Many years ago, within the Sano Family, Glass Sano used to duel with his cousins with extraordinary skill.
He was unmatched in swordsmanship within the family, and he defeated everyone who challenged him.
One girl asked him,
"Glass, you are too strong. Why don't you let us defeat you even once?!"
Glass felt slightly embarrassed and replied,
"Alright, I will allow you to win this time."
He stopped the flow of aura within his body and allowed himself to be defeated by his cousin.
However, the world around him suddenly changed.
He could no longer see anything.
In the middle of his confusion, his vision returned.
But he felt that his body's position was different.
He had been standing before, but now it felt as if he was pinning someone to the ground with his sword.
When his vision became clear, his body trembled.
He immediately threw himself backward.
His cousin was beneath him, twisting in pain.
A red line of blood was visible on her neck, and traces of frost covered her body.
The moment he looked around, his heart tightened and his blood froze.
His eyes widened in shock and fear.
All of his cousins were lying on the ground.
Their breathing was weak, and they could not move a single limb.
When Glass sensed his own condition, he discovered that his body was somewhat exhausted and his magic had been drained.
"What... is this...?!"
Glass looked up and saw his uncle Brad Sano and his sister Beliza Sano.
Both of them had terrifying expressions.
They had witnessed everything and arrived immediately.
Glass tried to defend himself.
"Uncle... I..."
But a slap struck his face and shook his entire body.
Glass's expression became shocked and confused.
Brad shouted at him with extreme anger.
At that moment, his sister tried to stand up.
However, Glass could do nothing except collapse.
.....
Shion Lan stood facing Glass Sano.
His eyes were cold, but there was something different within them.
Shion felt uncertain.
'This... this is not the Glass I know.'
In the spectator stands, the uncle and sister stopped watching with ordinary expressions.
Brad spoke with a trace of tension,
"It has started again!"
Beliza felt pain in her chest as she asked,
"Will they be alright?"
Whether it was Shion or Glass, what would happen next would not be simple.
Brad replied,
"Let us hope Shion will be alright."
Glass moved his blue sword.
The cold aura flowed through it in an organized and elegant manner.
At that moment, Shion's eyes widened in shock.
'This control?!
Is he trying to enter the fifth level?!'
But Shion shook his head and thought,
'No! He only reached the fourth level yesterday!
No matter how strange and talented Glass is, he should not be able to control aura in this way!'
However, Glass seemed unaware of his thoughts.
He moved forward with a single step.
The distance between them disappeared instantly.
He thrust his sword toward Shion.
But Shion, who had become accustomed to death through countless battles against Shi Yun Lan, reacted instinctively.
He blocked the attack with the body of his sword.
The impact pushed him backward.
As the shock deepened within him, Glass spoke with a cold and emotionless voice,
"It seems you managed to block that attack. You have decent skills..."
He looked at Shion calmly and continued,
"Surrender. I will not be harsh during this battle, and I can allow you to join the Sano Family."
Shion and everyone present were shocked by those words.
Solan Neumann said,
"Something is wrong with him!
Spirits!"
Different spirits appeared before Solan.
She gave them a single mission,
"Spy on the Sano Family!"
Glass's change was completely unnatural.
It was as if he was no longer a human and had been replaced by something else.
She believed the matter was connected to the family, so she decided to discover the truth before interfering and causing problems for Shion.
Meanwhile, Forite reassured Rita,
"Do not worry. Nothing will happen to your son."
Although Rita was disturbed, Marie and Lindy tried to calm her.
However, Forite's thoughts moved elsewhere.
'If my predictions are correct...
There is a spirit controlling Glass at this moment.'
She didn't care.
'Despite his experience and strength, I cannot see it...
The possibility of defeating Shion.'
Shion stood up, holding his sword.
He said,
"Your offer is somewhat tempting, but I do not feel that these words are coming from you. Therefore, I refuse."
Glass smiled.
A cold smile capable of frightening opponents and making them feel the chill.
"Are you certain?"
But Shion, who did not care about this cheap imitation of Shi Yun Lan's atmosphere, replied,
"I did not expect you to possess a tongue greater than your sword skills."
As his words ended, icy blades appeared throughout the area.
It was the spell,
"(Ice Blades)!"
They filled the surroundings around Glass and carried a faint glow of aura.
Glass said,
"You brought this upon yourself."
As soon as his words ended, the blades shot toward Shion at unnatural speed.
Shion moved the aura within him at incredible speed.
In an instant, the technique:
"(Path of the Stellar River)"
began operating.
Through his flowing and connected movements, he blocked the icy blades.
The moment he destroyed one, he redirected his sword to the side to block the second.
Then he swung backward to intercept the third.
He moved calmly between the attacks of the blades.
However, he was careful not to destroy these blades completely.
He thought,
'This is extremely similar to fighting Shi Yun Lan!
But from what I learned, attacks that rely on overwhelming numbers exhaust the mage.'
He was defending.
'The correct way to deal with this type of mage is either to destroy the entire spell at once and cause a backlash, or to prolong the battle until their mental energy is consumed from controlling the objects, which become weaker over time.'
