Chapter 90: Knight

Chapter 90: Knight Justin’s shout sent a large sound wave across more than half the stage and Liam erected an ice shield to protect him from tye attack.

’Why does she even want me to fight this piece of shit?’

"Sigh! She stopped letting me things ever since the letter from her father"

Liam muttered, having a conversation with himself.

He seemed rather careless with the battle he was fighting, paying half attention and Justin could see that too which only made him more enraged.

’Is he looking down on me? Who does he think he is?!’

Veins snaked across his hands and face,.had his grip on the flute in his hands tightened till his hand became white.

With the same livid expression, he brought the metal flute to his mouth and started playing a tune that seemed like something between a banshee scream and something high frequency.

Kieran didn’t quite have the right words to describe it, but it was in no way pleasant.

This sudden attack with the flute managed to catch Liam who hadn’t been paying attention, off guard. The ice barrier he had set up around himself cracking before breaking into pieces.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing his carelessness had cost him. He tune came at him in waves, and his grunted, feeling his body twist from within.

He dropped to his knees, his eyes bleeding from the torture the sound brought him, he also coughed up a patch of blood under him.

’Typical nobles!’

Kieran observed silently as Liam went through the pain that came as a result of underestimating his opponents.

As poor as Justin’s reputation was, he was nonetheless a ranker which means he had the qualifications to be one.

Even if Liam was a hundred percent confident that he could win the fight, he would have to at least look his opponent in the eye to beat him.

"Ahhhh!"

Just like Kieran had expected, the fact that he had been caught off guard sent Liam into a spiral of anger as he smashed his fists onto the stage sending a wave of ice shards out, forcing Justin to break his tune and retreat in a rush.

"Lucky bastard. You’ve done enough to sully the Aurora name!"

Now that he had realized his mistake and snapped out of it, he was intent on not making the same mistake again.

All that was left for him to do was to crush the ant in front of him and restore the honor and respect he had lost earlier.

’There’s no way in putting the family name to shame. Especially when the young lady sent me on this herself!’

Liam’s body language reflected his thoughts as his eyes shone an eerie blue, sending the chill down Justin’s spine and a whitish aura started to appear around him, like snow wss falling on him.

He whipped his arm to the side and a perfectly shaped icy blue sword emerged and he gripped it, walking towards Justin slowly, before moving faster than Justin could catch.

From Justin’s point of view, he just disappeared.

"Now isn’t he just going too far? Because of some hurt ego? So much for a knight like him!"

Ethan commented, his eyes flanking across the projection, keeping track of Liam’s figure. Meanwhile Sabrina remained silent with no change in expression, just observing the fight.

Kieran on the other hand had his attention taken away by Ethan’s words, especially with the mention of a knight.

Unlike how others might have taken his words—Liam being a knight because of how he acted around Sabrina, Kieran saw it in a different light.

The citizenship system of the current world was one where the starting point differed based on their family standing, before they started to their way up the ranks.

He and his family were part of the group of people known as outsiders, which meant that they weren’t acknowledge by the system and had been left to fend for themselves.

Before he parents died though, his dad had somehow managed to push him up to the level of a commoner; the lowest level on the citizenship ladder.

With that, he had been able to attend high-school just fine and live the first part of his life without much trouble.

Unlike him, children of the noble lineage usually had a rank between level 7 – 9 citizen or lord right off the bar, while those from more important families like the pillar families started off as knights.

What attracted kierans attention was exactly the fact that Liam was a knight. While most people would’ve brushed it off a normal, Kieran knew for a fact that he wasn’t a descendant of the main family, but instead a branch one.

And from the records he had managed to get by burning his CP, the descendants from the branch families of the 9 pillars, didn’t have that privilege to start off as knights

Instead, they started off as lords or level 9 citizens just like other lesser noble houses and hard to work up to knight and beyond.

What shocked Kietan was how fast he had managed to reach the level of knight. It was in no way easy to increase one’s citizenship level, regardless of their status and background.

In fact, most of the children who were born as knights, usually remained at that level for the rest of their lives, moving up by a single rank or two with only a few of them being talented enough to soar several ranks higher.

This was to show how much of an achievement it was to reach the level of a knight.

Even with the background advantage he must have had, it still did nothing against the fact that he had to be pretty talented to get to that point where most kids of a higher background than him were still stock.

If anything, he was just missing the strength associated with the rank of a knight.

’No wonder he had been assigned to protect from her!’

Kieran thought, throwing a glance at Ruby.

Secrets weren’t really secrets when in the hands of nobles. The curious recruits had long since found out what they could about the two who bore the name of the pillar families, Aurora.

Sabrina, the princess and only child of the current head of the family and Liam, the extraordinarily talented member from a branch family who had been offered a chance to let him serve in the main household.

The story behind Ethan who wandered around Sabrina though, was unknown. It was like he was just a random recruit. Except he wasn’t, in any way at all!

’That was unexpected’

Kieran looked back to the fight just to catch Liam making his move to end the fight.

He didn’t hold anything back. Just like an executioner, the sharp side of his blade decended towards Justin’s neck. It really seemed like he planned to chop it off; something that was against the rules.

Injuries, but no death.

The current Liam though seemed not to care about that. His strike, if it connected, would certainly behead Justin.

’For the sake of honor? Pitiful piece of sh*t!’

Kieran thought with a sneer seeing Liam act in a wah he didn’t consider to be different from how the rest of the nobles acted.

Luckily for Justin, who still seemed to be in a state of alertness such that he dodged the first attack aimed at his neck, even if he couldn’t follow his movements.

The next few exchanges between them was like a sophisticated dance. As they weaved their attacks into their movements, played feints to catch them.

CLANG!

The sound of Liam’s sword was heard, blocked by the not so normal flute in Justin’s arm.

"The hell is wrong with this guy?!"

Justsin muttered, narrowly avoiding another death slash. He was a master at escaping and running away, but it felt like he had been walking on a tight rope and now, that rope had become a string.

At that moment, when he had been lost in thought, Liam’s sword stroked, aimed for his neck again and Justin knew there was nothing he could to block the attack.

He couldn’t raise his flute in time, nor was he capable of dodging.

Just the blade was about to slice into his skin, Liam’s body had an abnormal jolt and the edge of his weapon became blunt, knocking Justin out cold.

THUD!

The fall of his body signified Liam’s win, but his face didn’t look like someone who had won easily.

Hw was pale and om his knees, spitting another patch of blood whilst looking around on confusion.

’He’s here!’

Sabrina’s eyes flashed seeing what had happened at the last moment of the fight.

In another corner of the arena, a dark shadowy figure withdrew after seeing the result of the fight.

....

Just as a reminder, here are the citizenship levels from the lowest to highest (ascending order):

Commoners

Citizen (lvl 1 - 9)

Lord

Knight

Baron

Viscount

Earls

The outcasts like Kieran’s parents and those in the slums aren’t considered to be part of the citizenship ladder. They are lesser than the lowest class—commoners (which is what Kieran is currently)