Gaius’s whole body radiated a sense of intimidation that couldn’t be found in his human form. Mana surged through him like a tidal wave, due to the change, Wilhelm used his mana to the fullest, heat traveled through his blood as power overflowed from his body.

Gaius was the first one to move, as he recklessly charged straight at him. It felt like a truck was running full speed at him. Now he needed to use all his strength to win against Gaius. Gaius attacked with a simple side swing, it was far faster and stronger than before. However, due to its predictability, Wilhelm was able to dodge it.

‘I'm toast if it hits me even once.’

Even though Wilhelm’s mana surpassed that of Gaius, Gaius was considered blessed as well in the realm of mana. He held a great amount of mana and combined with his [Beastification] which improved his physical strength to ridiculous levels, he had Wilhelm beat in terms of strength and speed alone.

But even with the change, Wilhelm was still not getting hit. Each swing of Gaius was like a battering ram, as it moved viciously through the air. Even though its a wooden sword, Wilhelm would break some bones if it hit.

If it hit that is.

Wilhelm dodged the vertical swing of Gaius. The mana-filled wooden sword cracked the floor where Wilhelm was standing before, as the air flapped Wilhelm’s collar. Wilhelm immediately did two stabs towards Gaius’s liver and solar plexus with his full strength, yet Gaius just gritted his teeth.

“Kurgh! Groarr!”

Gaius groaned and roared before continuing his reckless attacks. If this was a battle using real swords Gaius would’ve died already but the problem is that this is a wooden sword duel. Perhaps Gaius knew and used it to his advantage.

With that being said, Wilhelm was still winning. Wilhelm deflected Gaius’s sword swing, the sheer power made Wilhelm’s muscles tremble, however, he managed to deflect the sword swing and strike Gaius’s face.

“Kurgh!”

Gaius then attempted to attack again, and Wilhelm could clearly see it. Gaius’s moves were too rigid, and too constrained for a beastman. The incompatible swordmanship that he had learned clashed with his instincts which made his movements predictable and gave a bunch of openings.

‘For a wolf beastman he should’ve learned the Northern Sword Style but I doubt there was anyone around him that can teach him that. Thanks to it, he just went ahead and learned the Basic Imperial Sword Style.’

The Basic Imperial Sword style is not bad by any means. In fact, it might be the best sword style for a beginner to learn. A beginner ‘human’ that is. For a beastman like Gaius, it would be like chains that restricted his movements if he learned it.

Gaius did a footwork of the Basic Imperial Sword Style and did a side swing however Wilhelm was at a level where basic movements can’t reach him anymore. Despite this, the reason why Wilhelm wasn’t winning until now is because of Gaius’s endurance.

‘The fur and swelled muscles made his body like an iron armor. I bet that novices won’t be able to pierce through it even with a sharp blade.’

It becomes more problematic because Wilhelm was using a wooden sword. He was able to do efficient damage, using the blunt wooden sword like a club, but he wasn’t able to do a killing blow. Not to mention there was another problem for Wilhelm other than that.

His body was full of sweat and he was breathing hard. His muscles are tired and screaming at him in pain. The high-intensity fight and dodging didn't come without a price. In comparison, Gaius also seemed exhausted but he looked a lot more fine stamina-wise.

Beastmans are innately born with high physical strength, speed, and stamina. It was no wonder Wilhelm couldn’t keep up with Gaius in terms of stamina.

“A battle of endurance and stamina, especially when I am using a wooden sword. It was a good strategy, even if you can’t hit me you would be able to tire me out.” Wilhelm said all of a sudden. Gaius didn’t respond, because he had a bad feeling all of a sudden.

“However, you took too long,” Wilhelm said with a bright smile.

Gaius frowned and did a side swing, Wilhelm instead of dodging, instead went forward, he gripped his sword hard, and with great speed, accurately stabbed Gaius in the hand, halting the greatsword movements.

“Agh!” Gaius groaned as he looked at Wilhelm with widened eyes, however, the attack was not yet over. Wilhelm brought back his sword and twisted his body to its fullest, mana swirled around his body and sword, the sword cried out for blood as it travelled toward Gaius’s liver.

Bang!

Gaius caught his breath, overwhelming pain stopped his body from moving, and his lungs were suddenly deprived of air. Gaius felt nauseous but held it in as he stepped backward, however it was futile.

Wilhelm gripped his sword. The Heinberg Imperial Sword Style, the legacy left behind by the Sword Supreme for his descendants. The sword style designed only to ruthlessly kill its opponents leaving only trails of blood behind in the battlefield. The elegant, brutal, and violent sword style sang a symphony of swords as it bared its fangs toward Gaius, each swing was overwhelming and precise, as it teared through the defenses of Gaius like paper.

Unlike before, Gaius couldn’t just grit his teeth and held onto the pain in exchange for his lacking skills. That blow from before was not just effective, it was deadly. Gaius swung his sword with all his strength, yet as if Wilhelm knew about every movement beforehand, the sword cut through the air, as it barely missed Wilhelm.

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Wilhelm moved like he had some foresight ability, his movements were perfect, and the sword in his hand moved with the right angles, speed, and precision to maximize power. The sword struck through each of Gaius’s vitals, the heart, lungs, solar plexus, liver, neck, everything was mercilessly hit. While each of his own sword strikes were dodged easily or even used as momentum for greater power in Wilhelm’s sword strikes.

It was a brilliant display of skill, something Gaius lacked.

Gaius stepped back like running from a predator.

‘I’m going to lose.’

