Joseph stared at Karna with determination. By now, everyone had stopped whatever they were doing and looked over in Joseph's direction.

"Joseph! What are you doing!?" Bryan said angrily.

Joseph slowly removed his hand glove, A look of 'oh, so that's it' appeared on the face of Ron and Bryan.

"Joseph, this is not the time and place." Bryan said as his anger subsided a little.

Joseph completely ignored Bryan as he threw the hand glove in the air.

The sound of 'Shiing' echoed out in the banquet hall as the glove fell on the ground in two pieces. Few of the noble women gasped, surprised by the speed with which the sword torned the glove in two in a blink of an eye.

At this point, everyone in the hall understood what was going on. They watched with excitement and anticipation as the events were playing out.

"I, Joseph of House Walker, Challenge Rudra of House Zarx to a duel!" Joseph said his intention out loud.

Karna had seen from Rudra's memories that many hot-blooded youths challenged warriors for dual just like this. Many did not believe that Rudra was worth much as they constantly challenged him to duel and that's why Karna knew that he was in a precarious situation.

Rudra would have accepted the duel right away and shown the challenger their place in a dashing manner but this was Karna in Rudra's body. Although, after doing a lot of practice Karna was now able to cast the Fireball spell but Ron had told him to not reveal yet that he could use magic. And a mere fireball spell would not be enough to defeat a High 1st Ranked warrior anyways.

Karna knew that he had to do something to salvage the situation as soon as possible as he saw the anticipation in everyone's eyes. Although Duels were common among warriors but they did not like to make a show out of it.

The stories In the fairy tales where two knights fought in a duel as a large crowd watched and cheered them were considered to be ludicrous by the Nobility.

Warriors and Knights were proud of their strength, they had their own pride and they did not like when the crowd cheered as they fought each other. They did not work hard to entertain anyone nor they were slaves in the coliseum fighting for their freedom.

So when the people thought that they could have a rare chance to see a dual, they were excited.

Karna realized that he would have to fight at this rate, and he would surely lose if he did that. Joseph had said the family names while issuing the dual making it hard for Karna to refuse.

Karna looked at Joseph in annoyance. he said,

"I will get nothing by dueling you. I am a 2Nd Ranked warrior while you are just a 1st Ranked. What's even the point?" Karna said trying to dodge the issue.

"Hmph! I don't believe you! Prove it if you have the balls!" Joseph thought that his assumption was right as Karna tried to avoid the dual, and he became even more confident.

This was somewhat true as well. although rumors were that Rudra had stepped into the 2nd rank three years ago, but no one had confirmed it with their own eyes.

The people grew even more curious as they would be the first ones to confirm Rudra's strength.

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Karna truly had a headache. He looked at Ron's face from the corner of his eye. Ron wore a puzzled expression thinking as to why Karna would even argue about this and not show Joseph his place.

Time was running out and Karna had no choice but to leave everything to fate. He sighed and nodded.

Joseph smirked thinking that he would expose the 'Fake Genius'.

Karna's hand went toward the hilt of his sword. He decided to expose that he could use magic and try his best.

Karna held the hilt of his sword and just as he was about to draw the sword, a muffled scream sounded from outside the hall.

"HELP!"

Karna was shocked as he recognized the voice of Lara. He shot a glance toward Ron and ran in the direction of the voice instantly. He was truly concerned, he did not even realize that he had nearly dodged a bullet.

Joseph and others also followed behind Karna. Not far from the banquet hall, at the quarters of the servants where Lara and other Zarx Family servants were staying, Lara's room's door was nearly closed as a bit of light escaped from the short gap.

Karna pushed the door and he froze at the spot. Lara was lying on the bed and a drunk man who seemed to be the Walker Family's servant judging by his clothes, with a luscious smile was on top of her. The man was large in comparison to Lara and was trying to restrain her with one hand as his other hand was reaching toward Lara's body. Lara was struggling with all her might as a few bite marks could be seen on the man's hand which was blocking Lara's mouth and preventing her from screaming.

At this point, everyone had reached and seen the nasty scene. Everyone showed disgusted faces.

Karna felt his blood boiling as he trembled with rage. This was the first time he had been truly angry after coming to this world. Karna remembered Lara's kindness as his anger shot a hundred folds.

Suddenly a strange thing happened as Karna suddenly felt dizzy, his eyes closed on their own as he lost his senses completely.

Lara was still struggling, she did not even realize the arrival of so many people as she was panicking in fear at the moment. The drunk man was so wasted that he had no thoughts besides ravaging her.

Bryan was embarrassed as this had happened in his castle. Almost all guards were having their little party as the banquet was going on. The servant quarters weren't guarded much anyways so no one had noticed. No one would have heard Lara's scream if the music and clamor in the banquet hall had not stopped because of Joseph.

Naturally, the guards had noticed the commotion as they too arrived. Before they could take action and stop the drunk piece of sh*t, everyone noticed that Karna's demeanor had suddenly changed into a bloodthirsty asura. Incredible bloodlust could be felt in the surroundings as Rudra opened his eyes.

Rudra's eyes looked prideful and arrogant with a hint of anger. His posture changed into someone who had quite a bit of battle experience as no weak points could be exploited on his body.

Joseph was shocked to see such an abrupt change.

'WTF!? how is this possible? this is the same person that was in the banquet hall a moment ago?" Joseph thought in astonishment.

Every warrior recognized the bloodlust and the ferocious Warrior aura coming from Rudra's body as they understood that the rumors were indeed true.

Rudra's figure suddenly flickered as he appeared behind the drunk man instantly. He grabbed the neck of the man who was thinking of who knows what in his vile head with one hand.

Joseph and Bryan shouted in unison "Shiva's Dance of Fury!"

Rudra threw the man at the side toward the wall as if he was merely shrugging off the dust, the wall cracked as the man crashed into it. The man coughed up blood and died instantly as the back side of his head was banged and his spine cracked due to the immense force.

Lara finally realized that she was saved as she moved to the corner of the bed and curled up in trauma like a kitten.

Without saying anything, Rudra calmly walked towards her as he pulled her into his embrace. Lara felt the warmth coming from Rudra's body and melted like butter. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed uncontrollably.

Ron who had been watching the whole event smiled like the blooming of thousands of flowers. All his doubts and suspicions were cleared as he saw the warrior Aura and the use of the Zarx Family's movement technique. 'Shiva's Dance Of Fury' from Rudra.

Mia was watching Rudra's figure in a daze, and Bryan was truly surprised by the Zarx Family's movement technique. He felt that only if he had such high-quality techniques. Joseph had a complicated expression as he thought of the duel. He felt like a fool.

All in all, this banquet meant something to a lot of people. Especially for Karna, Rudra, Lara, and Perhaps even Mia and Joseph.

"I apologize that you had to see such an ugly event here," Bryan said apologetically as he bowed sincerely in embarrassment.

"No harm done, these things happen. The criminal has already been punished." Ron said indifferently but with a hint of pride.

Everyone sighed as they dispersed. The banquet was over. Rudra stayed in Lara's room to comfort her.