Vesper stopped and turned his head to see a young man with short black hair and black eyes walking towards him. In his hand was a silver spear. He was none other than the third prince, Damian.
Vesper turned around and said, "How may I be of help to you?"
Damian stopped in front of Vesper and said, "I want to have a spar with you, I hope you can show me some moves."
Unlike what many would expect, Damian was not pompous and didn't antagonize anyone. All he mostly did was train in his spear arts and perfect his lightning element. Among all Emperor Marcus' sons, Damian was the one who showed less interest in his royal standing.
To him, he can only be truly respected when he has strength backing him, a level of respect his title can never give him.
Vesper looked at Damian for a while, and then he looked at his wounds that had already healed. He let out a sigh as he looked up at Damian again before walking back into the sparring circle.
Damian did not say anything and followed Vesper into the circle.
The two of them stood in the circle facing each other without a word. After a few moments, Vesper said, "Well then your Highness, as you know, we are not going to battle but display our weapon mastery, so there would be no use of mana or any talent.
"I agree with the conditions, Vesper, now let us battle." Damian said as he moved his hand back and placed one leg in front, going into his fighting stance.
Vesper nodded and got into his stance as well, and then the training master's voice echoed around the training grounds.
"Ready?"
The two of them nodded their heads, but their gaze never left each other.
Catherine, who was bored due to how easy the first fight had been, was intrigued and focused her gaze on the two men standing in the arena.
Somewhere in the castle, Marcus stood on his balcony facing the arena, and beside him was a woman, who had black hair and blue eyes. She wore a white gown that made her look like a deity.
She was the Empress, the first wife of Marcus, Empress Anna.
"This seems to be interesting." Marcus said as he watched Damian and Vesper stand opposite each other ready to fight.
Aurora, on the other hand, had a worried look on her face. Although the injuries Vesper sustained while fighting Theo had been healed, he needed to rest because, unlike the rest of them, he was a Dormant.
Dormant was the term used to call people who never got into the novice rank.
"You may begin." The training master's voice dropped when two figures flashed in the arena.
They were fast, and within a few seconds, the clashing of weapons could be heard.
Their movements were done at the last minute, narrowly dodging the opponents' weapon.
This was the first time the entire royal family got to see Vesper truly battle. They had only heard of his feats on the war front, and previously he always declined sparring.
Surprise was an understatement to what they were feeling. They were utterly shocked to the core.
Vespers' movements were so precise and calculated, not even suffering when he was battling a person ranked at the mid-stage, of the adept rank.
Instead, Vespers' technique with his halberd seemed to be greater than Damian's proficiency with his spear.
What they did not know was that while fighting with Damian, Vesper felt pressured and focused on making his moves sharper and more precise.
As he did that, he slowly felt a connection with the environment and moved along with it. Vesper was in the middle of gaining enlightenment, but his body was responding to Damian's attacks.
Marcus and Anna, who stood on the balcony, noticed this and their eyes widened in shock. Marcus chuckled slightly as he took a step forward and then both he and his Empress appeared on the training grounds.
All the spectators saw them and hurriedly bowed. Marcus waved his hands as a sign for them to raise their heads.
At this point, Damian was getting pushed back, Vespers' attacks came from the most unexpected angle. It was not like he was holding a weapon any more, but rather it felt like the halberd and Vesper were one entity.
It didn't matter if he thrust or slashed with his spear even at close range, the halberd in Vespers' hand found a way to counter the attack, at impossible angles.
"Use your movement art Damian, increase your speed and pressure him more." Marcus' voice came.
Damian faltered for half a second before darting back, then he channelled his mana in his body and executed a movement.
Damian's speed increased as he became twice as fast as he was previously, catching Vesper off guard. Fortunately or unfortunately, Vespers' gaze remained unfocused as he dodged and defended.
All of a sudden, Vesper sidestepped as Damian's attack was about to pierce him and drew his halberd backwards before muttering, "Tempest of blades."
Vespers' halberd multiplied from one to two, then four, then eight, until there were multiple halberd blades, cutting, piercing and slashing at Damian.
When Damian saw Vesper draw his hand backwards, all his senses screamed danger, then he utilized his mana fully as streaks of lightning appeared on his body and darted backwards, escaping Vespers' deadly attack.
The spectators were stunned, all of them could not believe it, their eyes carried shock, Vesper had executed a martial intent. Among the spectators, Anna looked at Vesper, and then she turned and walked away from the training grounds.
Marcus looked at her while her silhouette disappeared and shook his head and sighed, then he turned around and vanished from the training ground.
At this moment Vesper opened his eyes. He felt extremely weak, he looked up and saw everyone staring at him with an incredulous gaze, like they had seen something impossible happen.
As he was about to move forward, he staggered and used his halberd to support his weight, then all the spectators snapped out of their daze. Aurora hurried and assisted him, "Brother don't move, you just grasped the martial intent and executed a martial technique. You have exhausted your stamina, so don't move."
Damian, on the other hand, was shocked, but then his gaze turned solemn as he walked up to Vesper.
"You are amazing, Vesper, you are a progeny of the martial way, what you have done just now is beyond words, you have achieved what only top geniuses in super schools have managed to achieve. From today, I want to be your sparring partner, and I would also assist you, and help you grow stronger by taking you down the unorthodox path of body training, so you would be a martial artist."
Vesper looked at Damian and then let out a smile.
"Let us be sparring partners then, brother." Vesper said as he stretched his hands towards Damian, to which the latter shook and let out a wide smile.
"You do give surprises, Vesper." A female voice sounded.