His lack of skills will cost him this fight, no, it was because of his stupidity. It was because he foolishly learned the swordmanship of humans that now it acted as chains that will bring him away from a better life.

‘I’m going to fail to become a knight.’

Gaius felt despair, he had the opportunity to change his life, but it was slipping away like sand in his hands. Gaius’s grip on his sword loosened, and he soon gripped it hard again. Gaius gritted his teeth as he forced his eyes to see the movement of the sword, as expected, Wilhelm’s sword was already heading towards his neck. It was too late to block it with a sword.

‘That is fine.’

Gaius opened his mouth and bit at Wilhelm’s sword!

“Huh!?”

Wilhelm yelled out a stupid sound, as he forcefully pulled back his sword. Due to the force, Gaius’s fangs were broken, and the taste of iron dominated his mouth as red blood flowed from his lips. However, he grinned. The smile of a werewolf with his mouth dripping with blood was terrifying.

‘Why does it matter if I didn’t have the skills?’

Gaius thought so, will opportunities await you to become fully prepared? Gaius could say for certain that is not the case. Therefore, he has to grab the chance right in front of his eyes, right here right now. Claire briefly flickered in his mind and he refocused himself on the current situation. He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

Wilhelm also stepped back, sensing some kind of change in Gaius.

Gaius started to motion into a charge. Wilhelm thought it would be the same simplistic charging move he had done before but something was different.

‘What the hell?’

Gaius’ left hand was on the ground while his greatsword was in his back pulled as far it could back to generate the strongest force. It almost looked like he was crawling.

Wilhelm felt a chill and took a defensive posture.

His movements were so fast and sudden that he reached Wilhelm faster than he had expected, with no other choice, Wilhelm hurriedly blocked the sideswing of Gaius’s sword.

“Urgh!”

It felt as if his arms were getting ripped off just blocking it. It took him his all not to lose the grip on his sword. His body was lifted a bit to the right due to the sheer power and it broke Wilhelm’s balance a bit. Gaius then used both of his hands to lift the sword up high toward the sky and swung it downwards.

‘Shit!’

Wilhelm quickly repositioned his feet, to deflect while simultaneously dodging Gaius’s swings.

BANG!

Gaiu’s wooden sword embedded itself into the ground. Wilhelm’s arms started trembling despite just deflecting his strikes, however, thanks to the overly wild sword style, there were a ton of openings. Wilhelm quickly pulled back his sword to use the fastest stab he could, only to see a fist right in his face.

Bang!

Wilhelm flew away, and rolled on the ground before quickly standing up, his face was in pain and his nose bled, perhaps it was slightly broken. Wilhelm tried to calm his roughed breathing and took a stance.

‘That is ridiculous.’

In that brief moment, Gaius had abandoned his sword to swing a fist at Wilhelm. Since Gaius had longer reach, he was able to punch Wilhelm first before Wilhelm could even stab him. It was a movement made solely by the instincts of a Wolf Beastman that are many times more refined that human’s.

“Hah, damn it.” Wilhelm wiped the blood in his nose and became on guard. Gaius roared out and grabbed the sword that was embedded into the ground again and rushed toward Wilhelm. His sword didn’t follow conventional techniques as it moved purely driven by instinct and desire to win. Thanks to it, Wilhelm could no longer predict his movements and was forced to be passive.

Gaius sword style is different than the Northern Sword Style, even if their swings were aggressive and used instincts they had a great foundation and skills attached to them.

Gaius' current swings are only compromised on instincts, therefore, it is rough and unskilled. Yet he was now more dangerous than before because he was no longer bound to the conventional techniques. To make things worse, Wilhelm was already extremely exhausted.

Gaius continued to rush at Wilhelm and while Wilhelm did his best to dodge, deflect, and did an occasional counterattack, his exhaustion was at its peak and thanks to it, he gave an opening and Gaius took it. Gaius’s sword managed to hit Wilhelm and he flew away.

“Argh!”

Wilhelm flew in the air and rolled to the ground before getting back up, his body trembling. The current Wilhelm is full of bruises as well as soot and sweat that covered his body, he was even bleeding in some areas. Compared to Gaius who, despite all his bruises, was still standing tall, Wilhelm’s body was trembling and in its limit.

Abraham frowned, since Gaius had already shown his capabilities and passed the test, he was tempted to stop the duel however his liege had ordered him to leave it alone unless something dangerous happened. Abraham sighed, and continued to watch the duel, unable to fight against Wilhelm’s orders.

Gaius, with a similar feeling to Abraham, also frowned. Although he got a bit hotheaded, he remembered that this was more of a test than a duel, Wilhelm was already exhausted, and Gaius didn’t want to beat him up any further when the match was almost decided.

However, Wilhelm’s mind was not in the match, it was elsewhere.

‘Isn’t this enough?’

Wilhelm thought he did quite well, as a modern man he had never got into a fight and was actually quite fearful of it. Even if he had gained Wilhelm’s memories, he was still mostly Moses of Earth. Yet he was able to overcome his fears, fight against Gaius, and he actually did pretty well didn’t he?

‘I don’t really mind losing but…’

His heartbeat fastened, and heat traveled into his blood vessels and mind. Wilhelm breathed out roughly, gritted his teeth, and clenched his heart.

Somehow…He didn’t want to lose. It was weird. Even though he shouldn’t have minded, his body is rejecting it from its very essence. His blood flowed in defiance and anger, and heat overwhelmed and melted his mind and only one thought remained.

I DONT WANT TO LOSE.

Wilhelm’s eyes blurred as he called out a name.

‘Come, [Sword Fiend].’