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Chapter 241

“That was something,” said Joshua.

“I’m glad you appreciate it…”

“So, Sir Valmont is the first A-Class offering?”

“Are you serious?”

Joshua shrugged. “Of course not.”

Valmont burst out laughing.

“I was just surprised to see you.”

“Oh, you don’t think I desire great honor? This is my chance to seize the center stage and become the continent’s celebrity.”

“You? Great honor?”

“Heh. I know—I didn’t come here just to talk. If I lose, the entire 6th Battalion will retreat.”

“...!”

The eyes of the imperial knights, who were silently watching the situation, widened.

“B-Battalion Commander, sir?” One of the 6th Battalion’s knights in the area voiced the doubts that all the Imperial Knights shared.

“What? Any complaints?”

“Well, no…”

“If you have any complaints, then you lead. Of course, before that, you’ll have to defeat me first here in Berche’s Bloody Battle.”

“Have you forgotten, sir?” The knight pounded his chest in frustration and surreptitiously glanced in the direction where Emperor Marcus was located.

Valmont’s expression hardened when he noted the Emperor’s attention. “I know what you’re thinking, but he said we could use any means. Heck, he even said we could use our family’s political power.”

Joshua’s eyes gleamed. Although Valmont had lowered his voice, it wasn’t low enough that Joshua couldn’t overhear. Thanks to that, he was able to know that the Emperor had different intentions.

‘I have no idea why he decided to step up but…’

“Even if the 6th Battalion gets wiped out, the others will still be there!” The 6th Battalion knight protested. “The losses then will be…!”

Joshua interjected quietly, “What happens if…”

“...?”

“What happens if one thousand knights attacked one person and don\'t win? What will happen then? Of course, I’m talking about the former and not the latter.”

“...!”

A suffocating silence gripped the training hall as Joshua continued to speak.

“You people have made a big deal out of this. Do you really think that the news isn’t going to spread?”

“That’s…” The 6th Battalion knight didn’t know what to say.

“The problem here isn’t what your people will think; it’s what other people will think.” I

“...”

“If Avalon’s Imperial Knights Order was defeated by one Superhuman, what do you think people will say or think? There are people much stronger than myself on the continent. Don’t you think people may feel that with just one of the Nine Stars or a Superhuman, they may be able to capture the Imperial Palace?” “...”

“I’m sure it will cause great humiliation on the Imperial Knights Order, and the national prestige will plummet. What do you think His Majesty will think about the Imperial Knights Order’s failure to subdue a lone man?”

The 6th Battalion knight gulped a mouthful of his own saliva, and his expression stiffened as he thought about the possible consequences—exile, execution, or even three generations execution.

However, the 6th Battalion knight found a glimmer of hope and exclaimed, “That will only come true if you win!”

“There is no other outcome,” said Joshua as he stared right at the 6th Battalion knight while raising his energy.

“...!”

“Ah!”

The mountain returned, pressing the knights into the ground from head to toe. Even the knights who hadn’t attacked fell victim. A thousand knights were forced to their knees before Joshua. He was in total control of everyone.

Knight Commander Rod himself clenched his fist uneasily. A long-forgotten feeling welled up from inside him: the spirit of pride he had when he was unbound. A pure, competitive urge to outdo the man in front of him.

“You still don’t get it?” Joshua took a step forward with the momentum of an entire mountain. “I’m not saying you can’t win, I’m saying that I don’t lose.”

“...!”

“Past, present, or future—defeat does not exist to me.”

Unfathomably arrogant—but to the knight, it didn’t seem that way at all when it came out of Joshua’s mouth. If anything, he was understating it.

“Here’s one more thing to think about.” Joshua got right up to the knight’s nose.

“Wha…t… Ugkkk…”

“Those petty, cunning, scheming aristocrats have already noticed it, but there’s a trap in His Majesty’s orders about using the power of your family or something…”

“Trap?” Valmont looked up while he was circulating his mana throughout his entire body to resist the mountain.

“In politics, information is power. Particularly information about inter-family power structures.”

“...!”

