I had to say, Lionel Stuart certainly had a flair for the dramatic. Who the fuck ordered a damned bell and metallic gong to be placed inside a party room and use it to signal the start of a match!? The bastard really had much more money than he could spend.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to make any sort of retort. As soon as the bell rang, Shawn Franklin immediately sprang into action. Sprinting across the arena, he slashed his sword down with all his strength.
He sure as hell didn't waste any time. Watching his movements warily, I managed to parry his attack with relative ease. Despite having successfully defended against his strike, I knew that he wouldn't be done with only this.
I was right.
Franklin initially increased the pressure of his sword, bearing down on me, but I stood my ground firmly. Realizing that he couldn't overwhelm me with brute force, Franklin swiftly switched tactics. His sword began to glow brightly.
Without missing a beat, I broke off to disengage and retreat a little, but Franklin continued to bear down on me.
"Die, you fucking commoner!" Franklin spat as he blasted a white arc of devastating energy toward me at pointblank range.
Commoner? Really?! What kind of stupid insult was that?
Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of mustering a retort. I blocked Franklin's attack with my sword, but the energy blast unsurprisingly detonated upon contact, instantly enveloping me in a white cloud of smoke.
As much as I wanted to evade that, I simply couldn't. I suddenly realized why Franklin closed the distance between us and unleashed his attack at pointblank range. He was cutting off my path of retreat and making sure his attack landed!
Smart fella…
Coughing, I staggered out of the smoke, only to barely see the whistling blade swinging toward me in time.
Twisting my body, I managed to avoid the tip of the blade by mere millimeters. Jumping away, I quickly raised my sword up to block several consecutive slashes. I managed to force his blade away several times, but he relentlessly resumed his attacks to pressure me further. Eventually I succeeded in throwing him off my tracks and putting a good distance between my opponent and myself.
However, Franklin mercilessly pressed on, refusing to allow me a breather.
"Sword Flash!" he yelled as he thrust his sword toward me in a manner reminiscent of a fencer's strike. At first I wondered why he was executing a thrust so far away from me, but the answer came in the form of a white bolt of energy that streaked out of his sword and hurtled toward me.
"Yikes!"
I dove out of the way in time. I could almost feel a buzz of energy as the bolt passed just millimeters above my hair and back, singeing the fabric of my dark blue jacket. The bolt of energy rushed past my dodging body and struck the wall behind me, cracking it a little.
Rolling to my feet, I glanced at the wall and frowned in puzzlement. "That attack should have done much more damage," I remarked, bewildered.
"S…shut up!" Franklin roared, slashing at me.
"I meant no offense." I parried his enraged blow rather easily. "What I meant was that, given your strength, you should have been able to destroy the wall completely."
"What do you know about me?!" Franklin snapped furiously, relentlessly delivering slash after slash, and forcing me into the defensive.
I sighed. Despite his pure-blooded, upper class lineage that he loved to brag about, his intelligence was obviously inferior to mine. "Perhaps you misunderstood, which I should have expected, given your obvious lack of intelligence, but I am saying that the lack of damage that resulted from your attack was no fault of yours. If I'm not mistaken, it is the low quality of your supposedly 'elegantly crafted' weapon that is restricting your real power."
"I don't need to waste a high quality weapon on a lowly opponent like you!" Franklin spat vehemently, completely missing the point. I could literally see the point of my deduction fly over his head. "Demolition Strike!"
His sword exploded with energy. Mana poured out of his blade in streams and slammed into me before blowing up. Stumbling backward from the explosion, I did a quick check on my wounds. Just as I suspected, they were very light.
I was still all right, even after taking a direct hit from Franklin's technique. It meant that my deductions were correct.
The ornately designed weapon seemed to be limiting his power. I was merely stunned, but otherwise I was unscathed. What scared me was that if Franklin had been using a better weapon such as a proper Divine Device, I might have died from that attack. Of course, I would have blocked it instead of directly taking the blow just to test my hypothesis, but that was beside the point.
