CHAPTER 168: SWORD AURA

"Do you work for the Viscount?" Raze asked the man standing before them.

The man looked at the two of them, still clearly perplexed by the fact that the Viscount had sent him to deal with two children. Still, he answered.

"I owe the Viscount a favor," he said, lifting his sword and pointing it at Raze. "You should head back to wherever you came from. The Viscount asked me to stop you, and I don’t care if you’re a child. If you step forward, I will hack you down."

His voice was heavy and firm. A genuine warning.

Raze met his gaze and activated God’s Eye. The man’s strength flooded into his perception. This was no ordinary knight. Seeing that, Raze decided to push further.

"The Viscount can’t normally control someone like you," Raze said calmly. "You said you owe him a favor. That means you weren’t always under him. I’m guessing you were once a high-tier knight or something similar. Maybe the Viscount saved you from trouble."

He waved his hand casually as he spoke.

"It’s possible you did something bad, and he covered it up for you."

The man frowned slightly at that, but the expression vanished just as quickly. His sword remained steady.

"Step back, kid. I don’t want to have to kill you."

Fey glanced at Raze. "You handling this one?" he asked casually.

"Yeah," Raze replied. "I want to see how my strength stacks up against someone like him."

Fey nodded and stepped aside.

Raze flipped his bat once, then twice, adjusting his grip and feeling the balance. He pointed it at the man.

"Today, I’m going to give the Viscount a good beating," Raze said. "You can either step aside... or get beaten yourself."

The man’s brow twitched. His patience snapped.

He planted one foot forward and took a perfect stance, aligning his body with the blade. His slash came clean and professional.

Diagonal. Fast. Sharp.

Raze lifted his bat lazily and parried the strike with ease. He slid under the blade, slipping to the knight’s side, and thrust the bat straight toward the man’s exposed abdomen.

The knight reacted instantly, pulling his sword back to block. The impact forced him to step back to regain his balance. He stared at Raze, anger flashing across his face, but he dismissed it as luck and some low-level skill.

"It seems you have some skill, kid," the man said. "But I won’t hold back anymore."

He charged forward, delivering a massive overhead slash.

Raze sidestepped and countered. The knight blocked and immediately thrust back, confident he had created an opening.

He hadn’t.

Raze twisted in a way the man didn’t expect, kicked off the ground, and drove forward. His bat slammed into the knight’s lower jaw with explosive force.

The man was sent skidding back, groaning as pain surged through him.

When he looked up, he saw Raze standing there, smiling. That was when it clicked. This kid was no joke.

"I will not be disrespected by a child," the knight growled.

He gripped his sword tightly, raising it slightly above his head, the tip angled downward. Then he lunged. A flurry of slashes followed, each one heavy and precise, his blade sharp enough to cleave stone.

Raze parried every single one.

He was forced back a few steps, but he never lost control. His movements were clean, deliberate, almost practiced, as his eyes searched for an opening.

And when he found it.

He parried the blade, stepped inside, spun, and unleashed a full swing toward the knight’s lower body.

The man saw the attack coming. Dodging was impossible. Blocking was impossible. Snarling, he unleashed his mana.

The energy wrapped around his armor like an extra layer of skin.

The bat slammed into the barrier and bounced back, pushing Raze several feet away. The mana shifted, taking on the form of air.

Wind magic clung tightly to the armor.

Raze grinned.

"You’re an air-type user. An air battle mage," he said. "That means you’re definitely not a nobody."

He attacked again.

His thrusts came fast, but the knight parried and countered. A wind blade shot forward. Raze barely escaped, the blade slicing off the tips of his hair. He bent his body in an unnatural twist, landed smoothly, and channeled his qi into his leg. Then he exploded forward.

Low.

Fast.

The knight raised his sword and thrust downward.

Raze twisted aside, evading the strike by a hair’s breadth, and drove upward toward the knight’s chest.

The bat struck.

The wind barrier blocked it, bouncing the weapon away, but Raze didn’t stop.

He switched hands mid motion and swung again, snapping the knight’s hands upward just enough to break his grip. In that instant, Raze used his free hand to cast a spell.

A flame arrow formed and fired point-blank.

The explosion tore through the wind barrier.

The knight was blasted backward, crashing into the ground and rolling several meters away. He groaned and got back to his feet. The pain in his arm and body caused him to frown deeply. He looked at Raze, who stood there with a confident grin on his face.

"You should really go all out or do something if you’ll defeat me," Raze said, sounding cocky.

The man’s breathing grew heavy and erratic. He gripped his sword tight and lifted it into a stance. He unleashed his full power. The wind around him swirled and clung tightly to the blade.

Raze looked at the sword. "That’s at least a three-star attack," he muttered. For a battle mage to have a three-star battle spell at his disposal, it meant that he was someone of importance.

But the man didn’t stop there. He shut his eyes and suddenly, a new aura sprung from his body, and this was the first time that Raze had seen it in this world. He had read about it in the story, but never had he seen it until now.

It was Weapon Aura.

Sword Aura.