William kept his stance firm as a familiar dinging noise rang in his ears.
His eyebrows furrowed as his vision pheriphalized.
An ethereal-blue screen had appeared before him, affecting his vision.
He got the gist of the message and brushed it away with his mind.
He was planning to do atleast this much.
{You have been assigned a quest.}
{Impress the High-Swordsman and move on to the round of 8.}
{Failure: Disqualification from the Deuce Bodyguard Tournament.}
{Follow-Up Quest: Achieve victory in the Deuce Bodyguard Tournament.}
{Reward: 2500 EXP}
{Follow-Up Reward: 3000 EXP Per Victory.}
A muddle of colours had already blurred before William.
Wasn't this too soon?
William had a grimacing smile as he realized the whistle had already gone through.
William could not see the stance or positioning of the man before him so he merely filled his arms with strength before using his Class Skill {Torrent Crash.}
His arms blasted forward with full-strength.
Unfortunately, there were far from a water body so he could not display the full power of his class.
One would have to visualize a crashing torrent flowing from each of his hands before slamming down with immense force.
William winced lightly as they struck a hard metal blade. Their moment seemingly halted.
The blades curious hazel captivated him for a short moment.
In this short moment, William had almost lost the battle.
This was how it felt to fight the Dusk-Swordsman.
William yanked his mind back down to Earth or whatever this place was caleld.
William was confident that if his battle sense was working well, a strong kick would soon come for his stomach.
{River Steps.}
William's right foot flowed through slowed time. It moved backwards and landed lightly.
His entire body turned with it smoothly.
He had no idea what was going on.
However, just after his action stopped, a huge gust of wind blasted past just to the left of him.
His eyes widened at his close-call.
His hair rampaged on his head as the man next to him had a surprised look.
"Hoh?"
Seeing a black-clothed leg drawn out, Williams battle sense activated almost instantly and he found himself aiming for the now-open Dusk-Swordsman.
{Gut-Blast}
An empowering level of strength ran through Williams clenched fists as they connected with the sword of the Dusk-Swordsman once more.
A harmonious string of battle-clashes rang out through the arena.
The watches were silent as they tried to keep up.
William felt his advantage lessening with every single clash.
Realizing he was getting nowhere he used the perfect technique for the situation.
His fists turned an ominous black as the suns reflection traveled down the smooth surface that coated both of William's hands.
He felt a huge piercing power with each blow as the harmonious string of battle became rougher and more open-ended.
{Piercing-Caliginous Fists.}
Williams strikes finally made some openings as he found himself pushing Fenn further and further towards the back.
Fenn let out a brief gasp of air.
It was time to get serious.
William felt the air around him tremble as Fenn stood still.
His two arms held his sword tight as a satanic posture was founded.
Fenns eyes had gone a brutal white and his veins had become as opaque as ever.
On the verge of popping you could say.
William did not feel direful or forbid.
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He hadn't once since entering this New-World.
He clenched his muscles as hard as he could and let his own eyes go white.
If it's that technique. I should be able to survive. William appealed to himself as his chance also changed almost instantly.
His hands and body was a blur as it became something entirely different.
William took in one last painful gasp of air.
{Water-Demon Blitz.}
The Dusk-Swordsmen did not use a technique, he merely charged outwards with full power and released a barrage of extreme slashes.
The two clashed this time yet at a much higher speed and level.
Sparks did not flow yet a dull sound rang out extremely fast over and over again to the on-lookers.
William could barely feel anything as blade marks appeared all over his body.
His fists were moving without his control.
His legs had long left the surface.
He would have fallen long ago if not for the passive-skill that came with the Torrent-Abbot class.
{Unstoppable Flow of Time.}
{When the user is using a move of the Torrent-Abbot Class, they shall receive nullified damage internally and externally until their own technique ends.}
And so for the brief period where they had an intense clash, William felt as though he could go on forever.
Although he was far outmatched in strength and speed, he kept pushing forward and moving his limbs in unexplainable angles.
Soon his final-move came to an end.
No. William shouted at himself in his mind-space. It can't end here.
The Dusk-Swordsman seemed unharmed and unaffected by their clash, he moved his blade instantly so that it would meet with Williams neck.
William heard the beginning of a gentle swoosh.
He instantly connected his two arms. They were stinging and seething yet he moved them despite their concerning red-tone.
{Shock-Burst.)
His mind was in a throbbing daze yet he made sure with all his grit that this attack would propell forwards.
Boom.
A deafening boom spread throughout the arena as an air-blast crashed forwards.
The Dusk-Swordsmens eyes began darting around and a tiny layer of sweat formed on his brow.
William was so confident in its ability to land that he was already preparing his next attack.
As if in slow-motion, The dusk-swordsmen kept his swing going, moving his head to the left and allowing the air-blast to travel past the gap where his head had been.
As his blade-lay by Williams neck the air blast erupted behind him.
William could only hear his deep pants as he met eyes with the hazel-eyed Swordsman.