If you were to examine who is close to whom—the conflicts, the alliances, the trends that follow—you could extrapolate a lot…Of course, the information could have been fabricated as well, but the ability to identify suspicious forces is a net positive.” Joshua deliberately raised his voice as he spoke the last bit.

As expected, he received an immediate response.

“Hahaha!” Emperor Marcus burst into manic, uncontrollable madness.

It was at this moment that all doubts cleared and turned into certainty.

Valmont finally spoke, “Aren’t you ashamed? How could honorable knights play at being a ridiculous politician?”

“...”

“In the chivalry I had learned, at least, there were no such things as hundreds of knights taking up arms against each other for self-fulfillment.”

Valmont tightly gripped his sword and started walking toward Joshua. “So, even if I break you with a random attack, what would be the point?”

“...” Joshua\'s eyes narrowed as Valmont approached him.

He had never stopped the effect of the spear art himself. The other knights couldn’t resist the might of Joshua’s Spear Arts, but Valmont dun Brown was resisting it and could even move beneath the mountain.

“After that defeat, I struggled on my own for quite some time.”

“I see...”

“Of course, I don’t think I’d win just by reaching A-Class. However, Joshua Sanders, you’re even more monstrous than anyone I had ever seen.”

The Imperial Knights reeled. They stared wide-eyed at Valmont in shock. The infamous lazy Battalion Commander was actually an A-Class Knight?

“I wanted you to be the first person to receive this 4th stage, Profound Origin.”

A faint smile danced on Joshua’s lips. “It’s an honor.”

“If you manage to counter this… then yes. Rather than staying with the Imperial Knights for the rest of my life, it would be good to get a change of scenery.”

Joshua couldn’t believe it. “Are you saying that you want to become one of my knights?”

“If you’re going to allow me, yes,” replied Valmont.

“...”

Joshua remained silent as he wondered what Valmont was thinking.

“Setting that aside, I want to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?”

“It’ll be a win-win, so I’m sure you would want to do it as well.”

“Sure, if it’s not difficult. Of course…”

“...”

“It will only happen if you manage to beat me,” said Valmont. The good-natured smile on his face disappeared as the air around him changed.

The air began to tremble as if being torn apart as the Brown family’s secret technique was revealed once again. All the stars in the sky seemed to fall from his sword as he leaped forward in a decisive strike.

“...!” Joshua\'s eyes widened. Valmont was moving faster than Joshua had seen in their previous battle. He had fought against Valmont before but it was completely different from before.

One. Ten. Thirty. In an instant, dozens of silver lights shot forward.

As the Fastest Star of Avalon, Valmont was known for his dextrous swordplay that resembled a meteor, but the swordsmanship he was displaying right now wasn’t just a lone meteor. It was a meteor shower—a fierce, violent, and extremely destructive shower of falling stars.

‘He changed his speed and pacing; his strength also increased. Not to mention, even one Aura Blade is difficult but he’s created dozens…’

Joshua’s eyes twinkled. He was pleasantly surprised. It was difficult to imagine a brand-new A-Class pulling off a technique as complex as this.

In fact, even Knight of Red Flame Ulabis hadn’t progressed this fast.

Valmont dun Brown was a genius among geniuses; all he lacked was the drive to grow stronger. Joshua, a hardworking genius, had never encountered a talent that could match his own—except for one.

‘I don’t think it would be bad to give this model student a bit of a push.’ thought Joshua with a light smile as he brandished his sword. ‘You’re ripe enough to take one step further if you can see this, Battalion Commander Valmont.’

The time that had stopped finally started moving once more.

“...!” Valmont felt a sense of foreboding, and he raised his sword in response.

Valmont’s eyes widened when he saw Joshua’s move.

Joshua had raised his spear in a stance strikingly similar to Valmont, and the only difference was that Joshua was wielding a spear rather than a sword. Even more shocking was the stance Joshua had taken with the spear. Valmont was more familiar with that stance than anyone else.

“No way…” Valmont was dumbstruck.

Joshua’s muscles on his back started to twitch Lugia forward l. Lugia’s spearheads started to emit bright red tails in their wake, and the trails were much bigger and brighter than Valmont’s.

“What are those…?”

In the proverbial blink of an eye, hundreds of meteors descended on the training hall in a great meteor shower.