I locked eyes with master, patiently waiting to respond to his attack. Although I'm confident with my swordsmanship, I don't know how I'll fare with someone from another world, furthermore a previous knight captain.
The air of the environment felt tight and sweat began rolling down my cheek just from the anticipation alone. When master moved his hand, I responded by readying my posture, but he suddenly lowered his sword and opened his mouth. "I forgot," he says while scratching the back of his head, "we need to set some rules."
"Huh? Oh, that... is true," I responded, my body felt as if a great burden had just been lifted as the tense atmosphere suddenly dissipated. Taking in deep breaths, I composed myself before talking. "So, what are the rules?" I asked.
"Well, firstly, no magic whatsoever," he says while making a cross with his arms, "and since I don't want to ruin our garden, no mana fusion either."
"Wait, how am I supposed to match your brawn without mana fusion?" This man is tall and has a great physique. I, on the other hand, am barely five feet, and even if my body is stronger than a normal seven years old because of my training, that's still not enough.
"You don't need to win brat, I just want to see your progress, that's all," a smirk stapled on his face as he shrugged. If that's the case, then I guess it's understandable, but the fact that I feel underestimated just didn't sit right with me.
"I see," I said, "just pure sword skills then." Taking in deep breaths, I calmed my mind. The earlier tense atmosphere made me somewhat uncertain in my actions, but the goal of beating this man was now the only thing in my mind.
Master twitched back a little before giving a soft smile. "That's the spirit," he said as he readied himself. The air of a knight shone through from his stance alone, but the fear of fighting, hurting him, or being hurt myself didn't bother me.
Right now, my focus was on beating this man. Going on the offensive, I dashed towards master and slashed upwards, keeping my strike controlled so that I don't open up a window for a counterattack.
Master stepped backward with minimal movements and narrowly avoided my strike, but I followed it up with a downwards slash whilst extending my body's reach, forcing him to block with his sword. Contrary to my expectations, he held his sword at an unexpected angle, redirecting my strike to the ground.
With that little window of opening, my peripheral vision caught the flash of his sword on its way to swing across my face. Ducking to avoid it, I then stepped to the side and feinted a strike to his abdomen, then aimed for his shoulder.
But he was able to easily block it. Distancing myself, I thought of how I can deal with him. His sword is fast and he can avoid my strikes with minimal movements. Lucky for me, he isn't taking this seriously at all.
"Is that all you got?" he tried to provoke me. Well, it's true that it's hard to deal with someone like him, especially since the swordsmanship I learned was more focused on specific beasts. If that's the case-
taking in deep breaths, I recalled my training from my previous world. Although that style would be inefficient in a monster world like this, I'm sure it would be different if we're talking about a sword match.
With that, I changed my stance. Holding the sword one-handedly with my dominant arm, I used my left hand to ascertain my upper body's balance. I also lowered my legs in order to have better balance and foothold while keeping my back straight. Although I've been incorporating this world's sword style along with my previous ones, it seems that I need to just fully utilize the former if I want to beat this guy.
Seeing the change of my posture, Master eyed me curiously. "One-handed sword style, is that?" he asked, "Now, where did you learn such style?"
"Books," I answered with an apathetic tone, "where else can I learn?" That was a lie, but it's not like he would know that. In fact, he might even underestimate me by showing off an unusual posture.
"Hahaha... You're funny kid," he said as he readied himself once more, "I'm going on the offensive this time," he proclaimed before dashing towards me. Just exactly as I want. Keeping my sight on him, I cleared my mind and waited for the right timing.
Master, thrusted his sword towards my shoulders, expecting me to avoid it. Instead, I used the palm of my left hand to push the flat of his sword upwards, before rotating my whole upper body to summon momentum as I slashed his sword.
More often than not, most people would think swordsmanship is just the use of a sword to hit another sword, but no. That's just a misconception from the observers. It's actually to prove that your offensive capabilities is higher than your opponent's defensive capabilities and vice-versa.
That is to say, swordsmanship isn't just an offensive technique, but also a defensive technique, and if you have mastered the fundamentals, you can create another type of swordsmanship.
This swordsmanship was the fruit of both sword style and martial arts from my previous world, blade arts.
With a sound of a thud, Master's sword flew out of his hand and onto the ground. He looked back and forth between me and his hand, and then to where his sword flew, with wide eyes. "W-what was that?" he asked stutteringly.
I took a glance at the spectators sitting on the bench. Kayla's jaw slacked while Astesia, who was cuddling with little Velxia, starred at me with glittering eyes. Velxia gave out a soft smile but remained indifferent.
Master then focused his gaze on his sword in the ground, which now had a crack on its side. Luckily, it wasn't the exquisite blue sword I first wielded when I first came here. Otherwise, such a sword being damage would be a shame.
Returning my gaze to master, I decided to ignore his question and instead gave out a soft smile, "Looks like I win."