It dawned on me that Stuart had chosen to give us such horrible weapons for a reason. He didn't want either of us dead. The old man appeared to harbor at least some affection for the both of us.
How thoughtful of him, I thought sarcastically. With a sword of such dubious quality, we could be hacking at each other the entire night and neither of us would be wounded. It was sharp enough to cut, of course, but not sharp or strong enough to hack an entire limb off.
"What's wrong with you?" Franklin demanded as he leaped down upon me, swinging his sword downward in a vicious arc. I deflected it with my blade and looked at him questioningly. He seethed as he struck again. "You have only been defending yourself from my attacks so far. Why aren't you attacking back?"
I shrugged flippantly. "Probably because if I did, the match will end much earlier and we won't be able to put on an entertaining show for Lord Stuart."
"Don't be so arrogant!" Franklin bellowed, repeating his merciless and desperate attacks. I chortled, not wanting to hear that from him of all people.
"Are you serious? I'm being arrogant? Have you looked in the mirror recently?"
"Shut up! I will fucking kill you!" Franklin yelled as he slashed his sword down ferociously. I blocked it again and shoved him back.
"Neither of us is going to get killed today," I said with a weary sigh. "Not while we're using these weapons, anyway."
"A weapon is only as good as its user, you fucking idiot!" Franklin shouted defiantly as he closed in for another attack. "I should have known a commoner like you would only know how to babble nonsense!"
"That's only true as long as your opponent is nothing but fodder," I corrected. "But the quality of your weapon does matter. Between two equally matched combatants, the one with the superior Divine Device will definitely hold a decisive advantage. And while a master can probably cut down a much weaker enemy with a blade of grass or inferior weapon, if he is too strong, his weapon will crumble under his own power when he fights a sufficiently formidable opponent."
"What does a lowly commoner like you know about swords?!" Franklin demanded furiously as he struck at me again with an attack that I easily parried. I was getting increasingly annoyed by his fixation with calling me a lowly commoner. Well, he wasn't wrong, but he was making it sound like it was a bad thing. It wasn't as if his pure blood and upper class lineage made him stronger or smarter than me. Quite the contrary, actually.
"To be honest, plenty enough," I grumbled, shuddering at the memories of training in my dad's dojo. "My dad has been drilling me with swordsmanship techniques everyday for about over three years now."
That remark caught him off guard. "Who is your father?"
"Huang Shun Yin." I shrugged. "Dunno if you've ever heard of him."
From Franklin's initial blank expression, it seemed he hadn't. He snorted, and then his face contorted in fury.
"You've only been learning swordsmanship from a nobody, and you still dare to lecture me on the sword?" Franklin roared. "Know your place, you filth!"
"I would like to interject here for a moment." Stuart's face was grave as he stared hard at the frothing and foaming Franklin. The both of us paused for a moment to turn toward him. "I personally know Huang Shun Yin, and he is a mercenary and reputable magician who is held in very high regard by anyone in the combat profession. Even the military respects his skill. I didn't think there would exist a mage who remains ignorant of the legendary Angel of Fire, but I will not tolerate any disrespect toward a man who has given everything to serve and defend the Global Federation."
"My…my apologies, Lord Stuart." Franklin looked suitably chastened.
Inwardly, I scoffed at him. Calling Dad a nobody? He deserved to be called out for it and humiliated in front of everybody. Serves him right. If I could laugh right there and then, I would, but I couldn't afford to give in to such childish impulses. Not in the middle of a duel, in front of so many adults. They would think I was insane.
And that would reflect badly on Dad.
"You may resume fighting." Stuart realized that he had interrupted us in the middle of a match, and he raised his hand to motion for us to continue. His face still burning with shame, Franklin spun toward me, his rage building in his gut.
"It doesn't matter if you've learned swordsmanship from the Sword Saint himself…only three years of practice and you think the likes of you can compare to me, who has been honing my skill with the sword for almost my entire life?"
