Unfortunately, Lorain and Serene didn't make a move against the students mocking Knox.
That alone was enough to confuse everyone who knew the two girls. Considering how openly those students had been talking shit about Knox, they had expected to see a bloodbath, a trial, or perhaps even a judgement taking place right there in the spectator seats.
The reason Lorain and Serene remained still wasn't because they didn't want to make a move. In fact, their hands were practically aching to do something. However, both of them understood their priority right now.
Knox's duel was about to begin!
Whatever happened, they weren't going to let a few chickens distract them and make them miss even a second of it. As for those Hector supporters, the arena wasn't going anywhere, and neither were they. They could simply leave them for later.
So, despite the occasional sharp glance sent in their direction, Lorain and Serene eventually returned their full attention to the arena.
Meanwhile, Hector's supporters continued chatting happily among themselves, completely unaware of the two girls' decision.
They didn't realize it yet.
An impending doom was already looming over them.
***
Suddenly, loud cheers erupted from every corner of the spectator stands.
The reason quickly became obvious. Two students had appeared at opposite ends of the arena and were walking toward the center, one a handsome young man with white hair, while the other was a tall and robust young man whose imposing build immediately stood out.
Knox Aznable and Hector Moore.
The referee was already waiting between them.
As the two approached the center of the arena, the cheers only grew louder. Some spectators even rose from their seats to get a better look, while recruiters and other outside guests focused their attention on the two first-years who had drawn such an unusually high-profile audience.
Then, the moment Knox and Hector stopped across from each other, the entire arena suddenly went quiet.
It was as if someone had pressed a mute button.
The referee glanced at Knox, then at Hector, making sure both students were ready before raising one hand.
"Now, I will begin the duel evaluation between Class A student Knox Aznable and Class A student Hector Moore."
The silence held for another brief moment as the two faced each other.
Then, the referee swung his raised hand down.
"Begin!"
The moment the referee declared the beginning of the match, neither Knox nor Hector immediately rushed forward.
Then, Hector was the first to make his move.
He raised one hand, and a ripple spread through the subspace beside him. Several dark Sea Dragon scales emerged one after another, carrying the unpleasant, almost organic appearance unique to the Moore family's Dragon Magic.
The scales immediately flew toward Hector.
Clack! Clack!
They attached themselves to his hands before spreading upward, covering his forearms in overlapping layers. More scales gathered around his knuckles and fingers, thickening into something resembling a pair of crude draconic gauntlets.
However, Hector stopped there.
Rather than covering his entire body and entering Dragon Form, he had only equipped the scales around his arms.
Seeing Hector's choice, Knox glanced at the scales for a moment before a small smile appeared on his face. He slowly raised both hands, and almost immediately, violet flames burst to life around them.
Fwoosh!
The flames quickly spread upward, wrapping around his hands and forearms.
Gradually, the flames began to change.
Their movement slowed, their brightness dimmed, and their form started to condense into something more solid, as the vivid fire transformed into a darker, denser energy that wrapped tightly around his arms.
What had once been flames now hardened, shaping themselves into a pair of gauntlets.
The gauntlets covered his hands and extended up to just below his elbows, fitting naturally along the shape of his arms without unnecessary bulk. Their base color was a deep black, while faint lines of glowing violet flowed across the surface like flames frozen in place.
Those violet patterns pulsed slowly, quietly circulating power through the gauntlets. Around the edges, subtle flickers of purple energy appeared and faded, while layered angular plating reinforced the knuckles.
The moment Hector saw them, his expression darkened.
"Another gauntlet as well?"
His gaze moved from Knox's newly formed gauntlets back to his face. With Knox only bringing out his own gauntlets after seeing Hector equip the Sea Dragon scales, there was only one way Hector's prideful mind could interpret it.
"Knox Aznable... Do you think that just because you're using the same kind of weapon as me right now, it means you're already above me?!"
Hector clenched his scaled fist tightly.
Crack!
"Are you playing with me?!"
Knox blinked at him before casually flexing the fingers of one gauntleted hand.
"Stop overestimating yourself, you winged lizard."
"...!"
Hector's face twitched.
Up in the VIP section, another person's eyebrow twitched at almost exactly the same time.
