As soon as Noel started prepping for her final attack, Kaze readied himself. The manner of attack was definitely going to be a mix of magic and physical, something he could tell was happening from the magic circle that shattered. He immediately distanced himself from Noel and got ready to receive the attack.
Truth to be told, Kaze wasn't sure if Phantom Rush could work. Depending on the type of magic that Noel was going to use, Kaze might or might not intercept it. After all, it was like with the centipede again. During the climax of their fight, where Kaze deflected the centipede's own magic attack back at it, it was nearly at the cost of his life from exceeding his limits. How his magic perception would work depended on the way he received the attack, meaning that it had to be at a level that he could withstand instead of blindly receiving any magic attack.
Kaze trusted Noel to not do anything dangerous within her attacks, even if it was her trump card or a very powerful skill. She must have limited it to a certain extent that was permitted for duelling purposes without getting him too injured. Regardless, it still scared Kaze that he might underperform when all he had done so far was parry and dodge. Compared to Noel's excellent show of sword skill, Kaze barely had anything revealed and she was already using her ultimate skill.
A brilliant flash of white followed Noel's falling sword gesture. Huge cracks formed in the ground as the magic charged in her sword came crashing towards him. Kaze readied Felta and bit the bullet. He imbued magic into Felta to counter Noel's magic with magic of his own after deciding that it was worth the risk. Even when he wasn't sure what sort of magic Noel had released against him, he trusted in his ability more so than trying to dodge.
"Hmph!!"
The moment Noel's magic met Kaze's sword, what looked to be a giant sword crushing him from above became barely visible for a split second. It could be said that Noel made her technique take the form of a physical slash, which was ironic since the attack was mainly magical. This was definitely light magic from the way the magic reacted the moment it hit Kaze.
When Kaze received the magic attack, he felt a huge gust of wind rushing at him all at once. At the same time, his back grew hot as if it was on fire. The sheer amount of magical power being thrown at him definitely went beyond what he was capable of controlling. Now it was all about whether he could take what he had already received from Noel and use it against her.
From the sidelines, it looked as though the magic attack had engulfed Kaze from how bright the effects of the spell were. Luniel and the others were temporarily blinded by the light to see what had happened. Knowing the nature of the spell being somewhat similar to a giant force of magic being flung directly at someone, they didn't feel worried about Kaze accidentally getting injured since it wasn't likely he would be seriously hurt or lose a limb. At most, he would pass out from getting overwhelmed.
Noel, the person who initiated said attack, felt a little worried that she didn't hold back enough. Of the original technique, the strength she had exerted was about 50%. She took great care in using her strongest attack since the core of dual wielding relied more on the sword and physical techniques rather than magic. For her to make use of magic was definitely something unexpected, but she wasn't confident that that would be enough to stop Kaze, who had survived more miracles than one would in a few months.
As she had expected, the blurry figure of the male swordsman showed up right as the effects of the magic simmered down. The cracks in the ground definitely showed the impact the spell had towards Kaze, who came out looking battered compared to when he faced her with simply sword attack, had Felta now glowing much more than it previously had. Clearly, the attack from before had been partially taken up by Kaze's technique that it lessened the impact of what he couldn't withstand. Noel found it strange that Kaze chose to take her attack head-on instead of deflecting it with what he had consumed in his sword, but she was about to find out why that was so.
"T-That was too close," Kaze stumbled on spot when he tried to take a step forward, his body aching from the attack suffered. "Maybe I should have dodged…"
Taking a deep breath to process what had happened, Kaze's sight fell on Felta, who had conserved some of the magic that Noel had thrown at him. In exchange for blocking the attack, Kaze exhausted what he chipped away from her and consumed a portion of her magic attack at the same time, enabling him to survive the attack head-on even if the results weren't pretty.
Noel's gaze sharpened when she noted Kaze was fine to continue. Even if her attack didn't work, it was definitely enough to prove the level of skill she was at. What she wanted to do was continue and defeat Kaze.
The skill she used was, in fact, only the first half of her technique. Anyone who was observant enough would notice that Noel's right sword, which had been in her hand the whole time she swung down her left sword, was also glowing. Instead of the bright glow that Kaze's sword had, it looked to be leaking a yellow aura that looked more like a sword skill rather than magic enhanced.
