"Isn’t this bullying? Arthur is only on 1st Deviation, and his Bond is a rat! Sergeant Layla even sends him rolling and tumbling, even then she doesn’t finish him off! I don’t understand why she seems to get angrier when he is the one getting bullied!" Simon protested.

"Aren’t you afraid, she will hear you and hit you instead?" Stevan whispered.

"She can't hear us. She used a pill to suppress her cultivation; there is no way she can hear us talking while fighting," Tamara lightly said.

"Anyway, it's not that she doesn't want to finish him off, but she can’t," she added.

"What do you mean? Is Arthur actually strong enough to hold his own against her and just pretending to be weak? Or did he trick her somehow?" Simon got confused.

"No, at least I don't think so. He has good reflexes and intuition; even I don't think I could have dodged Sergeant Hawkins' first strike if I were in his position, but that is not enough to survive against her. The way he holds his sword and his moves are worse than my 6-year-old brother's! It's so predictable!" She said, which made Simon frown.

"He is also not tricking her; instead, she tricks herself! Sergeant Layla believes Arthur is a spy. She might have some doubt at the beginning, but the moment he dodged her first strike, it cemented her belief! In her mind, he is a strong fighter, one that would certainly dodge her next strike. So she tries to predict his movement based on that assumption and ends up overcompensating with each strike!"

"That combined with her suppressing her realm and sealing her martial technique allows him to manage not losing while still getting beat up in the process!" Tamara gushed out in explanation.

"But isn’t she supposed to be strong?" Simon asked.

"Don’t get me wrong, Simon. She is still winning, just not as fast as she is supposed to be. If she is using her katar, I believe the fight would end after the first strike. She is strong; even if she suppresses her realm, I don’t think the seven of us can take her down," she seriously said.

Meanwhile, Arthur is having his ass handed to him. His muscles hurt all over, his lungs burn from the lack of oxygen, and he is bleeding from multiple cuts after barely surviving dozens of Layla’s strikes.

Arthur also came to the same conclusion as Tamara after hearing the Sergeant ranting and cursing about him acting.

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"Stop acting and swing your sword! I know you want to!" Layla roared, to which Arthur could only bite his lips in frustration.

"It's true, I can hold out this far because she is overcompensating, but if I make any mistake when she thinks I can dodge, she won't be able to stop in time! At best, I will lose a limb, and at worst, my head will roll!" His frustration grew as he deflected another sword strike while tumbling to the side.

Arthur’s arm trembled from receiving such a strong strike, but luckily the bracer did not even have a scratch. Its material was strong enough to block Amplification rank attacks, let alone Deviation realm ones!

"Why is ten minutes so damn long!" he wanted to cry as it had only been three minutes since the fight started, and it felt like forever to him.

"I will die before ten minutes are up! I need to do something."

After his first time deflecting Layla’s sword thrust, Arthur discovered his trait to be quite handy; he could move his hand way faster than the rest of his body. Even at full speed, he could still have enough precision with it!

"My hand is fast, but I can’t keep up with her footwork. I need to stop her movement somehow..." he concluded.

"I might regret this later, but it's better to regret while breathing than not regret anything while dying!"

"I only have one chance," he thought.

Arthur deflected another sword thrust toward his eye; he had noticed that Layla had tendencies to aim for his vitals, such as eyes, neck, heart, and lungs, so he got better at deflecting her blows, or at least some of them.

Layla was about to spin to deliver a spinning backslash toward his neck when he roared. “Layla Hawkins!”

His roar calling her name caused her to slow her attack just enough to duck under her strike before rolling to the side, creating distance between them.

Luckily, she did not pursue him. “It's Sergeant! I’m your sergeant, and you address me as such!” she angrily said while pointing her sword at him.

Arthur smiled at her, putting up a strong front, “What sergeant? You are bullying a mere deviation realm cultivator yet unable to win.”

Layla was fuming with rage, thinking he was playing with her. “Then stop running and fight seriously, you rat!”

“How about this, if I win, you will give me anything I ask for... If you are being good, then I might invite you to my chamber tonight,” he grinned viciously.

“You are dead!” Layla roared, blinded by rage.

The sword-wielding woman ran straight at Arthur with breakneck speed, slashing toward him with her bloodied sword.

"Now or never," Arthur thought.

Arthur threw a fistful of dirt that he took when he rolled previously when calling Layla’s name. His aim was true as the dirt scattered toward Layla’s beautiful face, which was distorted by rage.

“Cheap trick!” she roared, spinning her blade, adjusting her grip while creating a gust of wind, knocking the dirt aside.

Yet, Arthur was not done. With her vision still obscured, he spit blood at her face just a moment after she got rid of the dirt, catching her by surprise and blinding the girl.

Even so, Layla was experienced enough to fight even with her vision impaired, and Arthur knew that.

He used the chance to get into close quarters with her, making her sword ineffective while adjusting his grip to a reverse grip to make it usable while being close to his target.

“I did it!” he celebrated internally.

But of course, things can’t be that easy for him!