Before Noah or the others could even react, Logan was already there, right in front of Noah, his fist shooting forward with terrifying force.
Noah managed to dodge, but only at the last possible mont, and not because he saw it coming. It was pure instinct.
Whoosh!
A violent gust of air burst forth from Logan’s punch, tearing through the space where Noah had just been standing.
"That speed...! Can it really be just from internal energy?" Noah’s eyes widened in disbelief. He was utterly stunned.
And he wasn’t the only one.
The others, watching from the distance, stood frozen, completely dazed by what they had just witnessed.
Logan moved again, charging toward Noah with his fist clenched tight.
But this ti, Noah was ready.
He raised his hands and activated his magic in an instant. A burst of wind hurled him backward, putting a great distance between him and Logan.
Then he raised both arms.
From his left hand, gravity magic surged forth, pressing down on Logan like a crumbling mountain, trying to crush him under its imnse weight.
In his right hand, lightning sparked to life. Bolts of raw, destructive energy shot into the sky before crashing down like divine punishnt. The ground trembled. The air crackled. Thunder roared, numbing the ears of everyone watching.
But the scene they all expected... never ca.
Even under the suffocating gravity, Logan kept moving. Step by step. And as the lightning bolts rained down, he weaved through them like a ghost, untouchable.
A phantom dancing through chaos.
Seeing that the gravity spell had no effect, Noah quickly shifted tactics.
He lowered his left arm a little and began hurling a relentless barrage of wind blades.
Each one sliced through the air with razor-sharp precision, kicking up clouds of dust as they surged forward toward Logan like a storm of invisible knives.
Thinking this would surely work, Noah allowed himself to relax a little. The others watching from a distance shared the sa thought.
But once again, Logan defied all expectations.
He kept dodging. Effortlessly. Though it looked like any of the wind blades could strike him at any mont, not a single one landed. Each attack missed by the narrowest margin. They couldn’t even graze him.
"It’s not just his speed..." Ali murmured under his breath, eyes narrowed. "His reflexes, his intuition... it’s like they’re supercharged. As if he knows exactly what’s coming next. He’s not wasting a single drop of energy, just enough of a twist to dodge, just enough movent to slip past the next strike."
The rest beside him said nothing.
They simply stared, utterly bewildered.
"Is he really not using any magic?!"
Jasper and the other mage from the Mage’s Court exchanged stunned glances, the sa thought flashing through their minds. "How can soone move like that without any magical reinforcent?!"
On the other side, Charles and a hunter from a foreign kingdom narrowed their eyes, disbelief etched into their faces.
"What the hell is Arcadia Kingdom raising?" Charles muttered under his breath. "What kind of monster are they nurturing over there?"
And just when they thought they had seen it all, just when they began to think they finally understood what cultivation and internal energy truly ant, sothing happened.
Sothing bone-shakingly unreal.
In the middle of his evasive movent, Logan bent low. His right arm curled back like a coiled spring, every muscle compressed with terrifying precision ready to explode.
Logan then thrust his fist forward, and in that instant, a colossal wave of destructive pressure burst forth, surging ahead like an invisible punch.
Whoosh!
Noah reacted swiftly, sweeping his hand across the air. A wind barrier materialized instantly before him.
But it wasn’t enough.
The invisible force shattered the barrier like it was glass and continued barreling forward until it slamd straight into Noah’s chest.
BAM!
Noah’s body was flung back like a rag doll.
"Wh... What was that?! Did he just use magic?" Jasper asked, his voice trembling with confusion.
"No," Ali replied calmly, his tone steady and sure.
Standing just behind him, Emily gave a firm nod, as if to confirm without a doubt that Ali was right.
anwhile, before Ethan could even register the pain, Logan had already disappeared again.
And in the very next mont, while Noah was still midair, hurtling backward, Logan reappeared behind him, both hands clasped tightly together.
He brought them down like a sledgehamr.
BOOM!
The ground quaked as Noah’s body crashed down with a thunderous thud, sending up a cloud of dust and loose soil.
But Noah wasn’t soone who could be defeated so easily.
