In a blink of an eye, Johan moved behind Grey and swung the glowing yellow sword towards the boy. Releasing an arc-shaped explosion in the air, blowing Grey several feet away and then landing on his back.

"What the hell—" Grey couldn't react and gasped. The man's movement was unbelievably fast that his eyes couldn't even follow. He quickly got on his feet but the moment he tried facing his opponent, Johan was once again behind him, ready to split his head open. "Lightning cloak!" He chanted, temporarily stunning his opponent with bolts of lightning before escaping with his speed.

Grey survived, but that's not the issue. The thing is, everyone except Jurgen who's watching the battle caused their jaw to drop and have wide eyes. Grey noticed their awed gaze and confusedly wondered as he occasionally and cautiously look at Johan who's also having the same expression.

Seeing all this caused Jurgen to guiltily bury his face on his palm. 'Oh crap, I forgot to tell him not to use lightning magic in front of other people especially from the royal family.' He regretfully told himself. 'This is bothersome.'

"What the— that's a top tier arcane magic. And moreover, lightning? Is he really a child?" The queen uttered while having amazed expression. She couldn't believe what his eyes are showing her and was doubting it.

Lightning magic is an arcane element and the key for unlocking a stronger arcane magic called 'Light magic'. That's the magic possessed by the king of Avaron and was one of the strongest among other elements. That element is considered a top tier and possession of lightning element is required to have the ability to acquire it. That's why even the queen couldn't believe that a child possess such a powerful element. At that moment, her interest over Grey has deepened considerably and was starting to look at him as a potential royal military member.

Mana explodes violently everytime Johan swing his sword, causing the entirety of the large room to shake wildly. After taking a few swing, the man steps closer to Grey and then tried throwing a punch.

But Grey quickly stepped out of the way and channeled lightning bolts through his sword before swinging it towards Johan. He managed to land the blade at his left forearm but the man was seemingly unfazed and just grinned at him. When he looked at the area where the blade hand landed, he was surprised to see that it didn't even leave a scratch on the man's skin. He looked up at him and saw his provocative smile, causing Grey to quickly stepped out instinctively and then covering his body with denser mana cloak.

Instantly after, a large explosion occured from where his sword has landed earlier, causing Grey to cover his face with his arms from the blown dust. "What the hell?!" If he wasn't fast enough, a second would be enough to lose his arm in that explosion.

"If this fight drags on, something worse might happen." Lylia looked at Jurgen with serious gaze. "Are you sure you're not going to interfere?" she asked him.

"Maybe a little bit. Things are getting interesting." Jurgen replied, stroking his white beard while smiling mischievously, watching the battle and unbothered by the possible outcomes.

After regaining his composure, with his lightning speed, Grey rapidly increased his momentum by running around Johan in a circular motion.

On the other hand, Johan just followed him with his gaze, staring at him furiously. He was wide open as if he was intentionally tempting the boy to come at him. 'Whatever you're planning, you won't succeed in any ways.' A grin was written on Johan's face before Grey finally dashed in to attack.

Grey was agile and fast. He managed to evade a couple of strikes that Johan has thrown at him. He then shifted his weight to his rear foot and quickly shifted it back and threw a punch with a jump to increase the force.

Seeing it, Johan quickly reacted by leaning back. The boy's fist passed in front of his face before Johan grabbed his arms tightly. "Stubborn aren't we?" He then pulled and threw him into the air before kicking him while still in midair.

Grey saw it happened so fast. Last thing he knew he was already flying towards the nearby wall while feeling the pain on his lower abdomen. Before he could even think of something, his hand moved on his own and manipulated the air in the atmosphere with magic, halting him from crashing through the nearby wall. "Hah!... Ha...." He gasped for air and panted while flying before slowly putting himself on the ground. 'What the hell?... He's reacting with my lightning speed and what's worse... I can't even pierce through his skin.'

And just when he was about to check his opponent, the moment he averted his gaze, Johan was already rushing towards him at an incredibly overwhelming speed with traces of bloodlust spreading in the air. He was ready to swing his sword at him anytime while angrily running.

"What's up with that guy?" Grey asked himself loudly, calmly looking at the man. "He's really going to beat up a child?" He uttered, asking himself. To prepare, he quickly enhanced his body by pouring more mana to protect himself. "Bring it on!" He provocatively yelled, getting on his usual fighting stance.

"That's no use." Jurgen uttered, surprising everyone standing beside him. After looking at Johan and Grey's obviously weak stance, he seemed to find out something about Johan's abilities and he wanted Grey to stop whatever he plans on doing with that stance.

"Oho, did you figure something out?" The queen asked him while smiling interestingly. "Or perhaps did you find the man's weakness?"

"It's been bothering me why he wasn't affected by Grey's attacks," Jurgen replied, shaking his head. "Now everything is clear." He happily chuckled before giving his full attention to the sparring match.

"Ohh, are you perhaps planning to help your grandson by telling him his opponent's weaknesses?" Leonor asked out of curiosity without looking at the old man.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No, of course not," Jurgen replied and smirked. "I'm afraid that he already figured it out."

They watched as Grey evaded every swing of Johan's sword while constantly jumping left and right. His face was all calm and his eyes are focused to the sword. 'I know your weakness now.' he thought.

'This brat, he's not stepping in?!' Johan started panicking in his head. 'Did he figured something out?'

Just when Johan was about to do a full swing, Grey stepped in and threw a left handed jab straight at the man's left abdomen with all his weight and carried momentum. He landed a hard and clean hit.

"Ugh!" Johan grunted. The impact caused his stomach muscles to tense uncontrollably before he dropped his sword and grabbed his tummy with both hands, trying to endure the prolonged pain. The air in his lungs was sucked out instantly. 'A punch?' He guessed, looking at Grey with his vision doubling. He was barely on his feet when he realized the blood coming out of his nose and mouth before he started coughing. 'What the hell? Can you even call that a punch?' he asked himself.

