[Red's POV]
I summoned Naga and lifted it with my right hand. Lionel surprised by the sudden appearance of my weapon, took a step backward for safety. He widened his legs and changed his stance to that of a hanging stance. I rotate my wrist that was holding Naga and swung it around, as if like I were starting an engine. I looked at Lionel straight ahead, his eyes were still cold and merciless. Without giving it much thought, I took one step forward. Slowly walking to my opponent.
**
Lionel pushed forward giving the first strike. With his sword shining brightly under the sky, the strikes that he shot out, turned into a green blur, as the speed of his sword starts heading faster and faster.
Klinkk!
Klankk!
Cheokkk!!!
Normally at this point of the exchange, his opponent would already be devastated and overwhelmed by his attacks. However, his masked opponent was different. Instead of being overwhelmed, the speed of his attacks got faster instead. It got to a point where Lionel had to put in extra effort to parry and deflect his weapon.
Lionel thought to himself, "Maybe it wouldn't be as boring this year."
He starts experimenting with what he can do to bring out more power from his opponent. To start off, he inserted his aura in his blade and swung his weapon. His attacks got a lot sharper, a rip in the air could be heard. Red managed to dodge one of the attacks barely, with part of his hair slightly cut off. Red distanced himself from his opponent. But Lionel did not give him a chance to catch his breath. The moment Red landed his feet on the ground, Lionel would already reach beside him and continued attacking. The worse part was, Lionel was too agile, even with all his armor equipped. The moment he blocked one attack from one side, Lionel would strike the other side, not giving him a chance to protect his body. Bit by bit, Red's body starts getting torn.
**
[Red's POV]
Shit. This is hopeless. No matter which direction I blocked, my other side will be exposed and slashed. Lionel's blade wasn't slowing down at all. As I try to predict where the next strike is, he feint the swing with his hilt, I almost fell for it as I kept my eye opened wider to see where is it coming from. The blade slams against Naga, as I attempt to guard it and retaliate. However, he overpowered me and cut my shoulder. I clenched my teeth at the sharp pain and swung Naga. It missed as he backflipped and land lightly on the ground.
"Maybe I expected too much from you." he said to me while yawning.
Look at this punk. Not even a little tired out by me. I checked my body condition and compared it to his. To be honest, It looks as if I was the only one sustaining damage this entire time. I think he managed to block and guard against all my attacks. Annoyed, I try remembering the motion White used to hunt her prey and visualized it in my head by closing my eyes.
Lionel saw this and got agitated.
"Really, closing your eye in the middle of a duel?" He said as he dashed towards me.
I kept my weapon close to me in a Close Left Stance as I hear the footsteps emitting from Lionel.
1 Step, 2 Step, and 3 Step.
I lift my sword up in a hanging right stance guarding the attack coming from my right side.
Clunkkk!!
His sword clashed with mine, and I open my eyes and stared at him.
"I got you."
Using the wavy part of Naga as an advantage prevents Lionel's sword from sliding out of mine as he got stuck with me. I jerked the sword and kicked with my front foot.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[Left roundhouse Kick]
Lionel managed to see the kick and tried to take a step backward to avoid it. However, he forgot the fact that his sword was stuck to mine, and he lost his center of balance. I kept the sword close to my chest and thrust the sword forward, aiming it at his chest. In that instance, he took his palm and slams it against the blade of Naga. This caused the trajectory of my sword to change and ended up missing him. I was about to follow up by swinging the sword widely, hoping it landed on him but suddenly. I got goosebumps.
I quickly widened the gap between us and raised a guarding stance.
[*Bloodlust detected*]
The notification appeared in front of my face as I check what Lionel's next course of action was. He swung his blade to the side and stopped moving. His blade suddenly glowed in yellow light as a projection of his blade appeared.
"Aura Blade?!"
I heard someone yelling it in the spectator seats.
Crowds of people started standing up hoping to take a closer look at the emperor's heir's sword.
Soon everyone started cheering and shouting at Lionel.
The crowd started getting more excited as some of the audience from the empire side cheered the loudest. The Kings and Queens that were there all looked surprised and shocked as technically this marks the youngest Master Swordsman in history. Everyone looked surprised except King Darius as he continued smiling at my mistakes.
It seemed that my opponent was hiding his strength this entire time. He already reached enlightenment and was already a Master swordsman. I glared at King Darius, seeing him enjoying this situation. He caught me staring at him and smiled. He also starts saying something from his mouth. Due to the huge distance between us, I obviously couldn't hear anything. However, I could read his lips.
