"What you want?" Magikeen asked, still distant. In fact, her desire was to flee from there immediately.
"Come on, you don't need all that distance. After all, I've always taken care of-" The middle-aged man tried to speak, but was interrupted when the black knife flew from his hand and landed in Magikeen's hands.
"Say what you want!" Hatred could be seen in Magikeen's eyes.
"All right!" the man clapped his hands and continued: "I was sent here by your brother..." At the end of the sentence, the man's tone became a little strange.
"Go on!" Magikeen spoke with even more hatred.
"You already know... he misses you and hopes to see you again. But the lord of the family forbade him to do that, so he sent me here to convince you to come back. The lord of the family is very worried about you too and wants you to come back to-"
"Speak your intentions quickly before I slit your throat!" This time Magikeen yelled.
"You are not capable of this, but I see you have become more insightful! Yes, I was sent to give you a mission too. As you well know, it is impossible to run away from your family, and the Master considers this a training for you. But there was a problem last time... and you'll have to eliminate it."
Magikeen said nothing. She just stared at the middle aged man in front of her. She started to feel a little fear in her heart, but she didn't let on.
"NO ONE can stay between the master's plans, and those who remain will be eliminated. This is your mission..." The middle-aged gentleman slowly took a photo out of his pocket and deftly throwed it to Magikeen.
As she took the photo, Magikeen shivered a little, while a little pallor crept into her already white face. Her eyes were unfocused for a moment.
During this time, the gentleman in the butler's clothes rose from his chair and elegantly walked out of the house. But before leaving, he turned his gaze to Magikeen's back and grinned mockingly.
***
A powerful punch from Arthur was aimed straight at the chest of the man in front of him, who defended himself by raising the rapier in front of him. His body also started to slowly back up, knowing he couldn't fully support the force.
Swoosh! Slash!
As soon as the punch hit the rapier, it was as if the power had gone, and the thin blade sliced through Arthur's fist, making a line of blood between the central knuckles of his fingers. The rapier stopped in its tracks, and the tip retracted like a snake to go with surprising speed towards Arthur's head.
Arthur's eyes gleamed at the pain, and he quickly dodged away from the sharp tip, flinging to the side and straightening his stance. Once it was fixed, he lunged again, ready to punch the man in the ribs.
The punch was easily dodged with an awkward body movement, and the rapier's sharp blade came slicing towards Arthur's chest.
Arthur was already getting used to the sudden turn of events that a swift sword like a rapier caused, so his posture changed in a more fluid way.
A normal person would fight for a few more blows before coming to such a conclusion, but Arthur neither needed nor had the time for that. He just wanted to finish the fight fast to go home.
As soon as he retreated, the blade again showed its agility and lightness in the man's hands as it managed to cut with the tip and leave a line of blood on Arthur's chest.
Arthur was sincerely impressed by the sharpness this wooden sword seemed to have. After all, it wasn't metal but wood, and his body wasn't too weak to be cut easily.
His shirt was cut off too, so he decided to take them off and throw them away to continue the fight.
After stepping back, Arthur smiled at the man and said, "What's your name?"
The man replied with an indifferent expression: "I have no name!"
'Unnamed? How is this possible?' Arthur was confused, but soon asked, "Then how can I call you?"
"Call me Five..."
"Okay..."
Arthur looked at the man, or Five, for a few more moments before continuing.
He moved forward and exchanged a few more blows. Kicks were easily parried by the man. His body under the clothes appeared to be robust and strong, causing him to use his own body to defend himself from kicks.
When Arthur threw a punch, it was easily countered by the rapier, leaving several lines of blood across Arthur's torso and arms.
Even though it didn't seem like it, the fight actually reached absurd speeds, as if the fight had a 2x accelerate button.
'I don't know what the main purpose of this test is, but I definitely have to defeat this man. And it's not even the test anymore, but by sheer will!' Arthur thought as another cut stretched from his abdomen to his ribs.
At that moment Arthur's eyes widened. The blade abruptly rose, wanting to make a vertical cut towards his head. With impressive agility, Arthur quickly dodged the blade, which flew past his eyes at high speed.
But even though it passed at high speed, he managed to see an interesting detail. Around the blade, as well as the entire rapier, a faint white light was being emitted, as a type of energy.
Even though he didn't quite understand, Arthur's intuition said that this was what managed to leave countless cuts on him.
He immediately remembered the blue energy that enveloped Magikeen and threw him away, trying to see if there was any association between them. Both the look and the way to use it seemed to be different, but he didn't know either of the two to draw conclusions.
After 10 minutes of fighting, Arthur finally made up his mind. He would trade blow for blow. If he was bound to be hit, then so be it.
With his green eyes glowing, not an iota of anger could be felt as he battled Five. In fact, animation could be seen.
Despite being easily stressed, Arthur always did when people teased him. But he felt that Five didn't tease him, and the light way he fought would be because of his fighting style, and not because he wanted to provoke Arthur with "superiority".
Making up his mind, Arthur ran towards Five, his legs kicking quickly and decisively. Five seemed to have noticed Arthur's new determination, so he began to dodge the kicks instead of defending them, bracing himself for whatever Arthur had.
Two kicks, one in the air to the head, spinning to land on the ground and using the spin force to land the next one in Five's abdomen. Arthur's intention was to make Five's body bend with the kick and finish him off with another punch to the jaw. He knew that, even with his strength, Five's body could withstand the kick, but he would be knocked out by the punch.
But his plans failed. The first kick was dodged by Five simply lowering his body slightly, and slightly surprised by the second kick, Five managed to make it just hit his shoulder.
Using the power of the kick, the body of five spun with strength and balance, causing the rapier in his hand to come at high speed towards Arthur, who defended himself by raising his right arm to protect his face.
Blood splashed across the ring as the rapier cut deeply into his upper arm and forearm in a deep line.
But Arthur had already mentally prepared himself to be hurt a lot.
He took advantage of the fact that Five hadn't landed on the ground yet, kicking him in the waist. It threw him off balance and his body tilted. Arthur used his injured arm to punch Five in the chest, sending him flying to the other side of the ring.
Bang!
Five's body hit the ground hard, only stopping when it reached the limits.
Then, he got up slowly, with a mark already sunk into his shirt, which had been well-groomed before.
"Congratulations, you passed the first stage!" Five spoke to Arthur, still indifferent.
Arthur, on the other side, was on his feet, almost heroically. His right arm was oozing healthy red blood. But one more feature could be noticed. In his left hand, Arthur held Five's rapier tightly, and at least an inch from the tip was already wedged between his ribs.
Until the last moment, Five still managed to find a chance to hit Arthur, even though he knew he was going to be hit. Arthur, too, has noticed at the last minute, and can only reach out to hold the blade.
Even with that, his face was still impassive, as if he didn't even feel pain. He slowly removed the rapier from his ribs and tossed it back to Five.
Blood ran down his abdomen and also from his left hand. A cut across it was on his hand.
Arthur felt that even with his high vitality, these wounds would stay with him for a while.