Arthur Leywin POV
" Let go" I said coldly as I grabbed Piers's hand
For a moment I thought of just killing him on the spot, but I realized that he didn't deserve it. I wanted him to suffer, I don't want him to find an easy way out, in other words, I don't want him to die
That's exactly why I stopped my killing intent from leaking out. Even aether that was affected by my emotions wanted to leak out and start wrecking chaos all over the place, but I didn't let it. No. I wanted him to think he has a chance, I wanted to give him hope only to crush it and throw him into the depths of despair
I remember the time when I killed Lucas back when I lost Alea and when I thought that I will lose Tess as well. Back then I just channeled some of my anger to him, so I tortured him even though the kid didn't deserve that much of it
But this guy, Pier, he deserves everything that's waiting for him... and he will have much rougher treatment than Lucas did
" Who do you think you are to order me around, you brat!?" he shouted as he let go of Alea
His face got even more twisted in anger and he released his bloodlust, but I didn't care. For somebody else, it might have been overwhelming, like Alduin and Merial who had a hard time breathing, but to me... it was laughable
' Did he think that such a thing could intimidate me? '
*smirk*
That was the last straw, my smirk made him snap. Taking out a handkerchief he threw it on the ground and pointed his finger at me
" I, Pier Grasseater IV, am challenging you to a duel!" he declared not even bothering to say my name
' Just as I planned'
" What's the meaning of thi...!" Alduin shouted in a desperate attempt to stop this, but I cut him off by raising my hand and showing him to stop
" I, Arthur Leywim, accept" I said coldly
We walked toward the area where Virion pointed out that we can have a duel. While we were walking I noticed that Alea looked like she was worried so I decided to check if everything is okay
" What's wrong Aly?" I asked as I came closer to her
At this point, I was as tall as I was when I attended Xyrus so my height went just a couple of centimeters past her shoulder
" I am just worried... I know that you are outclassing that... thing by far but... I am afraid that his family might try to do something to your sister and your parents" she looked down with worry
I started to think that she might feel guilty for putting me in this situation, blaming herself for something she didn't do
It's notable how much of her confidence is being held back thanks to her childhood bully
With every moment we talked, every time I saw her face like this I got even more furious. I hated that I have to wait to start this duel to punish this guy, but he is still an elven noble during the time when the continent is uniting, and I am just a human commoner. That's why I can't kill him like this, but if he does during the duel, then that's another story
" Don't worry Alea, we will make sure that his family can't go anywhere near Leywins after this" queen Merial said with a motherly smile
"" Thank you"" the two of us thanked her at the same time
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We reached the area for the duel and now Pier and I faced each other with only ten meters separating us. Others stayed on the hill nearby for the safety measures
The only one down here was Aya who was supposed to announce the beginning of the duel
Pier took his stance and summoned his sword. It was a fine rapier made out of silver with a green lining. The sword itself wasn't anything spectacular, I would say that the quality was just slightly above average, but the design was another matter. It looked so nice and refined that its beauty was only second to the swords that were forged by Asuras, Wren to be more precise
Aya that stood between us had her hand in front of her when she took a look at both of us
" Are you guys ready?" she asked with caution
" Let's just get this over with" soon to be corpse said with a frown
I didn't say anything. With a light but powerful nod, I indicated to Aya that I was ready as well
In the meantime, some guards and nobles that we're currently present in the palace formed a circle around the battlefield in order to watch as one of the stronger and most talented elven nobles teaches a human bastard a lesson
' Little do they know... ' Regis said through the mental link
Everyone looked at us with expectations, some of them even had excitement while others had fear in their eyes
" Start!" Aya announced and jumped up to the Royals and Alea
Sylvie POV
I watched as papa and that insolent bastard elf took their stances ready to fight. To be more precise the only one who took a stance was the bastard while papa just stood still like a statue without even blinking
" Start" Miss Aya announced and jumped up to us
Just as she announced the beginning the ugly bastard started chanting and by the time she was here he already fired his wind cutter spell
Papa tried to avoid it but as he was moving to the side his right arm got cut off
" Arghhh!" he shouted in pain as blood started spurting from his wound all over the place
" Arty!" mama shouted and was about to rush down there but I stopped her
This is a fight that papa has to fight by himself and we are not allowed to interfere
" It's fine mama... Papa will be alright" I said and hugged her from the back
She looked back at me and I saw her beautiful face being uglied by the tears that were pouring like rivers from her eyes
When she looked back at me, as if something inside her flipped, she brought me into a tight embrace with my head resting in her chest, stopping me from seeing what was going down there
" You shouldn't watch this" she said and turned us for 180 degrees. Now my back was facing papa and the idiotic bastard so I couldn't see them
" It's fine mom, I can handle it" I said and turned around to watch
" Then you should at least be more comfy" she said and sat down on the ground bringing me together to sit on her lap. Even though I couldn't see her face I could still feel her tears falling on my hair
' Mama is clearly worried about papa'
' Papa will have to pay for worrying her like this I thought while making myself comfortable in mama's lap
' I like this ' I thought as I enjoyed the soft feeling of mamas lap and turned my attention back to the duel
" Ughh" papa said as he held onto the place where his arm should be
Laughing like a maniac Pier approached him and looked down at Papa as if he is no more than a bug
" What's wrong brat? No hand?" he thought and brought his face so close to papa's that it seemed as if he was about to kiss him
He grabbed papa by his hair and pulled him up. He started punching his face making it go swollen with many bruises all over it
" You arrogant human bastard! How dare you order me around and tell me what to do! " he shouted with a twisted face while mercilessly punching papa
" Shouldn't we interfere..."
