Fantumar was confident his son would be the chosen one among the squires, as he had made sure of it by making him the disciple of the strongest knight in the kingdom. His son's recent rapid improvement had made him so sure of his victory. He was so confident he let the princess manage this year's event. Therefore the current result was something he could not accept.
Apparently, King Richard himself was interested to know. He was quite happy that not one, but two, talented young squires had appeared this year and, knowing who the best among two was would be interesting for him.
"What do you think, daughter? You are the one in charge of this event, the final decision is in your hands." The King said.
The princess furrowed her brows and said. "Personally, I think letting them duel will only create enmity, both between the audience and the two of them. It will be detrimental for the upcoming tournaments, but," the princess gave a confident smile. "For this scenario, I have prepared a solution, I just never thought we would need to use it."
"What is it, daughter?"
"A silver knight, they will fight a silver knight. We can decide the winner this way."
"Hahaha, that is outrageous." Fantumar interjected. "No squire has ever managed to defeat a silver knight before."
The princess smiled teasingly and said. "Pardon me, minister. Actually, I'm curious how much Abe has improved during his time under the tutelage of the strongest knight in our kingdom. Don't you want to see how he would fare against a silver knight now?"
Princess Gwenneth's words made the cunning Fantumar at a loss for words.
She seized her chance and added during the minister's silence. "After all, we hope that one of our squires manages to reach top 10 in the tournament so they can be awarded the title of Silver Knight, don't we? Why aim low, then? We should let them start practice against one. They don't need to win against one, but we can judge through them"
"Hahaha!" The king let out a hearty laugh. "Nicely said, dear daughter. You can proceed as per your plan."
Princess Gwen gave a small smile, delighted that her plan worked. This way, she could knock the Annoying Abe down a peg. For the other squire, she could just order the silver knight to take it easy.
Unfortunately, before the princess could call out to Yvain to send his silver knight, Fantumar suddenly said.
"Your Majesty, if I may voice my concern, having the same silver knight fighting twice would only give an unfair advantage to the one fighting later. I am thinking of letting Sir Breunor send in his silver knight. That would be only fair."
The princess panicked and racked her brain trying to find a counterpoint. But the king had already said his agreement.
"I trust there will be no objection. Let us watch this interesting battle!" Fantumar said and glanced at the princess with a wicked smile.
Gwen was trapped between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, she was happy that Fantumar's son would receive a lesson, but on the other hand, Fantumar would just use his chance to beat down the other young man without remorse to get even at her."
Fantumar whispered towards the Dread Knight standing next to him and within moments a silver knight was chosen. The knight was clad with the same dark armor.
"Let the final assessment begin!" The King declared.
For this final match, the central arena was divided into two. On one side, Abe stood facing the silver knight Yvain sent, while on the other Emery stood facing the dark-armored Silver Knight.
Clank! Clank!!
Right after Emery glanced at them, Abe took an aggressive stance against the silver knight and quickly dashed forward, the clang of their blades attracting everyone's attention right away.
Meanwhile, though his opponent had overwhelming strength, Emery did not feel threatened at all. Even before he was taken to the Magus Academy for his second year education, his abilities were already on par with a silver knight. In fact, he was already able to go toe to toe against a silver knight such as Kastan or Bagdemagus' men.
The dark-armored silver knight looked at Emery who stood still and said.
"Don't be scared, kid. Just take this as a lesson for you."
Emery didn't answer. He did not care what his opponent thought, let alone say, about him.
The knight took Emery's silence as a challenge and decided to dash forward with his sword ready. He moved so fast, his footsteps scattered dust around the arena and created winds all around him.
Swoooosh!
Clank!
The silver knight moved quickly, but it was still not enough to catch him. With slow, deliberate movements, Emery dodged and parried the knight's every strike.
While dodging, Emery watched the ongoing fight on the other side and did not attack back, while waiting for his turn. Not long after he started, Abe's strikes slowed down, the silver knight forcing him to go on the defensive. The wooden shield on Abe's hand started to splinter before finally breaking into pieces under the relentless strikes.
Seeing his chance, Abe's opponent slashed to the side and Abe lost his grip on his blade. The blade spun around on the ground and landed far away from him and the silver knight pointed his sword at Abe's neck, cementing his defeat.
This was Emery's cue to start showing off his skills.
The silver knight in front of him was no stronger than a level 4 combat institute puppet, while Emery was already capable of fighting on par with a level 6 puppets. This would be an easy fight for him. But he still tried to restrain himself so he wouldn't create too much of a shock.
Emery slowly increased his speed, with a few steps and a slight trick with the sword, Emery was able to disarm the silver knight sword and throw it in the air. All eyes stared at the sky as if mesmerized at the blade glinting under the sunlight, with just that one split second, Emery's sword already on the silver's knight throat.
The flying blade landed into the ground, marking the defeat of the silver knight.
There was suddenly an uproar among the audience and the royalty.
A young unknown kid who came from a low rank noble family was able to defeat an experienced silver knight. Everyone clapped and cheered in a standing ovation.
Amidst the admiration, some eyes stared at Emery with jealousy and rage.