Bryan unleashed his signature skill as multiple wind blades hovered around him the moment he realized the knight's skill was on cooldown.
"f**k!"
Knight exclaimed, seeing the volley of wind blades hurtling towards him.
He readied his twin daggers, prepared to face the wind blades head-on.
He felt that escaping would have been much easier if he could still use his sinking shadow.
However, he had to wait a few seconds before using that move again.
Abusing the skill before the cooldown reset could result in backlash, so he was stuck with limited skill use until his mana pool increased.
But even without his favorite spell, that didn't make him a useless fighter.
After all, he had fought zombies alongside Alec and Arthur, developing combat awareness at a different level than Arthur and Brandon, who had gained it through battling over a hundred times.
However, Alec always stayed ahead of them, despite them Awakening their Combat awareness; no matter what they did, Alec received feedback from the golems and shared their skills.
This meant he had the same battle experience as Arthur and Brandon, as they fought Against his golems, indirectly acquiring the same experiences as them.
Alec could learn any new skills his golems acquired during battle, but he needed practice to execute them as effectively as his golems.
"Hey, who do you think would win?" Arthur asked Alec, nudging him with his elbow.
"The Lanzt guy," Alec replied.
"What? Don't you have faith in Knight?"
"It's because that guy set a trap for him from the moment he stepped onto the stage; the fact that Knight didn't notice it, despite being so close, shows how much they neglected their Battle training, solely focusing on increasing their cultivation."
"They would never acquire perception like Brandon or battle awareness like you, which makes Knight completely helpless - a prey from the beginning," Alec explained with a snort.
He was already bored of the banquet, but he had promised the old man to stay and try to secure a good position for the Gordon Clan.
After all, the Gordons' reputation as the number one Clan in the city was solely due to Draco's victory in the previous era banquet, defeating all the super geniuses from other families and Clans.
It was said that since Draco was young, he never shied away from a fight; instead, he was always the first to charge into one.
"Please wake me up when this boring match ends, okay?" Alec pleaded, placing his head on Arthur's leg and drifting off to sleep, as he was sure that with what he was watching, even Arthur and Brandon could take care of things.
Arthur covered Alec's face with a cloth, embarrassed at their leader dozing off while a clan member was still fighting.
Meanwhile, Knight placed both hands on the floor on the stage and cast an entirely different spell from the ones he had been using previously.
[]
A portable wall of earth swiftly rose from the ground, providing a defensive barrier.
"I may not be able to use my essential shadow skills anymore, but I can still defend against attacks like this,"
Knight boasted when he realized the wind could not break his earth wall.
"You will pay for your ignorance; you see, I have been setting up a spell, but because I'm not adept at casting it instantly, I had to unleash a barrage of wind blades to increase the abundance of wind elements in the air. I hope your proud earth wall can withstand this too," Bryan taunted.
"I knew that the wind blades wouldn't defeat you. I tend to forget that you're a Gordon Clan member, and the Gordons always have earth elements."
" which is said to be the best defensive element. But that defense you're so proud of won't help you now," Bryan explained, tightening his grip on the necklace he wore around his neck.
"Bring it on!" Knight shouted defiantly.
"I had prepared this spell for your leader, but you're a reliable fighter as well, so you deserve to experience my final move," Bryan declared as the wind elements in the air started swirling around him, giving Knight a foreboding feeling.
[]
[]
Knight quickly utilized his remaining mana to create sturdy earth walls around him, providing protection from whatever attack Bryan had planned.
"Isn't it crazy how Alec could see through that trap so easily, even without being on the stage? I only noticed the layout when he grabbed his necklace to control that massive wind element near the arena," Arthur remarked to Brandon.
Brandon nodded in response.
"Oh, will it kill you to say something in return, you f*****g mute?"
Arthur cursed at him, only to receive a middle finger from Brandon.
"You... you should stop copying Alec; he'll poison your mind with all these crazy signs," Arthur warned.
"You know, you're free to say that to his face when he wakes up," Brandon replied.
"I thought you weren't interested in talking," Arthur retorted.
"Don't distract me; he's about to use a wide-range wind skill to get rid of our buddy there," Brandon said, shifting his attention back to the match.
[]
Bryan finally cast the spell, unleashing a small tornado that rushed straight toward Knight.
Since his mana was depleted, Bryan had no control over the wild tornado, which sped toward Knight, sending wind blades flying even before reaching him.
The wind blades tore through Knight's earth barrier, causing him to scream in agony, as a wind blade grazed him.
Desperate, he unconsciously fused his shadow powers into the Stone Skin spell he cast in haste, transforming himself into a black man.
The wind blasted Knight off the stage, eventually dispersing, and Bryan dropped to his knees, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath.
"The winner is Lanzt Bryan," a voice announced from the top platform.
Agnes quickly rushed to check on Knight.
Although unconscious, he was not in any life-threatening situation thanks to the combined power of his elements.
"Rest properly because I'm getting revenge for him as soon as you're fit to fight again,"
Agnes declared to Bryan; his eyebrow raised as he could understand her rage; after all, he had come on stage to avenge his sister,
His confidence took a massive blow as he realized he had used his final spell without even facing Alec,
the leader of the Gordon group. Now he heard he had to face Agnes too, and this was a prospect he was unwilling to accept.
He remembered that four of them fought the zombie horde alongside Alec and were very strong.
And he knew If he had to fight all of them before getting a chance to fight Alec, he might still need to reach the last round.
"It is only Alec I want to challenge," Bryan finally disclosed his intentions.
Agnes's expression twisted with a mix of anger and disbelief.
She felt Bryan was looking down on her, unaware that his concern was actually about clashing with the four warlords after witnessing Knight's strength.
Meanwhile, Brandon burst into laughter, surprising everyone who knew him.
"You want to challenge the boss? You are not worthy at all. Just because you defeated a common captain of the Gordons family, do you think you have the right to challenge the king of the Gordon younger generation?"
Arthur questioned, leaving everyone speechless as they realized that Alec was sleeping during this exchange.
"That girl can only be classified as a commander; Brandon and I are generals. If you can beat her, then you can talk to us; if not, you are just trash who doesn't know their limits,"
Arthur cursed at Bryan, causing embarrassment to flush across Bryan's face, while Agnes gritted her teeth in anger because his words implied their superiority.
All the clans present turned their attention towards the Gordons clan.
This Banquet was just an excuse for the older generation to make allies and have fun, but for the younger generations, it was to fight, and most of them had only come because they wanted to challenge Alec and gauge his power level.
With Arthur's speech, there was no longer a reason to maintain pretenses.
Agnes became a target for numerous geniuses, as only after she was defeated would they make little progress.
Only if they managed to defeat Arthur and Brandon would Alec have to step onto the stage - that was the true meaning behind Arthur's words.
Instantly, he had transformed the genius members of the Gordons family into public enemies.
On the top platform, Draco could be seen smiling so wide that the cracks on his face almost reached his ears.
"That boy just ignited a fire much bigger than I expected, and I love it! We need ballsy juniors, not immature idiots who sit around practicing and meditating all day, too afraid to step onto the battlefield,"
Draco mumbled silently, as his smile was practically screaming maniac.
Those sitting close to him quickly scooted away, uncomfortable with his intense enthusiasm.