"Alright then, let us spar a bit, I want to see the durability of this halberd anyway." Vesper replied.
"What a pompous prick, he thinks he can stand against fifth brother." Benjamin's voice sounded in the background.
The owner of the voice that challenged Vesper was Theo. He wanted to train to vent his frustration, but he never thought his luck would shine, allowing him to challenge the person who frustrated him.
Vesper walked into the training grounds, staring at the halberd in his hands. The halberd looked more like a spear that had two curved blades on each side.
Swinging it, he felt familiar scenes where he used a halberd during battles. Rushing in, he closed his eyes, basking in this feeling.
Meanwhile, the training ground had some extra people around it. Catherine was in a corner, sitting on a pillar, Benjamin and Aurora were at the edge of the training grounds, and a young man with black hair and black eyes stood at another edge. He was the third prince, Prince Damian. He had a spear in his arms as he watched the two combatants in the middle of the training ground.
A young lady and a young man walked in together, both had red hair and red eyes. They were Morgana and her twin brother Morgan, the second princess and sixth prince.
Theo looked at the growing spectators and his expression turned grim. Although he was strong as an Adept ranker, he was not half as good as Vesper in weapon battles, seeing his siblings gathering to spectate the spar, left him feeling anxious.
"Are you ready, Prince Theodore?" Vespers' voice took Theo out of his thoughts.
'Well, I can always use my magic when it goes sideways," Theo thought.
"Oh well Vesper, show me what you got." Theo said, and he nodded towards a man standing at the edge. The man was the training master. His job was to train and guide the young princes and princesses.
"You may begin." The training master's voice boomed.
Theo unsheathed his sword as he took a step forward and lunged at Vesper.
"Foolish action, never lunge carelessly at your opponent without a plan." Vesper said as he thrust his halberd, aiming to pierce Theo's heart.
Theo hurriedly changed his attack and parried the halberd's blade and staggered left. As he made a move to go in for the attack again, Vespers' halberd was cutting through an arc aimed for him again.
With no choice, he had to step back and give space, then he landed away from Vespers' reach and took his breath.
"Lesson two, never give a spear user, halberd user, or battleaxe user space, you only just made their attacks much smoother."Vespers' voice sounded as he lunged forward and moved his halberd in graceful swings.
With every swing, Theo was forced to back down over and over. He never stood a chance from the beginning, and the most infuriating part was that Vesper didn't seem to be taking him seriously. In fact, Vesper was lecturing him.
Theo felt embarrassed and utterly humiliated. He hated Vesper not because he was a bastard, but because Vesper was a great fighter, be it hand to hand or with weapons, without his cultivation, he stood no chance against Vesper.
Theo felt Vesper was proud, and he hated it, it was he who was the son of the Emperor, not Vesper, why does Vesper have to be better than him. While he was lost in his rage and thoughts, Vespers' weapon came down tearing the fabric of his clothing and he looked at Vespers' hand position, and it was drawn a bit backward.
Meaning Vesper could have cut him if he wished it, and this fact made him go over the edge.
Theo dodged and moved faster while his sword released wind blades, slashing towards Vesper at an impossible speed.
But who was Vesper, a man who had two lifetimes of battles, the most revered swordsman in his previous life and a great halberd user in this life, he had seen that Theo would use his mana, but he didn't expect him to use it so blatantly.
Vesper did not even intend to humiliate Theo, he felt like he was in his past life where he taught Arthur how to use the sword, and instinctively gave Theo lectures.
Shaking his head, Vesper waved his halberd as he side stepped. His motion became like a dance as he avoided most of the wind blades, but two tore his fabric and even wounded him.
Although the wounds Vesper sustained were superficial, they still stung, Vesper grimaced as he placed his hand on the wound.
As Theo was about to step forward to continue his attack, his sword clashed with another sword. Looking forward, Aurora stood before Theo with rage in her eyes.
Although Theo was older than Aurora, she was a stage above him in rank, the air grew hotter as her blade started burning crimson.
"That is enough." The training master's voice sounded. Although he had seen Theo lunge at Vesper, he hadn't moved because he did not want to anger the Empress for a boy living in the royal palace who had no family there. But seeing Aurora face Theo, he could stop them before the situation escalated.
Aurora and Theo backed off as they looked at each other. Theo's gaze carried a hint of contempt as he stared at the wounded Vesper behind Aurora.
"What happened to not using magic Theo, or are your words now too cheap?" Aurora asked.
Theo simply scoffed and didn't reply, clearly he was not going to give in to her.
"It is a pity to think you are part of the royal family, a prince who can not honour his words, I wonder what Lord father would think, when he hears, his son can't keep to his words." Aurora continued as she sneered and walked towards Vesper.
Theo on the other hand was electrified with fear as her words landed, he had not thought of what their father would do when he found out he didn't honour his word.
Emperor Marcus may allow Vesper being bullied and insulted, but he would not stand a child of his not keeping their word.
Back then all of them had seen the fate of Amon, their fourth brother, when he went against his word after losing to Damian, their third brother.
Without hesitation Theo ran out of the training grounds to one of the castles in the palace, it was the palace of the first Empress, the same palace that Vesper felt that hostile gaze from.
Aurora walked towards Vesper and waved her hand as a bottle appeared, "Here this this healing potion, it would heal your wounds." She said as she looked at his body with concern.
"Thank you."Vesper said as he took it and downed it in one go, it left a nasty taste in his mouth, so he didn't like healing potions one bit.
"Let us go back, I need to rest, even when this halberd clashed against Theo's adept ranked sword it didn't show any sing on crack, with that I ca say it is fairly durable." Vesper said as he turned to head out when he heard a voice.
"Wait." the male voice said.