Insect Tamer's Ascension

Lucien shouted with his hands up in the air, the Baroness quickly tapped his shoulder in seriousness, making him come back to them.

"That move… I taught him that," Lucien stated with a grin.

The Baroness listened and then looked at Theo again with a concerned look, he was in pain, she could see that from his expression. But he was proficient in ignoring the pain, she could see that too.

It made her think of just how many times Theo had been in this kind of situation. In her eyes, a kid like that had no need to toughen this much at such a tender age.

Theo quickly dashed with a limp and went on guard. The guard just looked at him with dumbstruck, that move had made his knee move that shouldn't have moved because of his training.

Theo felt a prickly feeling in his lower thigh, it was as if multiple worms were crawling inside his skin.

'He hit me quite hard that time… this is getting serious,' Theo's eyes sharpened as he looked for ways to deal with the knight in front of him.

Defeating the knight was impossible, the man was literally wearing metal armor, and even when Theo hit him with his best, it only made a spectacle, nothing else.

Even his level was two times Theo's and not only that, he was a person whose beast had already broken through level 5. A level of strength he couldn't handle just yet.

The man brisked toward Theo once again and Theo dodged a few more attacks proficiently before his leg gave in to the pain.

The knight himself was feeling a little pity for him, it was showing directly on his face.

When Theo saw that look, frustration and anger welled in his heart.

He was already huffing heavily due to moving around and dodging attacks here and there.

The knight moved his feet toward Theo's chest in order to finally end this spar. Theo looked at the big leg coming toward him with his eyes wide.

It was going to hit him and he was going to fly a few feet and fall down, it was a normal occurrence in the training.

'No…' Theo's eyes sharpened and he gritted his teeth tightly.

"HAAHH!!"

When the foot was very close to his chest, Theo latched onto it with his arms and shoulders. He placed his full body weight on it.

The knight was surprised, so was anyone else. Clara couldn't look anymore.

Even the Baron frowned at Theo's tenacity.

The knight's leg still moved forward as it should have, only the results had changed.

Theo was not pushed back, he moved with the leg as though he was a part of it.

"Ugh…" The knight grunted, his leg felt heavy, he tried moving it back only to find that Theo had latched onto it pretty firmly.

The knight sighed, while the attempt had stopped the inevitable. It was still going to end.

THWACK

THUD

Theo fell to the ground finally with his eyesight spinning everywhere. He had felt an impact on the back of his neck.

"THEO!" The Baroness shouted, not able to take it anymore. She was going to run to him but saw another silhouette brisk toward the small arena.

Clara reached Theo within a few steps, if Theo had seen that speed of hers, he would have been dumbfounded.

Theo felt a hand around his neck and he tried focusing his eyes, only to see Clara's big face in front of him.

"… I didn't win, huh," he said and tried to fake chuckle but stopped midway when he felt a pain in his jaw.

Clara pursed her lips, she was at the brink of crying. Her gaze shifted to the knight who was trying to avert his gaze too.

"Is it over now?" the Baroness asked with a threatening tone and the Baron smiled.

"The spar is over now, you may all go back to your duties," the Baron spoke with a serious face.

"My apologies, young master Theo," the knight said in a concerned tone before he brisked out of the arena.

When he was out of the training area, the knight felt a tug and a smack on the back of his head. A loud clang sound came from the hit on his armor from a metallic hand.

"Why the fuck did you hit him so hard in the end, do you have no heart?" another man in the same armor asked with a frown.

"… Did you not see how persistent he was being? If I hadn't smacked him like that, the spar would be still going on right now," the knight stated with a click of his tongue.

The other knight frowned too yet there was nothing to say after that.

"… Everyone is right, these Merricks really are a different breed."

Meanwhile, Theo was finally able to get up from the ground. When he looked to his right, he saw no one as everyone was made to leave now.

Only his father, mother, brother, and Thorne were present in there now.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

Theo looked up toward Baron Thorne who was clapping with a light smile, Theo was taking the support of Clara to stand, he tried putting some pressure on his injured leg and found that it was bearable.

"I can walk now, Clara. Thank you," he said with a light smile, the same calm came back on his face.

Clara just slowly got back and let him walk on his own without speaking anything, she didn't even say anything.

While he was trying walking on his injured leg, everyone there had moved toward him already.

"Boy, I didn't expect a fight like this from you. I must say, that was impressive," Thorne said.

"Thank you for the praise, Baron Thorne. I simply tried my best."

"Hahaha… we could see you trying your best there. That tenacity of yours, not many have it at such a young age. Haahhh… what were we doing at his age, Aldric?"

"We were pulling pranks all around the town," the Baron said with a nostalgic face which made him look at Theo once more.

"Thorne, you might be thinking why my son is out here doing all this at this age of playing around." The Baron continued with a grin, "It's all because what we think is fun and what he thinks as fun is different."

"That is the most random bullshit I have heard in a year, Aldric," Thorne stated while shaking his head.

The Baron just ignored him and spoke to Theo, "Theo, what is fun for you?"

When Theo heard that question, he thought about it a little before a small smile formed on his face.

"It's…"