He was a tall, broad-shouldered middle-aged man whose appearance made his relationship with Hector obvious at a glance. His blond hair was neatly styled, with faint traces of gray beginning to appear around the sides, while his formal attire and composed bearing gave him a much more dignified air than his son.
The current head of the Moore family, and Hector's father, Darkos Moore.
Until now, he had watched the duel with the composure expected from the head of a prestigious family. Even with Jean, Tenerife, Princess Molly, and numerous other prominent guests seated around him, his expression had barely changed.
But Knox's words finally cracked it.
"Winged... lizard?"
His eyebrow twitched again.
The Moore family was publicly known as the Family of Dragons, with their Dragon Magic serving as both their pride and one of the foundations of their reputation.
And now, their heir had just been reduced to a winged lizard.
Several nearby VIPs naturally noticed the Moore family head's reaction. Fortunately for him, none of them were impolite enough to laugh.
At least, not openly.
Meanwhile, Professor Hong Feng had been watching the exchange from the spectators' seats. Her eyes moved between Hector's scaled arms and the black-violet gauntlets covering Knox's, and the moment she realized what kind of confrontation was about to happen, her eyes practically lit up.
"Hoo, looks like this duel might be a battle of brute force!"
As the professor of Magical Combat, there were few developments that could have caught her interest faster.
Back in the arena, Hector naturally had no idea about his father's reaction. His entire attention was fixed on the white-haired boy standing across from him.
"You bastard...!"
The scales around Hector's fists scraped against one another as he clenched them even tighter. Knox, on the other hand, merely lowered his center of gravity slightly and brought his gauntleted hands into position.
The violet patterns across them pulsed once.
While Hector shifted his feet.
For a brief moment, both remained still, watching each other from across the arena. Then, almost simultaneously, they kicked off the ground.
Hector moved first.
The moment his foot struck the ground, his large frame shot forward, leaving cracks across the arena floor beneath the sudden burst of force. Despite his tall and robust build, his acceleration was anything but slow, and in only a few steps, Hector had already crossed the distance between them.
His scaled right fist came straight for Knox's face.
Whoosh!
Knox tilted his head just enough to let the fist pass beside his cheek, the sheer force behind it sending several strands of his white hair fluttering. Hector didn't stop after missing his first strike and immediately twisted his waist, carrying the momentum into a left hook aimed at the side of Knox's head.
This time, Knox raised his gauntlet.
Bang!
The scaled fist collided with the black-violet gauntlet, sending a heavy impact throughout the arena. A burst of wind spread outward from the collision, yet Knox remained firmly in place, causing Hector's eyes to sharpen.
"Hmph!"
Rather than pulling away, Hector immediately pressed forward. His fists came one after another, followed by an elbow as he used his larger frame to keep Knox within striking distance.
Despite the ferocity of the assault, his movements weren't simply wild swings backed by the strength of his Sea Dragon scales. Hector had trained extensively in Magical Combat, and that foundation showed in how naturally he chained one attack into the next.
However, the way Knox responded was completely different.
Instead of repeatedly meeting Hector's strength head-on, Knox allowed his body to move along with the attacks. He slipped past the first punch, turned his shoulder away from the second, and when Hector's elbow came toward him, Knox's forearm met it from the side.
His wrist rotated at the moment of contact, guiding the incoming elbow past his shoulder rather than trying to stop it with force. Hector's body was pulled slightly forward along with his own momentum, and that small opening was enough for Knox to smoothly step closer.
Bang!
His palm struck Hector directly in the chest, pushing the larger boy several steps backward before he planted his foot against the ground and stopped himself.
"Hoo?" Hong Feng leaned forward from her seat, a bright gleam already appearing in her eyes.
Hector rolled his shoulder once, seemingly more irritated by the way he had been pushed back than by the actual strike. Without wasting another second, he charged forward again.
"Don't get cocky!"
His fist descended toward Knox like a hammer, but Knox shifted his feet and moved his body just outside its path. As Hector's fist passed him, one of Knox's hands brushed against his wrist and guided the attack farther downward, a seemingly simple movement that immediately caused Hector's balance to shift.
Before Hector could recover, Knox had already moved around his side.
Bang!
A gauntleted elbow struck the scales protecting Hector's ribs, making him stagger sideways. This time, however, Hector reacted much faster, forcefully planting his foot before swinging one arm backward without even turning his body completely.
