I looked at my friend Sebastian and then at the young men that we would be testing. The one with blond spiky hair and muscular build in strange clothing was according to Chris’ description Raishin. He had an impulsive nature but he could wipe us off the face of the planet if we don’t keep him in check. Thanks to his nature we can get what I want regardless of the outcome. As long as we can keep him in check, we should be fine.

The next one, however, was a tall young man with pale skin and black hair wearing a suit. He was holding a strange-looking hammer. His eyes show off high intelligence. According to Chris, he is quite intelligent and is responsible for keeping the other 2 under control. I have talked to him briefly but I have the feeling he already knows what will happen after this match.

The biggest problem seems the last one. He also seems quite tall and has black hair that ends in white or silver. His eyes had locked on to me. It feels like the gaze of an expert fighter. The description Chris gave me about Agnis was quite problematic. He seems adept at using water but also lightning. But the talk I had with my colleagues seemed conflicting. And Chris wasn’t all too sure what his specialty was. He is wearing a katana on his hip. He does know that I am regarded as the sword saint, right? His personality seems unpredictable and a trickster. His ideas seem to range from brilliant to absurd. Also, this sword. I can’t feel anything from it. Either it is a normal weak sword, or it’s extremely powerful. I don’t make it a habit of underestimating my opponent.

I take my stance as the match is about to start. Only Agnis seemed to react to my stance. I see he must also be experienced in the art of the sword and can tell what I’m about to do. He is supposed to be just 19-year-old. Is he a prodigy like my student Leefa? He didn’t take out his sword though. Interesting. It seems that this fight will be a short one.

I flashed a smile. Sebastian took his neutral stance. My best friend was a master in close combat. His stance seems full of openings to an amateur and this can cause him an advantage or a win early on.

The sign to commence rang and I wasted no time and went for Raishin, I did pretend to rush at Gregory. Sebastian rushed at Agnis. As I was about to change direction and cut Raishin. Agnis tripped Raishin causing him to dodge my sword slash. Sebastian tried to capitalize on this but Agnis seemed to defy gravity and use strange movements to evade Sebastian. My friend is an expert in close combat. Never have I seen someone escape his range this easily. The swift judgement of Agnis terrified me.

Yeah, Teppei is way too fast for me, can you take him Agnis?

Sure.

I heard his voice behind me, I turned around to parry a sword strike. I did parry a sword strike but I didn’t see Agnis who was supposed to deliver the strike. I parried another one from the side. I briefly saw a glimpse of him. He was moving to my blind spots, how troublesome. Gregory’s hammer grew to various sizes and he was swinging it as if it didn’t weigh anything, judging from how Sebastian had to dodge these strikes and how he blocked them this was anything but true. Raishin’s spear also seemed to have special effects going on. All of them had magic weapons, these must have been expensive and where did they get them?

This brings me to Agnis, I still can’t feel anything from his sword, having a swordfight is mostly like a conversation. But it just seems Agnis or his sword are mute. Is this a special ability? I made a wide slash and had Agnis back off. He had swung his sword moments ago but his sword was sheathed. What is the meaning of this? I don’t sense any invisible weapons.

“Interesting sword and technique you have, where have you picked it up?”

I both made this sword and style myself; my style isn’t perfect so I hope to learn from you.

What does this mean? He made his sword himself?

“That is not a normal sword, is it? You said you made it yourself? Is it a magic sword?”

That is correct, it was extremely hard to make but I succeeded in making this and the weapons of my friends.

I glanced at the sheathe and it was stunning. It had blue foxes and snowflake patterns.

He turned into a blur and I reacted to parry a strike to my side. I tried to counter but he parried my strike before it gained momentum making it very easy for him to disturb my stance. I had to jump back to create distance. He used this to close into my other side. How fast was this guy? I had to turn around mid-jump to parry his strike. None of his strikes seem to have a lot of power. The more exchanges we made the more I started to understand him.

He was feeling the water out, he was also attempting to just disrupt my stance. I assume he is figuring out how to apply my reactions to himself. He did say his style was imperfect. He had the habit of disrupting strikes before they picked up in speed and power. Or he sent the swing off course by shifting the angle my sword swings by hitting the sword close to the hilt early in the swing. I wonder if he is lacking in physical strength because everything suggests that he doesn’t want to contest in strength.

I decided to put more power in my swings. I exerted killing intent which made him back off and swung at him with more strength. My swings aren't slow but he evaded it and moved into the side that was wide open. I jumped back as he would capitalize on this but it would give me enough time to get in a more favorable stance. I expected him to go at me mid jump but he just stood there.

So, strength based also doesn’t work. He seems to be the type that punishes mistakes.

I smiled. My pupil was the inpatient type. She has a lot of talent and strength but she doesn’t have the patience and skill this youngster has. I wanted to see what more this mythical beast has to offer. It then dawned on me, that he is a mythical beast, why isn’t he using magic? I glanced over to his friends and both of them were using their magic weapons.

