Erza and Musica stood facing each other in the middle of the field as Meliodas and Lily watched from the sides.
"Musica is certainly skilled." Lily commented. "I'm curious how well Erza will do against him."
"He's actually a bit stronger and faster than when I had last met him." Meliodas said.
"You might have inspired him to train harder, even in his old age." Lily responded with a smile as he looked back over at Musica.
"If I've heard correctly, you fight with multiple armors and swords, adapting to different styles of swordsmanship to fight, is that correct?" Musica asked.
"That is correct." Erza responded.
"In that case, would you like to fight me using one of your swords or one of my own?" Musica asked.
"I will fight you with my own swords." Erza answered resolutely.
"As you know, you will not be allowed to use magic in our fight. I suggest you summon every sword you wish to use ahead of time." Musica said.
"Then I will fight you with my best." Erza said, her body glowing as she requipped herself into her Clear Heart clothing. In her right hand she held the Demon Blade Benizakura. A look of interest formed on Musica's face as he looked at the blade Erza held. 'That is quite the sword,' Musica thought.
Musica held his blade out in front of him as Erza did the same, the two staring each other down as they stood several meters across from each other in the field. Several moments passed in silence as the two stared at each other.
'I can tell just by looking at her. This woman will be different from Pantherlily. I'll have to fight her with the mentality as if I'm fighting Meliodas.' Musica thought as he tightened his grip on his sword.
Both Erza and Musica suddenly vanished from their spots, reappearing in the middle of the field with a loud clang. Sparks flew as Erza and Musica unleashed a flurry of slashes at each other.
"T-they're evenly matched…" Lily commented, his eyes wide open as he watched the two of them clash swords.
"Well...not quite." Meliodas said. Lily gave Meliodas a puzzled look.
"Erza has an upper hand in physical strength. But Musica has the upper hand in reflexes. He's just trying to gauge Erza's rhythm before counter attacking." Meliodas continued.
"Your power and precision are fantastic!" Musica shouted as he and Erza continued rallying slashes back and forth. "Who taught you how to fight like this?"
"I'm self taught." Erza replied as she and Musica clashed blades once more, this time with both of them rebounding from the strike and jumping back.
"S-self taught?!" Musica exclaimed. 'This young woman has a lot of potential. If she continues training, her skill will surpass mine in no time.'
"Very well, I will give you the same test I gave to Meliodas." Musica said as he took a defensive stance. "Try and break through."
"Oh, he's using that already?" Meliodas commented.
"Using what?" Lily asked.
"Just wait and see."
Erza leapt forward from her spot at blinding speed towards Musica. As she got within striking range, she swung her blade, a low horizontal swing towards Musica's midsection. Just as the blade was about to hit Musica, Musica's arm moved like a blur, and her sword was knocked back.
'What was that?!' Erza thought as she recovered from the counter. She swung her blade once again, only for her strike to get parried. Erza continued on, swinging her sword even faster as she tried to adapt to Musica's speed.
Erza suddenly jumped up into the air, swinging down several times at Musica as she soared over him to the other side as Musica parried each of her strikes.
The instant she landed on the ground, Musica suddenly jumped in and unleashed a quick horizontal slash at Erza. Erza quickly raised her blade in front of her as she was sent flying backwards, crashing into the rack of swords sitting at the edge of the field. She fell to the ground and the swords from the rack fell and scattered as well.
"Hmm...you adapted to my speed quite fast." Musica commented.
Erza slowly got up from the ground where swords were scattered around her. She tucked back a strand of hair that fell over her face and looked at Musica with determination. She crouched over, picking up one of the swords that was on the ground and held it in her right hand.
"Oh dual wielding now? I'll allow it." Musica commented.
Erza leaped forward towards Musica as Musica prepared himself to counter her attacks. Erza swung one blade after the other, unleashing a relentless assault on Musica as Musica continued to parry each attack.
'She's very good at dual wielding. If I continue to stay on the defensive like this, she'll tire me out. My body at this age doesn't work like it used to...' Musica thought as he suddenly changed stances. Erza noticed the shift and immediately jumped back, only for Musica to quickly follow her as he placed his blade to the side as if he had sheathed it.
