Just as Leon was about to finish the thought, a roar cut through the clearing behind him.
A greatsword swung down, aimed squarely at the back of his neck.
"DIE!!!"
Julian.
Leon didn't even fully turn. He felt the swing coming through the disturbed air a full second before it arrived, and something in him, something that had been holding back all morning out of mild amusement, simply stopped bothering.
"What a pain," he muttered.
He caught the blade between two fingers, the same way he had Cedric's, except this time he closed his grip and the greatsword crumpled like wet paper, metal folding and shattering outward in pieces.
Julian's momentum carried him forward, eyes wide, he felt a searing pain in his chest, and the last thing he saw before everything went dark was a pair of sapphire eyes looking at him
No anger in them. No irritation either, not really.
Nothing at all.
Julian hit the ground unconscious before his body finished falling.
Leon straightened, glancing around the clearing properly for the first time since the fight with Cedric started.
That was when he noticed it.
Figures, dozens of them, emerging from the treeline on every side. Not hunting monsters. Not chasing points. All of them, weapons drawn, attention fixed entirely on him.
'What in the world,' he thought.
It didn't take much to work out why. If they could be the one to bring down the boy currently humiliating the prince, even just landing a single hit, the prince would owe them something. A favor. A connection. The kind of thing that could set a family up for generations.
Everyone in that clearing had done the same math at the same time.
...
Hosk's voice cracked with disbelief through the broadcast.
"Folks, I— I don't even know what to call this anymore! It seems every candidate within range has converged on Leonis Silford's position!"
Vera was leaning forward, eyes wide. "This has officially become the most chaotic Aurenfall hunting festival in recorded history."
"Are they actually trying to take him down together?"
"It certainly looks that way."
...
At the noble seating, Arlott hadn't said a word in several minutes.
It wasn't because Leon was dominating. That much he'd already accepted, quietly, the moment the leaderboard first shot to first place. No, what kept his jaw tight and his eyes locked on the screen was something else entirely.
The royal family's attention.
The church's attention.
Both of them now fixed squarely on his son, ever since the rankings started climbing. He'd watched it happen in real time, the king's growing alarm, the cleric's quiet unease, all of it converging on the same point.
Whatever they were thinking right now.
It wasn't anything good.
He knew that better than anyone.
The crowd's energy had shifted into something messier now, voices overlapping, nobody quite sure which way to lean.
"That's too brutal—"
"He just crushed Julian's sword like it was nothing—"
"Someone needs to stop him—"
"Stop him? He didn't start any of this!"
"Get him! Bring the failure down!"
"He must be punished, he humiliated a prince—"
"Wait, didn't the prince attack first?"
"Doesn't matter, look at what he's doing to them!"
"He's just defending himself, what do you want him to do, stand there?"
It was genuinely split now. Half the continent had spent the morning watching a nameless E rank dismantle a prince and a dozen ambitious challengers without raising his voice once, and they weren't entirely sure anymore who deserved their sympathy.
For Leon, none of it mattered.
If anything, it was amusing.
He'd already put Cedric down. He'd already put Julian down. By any reasonable measure that should have been the end of it, a clear enough message that continuing would be a poor decision.
Instead they kept coming.
He swept one hand out lazily, almost bored, and the wave of ki that rolled off it sent the nearest cluster of candidates flying backward into the treeline, bodies crashing against trunks and sliding down into the underbrush.
Two more came in from either side, blades already swinging.
Sera. Purple hair catching what little light made it through the canopy, sword raised in a clean overhead strike.
Beside her, Talia, wind already gathering at her fingertips.
Talia released it first, a concentrated gust meant to knock him off balance before Sera's blade ever reached him. It tore through the clearing instead, uprooting two trees outright and sending leaves and broken branches spiraling in every direction.
Leon didn't move.
His feet stayed planted exactly where they were, white hair whipping back from the force of it, expression completely unbothered.
Talia's eyes narrowed and she pushed harder, the next gust stronger than the last, wind howling through the clearing with enough force to bend full grown trees nearly horizontal.
Leon started walking toward her.
Each gust hit him and did nothing, his hair tearing sideways, his coat snapping in the wind, but his steps never wavered, never slowed. A grin spread across his face as he walked, wide and genuine, the kind of expression that had no business sitting on someone currently being assaulted by gale force winds.
Talia poured everything she had into one final burst.
But… It didn't matter.
He was a meter away from her now.
Sera Vorn appeared at his side, darkness coiling around her palm before she released it in a concentrated blast that caught Leon mid-stride and sent him skidding backward through the clearing.
"Apologize to Prince Cedric," she roared, sword raised, breathing hard.
This was a disaster. She hadn't wanted any part of an engagement to this boy, had made that abundantly clear back at the ball, and now he'd gone and made everything worse by humiliating the prince in front of the entire continent. Was he that desperate to be paired with her? Was this some twisted attempt to prove himself?
"I will never marry a disgrace like you," she continued, voice sharp. "Now apologize to him."
Behind her, Talia lowered her hands slightly, staring at Sera with an expression caught somewhere between confusion and disbelief.
Apologize?
Talia wasn't entirely in favor of what had happened to her brother. If she was honest with herself, watching Cedric eat dirt after the way he'd treated this boy at the ball hadn't exactly upset her. Even from the rumors alone she could guess at what Leon had likely dealt with his whole life.
But she'd attacked anyway.
Family was family. An insult to one was an insult to all, royal blood demanded that much regardless of personal feelings.
While Sera kept talking, Leon rose from where he'd skidded to a stop, dusting off his sleeve.
He walked toward her without hurry.
"Apologize?" he repeated quietly.
"Y-Yes," Sera said, sword still raised, though something in his approach made her grip tighten. "Apologize to Prince Cedric."
He closed the distance before she could react, caught a fistful of her hair, and forced her down hard, driving her to the ground in front of him.
His sapphire eyes glowed faintly as he looked down at her.
"You're the ones who should be apologizing."
There was nothing in his expression. No anger. No satisfaction. Just that same flat calm he'd carried through the entire fight, looking at her like she was simply another obstacle that had decided to put itself in his way.