In a second, after that metallic sound, there were shock waves that can be felt from the impact from both of the swords. The wind also swirled in the force of their impact and created waves that made every one of us blink in surprise.
A-Are these guys serious?
Left stance… right stance… both of the combatants exchanged blows after blows while using their unique stances (since they are using contrasting sword-types) and created close-calls and openings into each other. The longer their swords are exchanging blows, the more intense are the shock waves being sent with the aforementioned metallic sounds. Their exchanges are so great and ever-so-intensifying, that all spectators around the plaza finally had the courage to run and give these two a room for their battle.
Huh, better late than never huh?
Observing the tides of the battle…
Pops looked like he was just using a regular slim blade that he fashioned in the past although realistically-looking, he was carrying a gargantuan sword. His strokes are faster and heavier, his footwork is unpredictable, and his stance is extremely well-rounded that he can cover up from all of the close-openings made by his opponent- an example befitting from the stance of a sword-specialist.
As expected from the man deemed the title as the finest swordsmith of all Ea!
Well, hold on-
As for his opponent…
Normally, if a regular and amateur-looking enemy were to fight my Pops, they would not last even a second due to his sheer, fighting prowess.
But it seems that this enigmatic figure here is not an amateur, neither he is a regular-looking swordsman.
From all of the sheer skill that my Pops is presenting due to his signature style in Adamthryst- using the power of gravity and the weight of his sword for his advantage, this figure named Effese can uncannily keep up from the rhythm of the battle, unlike the others that wouldn't last from the intensity of my Pop's swordplay!
Its style, although unpredictable, obviously belongs in the nature of the defensive stance as it does not even give its best in registering a well-thought and swift hit. Its footwork is unnaturally fast and can even keep up from the already-insane pace of my Pop's swings and strokes from his Terrabuster.
To keep things unworldly, as Effese keeps fighting, the violet glow of its swords burns even brighter and doubles its height in the heat of the battle.
I feel bad about this! Could it be that the sword of this figure can stockpile shock waves from their brief exchanges and unleash the energy once full?
Per clash, blow, and exchange, the fiery flames tinged in violet keeps on growing in the sword of Effese that it can already compare to the height of Pops' Terrabuster. Suddenly, when another heavy blow was registered to its sword, a full and dark color of violet flashed quickly in the atmosphere. It is as though, there was a faint and extremely fast lightning that struck nearby and the color of darkness reigned in.
In a flash movement, Effese broke the connection of the sword and jumped in a high altitude and went back to its cohorts where the shrouded girl is still standing. It held its flaming sword in violet flames and raised it aloft the dark-violet skies then shouted darkly:
"Nadalheim!!!"
A shot of darkness erupted from the tip of its sword and in a huge volume of dark ray, it blasted its way in the direction of Pops. The sound was ear-piercing as the violet ray doubled itself and became a massive beam. Its appearance is malefic and horrific that its ray might be the power of death and destruction itself. In a flash attempt to stop it, Pops lifted his sword using both of his manly hands and defended himself in the beam with nothing but his blade. Fiery blitz upon impact were flying on Pops' Terrabuster as the sound of retaliation from the malefic beam of the enemy rang loudly.
P-Pops… oh no… are you going to…
I just cannot stand here! Especially now that I have a stick!
I tried to move my body and stand up but because of the lingering fear still pushing me down, all my body can muster is to tremble, much to my own disbelief…
C-Come on, Astoria! Move your body! Are you willing to let your Pops die? Your one and only living family?!
Pathetic! I am an utter fool and pathetic girl! J-Just move!!!
Amidst the painful grunting and exasperated voice of my Pops on his utmost effort to dispel the beam, I tried to look for an available rescuer.
I looked at Roy, his face still terrified- his eyes were fixated in the direction of the hooded figures. Similarly, Malthur is freighted while his body is also trembling in fear. I surveyed the area for available swordsfolk that can at least give my Pops a hand…
Someone… anyone… please save Pops!
"POOOOPSS!!!" I shrieked in pure terror with tears falling in my face.
Suddenly-
"Samson… you-you… can… do it!!!" an old and stuttering voice reverberated in the back of our direction.
"You are a hero!!! You can do it!!!!"
"Samson!!!
"Mr. Smith!!!"
Mixtures of terrified yet courageous voices immediately rang just to send one thing: their overall support to my Pops. Every voices present from the festival joined together and prayed for my Pop's strength and persistence.
You guys!
While still clenching his whole body to withstand the force, Pops suddenly shouted:
"Ngghh… would every one of you cut it out!!! Stop that cliché chanting!"
Huh?
After saying that weird and uncalled remark, he shouted for a one and skyward motion strike with his sword to send the blast upward. The violet beam exploded aloft the sky and the sound emerged with a loud bang.
"Seriously, for every battles that I wager on, I am constantly praying that I will not get across this 'predictable' scenario and here I am! I guess the Heroes betrayed me, huh?"
Eh? What are you smoking at, Pops?
I quickly glanced at the sight of the people in my back and they were also wearing the same expression plastered in my face. The swordsfolk that were gathered at the back of my Pops to cheer for him immediately stopped on their chanting and support.
