Supreme Ruler: Reincarnated as the Emperor's Bastard Son

"Please get ready, Young Master."

It was finally time for Ashoka to join in for the fun.

"Alright."

As Karguel instructed him to get ready, Ashoka took out his wooden sword and get onto the sparring field.

As he stood at the center of the training ground, the eyes of the trainees shone.

Ashoka, the youngest prince of the empire, the one who was known as a monstrous genius and an extremely skilled monster.

According to the trainees, being able to witness Ashoka's skills was the highlight of the sparring sessions.

"Garam, Sista, David, Marina… You will be facing Young Master Ashoka in that order."

Ashoka grabbed his wooden sword and faced his first opponent.

'Hm, so I need to defeat ten cadets.'

His highest score so far was eight.

By increasing that number by two, he was thinking of breaking his own limit.

If this were a real battle to the death instead of a spar, Ashoka could easily take down twenty of them without question… But during a spar, he couldn't use lethal moves which could threaten the opponent's life, and even magic was banned, so it was a bit hard.

He could only use pure swordsmanship in order to win. Moreover, he couldn't kill his opponents.

'Let's see how much time I need to defeat the ten.'

It has been a long since he defeated 8 trainees in a row and he had improved much more till now, so he was kind of confident that he would win and wanted to do it in the shortest time possible.

While they could overpower Ashoka when he first arrived at, their younger brotheKarguel's training ground, now he could easily turn them into rags during spars.

Furthermore, Ashoka believed that there were still a few more things he could learn from the trainees. And having seen through Paul's movements today, Ashoka realized that he had made the correct decision to stay behind a little longer.

"If you shall allow me, Young Master Ashoka."

"Yes, Garam. I'll be in your care."

Swoosh!

Garam darted towards Ashoka and wielded his wooden sword. A surprise attack. He had calculated that if he didn't seize control of the duel from the start, he would never win against Ashoka.

However, that was a bad move.

As he watched the wooden sword fly towards his chest, Ashoka pushed himself forward instead of dodging. But at the last moment, he sidestepped, trampled on Garam's foot, and swung his sword towards his opponent's neck.

Be that as it may, Garam hadn't become a secret knight cadet through pure luck. He twisted his body out of reflex and avoided Ashoka's attack.

"Urgh!"

But it wasn't a perfect evasion. Ashoka's sword hit Garam's ear instead of his neck before slashing the air behind him.

'I missed, but it wasn't bad.'

After having put some distance between them, Garam gripped his sword tightly. But because of the injury, his eardrums were ringing and his sense of balance took a turn for the worse for a short while.

If Ashoka were facing only a single opponent, he could've waited to let Garam recover.

But he had another nine spars to fight. Ashoka suddenly appeared before Garam and ended the first duel.

Since he had lost his sense of balance, Ashoka could easily defeat Edington without hurting him too badly.

"...It's my loss, Young Master."

"Good game, Garam. Go have the medical team check your ear."

"Yes, thank you very much."

"Next up, Sista! Begin the spar immediately."

With Karguel's shout, the second duel was initiated.

"I'll be in your care, Young Master Ashoka."

"Likewise, Sista."

The second fight didn't end as quickly as it did with Garam. The ten winners Karguel had chosen were ordered from the weakest to the strongest.

so the battle was much harder than the previous one.

***

Sista lasted about one minute longer than Garam but still didn't manage to injure or wear out Ashoka.

After her was David, but Ashoka's spar against him ended in a similar way as his two previous ones. However, David was somewhat more tenacious than Sista and Ashoka had to exert more strength than before, due to which his opponent ended up with a broken rib.

A simple fracture can easily be dealt with by the magic tower's medical team. As long as the injuries aren't fatal—such as amputated limbs or damaged vital organs—the medical team can fully heal the victim in an instant.

"Urgh, that was enlightening, Young Master. Thank you for your guidance! Urgh!"

Ashoka flinched when he saw David lose consciousness and fall over, all the while keeping a smile on his face and a thumbs up.

Just… how many more of these muscle-brained lunatics are there in this crazy magic tower?? Even if Ashoka was in a higher position than David, no sane person would smile and show gratitude to the man who just destroyed one of their ribs.

Moreover, it wasn't a forced statement. David was truly grateful from the bottom of his heart. Ashoka hid his discomfort and lightly nodded back.

Swoosh, swoosh.

Ashoka lightly swung his wooden sword around, waiting for his next opponent.

"I am Merina Steelheart, Young Master."

"I am aware of your name. You're the second daughter of the Steelheart family."

"It's an honor to have you remember me. I won't be as easy to deal with as the other cadets you faced before me. Today, I will definitely defeat you, Young Master."

"I look forward to it."

Merina positioned herself and prepared for battle. She then calmly began circling Ashoka without showing any openings. No wonder she was the strongest of Karguel's beginner class cadets.

She wasn't behaving the same way as when she was mercilessly attacking Paul.

Merina was looking down on Paul and attacking without considering the consequences. However, Ashoka was a completely different opponent compared to Paul, so she completely changed her attitude and approach to the duel.

'Merina Steelheart. With her talent, she could have joined the royal army or should have trained under the Steelheart Marques but she choose the tower of wisdom over them due to her immense respect for Sage Chanakya, who was her idol.'

She was the perfect example of an elite.

'Considering her growth it wouldn't be hard for her to join the secret knights, It wouldn't hurt to have a good relationship with her.'

Even though she hadn't seen through Paul's true strength, Merina was still an extremely gifted fighter.

Ashoka had sparred against Merina a total of seven times until now. He had lost the first two times and won the remaining five. And each time, the difference in their skills and strength was getting wider and wider.

And through his duels against talented individuals like Merina, Ashoka realized how impressive his gift with the sword was.

'I still need to face six more opponents after Merina. But holding back my strength and energy while facing Merina is a bad idea. I need to defeat her in a direct confrontation in order to plant fear in my next opponents' heads.'

His spars against Garam, Sista, and David were merely appetizers.

The duels against the real elites of the beginner training class started with Merina. And for the 14-year-old Ashoka, defeating them all head-on in succession would be demanding and strenuous.

Therefore, Ashoka was planning on planting a 'misconception' in the other cadets' minds during his duel against Merina that they would never be able to win against Ashoka in a head-on battle.

'Having a frontal clash, while still looking relaxed and calm the entire time. Those are the two key points I need to keep in mind during this spar.'

This time, Ashoka was the first to make a move.

His attacks consisted of the most basic of stabs and slashes. Not a single irregular or odd movement was added. Merina easily parried and avoided his attacks, but as the offensive continued, her thoughts got complicated and heavy.

'Why is the young master only using such basic attacks?'

While they were your standard attacks, each move was heavy and sharp. Merina's hands and wrists were going numb from parrying all of them.

However, that wasn't the reason why her mind was boggled.

'When will he start going all out?'

'He had the opportunity to send my sword flying just now, but he didn't.'

'He's definitely doing this on purpose. But why…'

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His attacks consisted of the most basic of stabs and slashes. Not a single irregular or odd movement was added. Merina easily parried and avoided his attacks, but as the offensive continued, her thoughts got complicated and heavy.

'Why is the young master only using such basic attacks?'

While they were your standard attacks, each move was heavy and sharp. Merina's hands and wrists were going numb from parrying all of them.

However, that wasn't the reason why her mind was boggled.

'When will he start going all out?'

'He had the opportunity to send my sword flying just now, but he didn't.'

'He's definitely doing this on purpose. But why…'

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