I. Didn't. Train. You. To. Be. A. Loser.
Finally connecting all the words together. The old man pissed me off so much that I could feel veins popping from my head.
"Ryong, Supply me mana to use the Whip Sword."
[Understood.]
Lionel starts standing still waiting for me to attack. With his aura blade emitting out from his sword, carefully observing my every action. I got too annoyed by the King that I stopped thinking about him and imagining Lionel as the King so that I can vent my anger out. With a short burst of energy, I kicked the ground so hard, a loud Thump could be heard. I disappeared from Lionel's sight and appeared in his blind spot swinging my weapon. The Youngest Master Swordsman of course didn't forget about his blind spot and with ease just deflected my sword away. I spin around and launch my sword from above, slamming it at him.
**
Lionel lifts his sword above his head and prepared to guard against the weird-looking sword. To be honest, the fight has been getting stale and boring to him again. He thought by unleashing his aura, he could pull something out of this opponent to excite him. But his movement has been predictable so much that, he felt that if he closed his eyes. He could still parry and even counter-attack some of them. He was ready to receive the attack when suddenly his entire arm collapsed together with his sword, cutting his shoulder.
"Wha____!"
The impact of the sword was suddenly heavier than before. At first, Lionel thought that maybe his overconfidence was what happen. But as he exchange clashes with Red again, the impact was harder and heavier. It wasn't his imagination. In order to keep a distance, Lionel summoned his aura blade again and slash at Red. The Aura blade was thus manifested out from his blade to deal an afterimage of each strike.
So, when Lionel swings his sword twice, 4 slashes would be launched toward his opponent instead. However, even with that, his opponent bulldozed forward, with every clash heavier and the swinging speed of the sword faster. This was when Lionel starts to panic a little.
**
[Red's POV]
Looks like Lionel was agitated by my attacks that he started to retreat backward. He stood still and focused his breathing before speaking something from his mouth. Suddenly, a pillar of light emerges from his body.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
Blue appeared, replying to my questions.
[*Detecting Oppoenent*]
[Magic + Aura Buff]
[Increase in Strength and Speed 2 times] + [Internal Aura strengthens attacks and defense]
[Opponent x3 times stats compared to before]
"That's not fair at all."
Lionel dashed forward to me at an unbelievable speed. The moment he was in front of me, he slams his weapon against me. I guarded against it and retaliated with my own one. He was side-stepping faster and faster around me as he circled around me, landing a cut in every direction.
Suddenly from the bottom, he sweep my legs off the ground and aimed his punch at my stomach. However, I managed to guard it with Naga and slam my back against the floor.
I kicked him away from me to create a distance. He dodges and dragged his sword against the ground and approached me to finish the match. Smiling at how relentless he was, I dragged myself from the floor immediately and stood up. Lionel's sword swung upwards aiming at my chest however I guarded against it. I swung my weapon at him, he stepped backward avoiding me with ease. But that was where I wanted him to be, I injected Ryong's mana in the blade and inserted my own aura. Like a wrecking ball, the blade extended and increased its weight.
Lionel surprised by the extension of the blade, tried to block it in midair. However, with the extra weight on the blade, it slams on Lionel's blade hard. Lionel unable to cope with the impact got slammed along with his sword as Naga slammed their entire body against the wall.
After getting slammed against the ground. Lionel stood up, trying to regain his posture. He still had his buff on, so he was more on guard currently. He dashed towards me, and with his insane battle instinct, he reflected all the whipping slashes I tried landing on him. He stood around 1 meter away from me and prompted a stance. Taking a look at that, even I know that he was about to evoke a skill.
I jumped a step behind to create a distance. But he already finished his preparation and launches forward.
[Edola Swo______]
Suddenly, Lionel got quiet. Why? Because he fell for my trap.
How? As Lionel took a step forward midway activating his skill, I extended the sword in and swirl it similar to how White swirled her body around her prey. The Extended blade that was swirled ended up wrapping the entire whipping blade around Lionel's body as he was rushing forward, trapping him. The moment he struggled, the blade would have cut his entire body's flesh. Like how a snake wraps its body around its prey, Naga found its prey. I then inserted Aura into the blade, increasing the weight, thus stopping the Emperor's heir to move another step.
[*Skill Created*]
[Naga Swordsmanship Technique: Snake's Gripped]
A Single Target Skill
Wrapped the target's body using a whipping sword to disable their movement.
Catching inspiration from a snake, this technique was designed to imitate how a snake hunts for its prey.
Skill Requirement: Naga (Weapon)
Status Effect: Bleeding, Trapped
Skill Cooldown: 30 minutes
"...Winner! Red!"