"Charge Stance: Final Cut."
Erza's eyes widened as she could not see the speed of which the blade was drawn. She raised both swords in front of her in a cross shape as a loud clanging sound rang through the air, followed by a gust of wind from the slash. Erza remained standing firm as she was launched backwards, sinking her feet into the ground for leverage and leaving trails of disheveled dirt in her wake.
"I didn't expect you to be able to block a sword slash at that speed. I still haven't been able to disarm or draw blood from you." Musica mused.
Erza remained standing in place, breathing heavily as she held the two swords out in front of her. 'I couldn't see the blade at the speed that he slashed me at. The fact that I'm still standing here able to continue with his challenge was pure luck that I raised my blades at the right spot. If he had struck any higher or lower, I would have lost already…'
"Why don't we continue?" Musica asked. Erza nodded as she remained in her firm stance.
"Hmm...I don't remember Musica using that move on me." Meliodas commented out loud. Musica heard the comment and smiled at Meliodas.
"Well, you broke through the first stance so I had no need to show you the second one." Musica responded. "Although, you of all people probably wouldn't have had too much of a problem blocking or dodging it."
Musica focused his attention back on Erza. Erza remained completely still with her guard up yet she closed her eyes. Musica could feel a strange pressure in the air and immediately got into his defensive stance.
Suddenly, Erza seemingly vanished from the spot she was standing in, reappearing in front of Musica. She unleashed a quick flurry of slashes towards Musica, to which Musica blocked each one with his blade. 'She's getting faster. She's really adapting to my sword speed.'
Musica jumped back away from Erza, switching stances once again.
"Final Cut!"
As Musica swung his sword quickly from its sheathing point. His eyes widened as Erza stood her ground blocking the slash with her two blades as a loud clang echoed through the field with the sound of metal hitting metal. The force reverberated through the blades, causing Erza to let go of them.
"A disarm?!" Lily exclaimed. Meliodas remained silent as he looked at Erza, curious as to what she would do next.
Erza suddenly leaned backwards, rotating her body into a handstand as she caught the two blades between her toes. Musica's eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do. 'She can't be serious?!'
Erza slashed at Musica, swinging down her left foot holding the blade as if kicking, following up with another slash with the other blade as she spun her body around. Musica parried the slashes but stared at her wide eyed at what she was doing.
"Well, well, well. I don't think I've seen anyone do that before." Meliodas commented enthusiastically.
"It's almost as if she's dancing!" Lily exclaimed.
Musica leaned back and raised his blade up as Erza's blades clashed with his own. From his position, he suddenly jumped up into the air. Erza looked up and switched her swords back to her hands before jumping after him. Erza's eyes widened as Musica seemingly vanished from her sight, reappearing behind her with his sword out in front of him.
"H-hey hold on isn't that-" Lily gasped as he glanced at Meliodas.
"Not quite. But it's not bad considering that I've only used it once against him." Meliodas said, recalling his first fight against Musica.
The sound of swords clashing multiple times rang through the air in that instant as both Erza and Musica landed on the ground. A small drop of blood dripped down Erza's bare shoulder as she and Musica stood with their backs facing each other.
"All those slashes and I could only land one on you." Musica laughed, sheathing his sword in the process.
"That technique you did just now…" Erza commented.
"Meliodas did that to me once in our first skirmish and completely broke through my defense. I tried replicating it but I can't match the speed of his swings." Musica responded as he hunched over slightly. "That and my back is killing me…I'm too old for this…" Musica mumbled.
"Well regardless of the results, I'm quite satisfied with both you and Pantherlily." Musica continued, straightening up his posture again. Both Erza and Lily looked at him, surprised.
"But we didn't pass your trial." Lily responded.
"Well I never said I wouldn't craft swords for you two if you didn't pass now did I?" Musica said with a small grin.
The group moved back to the front of Musica's house by the forge. Musica pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil as they gathered around a table.
"Now, tell me what kind of swords you would like."