Standing before Aurlius, echoes of the conversation with his parents lingered in Quinn's mind.
He had to plead with his parents to approve such a massive wager, insisting it was the right decision and laying out all the benefits it could bring their family.
But the truth was different.
His plea wasn't driven by the hope of raising his family back to prominence, it was fueled by a burning desire for revenge against Aurelius and a need to prove to Evelyn that he was the superior man.
Aurelius was supposed to be someone who wasn't worth a single one of his thoughts—just some talentless, arrogant villain.
But then, he was engaged to Evelyn, forcing Quinn to form a plan to crush him and claim Evelyn for himself, securing the marriage alliance.
The plan was supposed to be simple and effective. Based on the information he had gathered about Aurelius, it should've worked without a hitch. However, Aurelius had changed—a lot—and it heavily backfired on Quinn.
He was made the fool in front of hundreds of high nobles who had shown up, originally meant to cheer him on for saving Evelyn from her unjust engagement.
The most unexpected occurrence had to be her openly humiliating him—mocking how ugly he was in front of everyone when she was supposed to be fawning over him.
Though, he was still in denial of that.
***
"Hmm… Alright, I'll accept," I said casually.
Quinn's face visibly brightened as that devilish smirk returned to his face as I said those words. The shame of the last hour lingered sharply, and now, I gave him the long-awaited chance for retribution on the battlefield.
The crowd's anticipation also heightened. They quickly made space from the center of the lavish hall as servants came to clear space for the duel. It was more than capable of hosting a duel.
Viewers at home rushed to get popcorn and drinks.
"Now, shall we set the terms of the Rite of Honor? Just the standard rules, first to lose consciousness or surrender loses? And you'll set your cultivation to lower stage Awakened right?" I asked.
Looking at me, Quinn's smirk widened as he replied "yes, standard rules—but no, I will not match your cultivation."
A brief pause of silence lingered in the surroundings as everyone processed Quinn's words.
"Ahahahaha! I see, you were bold enough to challenge me, just not bold enough to keep your word. So your courage only exists at lower realms. Noted." I responded mockingly, a disdainful smile marking my face.
The spectators were outraged at the development, speaking up after comprehending his words.
"What?! That can't be right… he's always been a model of honor…"
"He promised equal cultivation! How can he retract it now?!"
"A noble reneging on his own duel terms? Outrageous! Not even Aurelius has retracted his terms before!"
"S-surely he misspoke. Quinn wouldn't break his own terms…"
Quinn took in the words as his twisted smile became even creeper, making him look very ugly as he proudly declared, "I will set my cultivation to initial stage Awakened instead!"
The enraged protests of the crowd instantly died down, many looking at Quinn in stunned silence as I let a light smile creep onto my face.
"Oh? That's fine by me," I said in a neutral tone.
Internally though, I was ecstatic with joy. I didn't expect him to lower his cultivation to initial stage, that makes everything even easier.
The once-seething crowd had now turned overwhelmingly positive toward Quinn, admiring his choice to fight Aurelius a stage down to truly prove his superiority.
However, many knew the fight was now only even, not in Aurelius' favor despite Quinn's enormous handicap.
Fighting a stage down or two was not incredibly difficult; it happened all the time when humans faced beasts. Beasts fought only on instinct, while humans could plan and adapt.
The outcome is similar in battles between nobles and commoners.
Nobles, with their abundance of resources, better techniques, and other advantages could easily take the average commoner a stage or two higher.
Between nobles though, that was a different story—especially high nobles.
Even a single stage usually meant a massive difference, both were nurtured with a mountain of the highest grade resources and refined through rigorous training by the best teachers. But for Aurelius…
That was the thinking of most of the audience, believing they were in for an interesting fight.
Most wanted Quinn to win, whether because of his courageousness and boldness to challenge me a stage down or because I was Aurelius and they hated me.
Unfortunately for them, they were about to be sorely disappointed, but they will be entertained…
The most unfortunate person here had to be Quinn though, he won't be entertained at all.
Not only will his pride suffer a massive blow by being utterly humiliated by me with only himself to blame in a few minutes—in the Intis Institute, he will suffer another blow from not taking the Primarch position like he thought he would.
No, I won't be the one to take it, even though I want to and give a speech shitting on everyone.
It wasn't going to be the princess or the saintess either, it will go to my favorite character in the novel.
The murmurs of the crowd died down as a servant handed me a wooden practice spear. Quinn stood with a malicious smile facing me, ten paces ahead with nothing but his clenched fists as they were the only thing he needed.
Another servant went to him, putting the cultivation suppression device on him.
Quickly, Quinn released a bit of his aura, showcasing the weak intensity of an initial stage Awakened for all to see.
I could tell the thoughts that were running through his head.
'Ahahaha! Finally I can get my revenge! I will make sure to thoroughly humiliate you as you did to me (despite the fact he started it)! You've been courting death, I will make you kowtow before me ten times!'
"Finally, I'll be able to prove to everyone you're still the same disgrace upon all nobles. It doesn't matter how much better you've gotten at using your tongue, you're still the same waste on the battlefield," he declared with a tone of steely confidence.
"Oh, it may not matter to you, but Evelyn was quite… *satisfied* with my improved tonguework," I said in a playful tone.
Hearing my comment, everybody gasped, filled with shock. Especially Anastasia and Evelyn, whose face quickly turned bright red like her hair.
However, before either of them or the crowd could open their mouths, Quinn enragedly shouted "HOW DARE YOU SULLY AND LIE ABOUT LADY EVELYN'S NAME!!" as he charged at me.
'Wow, what a simp. She literally laughed at your face and called you ugly, yet you're still valiantly defending her honor?' I mused to myself watching him rush me, summoning a hand right behind my head.
"Starting unannounced huh?" I mockingly commented as he took massive lunges at me, some parts of his body—mainly his fists—turned metallic.
This was his Arcanum, and it was quite powerful. Being able to enhance both the defense and offense of his body, allowing him to match the 'lower stage' strength of my body with his initial stage cultivation.
Tightening my grip on the spear with both my hands, I angled it directly at his underprotected liver, thrusting with ample strength.
Some members of the audience were visibly disappointed, believing I was still the same trash on the battlefield.
They assumed Quinn could simply twist his torso, land a clean hit, and end the duel then and there. Or, he may even be able to just tank the damage with his Arcanum. With both my hands on the spear, I appeared completely defenseless after all.
Like they thought, Quinn paid the attack no heed, continuing to charge at me full speed out of confidence and wrath. Perhaps he wanted to show how weak I was by just tanking the blow
Drawing near, he readied his fist to swing—believing his body could handle the impact, enhanced with his Arcanum.
Spoiler alert: it couldn't.
My strength—suppressed to middle stage Awakened—could easily bypass his defenses, capable of causing him severe pain.
In addition, with his reckless charge, it heavily amplified the impact—something something Newton's laws of motion or something.
As a result, the spear penetrated skin, piercing into his liver.
Before anybody or he could even react to the life-threatening injury though, his eyes were already frozen in place, along with his fist.
Why?
Remember the punch he had thrown at me with all his might?
I had caught it effortlessly with the hand I manifested behind my head. Feeling the difference in our strength, it was at this moment, he knew he fucked up.
The stark realization of the huge difference between us and his massive fuck-up managed to shield the pain of being stabbed in the liver—just for a moment, until…
"AARGHHHHHHHHHH—!"
The pain quickly snapped him out of his whirling thoughts as his breathing hitched, and a guttural scream tore from his mouth, setting the crowd in a shocked silence.
Ahahaha, this is some good meme material!