Roland didn’t plan to test his luck, so he did his best to evade Clark’s underhanded move. What he didn’t know was that Clark was laughing at him internally. After their exchanges, the Prodigy of the Ashford Clan realized that when it came to close combat, Roland had a stronger edge over him. This meant that if they continued to clash, he would be the first one to fall into a disadvantage. In order to prevent that, he played a trick to force his opponent to back away and fool Roland into thinking that fighting him in close combat would put him in harm’s way. Thirteen, who saw this, couldn’t help but smile because he found that this Villain was worthy of his title. ’Not bad,’ Thirteen thought. ’However, that will not be enough to beat Roland.’ Roland, who now became wary of Clark’s tactics, couldn’t help but frown. Fighting in close combat was his strong point, and he had always fought his enemies head-on. The mere thought of distancing himself from his opponent instead of fighting him at close quarters greatly lowered his chances of winning. At least, that was how it should have been. The past Roland would have completely felt helpless against this kind of opponent, but he was different now. Taking a deep breath, the Hero reached out to his side and summoned another sword in his hand. Clark immediately frowned. He never expected that Roland would switch to Dual Wield, for he had never seen his opponent do so in the footage he watched when he was studying his opponent’s battle style. And he was right. Roland couldn’t dual-wield. However, he could do something else. Channeling the Aether in his body to his weapon, he activated the special runes that Thirteen had transcribed into the sword that had been crafted by the teenage boy’s father, Gerald. "Heart of Sword," Roland said softly before releasing his hold on the sword in his left hand. Surprisingly, the sword didn’t fall down. Instead, it hovered in mid-air, with its blade pointing in Clark’s direction. The runes on the blade were glowing faintly, waiting for Roland to put it into action. Fortunately, everyone didn’t need to wait for that long before he activated the sword’s power. "Unrestrained Sword!" Roland roared, and the sword by his side struck toward Clark at great speeds, leaving a trail of white sparkle in its wake. This was one of the Divine Techniques that Thirteen had imparted to him through the blade, allowing him to gain a ’ranged attack’ that was as deadly as Roland’s close-quarter battle style. Originally, he wasn’t supposed to use this ability during the first match. However, he saw the message that Zion had left to his communicator, telling him that Clark was not an easy opponent to defeat. Because of this, the teenage boy advised him to not hold back and to use everything he had learned in his training in the Rigel Continent. Clark felt his scalp tingle after sensing the sheer force coming from the sword flying in his direction. When the blade was only a few meters away from him, the young man gritted his teeth, and his body blurred for a brief moment. The sword then passed through Clark’s body as if it was passing through the body of a ghost, not harming the young man in the slightest. Just like Roland, this was one of the secret abilities that Clark didn’t intend to show to anyone. He knew that if he timed this ability perfectly, he could deal a devastating blow to his enemy, catching them by surprise. Unfortunately, he was forced to use it because if he didn’t, the sword would have stabbed his chest. Although it wasn’t aimed at his vital part, it would still deal serious injury to him, which he didn’t want to happen this early in their battle. Roland was also surprised because he expected his Trump Card to end the battle with a single strike. It seemed that his opponent was truly slippery like an eel. Moving his hand to control the sword, Roland made it turn around to attack his opponent from behind. At that moment, Clark snorted and summoned a red shield. He didn’t summon the shield to block Roland’s attack. He summoned it to deflect it. A spark emerged from the surface of the shield as Roland’s sword scratched its surface. After that attack ended, Clark stomped his foot, and a gray mist erupted outward, lowering the visibility in the arena drastically. In order to protect the audience from stray attacks, a barrier had been erected around the arena, making sure that nothing dangerous would reach the stands, where the spectators were watching the battle. Because of this, the gray mist didn’t expand outside of the arena and was compressed inside of it. Roland immediately understood that Clark was lowering the visibility so that he wouldn’t be able to attack him with his Flying Sword, which was now hovering by his side. ’I’m liking this guy more and more,’ Thirteen chuckled internally. A glint of amusement appeared in his eyes because he could see that Clark was going all in to win his fight against Roland. He couldn’t hate such a person because this was more like his style of fighting. Roland, who could only see up to a meter around him, raised his guard and extended his senses. He was certain that Clark would use this smokescreen to attack him from his blind spot, catching him by surprise. Roland took a deep breath before closing his eyes. He then extended his senses outward, standing very still and feeling everything in his surroundings. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮 Thirteen told him that there would be battles where he wouldn’t be able to use his vision to his advantage. Because of this, Thirteen tried to train him to overcome this weakness. Unfortunately, Roland was a slow learner in this regard. His vision was very sharp and clear, which allowed him to see better than ordinary humans. But this had also become his weakness. He relied too much on his vision, so whenever it became useless, Roland would find himself in a very passive situation. Despite being a slow learner, Thirteen still managed to teach him the basics, giving him some faint hope in his current situation. Suddenly, he heard something rolling in his direction, making him focus his attention on whatever was approaching him. Since he couldn’t see properly, he decided to back off so that the thing coming toward him wouldn’t hit him. But even if he changed location, the sound of something rolling, like the sound of a marble rolling on a tiled floor, still persisted. A moment later, his eyes widened in shock because he could hear countless more rolling sounds. This time, they were coming from every direction, leaving him with no place to run or hide. Clark, who was standing a safe distance away from his opponent, sneered. The sound that Roland was hearing was merely an auditory hallucination, which was amplified by his skills. Unlike Roland, who could only see a meter in front of him, Clark could see everything perfectly as clear as day. Although he could launch an attack from his location, he didn’t do it right away for fear that Roland might be able to pinpoint his location using sounds. Because of this, he decided to throw some marbles on the ground, heading in Roland’s direction. Once the sound of the marbles rolling registered inside his head, it was easier to cast an auditory illusion, which he would use to disrupt the Hero’s senses before he moved in for the decisive blow. Thirteen, who was watching the battle through the eyes of Tiona’s clone, couldn’t help but give Clark a thumbs up. He was very tempted to take this Villain under his wing so that his First Villain, Taiga’s brother, Anwir, would have someone to compete with.