I augmented myself and parried a strike near my blind spot. It seems he was tracking the movement of my eyes. What a scary guy.

He sent a flurry of strikes at me. In my younger days this would have not been an issue but I had to parry some on instinct because I couldn’t follow all of them. I got 2 shallow cuts on me and managed to push him back in a short exchange. Nothing made sense. I pushed him back but I didn’t feel as if I pushed something back. It seemed as if he floated down. Is this the secret behind his speed? The power behind his strikes don’t suggest that he is weightless. It falls within the range of what to expect from a 19-year-old.

I started to wonder how a fight would look like between Agnis and Leefa. It would surely be a spectacle to watch. As if he could read my mind and know when my mind wandered off, he closed in and slashed at me. I evaded but I still had to parry. His blade had sent out a wind blade. Normally I would suspect that it was magic or a skill of the weapon but the speed of his swings had picked up speed. He started to assault me with ‘real’ strikes and ‘fake’ strikes.

The real ones were meant to hit me while the fake ones were relying on the wind blades that shot out to make me parry them or move in a certain way which would possibly create an opening for him to exploit. Still no conversation either from Agnis or his sword. I have identified his intent but I haven’t gotten much from his style. I did notice that I yet have to see his blade. It was either sheathed or moving so fast that I couldn’t see it. Is this his style? I moved back with [Slide] and sent wind blades out myself with very fast slashes. Now that I was at a distance, I could see his style.

It was as if he was waving something aside before sending out slashes. The more wind slashes I sent at him from a distance the more excited I got. It was hard to make out but everything that looked like a single swing were multiple swings. I set a [Wide swing] with its corresponding wind blade at his feet and closed in. He jumped over it and I tried to catch him midair but he defied gravity and I missed. He landed on my sword.

This is bad.

I dropped my katana to my left hand which I had placed below my right hand. It made him unsteady and because he fell slower than the sword, I could salvage the situation and send a sword strike upward.

I put a lot of power in it because this was quite an unusual stance but Agnis evaded it as if I tried to forcefully cut a leaf. It reminded me of my younger days when I attempted to cut falling leaves. A special technique is needed to achieve this else the force will blow the leaf away. I followed up with [Hakidashi] which is what I used to cut falling leaves.

He blocked the strike but in a strange position which caused him to flip over my blade. Again, it didn’t feel like I was cutting at something that didn’t have weight.

“Has anyone taught you about how gravity works?”

I am well aware of how it works, it’s just that gravity doesn’t agree with me.

He sent a slash at me which I prepared to parry but he changed its trajectory mid slash. I shifted my stance and managed to parry it.

I got another shallow cut. I tried to counter but he had already corrected his posture and evaded my strike and went for my opening. His speed, dynamic vision and precision were a big problem for me.

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A 360° slash, [Kazekiri] was used to counter this. He ducked and dropped his sword. The moment I saw the blade I was struck with awe and it felt as if the sword woke up.

The sword was like transparent ice, a bit blueish and had white snowflake patterns in it. I have never seen a blade so beautiful. It looked very fragile but all the exchanges suggested otherwise. I was captivated by the sword which cost me. I evaded a strike which was shallow but enough to sting and bleed a bit.

She’s beautiful, eh?

I looked at his right hand which was holding the beautiful sword and then to the sword that laid on the ground.

“There are two of them?”

Hmm, I wonder.

I decided to get serious. I had decided against using my magic weapon Kazeshini against these youngsters so I had to do with a katana I had bought recently. I had bought it from Yttroz Industries. A blacksmith named Silver Torrent had crafted various amount of weapons and tools and left them to Yttroz Industries to sell. Hmm, Silver Torrent?

“What was your adventurer’s name again?”

Silver Torrent, why?

I held up my katana and pointed at it. “Did you make this? It’s of a very good quality.”

Oh, I was thinking that your sword seemed familiar. I might have made that yes.

“I see, can I know the name of that beautiful sword you’re holding?”

Her name is Shirayuki Nilah.

He slowly sheathed his sword. I wanted to capitalize on it but I decided against it after I saw the stance he took. He didn’t seem to want to catch me by surprise because he wasn’t moving particularly fast. I also sheathed my sword because an Iai was the only thing fast enough to counter his Iai.

Both of our swords flashed. The slashes clashed and wind got blasted at Agnis while ice got blasted at me. He got picked up by the wind and skilfully navigated on it while I had to cut away the ice around me.

I glanced to the side because I heard heavy slams and explosions and it seemed that Sebastian was getting pushed back. I had to parry wind blades and ice slashes raining from the sky. How long is he planning to take to fall to the ground?

I parried something flying at me at great speed and noticed that he threw his sword. Is he insane? I looked at the other sword that was still on the ground. He was holding another one.

He has 3 of these? He disappeared and I instinctively blocked something that came from the direction of the sword he had just thrown. I was confused.

A sword was still flying at me. Did he swap places?

I put more effort in my body augmentation, evaded the sword and sent a sword flurry at Agnis. He seemed to be on the defensive this time.

