Ryan's saber flashed forward.
Before Damian could fully launch his next attack, the blade had already reached his chest.
Rip!
A clean tear appeared across the front of Damian's training armor.
The tear was smooth and flat.
But there was not a single wound on his body.
"You...?"
Damian stared at the tear in disbelief, his eyes filled with shock.
He didn't understand why Ryan had managed to attack first when the previous collision had clearly pushed Ryan backward.
"You've lost!"
Ryan smiled slightly, looked at Damian, and said teasingly.
He could have extended the saber slightly farther and injured Damian with that last attack.
So he had clearly won the spar.
The reason Ryan hadn't gone farther wasn't because he was kind-hearted.
He simply couldn't.
This was, after all, only a sparring match.
Teacher Chaucer obviously would not allow students to deliberately injure one another.
If anyone showed clear signs of trying to cause serious injury, Chaucer would immediately stop the fight.
As for why Ryan's saber had reached Damian first, the reason was simple.
Ryan's movements now connected almost seamlessly.
There was barely any pause between the end of one movement and the beginning of the next.
Damian was different.
His movements still contained tiny pauses.
Although those pauses were extremely short, they were enough for Ryan to seize the initiative.
"I actually lost?"
Upon hearing Ryan's words, Damian's face immediately turned ashen.
He had actually lost to Ryan.
There was a time when Ryan had been exactly the kind of student Damian looked down upon the most.
Ryan had failed assessments and had once been close to expulsion.
But the person Damian had once looked down upon had now actually defeated him.
The feeling was almost unreal.
Although Damian had witnessed Ryan's terrifying progress over the past month, he still found it difficult to accept when Ryan truly defeated him through technique.
Ryan glanced at Damian's ashen face and shook his head.
He had originally wanted to say something to retaliate against him.
After all, Damian had originally approached him under Victor's orders.
But after thinking about it, Ryan gave up.
Damian had served as his free sparring partner for an entire month.
Even if Ryan still disliked him, there was no need to take it further.
"Ryan actually defeated Damian?!"
Upon seeing this scene, the students who were practicing nearby kept glancing in this direction. They were stunned and even forgot what they were doing.
Fortunately, their opponents were in almost the same state, so no accidents occurred.
For the past month, Damian had frequently challenged Ryan to spar, which they had all noticed.
Naturally, they guessed that Damian was probably acting on Victor's orders to retaliate against Ryan.
They had expected Victor's retaliation against Ryan.
After all, Victor came from the Langford family, one of Greyhaven's major Blood Warrior families. An ordinary student who offended someone like him could hardly expect the matter to end peacefully.
The only thing that surprised them was that even when facing Damian, the strongest student in Class Six, Ryan had not been defeated on the spot.
This really surprised them.
After all, not long ago, Ryan had nearly been expelled from Aegis Martial Academy because he had failed the assessment.
In their eyes, it was already a miracle that such a person could remain undefeated under Damian's attacks.
But what they didn't expect was that under Damian's repeated "bullying," Ryan's strength was actually growing rapidly, and he was gradually turning the tide.
Now, Ryan had even defeated Damian, becoming the strongest person in Class Six.
This was really hard for them to accept.
Was this really the same Ryan who had almost been expelled from Aegis Martial Academy?
"He even defeated Damian..."
Among the students, a pair of venomous eyes stared at Ryan from behind.
It was Derek Holt.
Some time ago, Victor suddenly received orders from his family to leave the academy and had not returned since.
Before leaving, he had arranged for Derek and Damian to continue dealing with Ryan.
Upon receiving the order, Derek had been full of confidence.
With the cooperation of Damian, the strongest student in Class Six, he didn't believe they couldn't deal with Ryan.
In his opinion, Ryan would definitely be miserably beaten by the 2 of them.
But reality was beyond his expectations.
Even with Damian repeatedly challenging Ryan, they had still failed to cause him much trouble.
Now, even Damian had been defeated by Ryan.
Without a doubt, Derek had completely failed to deal with him.
"Damn it, that guy is stronger than Damian now. I can't mess with him anymore. I can only deal with him after Young Master Victor comes back."
Thinking of this, Derek tried his best to hide himself among the students, hoping Ryan wouldn't notice him.
Little did he know, Ryan had already noticed him.
As his strength increased, Ryan's senses had become sharper.
The moment Derek stared at him with resentment, Ryan immediately noticed.
"That guy is like a persistent ghost!"
Seeing Derek squeeze into the crowd of students and finally hide himself, Ryan frowned.
Derek was now like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Such a person was undoubtedly dangerous.
Ryan had long intended to eliminate him.
However, he hadn't found the chance to act.
He had been busy with his own affairs, constantly trying to improve himself.
Furthermore, he didn't have the money or connections to access any underground assassination organization.
If he wanted to deal with Derek, he would have to do it personally, which complicated matters and had dragged things out until now.
...
Later that evening.
As usual, after Ryan finished cultivating in the academy's grove, he prepared to return.
However, just as he was about to leave the grove, his expression changed slightly, and a trace of shock appeared in his eyes.
His gaze moved vaguely toward the bottom of a tree 3 meters away.
The tree was large.
Under its shadow, there appeared to be nothing.
It was completely empty.
However, Ryan knew there was a person there.
Human: Silas Vane
Cultivation Talent: Inferior
Shadow Talent: Primary
Ryan's ability to detect talents had long since become almost instinctive.
Anything that entered the area within approximately 3 meters of him could be detected.
It was also one of the ways he protected himself.