Talon couldn't look Daru's way after he returned.

He had been curious about the young man for a long time now and so had always been observing him.

Even if the instructor couldn't accurately tell the level of Daru's swordsmanship, he at least could easily tell that the young man was as straightforward, honest, and earnest as a sword.

He felt uneasy at the sheer displeasure and disappointment reflected in the young man's gaze.

Talon didn't want to see it, so he just avoided looking at Daru as much as he could.

The fifteen-minute rest window soon passed. It was time for the quarterfinals to begin.

For the first battle, it was Zach against his underling.

The two faced each other with surprising smiles on their faces. Their earlier uneasy appearance seemed to have vanished like smoke.

After Talon left, the goon squad did, too, and everyone followed them with gazes, mutters, and murmurs.

It was quite clear that Zach was feeling the pressure just a dozen minutes earlier.

Now, he has recovered his usual bearing.

They could only wonder about what happened.

In the next moment, the battle began, and to their surprise, what was supposed to be a not-so-one-sided match between Zach and his most-skilled subordinate, Alfredo, showed the former's overwhelming skill.

The latter was ruthlessly suppressed.

In just less than twenty seconds, the battle ended with Alfredo kneeling on the ground, utterly dominated with three bruised spots near vital points as irrefutable proof.

The onlookers erupted yet again into suppressed, enthusiastic commotion.

This was undeniably Zach's best performance to date.

Even compared to Daru's earlier battle against Silver Serpent, the level of domination could be said to be on par.

Those from Class 70 couldn't help but think that maybe there's still a high chance of the expected finals between Zach and Lynn?

But speculating was useless, and only match results were the truth.

The quarterfinals of the tournament proceeded.

It was Daru's turn to fight again.

His opponent this time was Kevin, the C-ranker who was already down to his last life in the Myriad Sword Realm but refused to give up being a bladeborn.

The two's impression towards the other could be considered neutral.

Daru met his opponent's eyes, pleasantly surprised upon noticing that there was a strange calmness and resolve in his gaze.

The eyes of someone who had been on the brink of true death.

To his surprise, Kevin suddenly spoke to him in a tone he didn't expect:

"Finnley…I know we haven't talked to each other since the first day, but if I may request, please don't hold back. I need to know which areas I can improve. I can't quit being a bladeborn. My family is depending on me."

A faint smile appeared on Daru's face, his sour mood easing a great deal.

The guy was communicating and reaching out to him on a wavelength he fully understood.

How could he deny such a simple request?

"Alright, I'll go all out," was his simple, nodding response that made another young man happy.

The weight in Talon's chest grew lighter at the wholesome exchange, and without delaying things further, he extended his arm, raised it, and announced:

"Second match of Class 70's quarterfinals, Daru Finnley versus Kevin Chen, begin!"

Almost immediately, the C-ranker dashed forward with neither hesitation nor fear — just a straight-up ferocious and decisive charge.

Daru appreciated the aggression, holding firm in his defensive stance.

Everyone watched with a weird mix of excitement and puzzlement.

This was how Daru usually fought in their afternoon training classes.

He would assume a defensive stance and defend until the end of time, earning himself the nickname of turtle.

Would they see the usual false highness this time? Was the match earlier a fluke?

Most of them knew deep down it couldn't have been, yet they still somehow hoped, as the feeling of being fooled all those times — intentional or not — certainly wasn't good.

Unfortunately, their self-preserving wishes crumbled almost instantly.

"HAAH!" Kevin roared, brandishing his wooden khopesh with all his might.

Daru's gaze was intense as he blocked the diagonal strike with one of his own, timed with a perfect forward dash.

Kevin staggered a few steps back, caught off guard by the sudden face-to-face.

He gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to recover his footing.

But Daru didn't allow him.

While Kevin was still in a backward momentum, he slowly advanced, matching his opponent's desperate pace and going on a fierce offensive himself.

The C-ranker never gave up and had always looked for a chance to recover.

Unfortunately, Daru never revealed an opening, pushing him off the area of the dueling space and scoring a point just like that.

Weakness number one: one should never assume that one's opponent will never go forward simply based on his stance.

The two then walked back and reset to the initial positions.

Kevin took a deep breath before assuming a fighting stance again, meeting Daru's gaze.

The C-ranker had just recently understood the importance of focus, and he couldn't help but admire the level of Daru's.

He could easily tell that his opponent was not thinking of anything unnecessary, just the match and the match alone.

"Resume!"

Talon announced the reset.

This time, Kevin had decided to advance slowly, planning to carefully manage the distance and avoid being caught off guard by a sudden charge.

It proved effective.

Daru was the one who suddenly charged out this time, seemingly targeting the C-ranker's left shoulder.

Kevin easily noticed and proceeded to defend himself from the incoming strike.

Afterwards, he planned to counterattack.

But his plan burst into flames as he suddenly felt a heavy blow on his right leg, followed by a quick chop to the left shoulder.

The C-ranker was able to defend himself from the sneaky follow-up attack, thanks to the focus he had been honing in the past week.

Still, on the side, Talon raised his arms, declaring another point to Daru.

One more strike and he would lose.

Fortunately, although the battle wouldn't be paused every time someone scored a point, it seemed that Kevin was holding up quite well after being tricked by Daru's eyes, learning another lesson in the process.

He fought better this time, seemingly getting a hold of his opponent's rhythm.

A slight grin tugged in the corners of Daru's lips.

He was pleased that Kevin was fully focused on learning and had picked up the techniques he was trying to teach.

Kevin now watched his sword, knowing he would only use tricks with his eyes.

The C-ranker was able to defend himself for ten exchanges.

But Daru had long been preparing to teach the last technique he was certain Kevin still didn't know of yet.

He continued attacking fiercely, setting up his opponent's subconscious.

From the right, then the left, then from above, then a stab to the chest.

He repeated this two times, and on the third rotation, Kevin thought he was improving in real-time and could now somehow read where his opponent's attack would come next.

But in the eleventh exchange, the C-ranker was thrown off as Daru feinted with an overhead chop.

Kevin planned to counterattack swiftly after blocking this strike.

But before he even realized what had happened, he felt a light stab at his solar plexus, one that hurt minimally but pushed him backward.

The C-ranker froze for a moment, offering a genuine bow in the next, simultaneously as Talon raised his arms.

"Daru Finnley advances to the semi-finals with a score of 3-0!"

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