He could command his Red Hare Warhorse with his thoughts alone. The steed circled around, evading the brunt of Tarrenno’s assault.

He could already tell that while Tarrenno appeared fierce and mighty, he was actually a spent force. The Magic and combat techniques Tarrenno had been using were draining his stamina and Spirit. Given enough time, the man wouldn’t last much longer.

As Fang Zhen maneuvered his horse, a spectral image of the Desert Viper Handgun appeared in his left hand and quickly materialized. He began firing single shots at Tarrenno.

Startled, Tarrenno shielded his face with his hand.

The nine-millimeter bullets struck his Black Dragon Armor again and again.

Sparks flew, but the Black Dragon Armor withstood the handgun rounds.

Unlike the armor of the Heavy Armor Infantry he had pierced before, the plate armor of a common Iron Armor Soldier was of average quality and relatively thin, incapable of stopping nine-millimeter bullets. Tarrenno’s Black Dragon Armor, however, had a strength approaching modern ballistic plates, far surpassing the metallurgical technology of this era. Perhaps it had been forged with some special material.

Sparks flew from the bullets ricocheting off Tarrenno’s Black Dragon Armor. The points of impact were dented, but the armor’s defense was not breached.

After firing half a magazine to no effect, Fang Zhen quickly switched targets, aiming for Tarrenno’s beast mount instead.

The beast mount was also covered in scales, but its armor was a clear step down from the Black Dragon Armor.

The bullets struck the beast’s head. While they didn’t fully penetrate, they still drew sprays of blood.

The beast cried out in pain and became unruly. It halted abruptly, shaking its head violently and nearly throwing Tarrenno from its back.

"Don’t you dare fight me head-on?" Tarrenno roared, unbelievably frustrated at being unable to unleash his full might.

"As you wish." Fang Zhen had just emptied his handgun’s magazine anyway.

The spectral image of his Desert Viper Handgun flashed and disappeared into his King’s Belt. He spurred his horse forward, charging at Tarrenno.

Fang Zhen had seen through Tarrenno’s trick of using his mount’s charge to build momentum. Guiding his Red Hare Warhorse, he stimulated it with bone energy to perform a charge of his own.

Infused with bone energy, the Red Hare’s speed suddenly tripled, and it slammed into Tarrenno with immense force.

The Red Hare Warhorse’s sudden acceleration startled Tarrenno, causing him to misjudge the optimal distance to counterattack. He could only swing his battle-axe on instinct. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Fang Zhen’s precognitive senses allowed him to see Tarrenno’s defensive stance and evade the great axe, but he wanted to defeat Tarrenno before both armies in the most decisive way possible. He chose to meet him head-on.

His Second-stage Power Mountain Seal lit up his longspear once more.

The longspear crashed against the great axe, which was still crackling with lightning.

BOOM! The combined impact of the charge and the Second-stage Power Mountain Seal sent the lightning-wreathed battle-axe flying. The weapon snapped at the handle, soaring four or five meters into the air and landing over ten meters away with a heavy crash.

Fang Zhen’s longspear stabbed into the right side of Tarrenno’s chest.

Tarrenno cried out, instinctively grabbing the spear’s shaft with both hands and employing some kind of force-redirecting technique.

Tarrenno’s technique was remarkably effective. The immense impact from the longspear, amplified by the Second-stage Power Mountain Seal, wasn’t transferred directly into his body. But force doesn’t just vanish into thin air. Instead, it was redirected from Tarrenno to the beast mount beneath him.

The massive transfer of force was too much for the beast to handle. With a sickening CRACK, the beast shrieked in agony as its spine shattered. Its body folded in half, and it collapsed to the ground in an instant.

As the conduit for the force, Tarrenno didn’t escape unscathed. Despite his technique, he still absorbed a significant part of the impact. A spray of blood erupted from his mouth as he was thrown to the ground, rolling several times to dissipate the residual energy.

Tarrenno struggled to his feet, only to find the razor-sharp, snow-white tip of a longspear pointed at his throat.

From atop his warhorse, Fang Zhen held the spear steady, its point aimed at Tarrenno.

It appeared Fang Zhen had won the duel.

But Fang Zhen remained expressionless, betraying no hint of joy or anger.

The cheers from the Tarrenno Legion died abruptly, while behind Fang Zhen, the Nottingham Garrison erupted in a victorious roar.

The longspear hovered just before Tarrenno’s throat.

Fang Zhen, however, raised an eyebrow slightly.

Tarrenno’s life was his to take with a single thought. Yet, even facing such a threat, Tarrenno didn’t suddenly reveal his true form—transforming into a demon wreathed in smoke, its body burning with the flames of Hell.

’If this man really is the Demon Duke, his self-control is incredible.’

In his fight with Tarrenno, Fang Zhen had felt that his opponent was just a powerful Knight who, at most, was hiding that he was also a Mage. He didn’t seem like a demon.

’Could my earlier theory have been wrong?’

The result wasn’t entirely unexpected. After all, Fang Zhen had no ironclad proof that Tarrenno was a demon—it was just a guess based on comparing descriptions of the Duke with the known traits of demons.

Guesses could be wrong, a fact Fang Zhen accepted.

Tarrenno’s expression flickered between emotions. He remained half-kneeling on the ground, seemingly frozen by the spear at his throat, not daring to make a move.

Suddenly, a red light flared in the Duke’s eyes.

In that instant, a familiar sensation washed over Fang Zhen—the same one he’d felt during the surprise attack from the Mage a few days ago.

’It’s some kind of mind-control Magic!’

Having experienced this before, Fang Zhen immediately activated an interrupt skill, snapping out of the daze. At the same moment, his Anti-Thorn Ring also activated.

An expression of pain flashed across Tarrenno’s face, but he still postured to counterattack.