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Sean's eyes widened, gleaming with greed as they locked onto the iron rod in Ethan's hand. They practically glowed like two bright light bulbs, fixated on the arc of electricity that danced along the weapon.

"Just as I thought! These two kids really do have magic stone equipment!"

His gaze shifted to Arthur, who wasn't far off. Sean scrutinized the blond boy's large sword, but it didn't seem special. "So, it's not his weapon… No matter. Both of them are going to die anyway."

With his mind now entirely focused on murder and plunder, Sean's earlier playful demeanor was gone. All that remained was a cold and ruthless resolve.

"Tch," Ethan muttered, seeing through Sean's thoughts. He didn't like this greedy pirate leader in the slightest. There was no reason to hold back.

Ethan had deliberately showcased the lightning ability of his iron rod earlier, knowing it would catch Sean's interest. Someone who made their living by robbing others would undoubtedly be drawn to such a unique weapon. That was the bait. The goal was to lure Sean into action.

After all, wasting energy on Sean's crew wasn't worth the effort. Ethan could have dispatched these grunts easily with just his longsword—he didn't need to rely on his magic stone equipment. Arthur had spent weeks drilling swordsmanship fundamentals into him, and those lessons had already made a difference.

But defeating the minions wasn't the objective. What if Sean realized things weren't going in his favor and ordered his ship to fire its cannons? The safest course of action was to eliminate Sean himself.

Even in the chaos of battle, Ethan's mind remained sharp. Every action he took was calculated and deliberate. And so far, everything was playing out just as he'd planned.

"Do you want this?" Ethan taunted, spinning the iron rod in his hand like a baton. A small jolt of lightning surged through it, crackling audibly as it traced arcs of light in the air. The sound alone was enough to make the nearby sailors flinch and retreat a step, even though they were already well out of range.

"If you want it, you'll have to prove you're strong enough to take it."

Ethan's provocation finally made Sean snap. The promise of a powerful magic stone weapon was too much for him to resist.

"Boy, since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish!"

Sean didn't immediately use the magic stone glove on his left hand. Instead, he reached behind his back and pulled out a large, double-edged battle axe. Its sheer size had been hidden by Sean's towering frame, and its sudden appearance took Ethan by surprise.

The weapon gleamed as Sean swung it experimentally, the heavy axehead cutting through the air with a menacing whistle. Ethan instantly recognized the force behind it. The man wasn't just large—he possessed terrifying strength.

"You can't clash with that directly," Ethan realized.

He adjusted his stance, gripping his longsword firmly. When Sean swung the axe with all his might, Ethan's blade moved in to intercept, only to suddenly shift at the last moment. Instead of meeting the axe head-on, Ethan twisted his wrist, allowing his sword to glide along the path of the strike, redirecting the force harmlessly.

At the same time, Ethan sidestepped, narrowly dodging the thunderous blow. His true counterattack came immediately after, his left hand brought the iron rod crashing down onto the axe. Lightning surged from the rod, crackling as it struck the metal weapon.

The flash of electricity stunned everyone watching. For a moment, the deck seemed to freeze in time. When the spectators regained their senses, Ethan and Sean had both retreated a few steps, leaving a gap between them.

The sailors' eyes darted to their captain. To their shock, the usually unstoppable Sean wasn't looking so invincible. His right hand, still gripping the axe, trembled slightly. The veins on his forehead bulged, and his face turned an angry shade of red as he gritted his teeth.

"Damn you! I'll tear you apart!" Sean bellowed, raising his axe for another swing.

In truth, Ethan hadn't done much damage with that last strike—it had merely made Sean lose his composure. The numbing shock of the lightning had spread through his arm, forcing Sean to instinctively stagger back. His vast combat experience had saved him from a worse fate; otherwise, he might have been fatally struck in the chaos.

The violent burst of lightning Ethan had unleashed earlier wasn't just powerful, it had an almost blinding effect, like a flashbang going off. Most of Sean's crew had been momentarily stunned, their vision blurred. A few managed to recover quickly, but even they exchanged uneasy glances, clearly shaken.

Despite their unease, none dared let their expressions betray them further. Sean's towering authority weighed heavily over his crew, and no one wanted to risk his wrath. Instead, they stiffened their postures and avoided making eye contact with their captain.

Arthur, however, was under no such obligation to hide his reaction. The blond boy stood to the side with a subtle but amused smile tugging at his lips. Though a knight by nature and not one to mock others openly, Arthur was still a teenager. He couldn't help finding the sight of Sean, a hulking figure of brutality and confidence, now thrown into such a humiliating position, highly amusing.

