School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 222 --Strategy and Courage

After all, for Golden to kill Sion without causing any stir was nearly impossible.

Following the execution of Sion, he bribed Sion’s subordinates to spread false news of Sion going "hunting."

Sion’s predilections were well known not just to the city lord but also among the city’s nobility, hence, to this day, no one suspects Sion’s disappearance.

Golden placed one of the three masked knifemen in each of the groups belonging to Skes, Moxis, and Joel during the southern city selections.

His original plan was to eliminate these unstable elements during the selections, but this plan was thwarted by the fierce competitor named Hammer.

Due to his and Hammer’s outstanding performances in the southern selections, the nobles failed to pay any significant attention to these three individuals.

Thus, Golden decided to let them cause some trouble for the three families.

Given their skills, they could at most inflict minor injuries on the city lord’s deputies, not affecting their advancement.

With the support of the four major families behind the four deputies, killing them during the competition was unrealistic.

Should anyone pose a threat to their lives, it’s likely that the guards outside the arena would intervene.

The full advancement of all deputies was precisely what Golden desired.

He had no intention of allowing any of them to remain in the city to interfere with his plans.

After much maneuvering, only two strong competitors from the west and east of the city were placed in the same group.

The advancement of other strong competitors to the top eight was almost guaranteed.

Owen, having been given a bye, remained in the VIP seats, observing the matches below.

He found the intellectual and physical duel between two closely matched individuals intriguing, regardless of their strength.

A vast disparity in abilities, he thought, rendered the contest dull.

Golden’s match against a somewhat talentless swordsman from the south of the city was uneventful.

Within a few exchanges, Golden had pushed the man out of the arena with a single palm strike.

Owen vaguely remembered this swordsman as the one who, during the southern city selections, was lastly rescued from Hammer’s blade by the priests organizing the event.

His luck was quite extraordinary, yet against absolute power, luck served little purpose.

Facing a ruthless and powerful opponent could instead lead to one’s demise.

After watching several dull matches, Owen finally witnessed a clash between two strong contenders, though they weren’t particularly strong by his standards.

Laine from the west faced off against Sende from the east, both being the strongest from their respective areas.

Not only were they placed in the same group, but they also had to duel in the first round.

Owen could tell at a glance that their abilities were closely matched, and he watched their bout with interest.

Both were swordsmen.

Laine’s sword was two inches longer than Sende’s and also wider.

Physically, Laine was taller and adorned in luxurious attire, while Sende wore simple cloth, making it seem as if a noble was competing against a commoner.

However, Sende’s skill was formidable; his opening strike was of a swordsmanship master’s caliber.

His initial swing towards Laine, seemingly casual, actually unleashed a sharp sword aura.

This sword aura was completely transparent, devoid of any color.

Laine, not daring to be careless, had yet to draw his sword and had to dodge to the side.

Sende didn’t let this opportunity slip by; he continually closed in on Laine, sending wave after wave of sword aura aimed at Laine’s vital points.

Laine kept retreating, gradually being forced towards the edge of the arena, yet still found no opportunity to draw his sword.

His initial oversight had left him in a difficult position.

Quickly running through several potential self-rescue plans in his mind, Laine made a decision to stand his ground and launched two palms towards Sende.

Sende dodged the gusts of wind from the palms, sensing an opportunity.

He accelerated instantly, leaping forward.

In a flash, he was before Laine, slashing downwards towards Laine’s head from above.

Laine, standing firm, leaned his body straight back, narrowly avoiding Sende’s sword.

Finally, he drew his long sword, meeting Sende’s attack with an upward strike, causing Sende to leap backward.

In that critical moment, Laine dissolved Sende’s offensive, erasing his advantage.

Sende, now diminished in momentum, unconsciously shifted to a defensive stance.

Now, it was Laine’s turn to attack.

Swinging his long sword, he sent robust sword auras sweeping towards Sende.

These auras, while more powerful than Sende’s, lacked his speed.

Sende did not attempt to block them head-on but moved back and forth, dodging and looking for opportunities to counter with his own sword aura.

After launching a few initial sword auras, Laine reduced his reliance on ranged attacks.

He steadily advanced towards Sende, shattering any counterattacking sword auras with his sword.

This man wants a close combat duel, a straightforward contest of swordsmanship.

Sende, observing the increasing density of arcanergy wrapping around Laine’s sword blade, understood Laine’s intentions.

Yet, he was not afraid.

His sword was shorter and slimmer than Laine’s, and while their swords were made of similar materials, close-quarters combat had its own set of advantages and disadvantages for both.

