Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

Looking from his special seat in the VIP room, as the staff of the coliseum were thawing out the remaining ice on the arena, Emperor Alfred Dixon was wearing a concerned look. Seeing how powerful and seemingly untouchable Erik could be, Emperor Alfred could not help but think about the fate of his son, Edward.

(Are you sure you are going to be okay?)

Asking that inwardly to his son, the emperor turned to his bodyguard, Gavar, who was standing next to his seat.

"Gavar, have you gathered the information about him?"

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty." Gavar nodded. "According to the information I acquired from the guild, Erik never became an adventurer in any county, even in his country of origin, the Kingdom of Astley. Actually, this is the first time anyone heard of him, so there is almost no information about him prior to the tournament."

"I see. He is truly a mysterious person. That only worsens the situation Edward is in. But isn't it strange how someone as powerful as him remained unknown until now?"

"I have been thinking about it too, Your Imperial Majesty. It was like he intended to show himself specifically for this time."

"If that was the case, what could possibly be his intentions and goals? We cannot be sure if he really wants the championship. I am afraid it has something to do with Edward."

"No matter what his intentions are, I am always here to protect you, His Imperial Highness, and everyone."

"I am glad that you are here, Gavar. But still, I still could not stop bothering about the safety of my son. He may be having that absurd armor, but it is still a mystery where it came from even though it is said to be a property of the Aethel family."

"Are you perhaps thinking about confiscating it after this?"

"No. Neither I nor the empire could just take private property unless it became a threat. Though I might be questioning the Aethel family about the details of the armor, it really did its job to fulfill its purpose."

"I agree."

A few minutes later, the arena had been cleared up, and the next match started afterwards.

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"Folded Slash!"

Gripping his sword with both of his hands, Prince Edward Dixon, in shining armor, swung his blade five times at his opponent. Each slash was fast and powerful, and his opponent was having a hard time absorbing all that force with his sword.

In his third match of the tournament, Edward was faced against Marcus, a sword-wielding warrior from the Queendom of Raevender. He was the only active Supreme Rank adventurer in the queendom at the level of almost Level 500. Mylene and Claire had retired, and their children, Raphael and Louise, were not actively doing guild missions.

"Guh—!"

Marcus groaned in pain after successfully blocking the powerful fifth blow. His hands and arms became numb for a few seconds. He had expected the prince to be powerful, but not to that extent.

"Hah!"

Since the armor did not grant him additional skills and techniques like Dash or Instantaneous Movement, Edward ran fast to get close to Marcus, who was still recovering his strength, and swung his sword anew.

Marcus barely had the strength to move, but he managed to avoid it. He then used that momentum to land a strike on Edward's exposed side.

"Power Swing!"

Clink!

Minimizing his energy, Marcus used a low-level technique and successfully hit Edward's ribs. However, even though it was a sure strike, Edward was only budged for an inch, and the armor was left unscratched and undented. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire

Even though they had been fighting for around two minutes, Marcus was already out of breath and feeling weak. He felt like the trade between his efforts and the results was astronomically awful. He could not do a thing on Edward no matter what he did.

(Even though he moves like an amateur, each of his strikes is sure deadly.) Marcus noted inwardly. (One direct hit is all it takes for me to die.)

Through the match, Marcus had always been on the defensive in spite of the fact that he could not match Edward's strength and speed. He only struck on him whenever he saw an opening, albeit his attacks seemed to be ineffective.

Marcus had been in danger many times, but he was afraid of getting hit by the prince's blade. In fact, he was afraid of death.

Unlike the Imperial Capital and other major cities, the formerly Viscounty of Raevender did not have a dungeon. Hence, adventurers had no access to its features, especially the resurrection perk.

For that reason, Marcus and many adventurers from the queendom had yet to experience death and resurrection. That was why Marcus was having a hard time facing it for the first time even though he had the bracelet.

Even though his mind and heart wanted to fight, his body was begging to differ. With almost no stamina, Marcus was sure he could only take a few of the prince's strikes.

"Double Slash!"

"Ha!"

Clink! Clink!

Edward swung his sword at Marcus twice, which Marcus painfully blocked. After that, Edward raised his sword overhead and then swung it vertically with might. Since it was a predictable move, Marcus was able to step aside and dodge it. That miss made some cracks on the floor.

With Edward recovering his stance, Marcus saw it as an opportunity to attack.

(Fuck it. I'll go all out for my next and final move.)

Motivating himself to accept his fate, Marcus consumed all of his fighting spirit for his final move. His sword glowed a faint light before he raised his sword and took his stance.

"Earth Splitter!"

Executing a Level 9 Sword Art technique, Marcus powerfully swung his sword down with all the remaining strength he had. However, before his blade hit its target, Edward had made his move.

"Armor Cutter!"

Edward slashed his sword diagonally, and it clashed with Marcus's attack. However, due to their massive gap, in both stats and current condition, Edward's superior quality blade snapped Marcus's sword in half, and it continued moving toward his body. The sword hit Marcus's torso and cleaved his flesh and bones, cutting him in half as well.

"The winner of this match is His Imperial Highness Edward, and he has advanced to the semifinals...!"

A few seconds later, the bracelet triggered, and Marcus's body immediately restored into one piece. The referee then judged Edward the victor.

(Alright, one to go before the finals.) clenching his fist, Edward thought. (I will prove my worth to you, Father.)