" That's just too cruel..."
" Somebody should stop him..."
I heard people around us talk, but I knew that it will be fine, there is no way that papa will lose to this ugly bastard corpse elf
Once he was done with his showcase of brutality, he threw papa a couple of meters away
" If you beg me for mercy I may even let you live you scumbag!" he said with a victorious smirk
Papa with fear in his eyes went to his knees and took a pleading position
" P-please spare me... I- I'll do anythi..." papa said in a pleading voice with many hiccups and pained breaths in between his words
"as if" he finished coldly and in the next instant he was in front of Pier with one of his hands crushing Pier's neck while the other one was healing rapidly. All of his other wounds were healed already so the only dark spot on his face was his cold and emotionless amethyst eyes
' And the Oscar for the best performance goes to... Arthur Leywin! ' Regis shouted through the link between all of us
Now everyone was looking at papa with fear and confusion, unable to comprehend how is papa's uninjured and how his arm get regenerated
' Let the show begin ' I thought with a smirk
Arthur Leywin POV
I watched in slow motion as Pier coughed a mouthful of blood after I crushed his throat. His pupils were wide from surprise and horror at my sudden " come back"
I wanted him to suffer, to feel the pain, to give him hope only to cruelly take it away from him
" Ah-aaa-ah!" he was trying to say something but his crushed throat was preventing him from doing so
"Was it this arm? The one that slapped my dear Alea?" I said while looking at his right arm
In one swift motion, I grabbed his arm and thorn it off before he could even realize what was happening. Blood started squirting from his wound all over the place, dyeing the beautiful green grass the color of his ugly crimson blood
" Ghhhh!" He tried to scream and shout, but his injured throat stopped him from even attempting
I activated aether reinforced fire spell to burn the flesh at his wound, to prevent him from dying from blood loss and to inflict even more pain
At this point, he was already on the ground crying in pain with bloody foam coming out of his mouth
And yet I didn't care, he has to suffer, and if he thought that I am done with him, he was wrong
Static Void. I activated my time-stopping spell since my next actions might invoke my beloved's trauma
I created an aether barrier around me like I saw lady Myre do so I could use mana spells
White flames came to life in my right hand and I approached his left eye. He didn't even see me coming from his sheer confusion about what was happening around him until I came about half a meter from him
I reached out for his left eye and when my hand was close enough, absolute zero flames in my right hand completely froze his eye, creating a decent-looking crystal
" Ahhhh!" pained screams came from his broken throat
Bloodied tears came out of his only remaining eyes. His body was shaking, and he was coughing out blood. Looking at his current appearance, I realized that if a young kid like Ellie saw something like this would have been terrified and traumatized for the rest of her life
With a snap of my finger, his left eye exploded and turned into a crystal-like cloud of dust, leaving nothing but an empty space in his head from which blood flew out as if it was a river
Conjuring some regular flames in my left hand I approached his right eye and let it melt under the heat of my magic. At this point, he couldn't even scream and he just shook in pain
Before I knew it, his shaking stopped and he died in pain and agony... As if
After recently making a great breakthrough in it, I activated Aroa Requiem and healed his injuries. He looked at me in surprise not sure if what happened just now was an illusion or a reality
" I-i am saved..." he muttered as hope came back to him
Activating the burst step I stepped right beside him and whispered coldly in his ear
" This is just a beginning"
For the next four hours, how long I can keep static void active, I tortured him in any way I could think of without killing him
I used sound magic to shatter his bones or make his organs explode. Freeze every limb slowly with ice. Accelerate his thoughts with lightning then torture him physically. Drown him. Stab huge pillars of the earth through him. Chop him up with Dawn
" P-pwease... Kill me" he begged
Sensing that I am about to lose control over my aevum Godrune I created an aetheric sword and with Regis's reinforced it with destruction
" May your suffering last in your next life" I said and stabbed him
" AGHHHHHH!" He screamed as destruction started erasing his body from existence
I deactivated Static Void and looked around. Finally after hours of standing still people began to move, only to be surprised by the sudden disappearance of my " challenger"
* THUMP* I fell on the ground with something heavy hitting me. I looked up and saw crying Alea hugging me for her dear life
" Arty you big idiot!" she screamed in my chest, my body absorbing enough of the sound so that only I can hear her
" You worried me" looking at her I saw some tears coming out of her eyes
While laying on the ground I patted her head and said in a soothing voice
" I'm sorry " I kissed her and kept patting and hugging her for a while