Adun felt a chill run down his spine…

…wait, what?!

"SINCE WHEN DID MY NAME CHANGE TO ADUN?!"

Blowing a fuse, the middle-aged man bellowed at the heavens.

"My name is Daniel Edwards, d.a.m.n it! You introduced my full name literally just last chapter! And now you've forgotten my name, you've come up with some random nickname called Adun?! What the h.e.l.l?! Have you been playing too much Starcraft or something?!"

"Don't ask me," I replied, annoyed. "Ask Skeleton Wizard or Radiant Translations. They are the ones who made the mistake."

"f.u.c.k this bulls.h.i.+t! Change my name back!"

"All right, all right." I waved my hand. "Done. Happy?"

Daniel regarded me suspiciously, but when he saw that he was referred to in the third person by his real name, he relaxed.

"Thank you."

Then he turned back to a stunned Elem and the rest of the people in the courtyard, bowing apologetically.

"We can continue."

"…huh?"

Everyone was gaping at him, not understanding his sudden outburst. Obviously no one had heard his exchange with me. How could they? It wasn't as if they were reading this scene from above somewhere. All they could get on was what they could see right in front of them.

And all they saw was Daniel throwing a fit and howling at the heavens.

Anyway, Daniel returned his attention back to the kid, and everyone naturally forgot about his abrupt outburst and focused on the match.

Cecilia also studied the kid, her eyes flickering inevitably to Rothwell. The crown prince looked relaxed, which indicated his absolute confidence in his man. Elem himself didn't seem to care too much, not at all intimidated by Daniel's imposing figure and ma.s.sive sword. He didn't even draw his sword or adopt a defensive or offensive stance. It almost looked as if he was strolling around casually in the garden.

Yet there was an air about the kid that disturbed her. Like Daniel, Cecilia couldn't quite put her finger on it…until she suddenly realized why that creepy feeling felt so familiar.

Elem reminded her of a cat. A cat that was leisurely watching its prey in a playful manner, toying with it, but when required, would suddenly spring to life and pounce. An abrupt burst of murderous intent in a single second.

"Daniel, be careful," she warned.

"Roger that, Miss."

Daniel nodded tersely, having come to the same conclusion. He held his sword tightly in both hands and awaited the signal.

Bang!

As soon as the whistle went off (or gun), Daniel charged forward. Casting physical reinforcement on himself – he hadn't reached the level where he could active Ba Qi like Yuan Dao Yue Guang or Teacher Ruff Fielding – he lurched toward the unmoving Elem. His gigantic broadsword glowing as he infused it with tremendous amounts of mana, Daniel swung it with all of his might.

Elem's eyes narrowed, and his hand finally moved toward the hilt of his sword.

"!!!"

Daniel instantly realized the danger and withdrew his attack. As he did so, a slender blade scythed through the air where his right arm had been, cutting through nothingness. Even though Daniel had evaded in time, a trickle of blood dripped down from his shoulder, trickling toward his elbow.

"Tch." Daniel clicked his tongue. "So this is what happens even after I dodged it, huh? And it's sharp enough to pierce through my physical reinforcement spell too…"

"Ho…"

Elem looked impressed. He c.o.c.ked his head to the side, studying Daniel with narrowed eyes, and then swung his sword.

"!!!"

Daniel just barely managed to block the sword pressure that hurtled out of Elem's blade, the sharp mana dissipating against his broadsword. Heaving heavily, he kicked off the ground and cleaved through Elem's position.

The younger man leaped up, deftly dodging Daniel's huge attack, and landed on the latter's broadsword. Striding forward across the length of the huge blade, he prepared to decapitate his opponent with his slender sword.

However, Daniel had a few tricks of his own. He dropped his sword of his own volition, causing Elem to stumble for a second. Gathering mana in his fist, he punched Elem while his target was still unsteady, and before he could bring his sword to bear.

"Hmm…"

"What?"

Elem had caught Daniel's fist with his free hand, stopping the powerful punch in its tracks. Despite his timely block, he found himself slowly being driven back across the falling broadsword. Without wasting any time, he brought his sword forward in a vicious counter.

"Kuh!"

Daniel quickly flipped himself backward, doing a cartwheel. Even as Elem's sword sliced through the s.p.a.ce where his head had been, he countered with a powerful kick that sent the smaller warrior staggering backward.

Elem might be more agile and faster, but Daniel was more ma.s.sive and stronger. He could overwhelm Elem easily in a head-on fight.

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Realizing that he couldn't afford to play around, Elem began casting a spell. Golden mana swirled around his sword as he prepared for an overwhelming strike.

Daniel wasn't going to be outdone, however. Springing forward, he retrieved his broadsword. Muttering an incantation under his breath, he drew large amounts of blue mana into the gigantic blade. The two swordsmen then swung their swords and unleashed ma.s.sive amounts of power against each other.

"Excalibur!"

"Balmung!"

…seriously?! Since when did they get their hands on such legendary n.o.ble Phantasms?! Are both of them trying to act as Saber or something?

The two tremendous waves of mana collided, engulfing almost the entire courtyard in a colossal explosion that devoured and devastated the meticulously groomed plants and gra.s.s. Ladies screamed and gentlemen yelled as they were buffeted by the immense shockwaves, knocked off their feet or battered to submission. Only the garden patio remained unaffected for some arcane reason, with both Cecilia and Roland sitting calmly throughout the whole fight.

Indeed, Roland was applauding excitedly.

"Brilliant! What a brilliant fight!"

