash. The attack was clean. Precise...

But—

Clang!

Her sword met something. Leia looked down in disbelief. It was a dagger held by Kairos. Her attack had failed!

Before she could react, wind roared past her ear.

Something cold pressed gently against her neck.

Kairos’s sword.

"You lost," he said softly.

Leia, who was still processing what had happened, could only stare at him, especially into those deep red eyes, more than at the ivory flower that blooms at the peak of the mountains.

And at the same time, the unwavering sharpness that she saw countless times in her father’s eyes.

The arena fell silent.

It had all ended in seconds. And the most shocking part? Kairos hadn’t moved a single step. He had defeated Leia, the girl who had mastered the first form of Skylark swordsmanship while he was still grasping the basics.

Then a moment later, the crowd erupted.

"The Young Master won!!"

"He beat Miss Leia of the Duke Skylark family!"

"He won!!"

"So that’s why he had the dagger! Did Young Master calculate everything?!"

Leia blinked, realizing how close they were and how his sword still touched her neck. She backed away quickly, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks.

But she barked out in the next second! "I want another duel! It was a mistake!"

The knight stepped in. "Young miss, the duel already—"

Kairos raised his hand, making the knight stop. "I, Kairos Nozvan, accept!"

The knight didn’t know what to do and looked toward the lord he served. Kairos’s mother nodded her head, giving him the permission.

Leia’s sword was back in her hand. More focused this time, also embarrassed. How could she get defeated like that? By someone who only grasped the basics? The image she has of him is a weakling!. Who will break from the slightest force.

’I won’t lose this time,’ she told herself. ’I’ll strike first faster this time. I’ll overwhelm him.’ She thought.

The knight gave the signal again.

"Begin!"

But unfortunately for her, this time, Kairos moved first.

In an instant, he closed the distance between them. Right away, the eyes of many widened, including his mother’s and Leia’s grandfather’s.

Leia’s eyes barely had time to widen. Before she could raise her blade to block, Kairos’s hands moved in a sharp, sweeping arc...

Clang!

Her sword flew from her hands, spinning into the air before falling onto the ground.

It caused her to stumble back. Losing her balance, hitting the ground with a hard thud. When she looked up, Kairos was already there. And again something on her throat.

It was his blade, the tip pressing down softly. While above was Kairos staring at her with his red, crimson eyes hidden beneath the fluttering hair.

The crowd froze.

Leia’s breathing was shallow. She just gazed at the towering figure pointing his sword at her throat. Slowly the image of the red streak disappeared.

"You lost," he said again quietly.

Making her snap out of the shock. She gazed down before muttering... "I lost."

Silence crushed the training hall.

Two defeats. Two strikes. Not even a single blow landed on him. The young master who couldn’t even hold a sword properly before.

Then the crowd erupted again in loud applause. Even his mother was shocked, but at the next moment, she was rethinking that Mana awakening is a mysterious process, and one being stronger after awakening is unheard of.

Kairos retracted his sword and looked at her. Her face was covered by her own hair, so he couldn’t see her expression properly, but he was sure she wasn’t well.

He opened his mouth. As a knight, he should never speak the words he was about to speak now. But for the sake of the future, he had to. He had to break this engagement.

"Weakling," he spoke that word as quietly as possible. But still, right away Leia’s body shuddered. Even the knight stopped in his tracks.

Kairos didn’t care and turned around. As a knight, one should never say such a thing to a defeated person. No matter how badly one has lost, he had to.

He looked at the balcony... the others wouldn’t have heard it, but he was sure the old man did hear.

The old man looked at him calmly, as if he didn’t think too much about that comment. But Kairos knew beneath that calm exterior, fire was burning. He was sure this old man didn’t take that lightly.

Meanwhile, his mother could only sigh, pressing her hand on her forehead. Her son had brought more trouble for her once again.

Kairos left the place after handing the sword and the dagger to a soldier and headed inside.

As he walked, his mind still wandered on what he just said. As a knight, honor was everything, but the thing he did just now didn’t align with the way of the knight.

But he knew he had to. In this life, he had to be different, more different, as he couldn’t follow the last time, meeting the end of failing to protect.

There was no choice but to walk on a different path. If he didn’t, his fate and path in this life would end up meeting the same ending he had.

He again resolved his mind and stopped at his destination. It was the library of his new home. To achieve his goal, he had to gather knowledge as fast as possible.