"That was smart of Noel," Lune-sensei smiled once she realized what was going on. "As a dual wielder, her final attack simply consisting of a magic attack wouldn't make sense… So that was a two-part technique that relied on both her left and right sword conducting different styles of attacks?"
"I would agree with you, Lune-sensei," Luniel nodded, confident in her own analysis. "Seems like we have a round 2."
As Luniel's words left her mouth, Noel disappeared from Kaze's sight and reappeared in front of him. She jumped into the air and swung her right sword diagonally downwards at him, forcing Kaze to react. He noticed that her left sword, the one used to incite the magic attack on him, had disappeared as soon as she reappeared in front of him. While he wasn't sure what exactly happened to it, this meant he only had to focus on handling one sword from Noel.
However, this didn't mean that he could underestimate her. The first time she sparred with him, she was also using only a sword instead of her signature double-sword combination. To master dual wielding, it was already made clear previously that one had to be good in wielding a single blade first. For Noel, she definitely didn't have that problem.
The moment her sword struck Kaze's, the sound of magic colliding was heard. It was a stark contrast to the metal clashing that they had from their first bout. Both Kaze and Noel's sword seemed coated in a sort of magic enhancement that enabled their swords to attack in a magical manner too. This was what produced the type of sound upon them clashing right now, which was normal for whoever had witnessed or gotten into a magical sword fight before.
Noel fighting with a single sword was rather different than her dual-wielding self. She acted more like a proper swordsman right now, holding the hilt with both hands more often than not when swinging it. What's more, she assumed a proper stance like Kaze would that maintain a lot more balance than she had with her dual wield. Her attacking pattern was the only thing that remained the same: with a lot more high-speed tempo than the average swordsman. It showed how much her training with dual wield had affected her in a good manner, for it was hard to keep speed and balance in check when swinging a sword.
Kaze and Noel both reflexively swung their swords down at each other, both clashing to form a cross shape upon clashing. This repeated several times as they swung, ensuring that they weren't going to show signs of weakness nor consider backing down. With only one sword to wield, Noel's attention span improved considerably that she could easily catch if Kaze was going to use a mix of a kick or punch to distract her.
A huge swing came from Noel, who spun around twice to build up enough momentum before delivering a diagonal slash upwards. Kaze easily dodged this and performed a thrusting motion, jabbing Felta right at the core of Noel's sword. Noel then deflected his jab by tilting her sword and diverting his thrust to the side, which she then slid her sword across the edge of his sword towards his hand. Kaze immediately bent his back backwards and dodged an incoming slice that would have decapitated his head.
Once behind Noel from dodging her horizontal swing, he whirled his body 180 degree anti-clockwise and delivered a backhanded slice downwards, only for Noel to catch it by swinging her sword overhead. This deflected his sword, allowing him to continue rotating another 180 degree and throwing in a high kick, directly knocking Noel's sword out of her hand. Noel swiftly caught it back in her left hand with a jump backwards, imbuing it with magic once more. She caught her footing on the ground and made two backflips mid-air, showing off her flexibility and movement prowess.
Kaze continued charging forward, brandishing Felta overhead and bringing it down right at Noel. Noel threw her sword up in a defensive stance to block Kaze, only to get blasted backwards when a huge force got drawn from Kaze's sword. He must have taken advantage of the moment Noel stopped maintaining magic circulation on her sword and used what he collected previously from her magical attack at her, directly countering her defence.
This didn't deter Noel from continuing the duel. She pushed back Kaze's next attack viciously, rolling on the floor past him before throwing in a kick at his back, causing him to stumble forward. She made use of this opportunity to strike the ground with her sword, the magic from it causing an area blast that launched Kaze further back after his initial stumble. Kaze also rolled on the floor sideways to catch himself from the blast and jumped back up to find Noel already ready with another attack.
"Hah!" Noel cried out as she launched a jumping axe kick his way, forcing Kaze to tilt back to avoid getting kicked in the face.