Knox ducked beneath the incoming fist.
Using the lowered position, one of his hands briefly touched the arena floor as his body rotated beneath Hector's arm. His leg swept toward Hector's ankle, forcing the larger boy to adjust his footing, and Knox used that same rotation to rise again with his fist already following behind.
Bam!
Hector crossed both scaled arms in front of himself just in time. The punch struck his guard and still pushed him backward, drawing an increasingly excited reaction from Hong Feng.
"Oh! Interesting!"
When she first saw the two students equip their arms, she had expected the duel to become a straightforward contest of physical strength. Yet after watching only a handful of exchanges, she had already realized that her first impression wasn't quite right.
"He's not simply competing with Moore's strength. He's redirecting it!"
Several students sitting nearby glanced toward her, but Hong Feng's attention never left the arena. Every movement Knox made flowed naturally into the next, with a block becoming a deflection, the deflection creating an opening, and that opening naturally becoming the beginning of his counterattack.
There was no unnecessary pause separating one movement from another.
To those watching Knox fight, his movements appeared to belong to some unknown yet incredibly powerful martial art. None of them could recognize its origin or even tell what kind of fighting style it was.
For Knox, however, the answer was much simpler. He was actually using a martial art he knew very well, incorporating its movements and principles into his own fighting style.
It was the Taixu Arts.
Well, calling what Knox was using the Taixu Arts might have been a bit of an exaggeration. After all, he didn't know the complete Taixu Arts. What he was doing right now was merely borrowing a small part of it and mixing it into his own fighting style.
Compared to the real Taixu Arts wielded by the legendary Shenzhou Tablet, Fu Hua, Knox's incomplete version was still far from comparable. That legendary girl had lived for over 50,000 years, yet somehow, even after all that time, she still remained completely flat-chested.
Bronya, on the other hand, had accomplished something that Fu Hua had failed to achieve in over 50,000 years. In less than ten years, the small Bronya had undergone tremendous growth and transformed into the 'big Bronya'.
Especially when it came to that particular aspect.
Faced with such overwhelming growth, even Knox could only express his sincerest admiration.
Sugoi dekai!
Back to the arena, rather than trying to overpower Hector's enhanced body at every opportunity, Knox repeatedly changed the direction of the incoming force, adjusted his center of gravity, and used Hector's own momentum to create the openings he wanted.
Hector was beginning to realize it too, and his expression gradually darkened as another exchange began.
Bang!
His fist met Knox's palm. This time, Hector immediately poured more strength into the attack, intending to break through Knox's defense before he could redirect it again.
However, Knox's arm bent naturally with the impact instead of resisting. His foot slid half a step as his waist rotated, and before Hector realized what was happening, he suddenly felt the direction of his own strength changing.
"What?!"
Knox pulled the force sideways while stepping past him, carrying Hector's balance along with the movement. By the time Hector managed to regain control of his body, a black-violet gauntlet was already approaching his exposed side.
BAAM!
The punch sent Hector skidding across the arena floor, immediately drawing a roar from the spectators.
"WOOOOAAAH!"
"What was that?! He used Hector's own attack against him!"
Hector dragged one foot across the ground and finally stopped himself. For a moment, he remained there with his head slightly lowered while the cheers continued pouring down from the stands.
His jaw tightened. What irritated him wasn't simply the fact that Knox had landed several attacks. It was the way Knox was doing it.
Hector had assumed that Knox brought out those gauntlets because he intended to challenge him directly in close combat. Instead, whenever Hector tried to overwhelm him with the power of his Sea Dragon scales, Knox slipped around that strength and returned it with an attack of his own.
To Hector, it felt almost as though Knox was saying that his strength wasn't even worth confronting directly.
"You..."
The scales covering Hector's arms scraped against one another as his fists tightened.
"Stop moving around!"
Unable to tolerate it any longer, Hector charged again. Knox raised an eyebrow at the complaint coming from his approaching opponent.
"You're asking your opponent to stand still now?"
"Shut up!"
Hector's right fist shot forward.
Knox redirected it as he had done before, but Hector had already seen the movement several times. Rather than allowing his arm to be carried away, he abruptly opened his scaled hand and caught Knox's gauntlet.
Grab!
Knox's eyes shifted toward his captured arm, while a grin immediately appeared on Hector's face.
"GOT YOU!"
