Eternal Master: Path to Godlike Status-Chapter 43: Naivety 2

The hall transformed. Tables were shoved back

Erick stepped into the center of the floor.

A servant followed a step behind and offered him the sword wrapped in silk.

Erick took it and pulled the fabric away, revealing a magnificent blade resting in a red scabbard, its edges lined with intricate golden patterns.

Rain stepped forward. He didn’t draw a weapon. He didn’t even drop his hands from behind his back.

He simply stood. An open target.

Whispers rippled through the crowd even before the fight began.

"Who is he?" a noble from the back row asked, leaning back.

"Where is his weapon? Is he a monk? A fighter?"

"Impossible," another countered. "Look at him. No Aura. No mana. He looks like a normal servant."

"He looks like a normal servant?" one woman chuckled. "I’d fill my house with servants if they were even half as handsome as him."

Her comment landed differently. The men grew jealous, while the women openly agreed with her. Erick was good-looking too, but compared to Rain, he might as well have been a rug.

The crowd knew Erick. They had seen him train. He was a knight, a title earned through blood, discipline, and the finest instructor’s money could buy.

For years, his father had paraded his progress before the public, calling him the "Pride of Franiz."

Common people would agree. However, those who had seen how vast the ocean truly was would think otherwise.

Even so, it didn’t change the fact that his combat ability was not something to take lightly.

Alicia watched the confused crowd.

She crafted this silence perfectly. She scrubbed Rain’s name from the official ledgers and bound her own attendants to a vow of silence.

To the world, Rain was a ghost.

"Draw your weapon!" Erick’s voice cracked.

"There’s no need for that. Just come at me, and let’s end this nonsense."

"ARROGANT!" Erick lunged. It was a textbook thrust—fast, precise. The tip of the blade reached for his opponent’s throat.

Rain tilted his head slightly.

The steel hissed past his ear, biting only air.

"Again," Rain muttered.

Erick snarled. He unleashed a series of attacks.

Horizontal cuts. A rising slash. A heavy overhead strike meant to split men in half. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Rain moved like a phantom. A half-step back. A tilt of the head. A slight rotation of the hips. His hands remained clasped behind him.

To the witnesses, it didn’t look like a duel. It looked like a dance where only one partner knew the steps.

Soon, everyone realized they severely underestimated his ability. His technique was so efficient that even the Warlock and Rhean couldn’t take their eyes off him.

"Fight me!" Erick screamed. He was sweating now. His expensive silk shirt clung to his back.

"I am," Rain replied. "You’re just missing."

The mockery was not so subtle. Each missed strike stripped away a layer of Erick’s status.

Laugher began in the back of the hall. The sound of a reputation dissolving in real-time.

Erick’s eyes went cold. No more shouting.

He lowered his center of gravity, and his blade along with body began vibrating.

"Guardian Aura."

Green light erupted across his body, wrapping him from boots to shoulders in a pulse of energy. He didn’t wait for it to settle.

"Rapid Boost."

The air cracked. He crossed the distance in no time.

"Hexa blade Tempest!" he roared, his blade cutting through the air in a devastating, sixfold whirlwind of strikes.

The crowd saw nothing but streaks of green light tearing through the air.

Erick stood with his blade extended, chest heaving—but there was no hint of satisfaction on his face.

Rain stayed rooted in place, completely unharmed. He hadn’t blocked a single strike—each one had simply missed.

"Impossible!" Erick jumped back.

He reset his stance, but something was missing. The posture was still correct. The form was still there. But the confidence was gone.

"Give up."

Rain only said a few words, but they landed heavily—especially on Erick, who burned with humiliation. Being beaten outright would have been better.

"Iron Fortress." The green light turned darker. His stance compressed, weight dropped low, the skill layering a shell of reinforced energy across his body.

Instructors taught it as a reset — a way to breathe, recalculate, come back with a clear head.

Erick used it as a launching pad.

"Piercing Rush."

He exploded forward, low and direct, the compressed stance converting instantly into pure forward momentum.

Rain sidestepped on time.

Erick’s momentum carried him three paces past and he wrenched himself around, boots scraping the floor.

"Rising Slash!"

An upward diagonal cut.

Rain rolled his shoulder back. The tip barely missing him.

"Gale Cleave!" Erick brought his sword down with all his weight behind it.

This time, Rain didn’t dodge. He stepped into the blade’s path, lifted his palm, and struck the side. Then he seized his empty arm and slammed him into the ground.

THUD!

Erick lay on the ground, chest heaving, his sword sliding a few feet away.

"Give up."

Rain’s words echoed again, and this time, there was no mistaking it—Erick had absolutely no chance.

Seeing no sign of him rising, Alicia stepped forward.

"Erick, you now owe me your life. Stand down. I’ll speak with your father in the future about how much compensation I’ll need in exchange for sparing you."

Just as Rain expected, she had no real intention of killing the governor’s son. As twisted as she was, she still weighed the consequences.

By sparing him, she could profit from the situation without damaging her own reputation—not that it was all that spotless to begin with.

"I concede." He took a deep breath and stood up, raising his hand for a shake. "I’m sorry for underestimating you. I should have known she was baiting me into this."

Rain nodded in approval. It seemed this young man wasn’t hopeless after all.

There was no denying that Alicia was the perpetrator—and that she would likely do the same again in the future.

’She’s like a ticking bomb’