I was confused for a moment.
“You’re telling me what you just used belonged to a Fundamental Martial School Of Swords?” I asked in nigh disbelief.
“It’s called the Martial School of Fundamental Sword Arts!” Edward barked at me with annoyance.
Well, the name didn’t matter. Sword Arts differed depending on the school that postulated it. While I wasn’t interested in the school itself, I was mostly concerned that such basic movements could be recognized as a feature to be implemented by a school.
“Ah, I see…”
In any case, I didn’t have the luxury of thinking about all of this right now. Perhaps after this duel, I would consider reading up more on Martial Arts. Balance was important, after all.
“I’ll make you eat your words!”
With this statement, Edward changed his stance and gave off a different vibe entirely. Everyone around us took steps back. Those who appeared to be from the Martial Arts department all looked worried, recognizing the stance he took.
“Is this from the same school?” I asked, not expecting anything impressive.
The students around us shook their heads, not saying anything more. From their reactions, Edward had taken my advice and switched to another School. Hopefully, this one would be better.
“I’ll finish this in one blow!”
Clenching my earthen blade, I braced myself for what was to come. Underestimating my opponent would only lead to carelessness. Besides, those who were in the know expressed a degree of fear concerning this particular technique of his.
He began whispering some words to himself, so low in volume that no one could perceive— well, that didn’t apply to me.
My enhanced ears picked up his words in a jiffy and I got to know the Sword Art he intended to use.
“9 Fundamental Precepts: Form 1…”
The name sounded intense. It was most likely a basic move, but even basic Sword Arts packed quite a deal of power depending on the skill of the user and the level of mastery.
‘Unlike Magic, Sword Arts are very tricky and hard to predict. Since they have so many schools, unless the particular school and form is known, it’s very difficult to evade!’
I strengthened my vision a little, refraining from leaking out any mana since that would be cheating— well, in my opinion anyway.
“…”
WHOOOOOSH
Like a gust of wind, Edward dashed from his location and charged at me with yet another simple pattern.
My sigh intensified as I readied my blade, ready to defend if necessary— or strike him down if I saw an opening.
The boy reached me in a short count, a surprising feat considering my perception made everything slower for easy navigation.
Holding his blade with both of his hands, Edward, made a horizontal strike, as though ready to lope off my head in a flash.
“… REND!”
With this scream, his offense arrived and I felt what appeared to be sparks of power temporarily enhance his sword.
It glowed for a moment, and then vanished, leaving me puzzled. Unfortunately, I had gotten too carried away by the strange occurrence that I didn’t notice the blade nearing my neck.
It was blunt, so it wouldn’t kill me. The damage would be very great for a normal person, though. I could tell from the force that was arriving that it could crack a bone— at the very least.
Since we had an infirmary, and this was a Duel, Edward wasn’t crossing his bounds and I was at no risk of losing my life. Well, considering my strengthened body, I was certain his strike called ‘REND’ wouldn’t cause me much damage. However…
‘For a swordsman, the moment an opponent’s blade reaches your neck… it’s your loss!’
Those were the words Gawain beat into my head several times even though I kept telling him I wasn’t even a real swordsman.
The blade came, approaching its target position at an increasing pace. But, I didn’t intend to lose as a swordsman!
SWOOOSH
The sword missed by barely an inch as I made a quick sidestep and became one with the wind. It was fluid and beautiful, one of my favorite motion techniques in Martial Arts… [The Illusory Dance]
Like a blur, my body became light as a feather and reached Edward’s side, leaving what appeared to be an afterimage of myself being struck by Edward’s blade.
Now, this… was Martial Arts!
Edward’s eyes bulged as soon as I appeared beside him and quickly made to redirect his sword at me with intensity. It must have taken some effort, but he twisted his arms and turned his body in my direction, straining the muscles that had used a great deal of power for that horizontal strike from earlier.
With his blade returning to me, I could have used my sidestep again, but decided against it. The battle had lost its taste for me and ending it quickly would be the best option.
CLANG
My sword was launched, like an invisible blade, and parried his swift blade. In a flash, his weapon flew away from his hand and landed on the floor.
Edward’s face paled the moment I disarmed him so effortlessly. Fear, shock, disbelief, frustration, and a couple of other emotions I didn’t care to analyze came flooding in and showed on his face as he lost all rationality and lunged at me with full strength.
‘He must have figured it would be faster to attack me than run after his sword… a somewhat sensible choice…’
However, it was a disgraceful sight, really. The boy who claimed that he wanted to elevate the status of Martial Arts, the one who had trained his body and endured who-knows-what to achieve such a glorious physique, the lad who caught my attention and reminded me of my dead comrade… how could he be so weak?!
SWOOSH
My blade landed on his legs, causing him to fall to the side thanks to the weight I put behind it. He didn’t secure any fracture due to my holding back, so his body merely landed on the floor with a THUD.
Now moving before him and pointing my blade to his face, my expression showed disgust and a bit of pity as I saw Edward’s defeated face.
“Who taught you Martial Arts?”