"W-What are you talking about, Samson? We are just cheering you!" a voice rang at our back to give their personal concern for their Hero.
"EH? Listen here, I do not like that overly-cliché scenario where the combatant becomes extremely strong and competent out of nowhere on their last ditch effort to combat a tough opponent just because they got cheers and showers of praises from their friends, family, or other emotional-inducing people! What is with that?!"
In the face of the dumbstruck citizen of Estocia, my Pops just blurted out all of those carefree words in one breath.
That is my Pops, alright.
"Now then!" with the weight of his Terrabuster under the cracks of the ground when he impaled it for a swift rest, my Pops cracked his two hands and said coldly:
"I am done with the warm-up."
Suddenly, in a flashing sound of the air and ground, my Pops disappeared. His sword also disappeared and before all of us realized it, his entire body is now aloft the skies with his Terrabuster and proceeded to deliver an airstrike blow to Effese who reeled back after he deflected its malefic beam. In a lightning-fast movement, Effese dodged the incoming blow and tried to gain distance as much as it could. However, per every dodge that this Effese can muster, Pops immediately can transmigrate to its side in order to deliver the blow. All of their movements went extremely fast, it was unreal. Most of their quick and brief exchanges are a pain to see now as they are moving in extremely turbulent pace and they only leave with a mark or a crack on random places while the metallic sound from their respective swords lingers. From ceramic pavements and tall trees, to the cement-built houses and wooden ones, the shock waves of their clash create minimal cracks from these infrastructures.
A-Are these two men can be actually classified as humans?
Their swift and ground-shattering exchanges suddenly stopped when Pops noticed that Effese made an exasperated sound and fell in its posture while breathing heavily. It dropped in its balance and knelt down as it was panting heavily. Alongside with its heavy breathing, the violet flames of its sword was no more and it showed its true form in front of us…
A ground clay? That is the true form of its sword?!
Ah. I see how it is. Having his Terrabuster- a sword without a core and doesn't need any beckoning remarks, Pops' sword is a perfect match against a person who is overly-relying on their sword that consumes much Essence.
"OH. So you've run out of Essence. Fantastic. Well? While your little puppet here is taking an unnecessary respite from our duel, would you mind telling us what is the reason for your uninvited barging?"
With his voice finally calmed down, Pops lowered his guard down and pointed his index finger in the center of Effese's dark-clad cohorts.
"Hehe…hehehehehe" the girl in the center let out a laugh.
A cute yet disturbing laugh, it sent chills down my "apparently-now-crooked" spine.
"You're… no fun, Mr. Hero! I just wanted to play- yes! Just to play in your little festival! I want to play with the animals around here, play with the festival games and get a prize, and experience the cuisine- yes! Rumors say that the luscious sweets around here are famous everywhere! Hehe…"
The girl enumerated her seemingly-odd reasons for coming here while dancing around her cohorts in an unnatural way. She swayed her little body while the faint sound of breeze in the violet-tinged atmosphere can be lightly heard. She danced around in a fraught manner yet her movements were refined… it is as if she belonged in a noble family as she pranced around and did a faint yet proper curtsy.
"Well, if Mr. Hero here is a joy killer… not wanting me to have fun…" she added darkly while still bowing us from her curtsy…
"Can I play with your dear daughter instead?"
With a swift gasps of realization, Pops shouted quickly in desperation:
"Kid, stay back!"
Something blocked my vision…
In a flash, Pops now is in my front and blocked something as he again kept his defensive stance with his blade. Everything was unnoticed and unexpected because when fighting Effese, Pops is twelve-feet away from me but now, he is in my front due to his impressively-quick footing.
But…
It seems that his defensive block was futile as he was stricken with something…
While still holding his blade horizontally, Pops breathed heavily as I noticed that there were droplets of blood already falling in his arms and legs. Pops panted as he was reeling back from the unexpected pain.
"Whoo-oops! My hand slipped a little there! M-my apologies, Mr. Hero…" the girl smiled as she finally lifted her hooded head. Her cute yet cold smile is clearly exposed.
E-Everything was so fast I did not immediately realize… Pops blocked an assault to save me.
"P-Pops… are you alright?" I tearfully asked in front of the man who saved me.
"Haah… what do you think does it look like, kid? Argh. One of these days, I need to teach you how to dodge." He said as he looked at me, his irritated expression surfacing in his face.
"Y-You are b-bleeding…"
"You know kid; I did not block that strike just for you to point out the obvious happenings here, alright?"
W-What is with this guy? Is he seriously being coy right now? I cannot even tell if he is serious or playing around!
While I am debating in my head whether I will hug this man or give him a smack, Pops patted me in the head and said:
"Everything is alright, kid."
Unexpectedly as when Pops said those words, the sword I was holding in an awkward manner began to glow once again and the fiery azure of its tinge rekindled. Its glow reignited just like earlier and it flowed in the hand of my Pops while patting me. The glow poured in his hands and cascaded unnaturally in his bleeding arms, then his entire body. After giving him a second without him even realizing, Pops was now glowing in an azure color. The color burned and circulated in his body and within the process, his bleeding arms and legs healed quickly.