He disappeared again and his sword fell to the ground. I located the first sword that he had dropped, not there, that means! I parried another sword strike. I’m sure that I would have a blast fighting him in my younger years but it is quite annoying at my current age, he is fast enough to minimize the amount of time I have to think and react, it is going to wear me out mentally before it will wear me out physically.

Another parry. I’m slowly starting to feel like this is psychological warfare. He probably realizes that he can’t win from me, to which I’m not sure if that’s the case. Just as I’m holding back, it seems he is holding back too. None of us have made any big moves. The tiniest mistake will be capitalized on. I am not the Sword Saint because I overpower any possible contester. It is because I have defeated masters in the sword that very well might have been stronger than me.

Strength isn’t everything. He might lose to me now but give him 10 no 5 years and he might mop the floor with me, even if I was in my prime. My pupil Leefa is slowly getting more and more wins in on me. I’m getting old and slow.

Agnis dropped his sword again. He is either going to swap places with a sword or form a new one. His sword seemed to be talking now. It wasn’t talkative but it was direct. It told me that I should get serious if I don’t want to lose. From the exchanges I had with it I could tell that he was holding back a lot. This sword is extremely powerful and it seems to have a strong will. I picked up a copy that he had dropped. I instantly felt mana drain out of me. I tried to swing it and parry Agnis’ strike but it shattered.

“What?!”

I jumped back and got another shallow cut.

I looked at my hand. The cold didn’t affect my hand too much because it shattered so fast. I reexamined the way he swung his sword. Is the reason he is swinging his sword like that to make sure it doesn’t shatter? I used [Slide] to another copy he had dropped. I put a lot of mana in my hand and augmented it to withstand the severe mana drain it would inflict on me. Agnis seemed to patiently observe.

I picked it up. My mana still drained but not as much as it did before. And I swung the sword as I saw Agnis do multiple times and dropped it. While at first, it felt like I was swinging through water on the version that shattered, this swing was smooth and frictionless. It didn’t need a lot of strength but it still had made a huge gash in the floor.

“I now understand your sword style. This is not easy but you seem to have found something that works for you. At first, I thought you had made this sword to suit your style. This is what most blacksmiths do, create swords that correspond to the style of the users. But you… you made a style to match the sword?”

That is not quite correct but good enough, the style is not perfect but I’m getting there. He made a normal sword out of ice, swung it and it just shattered. I don’t know exactly why but I can take a guess, his swings are insanely fast.

“It is to accommodate your speed?”

Correct. I guess you’re the Sword Saint for a reason. Even if I can read your body language and try to catch you off guard, I still can’t get a good hit in. You even are holding up well against Shirayuki and you figured out how my style works. I don’t think my style is anything that is common.

“It is not. But I’m glad that I had this exchange. I would love to see a match between you and Leefa Seorwynnn, my disciple.”

Ah, sounds like she will also be a pain in the ass to fight.

“It will certainly be an interesting fight, although you seem to be more technical, she has more raw power so I wonder how this might play out.”

I tried to catch him off guard but all my attempts ended in failure. All his attempts also ended in failure. It has been a while since I’ve been a stalemate. If it wasn’t for his speed he would be defeated by now.

A lot of skills could have been used. They don’t leave me open against regular opponents. But Agnis is the fastest opponent I’ve ever fought and he is skilled at finding openings so this might not be true with him as an opponent.

At times like this I wish I was younger. I sped up and put pressure on him. He seemed occupied so I attempted a big move. But as if he had read my mind, he backed off a lot, placing him out of range of my big move. Using it now will only make it easy for him to exploit the opening it might make. My instinct told me to block and that’s what I did.

A heavy blow came out of nowhere and pushed me back. Blood trickled down my forehead and I got rid of the ice crystals growing on me.

What was that? Agnis was standing still, his sword was sheathed… I focused. Another blow out of nowhere. I blocked it again but this time I briefly saw what happened. He used an Iai from a neutral stance, making it seem to come out of nowhere. I got rid of the ice crystals again.

A loud crash. Sebastian had been blasted into the wall andor the first time, I felt magic.

The swords Agnis had left behind had formed a hexagon around me and it had activated a magic circle. It has been years since I have seen magic activated like this in a real fight. It created an ice cage. Getting out of this cage was no issue but… I parried wind blades Agnis sent at me from between the bars.

Go for it Raishin!

I looked over and Raishin wasn’t holding his spear anymore. I noticed an enormous spear made out of purple lightning above my head, it dropped down and I sent a [Iai: Kazeshini] at it. It dispersed the attack as it wasn't as strong as I expected it to be.

A spear flew back to Raishin’s hand. I wanted to get rid of this cage when I felt a cold blade rest on my shoulder.

This is our win.

I looked to the side and Sebastian seems knocked out. Agnis was holding his katana near my neck and Raishin and Gregory approached.

“That is correct, this battle is your win.” I smiled because the outcome of this battle didn’t matter.

It seemed Agnis realized this because he was making a face that suggested he knew that something troublesome was coming.‎