"For looking down on someone who has only learned swordsmanship for three years, you don't seem able to beat me even after using a few of your magic techniques," I pointed out as I struggled to hide my amusement.
"Who says I can't beat you?!" Franklin screamed as he lunged at me again. Typical arrogant young master. And here I thought they only existed in wuxia and xianxia novels. "And I haven't used all of my magical techniques yet!"
"Because your sword wouldn't be able to take it if you did," I remarked offhandedly.
"SHUT UP!"
I sighed as I blocked the next blow again. His arrogant attitude was beginning to piss me off. I wanted nothing more than to smash his skull in and force him to eat his words, but despite his arrogant and short fuse, Franklin was remarkably skilled. He had been pressuring me this entire time, not allowing me to use any of my spells.
Furthermore, I was secretly casting my summoning spells in the background and holding my Constellation spirits in reserve. Since Franklin obviously had the skill to cut my Constellation spirits apart if he wanted to, I couldn't carelessly summon them to their deaths. I needed a bit more information on his skills and techniques before I committed my spectral allies to the battlefield. I also panned on taking him by surprise with a huge summoning spell, if I ever got the chance.
Mustering up my strength, I forced Franklin's blade away vigorously and counterattacked with a thrust that was aimed for his heart.
Surprised by my sudden change in tactics, Franklin could barely sidestep my attack. It was testament to his skills and reflexes that he was able to safely avoid my counter. Spinning around to evade, he responded with a backhanded riposte that I managed to deflect with my sword.
"What, you finally got motivated to attack?" he sneered, moving back to track my movements with the lithe, graceful air of a predator. "But it won't make any difference."
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. "Do you so-called pure-blooded, upper class nobles fight with your mouths or your swords? You've been talking nonstop and spewing idiotic insults this entire time. Do you ever shut up? No one ever told you how annoying you are?"
Then I suddenly realized the obvious.
"Of course not. You're the young master of the oh-so-great Franklin clan. Nobody dares to tell you to shut up. Nobody dares to honestly tell you how annoying you are, or how in love with your voice you are. They're scared that your parents will fire them."
"Don't you dare talk about my parents with that foul mouth of yours," Franklin snarled. Blinded by anger, he seemed to falter a little, and I quickly capitalized on his mistake. Stepping in, I opened up with a series of strikes that forced him to fall back. To my surprise, he actually managed to fend every single one of my attacks off, his rage lending him incredible strength and reflexes.
He really is the guy who defeated 10 elite mages in a row, huh? I thought, impressed.
"You know nothing about my family! About my parents!"
Franklin was hollering now, his enraged voice breaking into my thoughts. I had evidently touched a raw nerve. The handsome, blond "noble" was seething with fury at my careless remark and his already massive killing intent had expanded by several notches.
However, he wasn't the only one.
"How rich," I growled, incensed by his sheer hypocrisy. "This coming from a guy who called my dad a nobody. So it's all right if you insult my father, but it's not all right if I talk about your parents? Don't tell me it's because you're a pure-blooded, upper class noble and I'm just a lowly, filthy commoner. I'm sick of your bullshit."
"Just shut the fuck up!" Franklin shrieked furiously. "I don't want to hear a single word from that vulgar mouth of yours!"
"Says the guy who refuses to shut up," I retorted defiantly. I enjoyed goading him. The angrier he was, the more prone he was to making mistakes.
With a screech, Franklin swung his sword and unleashed another Sword Flash. At this distance, I could easily avoid it, but I didn't. Instead, I casually slashed the energy blast apart with my sword, ignoring the dissipating mana that drifted harmlessly around me like a shower of pyrotechnics.
Franklin stared at me dumbly, unable to wrap his mind around the fact that a "mere commoner" such as myself could actually fight him evenly.
"How…?"
"Dude…I don't know if you've realized it yet," I reminded him with a smirk. "But I haven't used any of my real magic spells so far."