Hector pulled Knox toward himself while drawing his other fist backward. With one of Knox's arms firmly caught in his grip and the distance between them reduced to almost nothing, there was far less room for Knox to evade or redirect the incoming strike.
His fist shot forward.
BANG!
A heavier sound than before echoed across the arena.
Knox's free gauntlet had risen in front of him and caught Hector's scaled fist directly. For the first time since their close-range battle began, Knox hadn't redirected Hector's strength.
He had simply stopped it.
Hector noticed it immediately, and his grin widened.
"Finally!"
He leaned forward and poured even more strength into his arm. The arena floor beneath their feet began to fracture from the pressure, while Hector's muscles tightened beneath his uniform and the Sea Dragon scales covering his arm trembled as he continued pushing.
Yet as the struggle continued, something gradually felt wrong.
Knox wasn't moving backward. Not even slightly.
The excitement on Hong Feng's face gradually turned into concentration as she watched the two locked in place. Not only her, up in the VIP section, Hector's father also leaned forward slightly, his previously composed gaze becoming noticeably sharper.
Meanwhile, Hector's grin slowly disappeared.
"...!"
Knox looked at the scaled fist pressed against his gauntlet before returning his gaze to Hector. Then, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Since you wanted a contest of strength so badly..."
The violet patterns running across the surface of his gauntlet began to glow brighter.
"I'll give you one."
Hector's eyes widened for a moment before his pride immediately took over. He released Knox's arm and pulled his fist back, while Knox responded by doing the same.
"Don't look down on me!"
Both stepped forward.
This time, there was no deflection, no attempt to change the direction of the other's strength, and no complicated exchange of techniques. Hector threw everything behind his scaled fist, while Knox answered with his own.
Their fists collided directly in the middle of the arena.
BOOOOOOM!
A violent shockwave exploded outward.
Dust burst from beneath their feet and spread across the arena in a wide circle, while cracks raced along the floor around them. Even the protective barrier separating the spectators from the battlefield visibly rippled under the impact, causing the front rows to instinctively recoil.
For several moments, neither side gave way.
Hector gritted his teeth and pushed harder, determined to win the direct contest he had demanded. However, amid the pressure between them, a small sound suddenly reached his ears.
Crack.
Hector's eyes immediately dropped toward his fist. A thin fracture had appeared across one of the Sea Dragon scales covering his knuckles.
His pupils contracted. Before he could fully process what he was seeing, the balance between them suddenly shifted as Knox's fist pushed forward.
"Urgh!"
Hector's arm was forced backward, followed immediately by the rest of his body. His shoes tore two long trails across the arena floor as he was driven away, sliding several meters before finally planting his foot hard enough to stop himself.
For a brief moment, the arena became strangely quiet.
Knox remained standing exactly where their fists had collided, slowly lowering his gauntleted hand as the violet patterns across its surface continued to glow faintly.
Across from him, Hector breathed heavily. Only after regaining his footing did his gaze slowly fall toward his own fist.
Crack.
A tiny fragment broke away from the damaged Sea Dragon scale and struck the arena floor between his feet.
Hector stared at it.
The damage itself was small, but for someone as prideful as Hector, the meaning behind it was anything but small. Knox had spent most of their exchange redirecting his strength, only to meet him directly the moment Hector demanded it.
And Hector had been the one pushed back.
After the previous clash, Hector finally realized that the partial Sea Dragon scales covering his arms were no longer enough. If he wanted to overpower Knox, he needed more than this.
He needed more power!
With that thought burning in his mind, Hector slowly raised his gaze toward the white-haired boy standing across from him. Yet even after everything that had happened, Knox was still standing in the exact same spot, calmly waiting for him as though their previous clash had meant nothing.
The sight only made Hector's expression harden further.
Knox, naturally, noticed the change in his expression. After staring at Hector for a moment, he tilted his head slightly before casually opening his mouth.
"Are you tired? Giving up? Hungry?"
"..."
To Knox, they were merely simple questions. To Hector, however, they sounded like a barrage of mockery, especially the last one, which somehow sounded even more insulting despite making absolutely no sense.
Hungry?
Hector didn't even understand what that had to do with anything, but for some reason, that completely unrelated question only made Knox's words sound even more infuriating.
Whatever restraint Hector still had immediately snapped.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"