Just as Logan lunged toward him again, Noah raised a hand and with it, a gentle breeze suddenly surged into a raging tempest.
The air twisted into a violent tsunami of wind, roaring toward Logan like a living storm.
Logan tried to dodge but the storm wrapped around him, tearing through his clothes and ripping into his skin like invisible blades.
"Oh no! He went overboard..." Emily thought, her heart tightening with worry.
But just then, Logan burst out of the swirling tsunami of wind, his body cutting through the storm. He had thrown a punch earlier, but not at Noah, though. It was at the opposite side, using the recoil to propel himself out.
And then, in the blink of an eye, he was rushing toward Noah again.
What followed was a breathtaking exchange.
Noah’s spells lit up the air with dazzling brilliance, wind blades, lightning bursts, and spiraling vortexes of pressure but Logan’s movents were faster, sharper, and eerily precise. Every step, every dodge, every counter sent a chill down the spines of those watching.
Finally, Ali stepped forward.
His voice rang out through the silent, wind-torn field. "That’s enough."
Everyone turned toward him, stunned. "Why did the Guildmaster stop the match so suddenly?" They weren’t satisfied.
They wanted more. They wanted to understand more.
Ali, sensing their frustration, spoke again.
"I believe that’s enough for everyone to grasp what cultivation and internal energy are truly capable of," he said firmly. "If they keep going, one of them is bound to get hurt. And Logan, he just reunited with his family after a long ti. Let’s not risk taking him away from Miss Smith so soon."
His words settled over the crowd like a soft blanket, silencing any protest.
Because deep down... they knew he was right.
Noah and Logan both nodded respectfully before turning back, walking toward the carriage.
As they approached, Noah gave a warm smile. "Logan, that was marvelous," he said sincerely. "I hope soday you’ll have ti to spar with Lilith. Just... don’t use your full strength though."
Despite being older and more experienced, Noah hadn’t been able to gain even the slightest advantage against Logan. But that didn’t bother him, not in the least. If anything, he was thrilled. Thrilled to witness sothing so rare... so powerful. Thrilled to see firsthand what cultivation and internal energy could truly achieve.
"So this is what the other races are desperately seeking. Of course they would." he thought.
And even more than that, he was relieved.
Relieved to know that soone like Logan existed. Yes, he now knew about the risks very well. But what was life without danger? If not monsters from other planets, there would always be other new threats. All one could do was to move forward.
On the plus side, he found a way to help his daughter.
So he didn’t miss the opportunity. He made the offer right away. "Maybe he can help temper her attitude a little." He thought.
Logan, on the other hand, could only chuckle awkwardly. He rembered the promise he’d already made to Lilith, thanks to Ali’s little nudge earlier.
"Sure, Mr. Starwind," he replied with a nod, trying not to show the slight sweat behind his smile.
As they walked side by side toward the carriage, the tension from the duel still clung faintly to the air.
But the silence didn’t last long.
The mont Logan and Noah ca within view, people who had been watching from the distance except for Ali rushed forward, unable to hold back any longer.
"Logan!"
"Mr. Starwind!"
They were instantly surrounded.
Even though the duel had ended, the weight of what they had just witnessed still lingered in everyone’s eyes. The awe. The shock. The sheer disbelief.
"Logan, how did you dodge lightning like that?!"
"That punch in the air, was it a technique? Or pure force?"
"Was that really not magic at all?!"
Jasper from the Mage’s Court stepped forward, his brows still furrowed in disbelief. "What kind of training even allows this level of movent without mana flow? This goes against all foundational theory!"
Logan scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh... it’s... kind of hard to explain. I just move.... with speed."
That wasn’t the answer anyone wanted, but it was all he had right now.
"Give the boy so ti to breathe, everyone," Ali said, raising his hand to calm the crowd. "Soon enough, we’ll get all the answers we’re looking for."
He paused for a mont, letting his words settle before continuing.
"But right now, ask yourselves... what is it that you truly want to know?"
His gaze swept across the gathering.
"You want to know how to beco like him, don’t you?"
A hushed silence followed.
No one denied it.
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