"You took the words out of my mouth." Cecilia shook her head, utterly awestruck. "Your subordinate…Elem, was he? He is really powerful."

"Your subordinate too…he clearly has experienced through countless battlefields, or he wouldn't be fighting so evenly against Elem."

"Evenly?" Cecilia chuckled. "Thank you for being tactful, but I'm afraid the match is nowhere near even."

As the smoke cleared, Daniel was lying on the ground, his body scorched. He was still alive, his chest rising and falling as he breathed deeply, but it was clear that he had been greatly injured.

In contrast, Elem was standing on both feet, totally unscathed. He looked a little disappointed, especially after getting so hyped up earlier.

"Eh? That's it? It's already over?" he sulked. "I haven't had enough!"

"Calm down, Elem. Behave yourself." Roland gave his elite bodyguard a strict stare. Then he turned apologetically to Cecilia. "My sincerest apologies. He's still very young and has yet to learn his manners."

"Not at all." Cecilia was gracious in her response even as she directed people to help Daniel.

While Daniel was being stretchered off to the infirmary, Elem continued to whine and pester his prince.

"Come on, your highness. I haven't had my fill yet. I want more! That guy earlier was pretty good, but the fight ended too soon! Can't we challenge another Federation soldier to a match?"

"I'm afraid we don't have anyone strong enough to contest against someone of your level at the moment," Cecilia told Elem politely, but there was a hidden meaning behind her words. She would have volunteered to challenge him, but it would seem unsightly and needlessly petty. People would think she was trying to take revenge for her subordinate.

However, Cecilia was above that.

"Eh?! How boring!"

Elem was swinging his sword restlessly, sulking. Roland continued to frown at his subordinate when he suddenly had an epiphany.

"Wait…I think I might know someone who's just perfect for the role…"

"Eh?" Elem brightened up. "Really? You do?"

"…" Cecilia fell into speechlessness at the crown prince's audacity. Roland offered her a sheepish smile when he realized that this wasn't his home.

"With your permission, of course. I would like to invite someone here. Perhaps both our parties will be able to watch something much more interesting."

"Oh…" Despite herself, Cecilia was intrigued. "This person must be quite something if you regard him so highly."

"Of course."

"May I ask who he is?"

Roland's grin grew wider at Cecilia's question. "You already know of him."

*

I was piloting a giant robot and clas.h.i.+ng against other giant robots, missiles, lasers and particle projectile cannons firing and las.h.i.+ng out at each other. My c.o.c.kpit was glowing red as c.o.c.kpit temperatures rose to intolerable levels, the double heat sinks in my Mad Cat MK IV struggling to dissipate the heat after I recklessly fired two extended range particle projectile cannons in succession.

Another hit caused my machine to shudder. A gauss sh.e.l.l from one of my enemies had torn through the armor jacket of my mech's left torso, exposing wires and circuitries. I rotated the Mad Cat MK IV's torso and let loose a volley of missiles, unable to fire off my extended range particle projectile cannons until my machine cooled down.

Just before I could see my missiles land, a piercing shriek wailed inside my c.o.c.kpit, jarring my ears. At first I thought it was the heat warnings, telling me to shut the engine down and restart it, or danger alerts reminding me that my enemies had a lock-on to my mech. I impatiently reached out and flicked the switch to turn off the d.a.m.ned noise, but nothing happened. The wailing continued, drilling into my head and…

…I woke up, jolting up in my bed and cursing. Glancing at my smartphone, I saw that it was only six in the morning. No, it wasn't my alarm then. Even as I fumbled with my smartphone to shut off the alarm, I realized that the noise wasn't coming from there.

It was from outside.

Staggering to the window, still bleary-eyed, I glared outside.

"What the f.u.c.k, man?! Do you know what time it is!?"

"Yeah, I do." A familiar voice replied, but I couldn't put my finger on where I had heard him before. "Sorry to wake you up so early in the morning, but I have a favor to ask. Do you mind coming with me right now?"

"h.e.l.l, no! Of course not! I'm going back to sleep!"

"Please…"

"Come back later, all right!?"

"How dare you…" one of the men in suits stepped forward, growling menacingly. "Do you know who you're addressing? How dare you refuse his Excellency's request?!"

"Look, I don't care if you're the prince of the Amazerian Empire himself. n.o.body disturbs my sleep at 6am in the morning!"

I was about to shut my window when I suddenly realized I recognized the man standing outside.

"You are that Amazerian guy from the airport."

"Ah, yeah. I am." The guy in the sleeveless vest and summer shorts raise his hand and waved in a cavalier manner. "Nice to see you again. Sorry for making such a racket outside your house, but you have some powerful fire barrier set up around it and we can't get in. so we had no choice but to wake you up from outside."

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d had actually originally planned to send his men to raid my home and kidnap me from my bed.

"Anyway, hurry up and get changed and come down here. I need you to fight a match for me."

What the h.e.l.l?! You woke me up at 6am to force me to fight in a match for you?

"Are you f.u.c.king with me?!"

"Just go…"

Dad barged into my room, wincing as he held his ears. He glared at the people outside, then turned to me with an expression of resignation.

"If all they want is for you to fight in a match, then just go. Or they'll continue making a ruckus outside here for hours."

"…"

In other words, Dad was selling me out to the strangers outside just so he could go back to sleep.

Feeling completely betrayed, I shook my head in exasperation and resigned myself into doing whatever they wanted me to do.

The poor guy they wanted me to fight against was going to suffer. A lot.