This was quickly followed by Noel landing on one foot and doing a front flip, her right leg outstretched and slamming it down on his body. In the nick of time, Kaze stopped his body from receiving the impact by shielding it with his left shoulder. It absorbed most of the force, albeit causing his left shoulder to ache from the massive impact caused by her kick. He pushed Noel back once the kick landed, causing her to land on the ground on her back.
Throughout this process, Noel didn't once lose grip on her sword. She pushed herself up with a quick jump and swung at him again. They resumed their usual sword clashes, each swing more vicious than the other from both opponents. This time, Kaze was more on the offensive as he gradually switched away from allowing himself to get pushed back by Noel.
Kaze threw in a blank-range punch into Noel's stomach, forcing her to dodge getting incapacitated immediately. With there being a short distance between them from that dodge, Kaze retightened his grip on the hilt and took a stance that shocked Noel.
"T-That's my stance!" Noel recognised the form he was taking on instantly. "Are you mocking me?"
"Why don't you find out?" Kaze calmly asked her, holding his sword with one hand.
Noel gritted her teeth in annoyance and took a quick breath to calm herself. There was no point in getting agitated even if it was true that Kaze had somehow learnt her technique from just battling her. Perhaps it was just a feint to make her worried that he had seen through her.
The next second the two clashed swords again made the bystander look as though they were watching two users fighting with the same one-handed sword skill. Kaze had managed to replicate the first 5 swings of Noel's technique before diverting from there, effectively predicting what her next few swings were going to be. One step at a time, he managed to make Noel falter more and more as she realized that he had seen through the basics of her sword skill.
Kaze's eyes darted left and right as he focused on Noel's swinging, careful to watch any change in her technique that would prove lethal to him. What he was doing so far was focusing on mimicking Noel's form to replicate her technique, even if it was just something he will immediately forget after the fight since he only did it to try and figure out a counter. Noel was definitely a speedy opponent whose strikes felt heavy and imposing, forcing him to need to pay extra attention to how she attacked in order to break through.
It was then that the deciding moment came.
With a quick thrust forward, Kaze blocked Noel's first incoming sword attack. This allowed him to twist his sword towards the left, which forced Noel to curve her arm in order to not get herself into a wristlock that prevented her sword from moving properly. As she turned around her body to the other side in an attempt to escape, this was when Kaze released the magic that had been circulating around Felta the entire time with White Flash.
All at once, the stored light energy Noel launched at Kaze gathered at the edge of the blade, causing it to shimmer much more than before. The second attack from him was what triggered the magic. Noel twisted her body to her right with a huge leap in an attempt to untangle her arm out of Kaze's sword lock, only to be met with Kaze twisting his wrist to the other side, effectively causing her to let go of her sword from the pain of having her arm twisted unnaturally. At the same time, the magic was launched from his sword from the tip at her stomach, blasting Noel back onto the ground.
The third attack, finishing their match all for once, was a simple downwards slash that cut through the air at a speed too quick for the eye to see and stabbing the ground next to Noel's neck. With a knee pressed on her stomach as he kneeled down to prevent her from getting up, Kaze stared deeply into her eyes with great confidence.
A few seconds of silence passed between them before Noel made a frustrated grunt. Plopping her head back onto the ground as she gave up her needless struggle, Kaze helped her back up with a gentle tug of her hand.
"You got me," Noel admitted with a wry smile, her blonde hair untangling into a messy bundle from their vicious duel. "Who would've thought? I expected you to rely more on your sword skills than overall technique."
"What can I say? Lunaria and Lunatea both taught me a lot," Kaze humbly accepted his victory over hers. "If you weren't holding back during your best attack, that would have been my defeat."
The class realized that the duel was over once they shook hands, causing them to all applaud in unison. If anything, they were too engrossed in the duel between the two humans that they weren't physically aware the fight was over. It ended in such a climactic manner that it almost felt like they were watching a real fight, which was probably the case since Kaze and Noel treated it that way.
Luniel and the others immediately went up to them and congratulated them excitedly while Lune-sensei made a slow approach from behind, feeling equally as impressed by the quality of the duel. Both of them showed impressive swordsmanship with a mix of their adaptability depending on the situation, allowing them to make interesting choices at certain points of their duel. Lune-sensei then proceeded to heal their wounds with medium-level healing magic, considering the two were lightly injured from various sources.