'However...'
His eyes met those cold eyes that showed no sign of surrender.
Without wasting time, Glass moved quickly in front of Shion.
He launched sword attacks toward him.
Shion focused all of his senses on blocking every attack.
He clenched his teeth.
'This... is difficult!'
Neutralizing the attacks and defending against Glass was becoming a challenge.
Although the vein area inside his body did not limit the amount of energy he could consume, in reality, his body was suffering from both exhaustion and freezing at the same time.
His movements began showing mistakes.
"You are finished."
With a single sentence from Glass, his sword moved smoothly between Shion's defenses.
Shion reacted quickly.
He released an intense star aura that pushed the sword away from its path.
"(Star Vortex)!"
However, it did not prevent a wound from appearing on his chest.
Everyone was shocked.
Crown Princess Jina Joul looked at Director Tim Ayr with disbelief.
"Please! Stop the match!"
But the director ignored her.
Instead, he asked King Jord Joul,
"What do you think of Glass Sano's movements?"
The king's expression changed.
"He is not him."
He looked toward the director.
"Shouldn't you stop the match?"
The director replied,
"Honestly, I am curious to see the limits of that boy."
Asking Jord,
"Are you not curious as well?"
He smiled while focusing on the arena.
"Even if one of them is close to death, I will stop it at the right moment."
As Shion's star aura intensified and the energy within his stars exploded, he thought,
'I only scratched the wall...'
'But it hurt me.'
'However...'
'I can continue!'
Shion's unique sword collided with Glass's blue sword.
Both released their techniques.
"(Path of the Stellar River)!"
With a medium-level ice-element technique, Glass moved.
"(Subzero Duel)!"
Glass's eyes shone with cold blue light.
He moved toward Shion.
His sword aura dominated the area.
Shion slowly retreated under the pressure.
Yet his sword continued moving and collided with Glass's.
Glass thought,
'My techniques are advancing toward the intermediate level.'
He looked at Shion,
'Yet this boy is still standing...
Interesting!'
Shion's fingers and lips began trembling.
Many openings appeared, which Glass used to increase his pressure.
Shion thought,
'(Subzero Duel) is a technique that weakens the opponent and causes their body to tremble from frost.'
Glass said,
"I can already see many weaknesses."
While thinking, he had already sent Shion's sword flying into the air.
He prepared the final strike.
"Let's end this now..."
But Shion's fingers were still moving.
Not trembling.
They were preparing to cast a spell with gestures.
Shion placed his hands together and extended them forward toward Glass, who was shocked.
Shion spoke calmly,
"(Stellar Summet Art: Star Explosion)"
A sphere appeared.
Its center shone brightly.
It began pulling points of energy toward itself in a spiral, as if a galaxy was attracting stars toward its core.
Although Glass's sword was approaching Shion, the sphere was also approaching Glass.
His eyes widened in shock.
He stepped backward.
He retreated quickly.
Yet the sphere continued chasing him.
Glass said,
"An annoying sphere!"
He extended his hand.
"(Ice Age Touch)!"
But Shion moved his finger.
The sphere curved around his extended hand and moved toward his torso.
"What?!"
Glass retreated faster.
But Shion caught his sword with one hand and moved the sphere with the other.
He used the Fire Star to release warm aura around his body.
At that moment, everyone's eyes widened.
"Is Lord Sano running away?!"
"This is insane!"
"Why doesn't he just destroy the sphere?!"
Rona Flair looked at the sphere while breathing quickly.
"If Glass touches that spell, it will likely cause severe injuries!"
The mage from the Magic Tower saw the technique and thought in shock,
"That spell... is powerful!"
After recovering his breath, Shion took a battle stance.
He prepared his aura.
His feet released intense heat, reminding him of the movement technique he used at the Neumann Family gate.
His arm carried water aura.
He waited.
Despite blood flowing from his nose due to the enormous mental exhaustion caused by the spell.
He followed Glass's movements until he was within range.
His feet released explosive power, causing severe burns.
He pushed his sword forward.
The sword met the sphere and pushed it ahead.
He decided to use:
"(Star Surge)!"
The sphere moved in front.
With a shout that tore through the air from the pain he felt, he thrust toward Glass.
But an overwhelming pressure suddenly descended upon Shion.
It felt as if the air itself had frozen.
Shion saw the shadow of someone moving Glass.
A cold voice synchronized with the shadow said,
"You cannot defeat me."
Shion saw traces of an ancient power appear in Glass's extended arm.
The shadow calmly spoke,
"(Sano Family Art: Ice Age Touch)"
But it was different from any previous touch.
The technique froze everything.
Ice spread from Glass's hand and covered Shion's arm.
Then it continued throughout his body.
Shion decided not to think anymore.
He used his instincts.
He exploded the energy within himself to escape the frozen shell.
But the moment the barrier preventing the fusion broke, Shion felt intense pain as he destroyed the frozen layer.
He remained standing motionless.
He lost consciousness for a moment.
Before a perfect smile appeared.