Third Arc (Fallen Heart) - 66. Unexpected Challenge II

"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Prince Jake, bowing politely.

Angel got up from his seat. His hand gestured towards the arena.
"Shall we?" he said casually.

"After you, Your Majesty," said Prince Jake. After answering with a nod, Angel walked into the arena. Followed by Prince Jake.

As his feet moved, Angel glanced at Prince Jake who had a posture and height not much different from him. His age was also only 2 years older than Angel and he had Hazelnut hair in a French crop style. Although he was not as handsome as Ilex, his dazzling smile and green eyes made him look attractive. An ivory-coloured Prince uniform wrapped his body with a gold badge with the horse's head crest of Eirene on his collar.

Jake Leonard Noblecrest, the crown prince of the Eirene Kingdom. Although his reputation was not as sparkling as Artheur's, he was famous for his sense of justice. But rather than his strength, Prince Jake was more famous for his strategy about how he handled things. Just like now, Angel believed this was just Prince Jake's ploy to measure his strength or maybe find an opening to defeat him. After all, Angel predicted Prince Jake would soon ascend the throne. A year, two at the least since his father was old and his sickly brother was dying. So the throne would soon fall into his hands.

Two of them stopped in the middle of the arena and faced each other. Prince Jake's assistant immediately gave his double-bladed spear to him. Just like other royal families, the kingdom of Eirene's royal family also mastered fighting techniques using one of the weapons. Those were spears. But instead of using a weapon that was passed down from generation to generation by the royal family, Prince Jake's weapon was specially made by the royal blacksmith. So instead of the ordinary spear, his spear which he named 'Justice' had two blades. It was his reminder that justice must be done for everyone, including himself.

Expertly, Prince Jake's hand spun his spear around his body without taking his eyes off Angel before plugging one of the blades into the ground. While Angel simply pulled out his sword.

"Weapons only? Or with magic?" asked Prince Jake casually.

"Weapon only," Angel answered, trying to be fair.

"Great. Then allow me to make the first move, Your Majesty." Prince Jake pulled out his spear and aimed it at Angel with one hand. Although not as strong as Artheur's, his strength was enough to make the spear look light while the fact was the opposite.

Prince Jake's goal was to measure Angel's strength so he had nothing to lose. After all, this was just a friendly match, Euphorion was the host and he was attending Angel's wedding. According to etiquette, he shouldn't be able to embarrass Angel. Still, he would give his best to find out how strong Angel was. At least he wanted to know why Angel could conquer the three kingdoms so easily.

"Go ahead," Angel gave his permission. His eyes were on Prince Jake and his brain was trying to analyze what Prince Jake would do to find the information he wanted. If Prince Jake attacked him like usual, he wasn't sure it would give him an idea of Angel's power. Still, rather than allowing his enemies to gain information about him, Angel decided to turn things around. He was the one who would find out more about Prince Jake. So even though he had given his permission, he lowered his sword and waited for Prince Jake's attack without any protection.

Just like Angel, Prince Jake's eyes were on his enemy and waiting for Angel to take his attack stance. But he didn't. Angel just stood there with the tip of the sword pointed at the ground. No protection, no offensive stance, no defense. His body was wide open and Prince Jake could attack him from anywhere. That confused Prince Jake since it meant two things. First, this was a trap. And second, it was a sign that Angel was confident enough to defeat Prince Jake without any defense. In other words, a mockery.

Neither of those things worked out for Prince Jake. The first bad scenario was that Angel would not make any meaningful resistance and made Prince Jake regard this friendly competition as an opportunity to kill Angel openly. That would give Angel a solid reason to punish Prince Jake. And the second was, Angel wanted to prove that Prince Jake's strength was not comparable to his. In other words, Angel was planning to defeat Prince Jake in one or two strikes. Or maybe Angel would only dodge throughout the fight. While there was no real danger, it would hurt Prince Jake and his kingdom's pride.

'I see... So he wants to turn things around,' thought Prince Jake.

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