Comparatively, Laine appeared to possess greater strength, making his attacks more lethal, whereas Sende was more agile.

Sende decided to leverage his speed advantage, advancing towards Laine to close the distance, aiming to deliver continuous damage through his unpredictable swordplay.

Laine’s sword techniques were broad and sweeping, with movements that were both simple and powerful.

He effectively protected his vital points, limiting Sende to inflicting only minor scrapes at best.

Simultaneously, Laine kept up his assault on Sende, forcing him to constantly change position.

The range of his qi-infused sword attacks was broad, compelling Sende to dodge not just the blade but also the sword aura, gradually putting him at a disadvantage.

After seventy to eighty exchanges, Sende began to feel disheartened.

He had indeed managed to inflict some damage on Laine, but it was negligible.

While Laine hadn’t landed a significant hit on him yet, Sende’s constant need to adjust his footwork to avoid the long sword was wearing him down.

Over time, this would only become more challenging, eventually leading to his exhaustion and defeat.

He needed to quickly inflict a wound on Laine that would impact his sword-wielding ability or create some distance to decide the battle with sword aura.

Continuing this way would surely result in loss.

As Sende pondered this, he suddenly spotted an opportunity.

Laine’s overpowered slash had hit the ground, the arena’s stones slowing the speed of his sword recovery.

Now was the moment!

Sende internally shouted, accelerating and thrusting his sword towards Laine’s chest.

However, Laine’s sword was only slightly delayed, not enough for Sende to end the battle with one strike.

The back of Laine’s sword met Sende’s blade in front of his chest, and Sende felt as if his sword tip was caught.

Laine countered with his own arcanergy, forcing Sende to also channel all his arcanergy into his sword to prevent it from being blown out of his grasp by Laine’s energy.

The forces collided and nullified each other between the two blades.

While maintaining the infusion of his arcanergy, Laine stepped back twice, positioning his sword horizontally so that both sword tips pointed at each other’s chests.

In this standoff, whoever’s arcanergy was weaker would be doomed.

Sende, always confident and perhaps a bit arrogant, believed his arcanergy was no less than Laine’s.

Thus, he didn’t contemplate withdrawing but instead fully engaged in a contest of arcanergy with Laine.

The stalemate ensued, with only the sound of clashing arcanergies filling the arena.

After a quarter of an hour, the audience began to experience aesthetic fatigue, their attention drifting to other ongoing matches.

The transparent arcanergy of Sende and the pale white arcanergy of Laine detracted from the spectacle of their duel, causing many spectators to gradually lose interest in the outcome.

However, at that moment, a faint noise arose within the arena, growing louder until it resembled the sound of sharpening knives.

Sende looked at his sword in disbelief, his resolve visibly shaken.

The tip of the sword he was holding was being gradually ground away, its fragments drifting into the air.

Laine’s long sword steadily advanced, Sende’s blade slowly shattered by the arcanergy, leaving him eventually with only the hilt.

"Concede," Laine said, "You lost because of this sword."

"What did you say?"

"Your sword is narrower than mine, and the material strength is similar to mine. When we both were contending in arcanergy, the most concentrated point of arcanergy is naturally at the tip of the sword. Since your sword is narrower, with the same intensity of arcanergy at the tip, the arcanergy flowing through the rest of the blade must naturally be stronger than mine."

"So, my sword was actually destroyed by my own arcanergy?"

"Correct. Had it been a treasured sword, perhaps I would have been the one to lose."

"Don’t be modest now." Sende made a gesture of concession with his left hand.

"If mine had been a treasured sword, you wouldn’t have acted this way.

Truly a calculating person, aren’t you?"

"You flatter me."

"There’s more." Sende walked off the stage, saying, "Your strength is indeed greater than mine. Even if the sword hadn’t broken, my arcanergy would have depleted first. I must admit, I’m thoroughly convinced by my defeat."

Laine bowed to Sende, and when he raised his head, he saw Owen smiling at him.

"One must navigate through crises with both wit and courage to truly advance oneself," Owen muttered to himself.

On the fifth day of the competition, Owen made his first appearance in the elimination rounds.

His opponent was an obscure magus.

With Owen’s capabilities, defeating this individual was straightforward, so he planned not to exert his full effort.

Standing on the platform, he even kept his eyes closed and hands behind his back, not taking the magus across from him seriously at all.

"I’ve heard you’re quite formidable."

The magus licked his lips and said, "Then I can’t hold back. I was saving my trump card for the top eight battle, but running into you is just my bad luck."