At first, Tar was worried for the old man. He witnessed Empty's skill firsthand; how could an old man with no weapons fight back? Tar thought about standing up for the old man, but he was proven wrong almost instantly.
The old man used his cloth bag to deflect all sword strikes. It was a puzzling sight, even for the people in the room. The cloth bag seemed to have some unexplainable power to guide the sword away from its target. Since the sword never made contact with anything, the only sound the people in the room heard was the fluttering sounds of the cloth bag.
Nonetheless, Empty had his fair share of fighting experience. He was furious that Sinless was insulted, but he remained calm during the fight, and the calmer he was, the faster his strikes were. But despite Empty's advances, the old man never moved a single step away from his position, and he merely redirected Empty's sword strikes away.
After a minute or so, Empty's attack slowed down. There was a hint of impatience in his strikes, as he had forsaken speed and instead opted for more of a brute force approach. Seeing this, the old man faintly shook his head.
Suddenly the sound of the fluttering cloth bag was amplified, and Empty's vision was covered in dark green. Empty immediately jumped back, but everywhere was still dark green. Without a choice, he blindly jabbed at the centre of it, hoping the old man to be there.
Just as Empty's arm extended fully, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his hand. He let his sword go. Carried by its momentum, the sword flew away and was caught by the old man. Colour returned to Empty, as he tried to comprehend what happened.
"Did the old man cover my vision with his cloth bag to force me to throw a blind strike? In that case, he could've just taken my life as soon as I let go of my sword. There was no need for him to catch the sword. Just who is this man?" Empty broke into a cold sweat.
"Your win." Empty said as he stepped away from the old man.
"Please allow me," Sinless stepped forward in place of Empty and drew his sword elegantly.
"Going up against the Master huh. Let's see how much you deteriorated from old age." The old man gave a nonchalant answer.
Without any hesitation, Sinless used his Eight Point Strikes on the old man and gave the illusion of having a ring of swords enclosing the old man. To avoid Sinless' strikes, the old man finally budged from his position. However, the old man started to attack as well.
Enn was astounded. When Enn was defending against Eight Point Strikes, he could do nothing but defend, but this old man in front of him was defending and attacking in a seamless flow. How did he do that?
"Hmm… Is he perhaps…" Vidi muttered to himself.
Everyone in the room was holding their breath. Sometimes a sword strike would go through the old man's defense and the old man had to fall back; sometimes the cloth bag would be no more than a fingernail's length away from Sinless' face, interrupting Sinless' attack.
However, as time went on, the old man became more dominant in the fight. More counterattacks, less falling back. Perhaps old age had really taken a toll on him, Sinless thought.
"Try my Snake's Rattle!" Sinless howled.
Sinless extended his long arm and his sword started vibrating. He was concentrating on the fight so he never had the chance to realise, that the old man smiled when sinless took the Snake's Rattle form.
The old man simply swung his cloth bag in front of him. In a mirroring fashion, he also started shaking his cloth bag.
The key idea of the Snake's Rattle was to use the unpredictability of the sword's vibration to land strikes at opponent's blind spots, but the bag was a giant, flexible shield, preventing the sword from reaching the old man.
Soon enough, Sinless' advance stopped. The old man used this chance to swing his bag from the side, causing Sinless to falter to his left. Sinless blocked the bag but did not see the old man's leg coming from the other side. In a flash of inspiration, Sinless leaped upward, dodging the leg sweep and pointed his sword at the old man's forehead in the Snake's Rattle form. It looked as if a snake was hovering above the ground, preying from above.
The old man threw his bag toward the airborne Sinless. "Now, the bag should be torn into shreds. Without a weapon, the old man will lose," Sinless thought as his vibrating sword sliced the bag. But contrary to what he expected, the bag was too tough to slice through. Sinless tried to use the blunt side of his sword to deflect the bag, but the bag was strangely heavy, making him the one deflected by the bag.
Sinless landed several metres away from the old man and stared in awe at the first person to ever successfully counter Sinless' Snake's Rattle. Sinless grasped his sword tightly and was ready to finish the fight, but before he could do so, he was interrupted.
"My apologies. I didn't realise it was Mr Og Pen all along. Please forgive me," Vidi said.
"Hahaha! In the end it was Vidi Urn who recognised me. Quite deserving of the title of the leader of the Garden of Irises! Now that's a mouthful. Hahaha!"
"Everyone, I'm sure you've all heard of Mr Og Pen, the general of the King Abel's personal army. This man defeated countless big names in the Tzappian army. He is nothing short of a living legend."
Gasps of amusement could be heard. Many were discussing with others where he went after he retired. Having doused in martial arts training for his whole life, Og was exceptionally keen to pick up on nearby whispers.
"Let me tell you, my friend. Oh, by friend I only meant Vidi, haha!" Ignoring some unpleasant stares, Og continued in an uncharacteristically serious manner. "After I retired, I found someone worthy of my following. I believe they will lead Eustacians back into previous glory. No! Even better than before. I am now serving them and I'm here in their stead."
"This man is extremely prideful, if anything. Who in the world does he claim to be worthy?" People thought. Among the curious faces in the room, there was one which brightened at Og's words: Vidi's.
"That's why I say Vidi's the only one worthy to be my friend! Yes. It's the Colossal Couple, Zal and Pem Im!"
"As I imagined. They founded the Ignition at the young age of eighteen, and have been helping the revolution ever since. When people say they're disappointed in today's youth, I always use the Colossal Couple as a counter argument. Mr Pen, you should look at their faces when they're unable to retort, haha! I believe they're in their early twenties now? I can't imagine what wonderous things I can expect from them in the future."
"You've got one thing wrong, Vidi. Master Zal is twenty, and Master Pem is nineteen!"
"Is that so? That made me respect them even more!"
The Colossal Couple was famous in West Frey. They helped citizens fend off armies, and provided for the poverty. They were the icons of justice to many families. There were even songs written about them, singing how you need not be afraid once you hear the distinct clops of two horses; how grey rats scamper away once they see the two tall horse riders tower over them; how the two gallant figures extend their helping hands to you…
Suddenly, Og turned toward the entrance and threw his bag there. Bang! A man's head splattered onto the wall. A patch of red appeared on his dark green bag. Heartily, Og laughed.
Tar fell onto his knees. "Did… Did he just kill a man? Just like that? A bag to the head? How can he still be laughing?" The juxtaposition of what happened before and now was disorienting. It took Tar all his strength to not puke after witnessing the bloody image. The corpse was none other than the man who poisoned their drinks.
"Why did you kill him?" Loch asked.
"That's why I said you are truly stupid! Truly unsavable!" Og sighed. He retrieved his bag and opened it. The people in the room were curious as to what was inside the bag, and now they finally got to see it: Two unconscious men.
Tar caught a glimpse of the two men. They were the general and the subordinate he met at the restaurant this early morning.