Needless to say, the duel itself got the dragonkin class fired up to show off what they could do in the form of duels too. It influenced a sort of tournament arc between students, people challenging each other to fights that were as splendidly performed in a dragon-like fighting manner. Since the class itself didn't have students from any other race and only dragonkins, it inspired a lot of flight battles that resulted in most being called back to the ground by Lune-sensei herself.
"I didn't know you fight that well, Kaze. You were equally amazing, Noel." Kaguya praised him and Noel as the small group sat together to watch one of the duels. "I figured you were more of a trainee than an independent learner."
"What gave it away that I am the latter?" Kaze asked with a smile. "Was it because my moves were less oriented compared to Noel?"
"Something like that. When watching Noel, you could tell that she learnt her style from scratch due to the limited amount of moves she could pull," Kaguya nodded. "Not to say that is a bad thing, because a lot of people will have a hard time trying to fight against an opponent as nimble as Noel. For you, however, you showed that you are very versatile in your fighting strategy as if you weren't rooted to one practice or so."
"Ah, that's because Kaze didn't learn the sword from a master or a teacher like I did with my father," Noel explained. "He learnt it from his grandfather, who taught him the basics and trained him since young."
"Really? Your grandfather must be someone impressive," Yumi widened her eyes at this revelation. "How were you raised?"
"Oh, I'm an orphan," Kaze admitted. "My so-called grandfather is really a retired adventurer or something. I was never good with the book as my interest laid with the sword, leading to him training me physically and being good with basic sword swinging. The rest was self-taught through observation and experiencing different levels of fighting."
"But Kaze here was adamant about duelling back in Tristania for a period of time," Noel pointed out. "It really does make me wonder how he grew this strong from a few duels here and there."
"I wouldn't say that's true," Luniel plopped herself down next to Kaze, who had an empty spot from sitting with the group. "I heard that my eldest sister trains with Kaze, meaning he constantly has a partner to spar with."
"You get to spar with Lunaria-hime?" Kaguya bit her lower lip enviously. "I'm so jealous you get to spar with her…"
Kaze nearly had a heart attack when Luniel brought up the topic of Lunaria in front of them. It was obviously dodgy enough that they had to relate Kaze and Lunaria again after the events of yesterday, yet Luniel now had a small smirk on her face while looking at Kaze. Then again, Yumi and Kaguya didn't seem to connect the dots with such faint clues to prod further. They just took it as a luxury since Kaze and Noel were close friends with their nation's princesses, in particular, Lunaria.
"Noel, are you alright? I was worried I might have twisted your wrist with that final attack of mine," Kaze turned his attention to Noel now.
"I'm fine. I had worse when training with two swords," Noel waved it off easily. "Suffering multiple fractures and accidental cut wounds hurt much more."
"I still can't believe you self-taught yourself to dual wield," Yumi added excitedly. "Was it out of interest or something you decided you want to learn?"
"Probably interest. I found using one sword boring and decide to learn with two," Noel answered Yumi. "Not to say that I started out with two swords immediately, since I did knight-training with my father. Does that apply for the both of you?"
"Well… I'm not sure about Kaguya, but I don't really use the sword," Yumi pointed at her weapon, being a spear. "I much prefer a long weapon like this and trained from the start with the spear."
"It's probably the same for me and you, if you're asking about training with the sword," Kaguya nodded, referring to Noel's question. "I also started when I was young, albeit a few years older than you and Kaze in terms of human age, but young enough to consider young in dragonkin lifespan."
Their talk went on for a bit longer before they turned to focusing on the duels. Thankfully, the whole showcasing ended without any further issues. Each one of their classmates made quite a good demonstration for themselves, including Yumi and Kaguya. This marked the end of their physical activity for the day, which took more than 2 hours from all the sparring and resting that happened in between. Plus, everyone had loads of fun after being able to openly show off their skills, which was rare due to there not being a large gathering for fights often enough.
The class got changed into their normal student outfits after a 30-minute break that included showering to wash off their sweat and dirt from the intense sparring session. They returned to the class right then, leading them into the next session for the day.