Within the Farraway Coliseum, there existed a special spot in the seating area that was reserved for those with high authority, being a private room that allowed those within it to be able to get what was considered the best view of the battleground.
Normally, the people that would usually be invited to this special spot would be visiting high-ranking nobles from faraway cities, or perhaps even the rulers of cities and kingdoms themselves. However, at this moment, two men stood within this private room, with one being older than the other, yet both having similar facial features.
"As expected of my brother!" As the two watched the duel between Leron and Valyr unfold from the private room, Luke turned his head to the man beside him, showering the latter with praise as a wide grin adorned his face. "Not only did you find a fighter that's willing to fight against him, you even found someone that's an entire class rank above him!"
"Just so you know, this situation you see in front of you comes at a great cost." As the man watched Leron bombard Valyr with an incessant barrage of attacks, only for the latter to start running around the battleground not long after, the man opened his mouth as he looked back at Luke. "After this, you better make sure you stay put in the forging emporium and curry favors with everyone there. Got it?"
"You don't have to worry about a thing, Lucas." His expression carefree, Luke responded to his brother's words with a nonchalant wave as he let out a light chuckle. "Since you've helped me exact my revenge on this thorn to the emporium, staying put and helping our influence within the emporium is the least I can do."
"You better." Lucas looked back at him with a solemn expression. "If not because of your shenanigans, I wouldn't have sacrificed one of my men out on the battleground to possibly die for your cause."
"Trust in me for once, Lucas," replied Luke as he shifted his gaze back to the battleground. "Since I said I'll stay put in the forging emporium after this, then I'll stay p—?!"
With his mouth wide agape as he was left at a loss for words, Luke witnessed as to how Valyr swiftly turned the tables around, cutting off one of Leron's fingers thanks to an unexpected move.
As he watched Leron cry out in pain from having one of his fingers cut off, the anger that had subsided ever since the duel begin now came back with even greater fervor, with only his rationality stopping him from heading out to the battleground and fighting against Valyr on his own.
"Well, that's a slight nuisance." Naturally, Lucas witnessed the scene unfold before him as well, causing a frown to appear on his face as he looked at his brother, who currently an extremely incensed expression.
"Brother…" Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Luke looked at his brother beside him, his tone still laced with hints of anger. "Is there any way we could end this duel and kill Valyr for good?"
"Patience, Luke," Lucas said to him, causing the latter's fury to burst out for a bit in response. However, this brief show of fury was quickly contained as Lucas put great pressure on Luke's body through his aura, forcing the latter to calm down. "Then again, I was already expecting you to burst out in a fit of rage."
Watching as small wisps of dark energy started to emanate out of Leron's body, a light smirk eventually crept up on Lucas' lips as he removed the pressure pushing down on Luke, allowing the latter to finally breathe freely once more.
"Now, my younger brother. Be patient and watch the duel unfold before you." Pointing at Leron, the smirk on Lucas' face turned into a grin. "You thought Leron was already giving it his all?"
"He's just getting started."
…
Sucking in cold air through his teeth, Leron endured the throbbing pain he felt from getting one of his fingers cut off, grimacing as he took off the dark fabric covering his face with his still good hand. Then, through skillful maneuvering of both hands, he tied a tight knot around where the finger that was cut off originally was, stopping all blood from flowing through that area.
"I was initially planning to just toy around with you and kill you off with one swift blow…" Taking in a deep breath, Leron glared at Valyr straight in the eyes of multiple wisps of dark energy started to emanate out of his body. "But since you decided to do what you did…"
"No more games."
Whoosh!
Allowing the dark energy around him to converge towards his two daggers, Leron lunged forward at far greater speeds than ever before, his daggers containing far greater strength in them as Valyr hastily activated [Elusive Dash] to dodge the daggers that seemed to be more dangerous than ever before.
"Gah!" However, as if his opponent was already prepared for Valyr disappearing from his vicinity, a blade made out of dark energy manifested out of thin air before attacking Valyr in the back, piercing through his light armor before digging into his skin.
"Ngh!" Not long after, more and more blades of dark energy appeared behind Valyr, all of them embedding themselves into Valyr's skin through the chestplate he wore. Enduring the waves of pain that radiated from each blade digging into his skin, Valyr swiftly noticed that Leron's shadow had taken on an elongated shape, extending itself behind Valyr's back.
Realizing that Leron's weird shadow was the reason why there were multiple blades of dark energy on his back, Valyr employed [Elusive Dash] once more to increase the distance between the two of them, prompting the blades of dark energy on his back to disappear as it lost contact with the opponent it was dealing damage to.
'I already found out that he was an Adept Shadowblade, but here I am, forgetting that he had skills of that class to use.' Frowning as he continued to distance himself from Leron, Valyr inwardly admonished himself for allowing his confidence to get the better of him. 'I let myself be fooled with his speedy dagger attacks.'
'Not anymore. I won't fall for it again.' Though, just as he decided to take the duel more seriously than before, Leron, who he had been watching all this time to see if he would make a move, disappear from his field of vision all of a sudden, prompting Valyr to look around the battleground to find the man's whereabouts.
Whoosh!
However, this search was quickly stopped as the man he was looking for appeared in front of him, swiftly plunging both daggers into Valyr's shoulders as a malevolent grin crept up on Leron's face.
"Where are you looking at?"