Everyone was shocked to see the tough-looking man barely on his feet. They never thought this would happen and what's even surprising is the person who took down a lieutenant was a mere child.

"That kid... he punched Johan." Lylia commented, staring in awe. It was surprising for her to see a lieutenant go down in the most unexpected way possible.

"That wasn't a normal punch." Grey uttered as Johan stared at him with his dizzy gaze. "I put earth magic to increase my mass and weight before hitting you at full speed." He proudly stated before letting out a sharp breath.

"But how did you managed to—" Before Johan could even finish sorting his thoughts, he finally realized something. "Did you wait for the perfect timing to attack?"

"That's right," Grey responded, slightly grinning. "After knowing your abilities, I waited for a perfect timing to counter attack." He said, looking down at Johan who's already on his knees, coughing blood.

"You knew my... abilities—" Johan barely uttered before coughing again. The ground below him was already tainted with his blood. The yellow markings on his body started fading slowly while his pupils starts normalize.

"That's right," Grey replied, looking at Johan with pity. "Your normal power was to make anything your mana touches explode and that's explosion magic as you stated earlier." He explained, before taking a breathe. "But what makes things confusing is your spirit form's ability which is your mana spirit's ability that you acquired during the manifestation. At first, I thought it was just some boost with your explosion magic since I read from books that mana spirit's magic and ability are kind of related with the host's magic since they are in one soul..."

Grey continued explaining as Jurgen watched him. "... however, that doesn't seemed to be the case. After testing your power a few times, there's no change in your battle power except for additional reflexes and speed. Then, after attacking and failing a few times, I managed to figure out that everytime I manage to land a hit, your body release an explosion in that area where it landed..."

Meanwhile, Jurgen was also saying his theories to the intrigued queen beside him. "That's when I figured out that Johan's spirit ability is to discharge energy in form of explosion everytime something came in contact with the mana channeled in his entire body. The explosive mana surrounding his body protects him from all external threats by absorbing it's force and then discharging explosions afterwards." Jurgen explained, watching Grey who's also explaining the same thing on how he figured the man's weakness.

Jurgen explained, "That was an overpowered ability that eliminates his weakness against projectile attacks. But the power itself has its own flaw. Since the explosive mana on his body is also the same mana he uses when creating explosion for offensive purposes everytime he swings his sword, that means that the defensive mana gets shifted to his sword everytime he attacks."

He remembered the scenario that happened earlier and continued explaining based on what he saw. "In short, he couldn't do both offense and defense at the same time. That is why Grey timed his attack the moment Johan swung his sword, because that was the only time when Johan's defense was down and couldn't block his attack."

"That was a marvelous explanation," Queen Leonor commended the old man. "I wasn't expecting this to happen but it was satisfying to watch." she said.

"Okay, the match was over, Grey won." Lylia shouted as few royal wizards entered inside the room to check on Johan.

They are elite support mages that especializes in healing and was called by the queen to respond incase something happens in the match which is pretty much expected. But they were surprised to see lieutenant Johan on his knees, with a puddle of blood below him.

"What the hell happened here?" One of the man asked but no one answered.

Grey who's still talking to Johan stared pitifully at him. "It seems like the medics are here."

"You won... I've lost." Johan pitied himself. "I've never dreamed that this day would ever come. I've never thought that someone younger than me would be able to match me much worse defeat me."

"Don't pity yourself," Grey smiled and looked at him. "You're at your limit. You didn't give your best and you let your guard down because I'm just a child. We both know that." He uttered, before walking away. "If you have time, let's spar again some other time. I'll take you on." He said before he vanished from Johan's blurry eyes. He vanished with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Did you enjoy fighting a stronger opponent?" Jurgen asked his tired grandson.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Grey replied in a sarcastic manner, glaring at the old man with blank gaze.

"Oh, did you happen to figure that out as well?" Jurgen seemed to know what his grandson is thinking. He let out a long sigh and smiled.

"I kind of knew what's going on since you annoyed and provoked Johan to fight me." Grey explained, slightly chuckling while scratching his chin with his finger. "But I didn't quite understand why you were trying to test my battle potential by letting me fight stronger opponents."

"It's jus him and his old fart habits." A voice suddenly sounded behind Jurgen before Ryner appeared on the scene. "Sucks to be you, Grey." He patted his shoulder with a taunting smile.

"What are you doing here?" Jurgen immediately asked with an annoyed expression. "You shouldn't be here at this hour."

"Oh, I heard that you're leading the next dungeon dive." Ryner asked Grey with intrigued eyes, evading the old man's question. "My excalibur just received a make over. How 'bout letting me go?"

"I'm not doing it." Words escaped the boy's mouth, surprising the queen who's been listening to their conversation for a long time. "I'm not leading the second raid."

"But why? You're strong." The queen interrupted and tried persuading the boy but Grey just shook his head in response.

"I'm reckless in decision making and I'm careless with my magic usage. If you'll ask me, I'm not cut out for leading a team." Grey explained before gazing at Jurgen. "Since I won that battle, I think I have the privilege to give gramps the authority to lead the next dungeon dive. He was willing to do it anyways. And by the way, I'm not coming."

"Wait what?" Jurgen was surprised to hear him said that. "I'm leading the raid and I could understand that, but not joining the strike team? Why?" he asked.

Ryner and everyone present inside the room were also eager to know his answer. They waited as Grey pondered on his own for a moment, murmuring something.

"Because I don't want to worry my mom just like what happened last time." It sounded like a proper excuse to their ears before they looked at each other and nodded.

"Well..." Jurgen took his time before commenting, "...that seems reasonable.", scratching his head.