An incredible feeling of repulsion and drowsiness soon broke down on him.
His legs collapsed under him and his sense of direction was spinning wildly.
Fenn turned him over and tried to shake his head.
His pulse was checked and the crowd gathered closer.
"Hey Boss is he alright-."
The voices muffled and faded before gradually becoming flawlessly mute.
William's face had a sickly expression and he had gone undoubtedly pale.
He met eyes with Fenn as his consciousness faded.
Fenn cursed at himself.
He had been enjoying the battle too much and didn't expect that someone would last long enough for his Sword's curse to activate.
He made sure that he would repay the boy who he had essentially got disqualified since he would now become a Dusk-Borne for 180 hours. Thankfully as long as Williams's body was not exposed outside in the time of Dusk he would be alright.
Fenn sheathed his sword immediately and calmed it down.
It seemed like the boy must have held an incomprehensible amount of potential for it to be riling as it was.
He could only hear the faint voice of the system, Fenn's voice could not be heard before he hit the ground
{You have been affected by the Dusk Sunset's Curse: Direful Dread.}
{You have earned 2500 Exp for Impressing the Dusk Swordsman.}
{You have 180 hours before you wake up.}
{You have been disqualified from the Tournament.}
{The Dusk-Swordsman feels like it is his fault and wants to repay your losses.}
{Putting Savior to sleep...}
The words ran past William so fast and unprecedented that he could hardly react before his vision cut black.
A boy with fluffy blond hair, signs of a toned body, and an angelic smile was waving to nobles,merchants and those of the upper echelons of soceity, prepared to fight for victory in the finals of the Deuce Tournament.
There were no mutters, only loud praises, and tips being passed down via butlers and servents.
William did some extremely basic stretches as the muddle of colours by his sides all cheered for him.
William's opponent appeared.
No one cheered for him.
No one even gave him a quick-side glance or a disapproving tut.
He was not even noticed by the crowd as they kept cheering for William. They ripped out their hair and threw it down to him. They bled their arms to pass down their blood for him.
He wore a torn mix of rags and leather armor. It was a mix of black and a heavy dark brown.
He completely ignored his surroundings as he made his way to William.
Each step was even slower than the last.
Yet his steps grew with power when they lost distance
The once faint footsteps were booming inherently.
Williams opponent merely slowly strolled down the arena.
His head bobbed from side to side and he possed hair that was of a vermillion red.
Yet it carried an aura of something that followed his head's sideways movements.
His hair was quite dry and uncared for.
It was definitely messy and he looked quite, well edgy. William noted.
William tried to wave since he would always greet his opponent.
Yet his hand did not rise, he was muddled at the meaning of this.
As William's supporters proceeded to take no notice, William's opponent was already before him.
He put a hand on William's shoulder causing a gulp from William.
The pressure wasn't lethal or heavy yet it felt like if need be, his entire shoulder could be discombobulated in an instant.
William eyed him carefully.
Death.
His entire body jolted with unexplainable sparks of feelings.
Sparks that became roaring bonfires that mixed and slowly killed each other out.
A huge insignia had formed in William's mind as his eyes met with two perfectly red eyes that were being engulfed in red strands of a beastly madness.
They pierced through his entire being and he found himself in a state of uncontrollable trembling.
"Wh-why?" William looked at his shaking hand in unconscious confusion.
A coarse, raspy, and dark voice soon emerged from the boy before him.
He now noticed that they were around the same height after the initial fear had run down his veins.
"Close the gate."
William tried speaking yet no words came from his mouth.
The boy who he now noticed was inhumanely pale didn't bother with his shenanigans and slowly left.
As the boy got further and further from William, his injuries became direr and more concentrated.
Blood had now tainted his persona red and numerous blades had impaled numerous places.
He held a heavy limp and his left arm was soon violently blown off by a powerful and yet invisible impact.
But he kept walking, to get back.
No matter what.
William called out to alert him of his state yet found himself forbidden of speech.
William pleaded with the gods to give him his voice back yet received no answer. Not even his system was here as of now.
The Nobles had now all become slit-filled, bruise burdened and bones twisted things.
William could only hold his hand out to the boy who soon left.
Close the gate?
William could not help but wonder what this meant.
He closed his eyes and tried to remember what the boy had done to make him feel that overwhelming sense of apparent death.
And yet when he opened his eyes, a bright beige ceiling was all he could see.
His breathing was extremely heavy and his face was tear-sodden.
"H-huh?" William felt his soggy face and was shocked.
He wiped it with his hand upon noticing several silhouettes in the room.
{Welcome back, Savior.}
William merely nodded to his systems greetings.
{You have visitors, Duke Deuces Daughter, Scarlett Deuce has offered you an invitation to be her bodyguard. Audra Craul has offered you an invitation to be her bodyguard. Dein Droger has offered you an invitation to be his bodyguard. Greya Dragovich has offered you an invitation to be an internee at the Dragovich Clan's grounds.}
{You have much to do.}