"What are you staring at?" realizing that I've been looking at him in a long duration, Pops asked me with his weirded-out face.
Every gasps of the swordsfolk can be heard around the plaza because apparently, it is a rare occurrence that a sword in this city was used to mend something instead for destruction.
No matter how you "slice" it, swords are universally used as a tool for destruction. Be it a good or evil demolition, swords are physical tools used by a lot of people for generations to cut something- to slash, stab, hack, or end something… a tool for destruction and parting.
Judging from the faces of everyone in the plaza right now, it seemed that the people were extremely awestruck to see a tool of destruction that was instead used in its opposite purpose:
A sword that can heal. A tool that can mend; an object that instead can kill someone, might just save them.
I did not even have any precautionary actions that affected the reason on why this particular sword can heal someone. Personally speaking, from the first time I laid my eyes on it, I immediately sensed that this sword will be just a good-for-nothing tool to destroy something. Indeed, from all of these happenings that ensued in this weird festival of ours, I did my utmost best in order to hide it. So, as a result of it, knowing that this piece of metal has a capacity to heal someone, it was indeed a rare sight for me.
While musing on those thoughts, I remembered the words of the Grandseer before this festival started:
"The wielder maketh the destiny of the sword…"
Could it be? Is that the reason why this sword healed Pops? Just because I was… thinking the words…
Please, save him!
"Effese! Quick! Do y-your joooobbb!!!"
Having a voice that painted in sheer anger and impatience, the irate child shouted into her defeated underling.
Hearing the angered voice of its apparent master, Effese quickly stood up and retrieved its muddy sword when a heavy and metallic sword rang.
The earthly hold of the ground vibrated on its foundations as there were trembling shock waves that emerged underground. Everything and everyone in the plaza trembled with panic as we are actually experiencing an earthquake. However, this quake is not made by nature.
"Thanks, Kid." Pops took a glance at me when he carried his Terrabuster once again.
He then carried his giant sword with a loud shout coming from him and with his mighty force, he impaled his Terrabuster in the ground and the quake intensified. Effese did not manage to keep its footing as the quakes of the ground were too intense where it was standing. Perhaps extremely tired from its Essence-depletion, added with the intensity of the earthquake from Pops, Effese was knocked down once again.
I know this too well and I am going to see it live and personal!
Pops' signature move: the Terrabust!
The powerful quake abruptly ended and with his immense force, Pops inputted a lot of power in his single strike not to Effese, but into the ground. Pops shoveled the ground in his mighty force and with an earthly sound, every rocks and soil underground bursted upward and buried everything in its trajectory, including the limping body of Effese.
The battle was over. Pops won.
Everyone roared in cheers as Pops once again claimed victory for our land. He raised his Terrabuster and with a triumphant smile plastered in his face, he said:
"I reigned victorious in our duel, girl. Now, if you are done playing around, I will have to ask you to peacefully retrieve the corpse of your brethren and exit our city!"
The moment he said that, he once again impaled his sword in the ground and rested his arms in its guard. All of the swordsfolk roared their cheers in an intense manner.
Faced with her defeat, the little girl just dropped her sight in the crumbled rocks and ground where her cohort was crushed and with a sudden pause, she shrieked. She let out a huge and childish shriek- one sound that befits the voice of a little girl when she just lost in her game or if something made her upset. I can personally relate to that shriek as that sound rang in the inner lobes of my mind. Why? Well, it is because I used to be like that when I was but a little lass- loud and annoying.
"Wraaaahhh!!! This is so annoying! You! You-you cheated, Mr. Hero!!!"
Entrancing as someone who is extremely creepy and cold that made me shudder in my own hide only to be reduced as someone who is throwing a tantrum when she lost, this little girl showed a side of herself that is somewhat…human.
To even add the impending feeling of defeat, a whitish glow exploded in the far-right side of the battle and it completely eliminated the violet clouds of the atmosphere. Finally, the sunrise shone into us once again!
Originating to the explosion of that pure-white shade, an image of panting Grandseer emerged into the light while raising her staff-sword. Her face was intensely serious as she unsheathed her own sword and bellowed:
"You would dare to bring malice and ruin to the festival of Estocia?! You ought to learn a lot of manners, child!"
In a brief breath that she took, a flying blast of same light fell in one of the cohorts of the girl in her back and was completely encased in stone. That cohort tried its best to escape, but to no avail as it was left alone while the girl her remaining hooded figures teleported away in a gaseous form similar on their entrance earlier.
Before completely dissipating, the cold voice of the girl formed once again and she said with a warning:
"Well, that was no fun! Hehe… but I will have my fun once again in the future! Until then, keep your heads fresh and intact for me! Hehehehehehe…."
Everyone paused for a brief moment to ensure in keeping the sense of peace that was reforming once again in the plaza, and then immediately erupted into shouts once again. Everyone in the city shouted while hugging every person that they are close with and raised their respective swords while shouting: "victory!".
We won. The festival and the ceremony prevailed!