Arthur stifled his laughter, but the trace of amusement on his face didn't escape Sean's notice. Combined with the suppressed reactions of his own subordinates, Sean's simmering rage reached a boiling point.

Unable to bear it any longer, Sean erupted in fury, launching a series of vicious attacks on Ethan.

The intensity of Sean's assault forced Ethan into a defensive stance. The pirate's axe now swung much faster and harder than before, making it impossible for Ethan to dodge as gracefully as he had earlier.

Though Ethan's quick mind allowed him to read Sean's movements clearly, his physical speed lagged behind. He was forced to make rapid "trade-offs," parrying and deflecting blows in ways that minimized damage to himself, but at the cost of increasing strain on his body.

With each swing of Sean's axe, the sound of metal colliding reverberated louder and more frequently. Arthur's earlier relaxed expression grew tense as he watched the battle unfold.

Arthur knew Ethan's limitations well. Despite being older by a few years, Ethan had only started training in swordsmanship recently. Years of poor nutrition during his youth had left his body underdeveloped, and his physical condition lagged far behind what it could have been.

If not for Ethan's youth and the potential to recover and build his strength, Arthur would have advised him to abandon swordsmanship entirely and focus on other survival skills—such as crafting magic tools, which he excelled at. Ethan clearly had talent in that area, and arming himself with specialized equipment might have been the safer path.

Right now, however, Arthur could see that Sean still retained some semblance of composure amidst his anger. The pirate leader was attacking with strategy, not wild recklessness, which meant Ethan was at an increasing disadvantage.

Still, Arthur wasn't overly worried about Ethan's safety. In the short time they'd spent together, he had already come to understand Ethan's nature well. Ethan was the type to hide his true hand, always holding something back.

At the moment, he was only using his swordsmanship and the lightning rod to fight Sean. Part of that was to test how much his training had improved, but Arthur could tell he was also biding his time, waiting for the right moment to land a decisive blow.

If Ethan could hear Arthur's thoughts, he'd probably nod in approval. That was exactly what he was doing—testing his skills and waiting for an opening to end the fight. However, Sean's relentless and precise attacks had so far left no room for a counterstrike.

"If there's no opening… I'll just have to create one," Ethan thought.

Sean took a wide step forward, bringing his axe down in a powerful sweep toward Ethan's longsword. This time, however, Sean struck not with the axe blade but with the flat side, intending to disarm Ethan by knocking his weapon out of his hands.

"You're trying to knock my weapon away?" Ethan's eyes lit up. "Perfect."

He deliberately slowed his reaction, making it seem as though his strength was flagging after the prolonged battle. His body language suggested he was straining to muster enough power to parry Sean's attack.

Feigning desperation, Ethan made an exaggerated effort to avoid losing his weapon, as if it were his last line of defense. Seeing this, Sean's confidence surged, and he put even more force into his swing.

The axe collided with the longsword in a heavy blow, sending the blade flying out of Ethan's grip. The sword spun through the air before embedding itself with a loud thunk into the mast behind them.

"Die!" Sean roared.

Without pausing to gloat, the experienced pirate immediately transitioned into another attack. Using the momentum from his previous swing, he raised his axe high and brought it down in a devastating strike aimed squarely at Ethan.

This was Sean's strongest attack yet, a strike meant to either kill Ethan outright or leave him completely exposed if he managed to dodge. In his mind, there was no way the young man could escape or block such an overwhelming blow.

As Sean swung, he even began contemplating how he'd reforge Ethan's iron rod into a weapon more suited to his strength. "Maybe a Thunder Axe would suit me perfectly," he mused, picturing himself wielding a weapon that combined his fire-imbued glove with lightning.

To Sean, Ethan was already dead.

But to his shock, Ethan didn't try to evade. Instead, he calmly raised his left wrist, placing it directly in the path of the oncoming axe.

"A last-ditch effort?" Sean sneered inwardly. "As if a single arm could stop me!"

He fully expected the axe to cleave through Ethan's wrist without resistance. But then something entirely unexpected happened.

A semi-transparent, icy-blue shield materialized in front of Ethan's wrist. The faintly glowing barrier exuded a chilling aura, freezing the momentum of Sean's supposedly unstoppable strike.

"What? That's impossible!" Sean's eyes widened in disbelief as his axe came to an abrupt halt against the shield.

The shock of the impact and the force he had poured into the blow left Sean's body rigid and immobile, unable to recover quickly. He stood frozen, watching as Ethan calmly extended his empty right hand toward him.

With an eerily composed expression, Ethan uttered, "Farewell, Hand of Fire."