"Ryan?"
Upon hearing this, Elias was startled and immediately turned to look at Ryan, his voice filled with anxiety.
Damian was not Derek.
Derek's strength was at most in the middle of the class, but Damian was different. He had consistently ranked first in Class Six since entering the academy. It was even rumored that the year head intended to transfer him to Class One, though no one knew whether it was true or not.
Even with Ryan's recent rapid improvement in strength, Elias was not optimistic about him facing such an opponent.
"It's nothing, it's just practice."
Ryan said with a relaxed expression.
He could naturally guess Damian's purpose in challenging him to sparring: to embarrass him and make him lose face in front of all the students in Class Six.
He was not afraid of this.
If it were the old Ryan, he would have let him succeed.
But the current Ryan was completely different from before, both in terms of saber technique and physical fitness.
Whether Damian could make him suffer would only be known after the battle.
"Alright!"
Seeing that Ryan had made his decision, Elias stopped trying to stop him and instead whispered,
"Be careful!"
"Mm!"
Ryan nodded solemnly.
Even now, he wasn't confident of winning against an opponent like Damian.
Of course, he didn't necessarily have to win.
He only needed to show Damian enough strength to make him wary and let Damian know that he was not someone to be trifled with.
"Interesting!"
Upon hearing Ryan's words, Damian glanced at Ryan in surprise.
He had expected Ryan to make all sorts of excuses, but he hadn't anticipated that Ryan would agree so readily.
This surprised him quite a bit, and he didn't understand what Ryan was up to.
However, he didn't care.
In his opinion, his strength was more than enough to easily defeat Ryan, so any of Ryan's schemes were useless.
Seeing that Damian and Ryan were about to spar, some of the surrounding students quickly stepped aside to give the two enough space, while the other students watched with amusement.
One was someone who had consistently ranked first in the class, and the other was someone who received individual guidance from Aurelia and whose strength had recently increased dramatically, even defeating Derek, whose strength ranked around the middle of the class.
The battle between these two was quite interesting.
Of course, it was only somewhat interesting.
In their view, Ryan was bound to lose to Damian.
How could someone who had consistently ranked first in the class be simple?
"Mm?"
Teacher Chaucer raised an eyebrow and glanced over, but did not speak to stop the two from sparring.
He was the one who suggested sparring; theoretically, any two people could spar with each other.
Besides, with his strength as a Rank 1 Blood Warrior, he could easily stop them before they were seriously injured, so he did not speak up to stop them.
Clang!
Ryan and Damian, who were staring at each other, raised their monster-slaying sabers almost simultaneously.
The gleaming blades flashed coldly in the sunlight, and the atmosphere between the two instantly became tense.
Whoosh!
Ryan made the first move.
Facing an opponent like Damian, he naturally wanted to take the initiative.
Almost instantly, he rushed out, and then his saber struck down from above with the fifth move of the Blazing Heaven Saber.
"Snort!"
Seeing that Ryan had made the first move and gained the upper hand, Damian didn't take it seriously.
He raised his saber to meet Ryan's attack.
Clang!
A crisp metallic sound rang out, and Ryan and Damian both took three large steps back almost simultaneously, a hint of surprise showing in their eyes.
Ryan was surprised because, despite having the initiative, he still hadn't gained any advantage and had instead managed a draw with Damian.
Damian was surprised that Ryan had caught his attack.
Although this strike was only a casual one, without using his full strength, he was the strongest person in Class Six.
Even a casual strike from him would be difficult for most people in Class Six to block.
Yet Ryan, the former bottom of the class, had managed to do it, which surprised him greatly.
"That's more like it!"
A cold smile crept across Damian's lips as he looked at Ryan as if he were watching prey walking into a net.
Although he was surprised by the strength Ryan was displaying, it was only surprise.
He had absolute confidence in his own abilities.
Whoosh!
A cold gleam pierced through the air, flashing rapidly forward.
It was Damian who attacked.
Although this was still only a slightly more serious strike from him, its power was already considerably stronger than the previous one.
"So fast!"
Unexpectedly, Damian's attack was so fast that Ryan could only raise his saber to block it.
Bang!
One of the two was knocked away.
It was Ryan.
In his haste to defend, he naturally couldn't unleash his full strength and was immediately sent backward by the enormous force transmitted through Damian's saber.
"Really!"
Seeing that Damian finally knocked Ryan away with a single strike, many students showed expressions of "I knew it!"
In the initial exchange, Ryan and Damian had been evenly matched, which puzzled them.
Why was Ryan able to block Damian's attack?
But now they understood that it wasn't that Ryan was strong enough to block Damian's attack, but simply that Damian hadn't been taking it seriously.
For example, right now, the moment Damian became even slightly serious, Ryan couldn't stop him.
"Arrogant! He actually dared to spar with Damian."
Beside them, Derek looked at Ryan with a cold gaze, his eyes full of contempt.
In his view, Ryan's previous victory over him was purely due to luck.
In terms of true strength, Ryan was inferior to him, a point Derek was absolutely certain of.
Now that Ryan's opponent was Damian, he didn't think Ryan would have that kind of good luck again.
Thud! Thud!
After taking five large steps back, Ryan finally stopped, his gaze toward Damian now filled with deep apprehension.
"I underestimated him a bit!"
He could tell that Damian hadn't used his full strength in that strike.
But even with just that one attack, he had already forced Ryan to this point.
Without a doubt, he had underestimated Damian's strength.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A figure rushed toward Ryan, followed by a saber that gleamed with cold light.
Although he had already repelled Ryan with a single strike, Damian was not satisfied.
This was not the result he wanted.
He wanted to defeat Ryan decisively, but Ryan's saber technique was somewhat unexpected.
Ryan had been able to dissipate much of the force of his attack through deflection, which was something Damian hadn't anticipated.
In fact, Ryan had already used this kind of saber technique in his fight with Derek.
Unfortunately, Damian hadn't watched that fight.
Cold saber light kept flashing from Damian's hands, each strike powerful and heavy.
Although he was slightly inferior to Ryan in saber technique, brute force could overcome skill.
With his terrifying strength, every one of Damian's attacks carried tremendous power.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Damian's saber was like a heavy hammer, relentlessly striking Ryan.
Ryan tried his best to defend with his saber, but was repeatedly forced backward by Damian's attacks.
They retreated more than ten meters, even entering the sparring area of other students.
Fortunately, although these students were sparring, their attention had long been focused on Damian and Ryan, so they were able to move away in time.
Whoosh!
Watching Ryan retreat under his attacks, Damian sneered.
He suddenly changed his attack from a heavy strike into a thrust, aiming directly at Ryan with even greater speed.
At that moment, Ryan had only just finished dissipating the force transmitted from Damian's previous attack.