Alex had many questions about Alan's past but now was not the time to think about it as Alan charged and swung his claymore to his right side.
"Don't think this is another one of our spars! I am fighting to kill here so if you don't focus you might find your head rolling on the ground!" Alan yelled out surprising Alex even more.
Alex blocked with his sword but not having a feel for his strength, he soon was overwhelmed by the power of that strike and sent flying several meters. He tumbled and hit the membrane barrier which stopped him from going any further.
It felt like he ran into a brick wall, and that's exactly what it was. Since magic could pretty much do anything you set your mind to, making an isolated area was possible too.
Alex quickly got to his feet and rolled away as Alan came down with another hard strike. He followed through with a swipe to his left barely grazing Alex's back. It only left a shallow cut but it was too close for comfort.
Alex got back into his stance to prepare for the next attack as Alan stepped forward with a stab. It was aimed right at his head so he quickly lifted his shield. Only to feel searing pain in his shin in the next second.
"Gah!" Alex screamed as he looked down to find a large fresh wound on it. He quickly backed up as Alan began yelling again.
"Focus Freeloader! Did all the shit I teach you go in one ear and out the other?!"
Alex was making several stupid mistakes. The one he just did was block his vision with his own shield. Alan always said that the moment you lose sight of your enemy is the moment you lose. They have the upper hand at that point and Alan could get some easy hits if Alex didn't focus.
Alan went for a strike towards his shoulder and Alex met him with a parry.
*Clang!*
Metal scraping metal echoed in the room and a few small sparks flew. Alex gritted his teeth. The strength of these attacks was no joke! It felt 10 times harder than their normal spars and he couldn't parry effectively.
Even with all his stats, if he couldn't use them correctly there was no point in them. He had definitely come a long way but he still had zero real-life combat experience. He only had spars where his life wasn't on the line.
Alex was pushed back a few steps after the collision and Alan was already following through with another swipe. Alex used his shield this time and used the push to gain some space.
He was panting hard and sweat fell down his face but he couldn't wipe it away now. Alan gave him no rest as he jumped up and came in with an overhead strike.
Alex's pupils shrunk since he had never defended against a move like this! However, he quickly reacted, crouching down further and holding his shield above his head while having enough space to see Alan descend.
He braced for impact while also countering with his own. He hadn't countered yet but he quickly realized that being only on the defensive would get him killed. The only way to stop the momentous power of his strikes was to counter and prevent Alan's follow-throughs.
The dozen or so pounds of folded steel struck down onto his shield with immense pressure. Alex could hear the wind whistle slightly while he gritted his teeth and countered. Seeing this, Alan had to step back, reducing much of the strength of his overhead swing.
Even a 6th Ring couldn't ignore a strike from a weaker Ring, especially one at full power. Although Alex's counter wouldn't deal any real damage to him, this was a test against a "4th Ring" max right now so he had to act like one.
He couldn't make the test one-sided so he knew which strikes to back away from if he truly was a 4th Ring right now.
When Alan moved back, Alex quickly followed him instead of backing down. He made his own strike, aiming for his sword hand.
*Clang!*
Their blades crossed once again however Alan's sword barely moved which frustrated Alex. He continued putting as much pressure on him as possible before Alan parried successfully and went on the offensive again.
Time went by slowly as they went back and forth in their exchanges. Alex quickly racked up more wounds as he grew more exhausted fighting at full speed without pause.
Alex had no idea how much time had passed or how Alan was keeping track of it but quickly threw those thoughts away. This was a death match for him. He knew Alan would follow through with killing him if he really didn't focus.
The old man constantly beat him while he was down during normal spars so why couldn't he kill him?
Currently, he wasn't in good shape. He had lacerations of varying degrees all over his body and his left ear was gone and now a bloody mess. The blood clotted and blocked his hearing but he had to ignore it and focus on his other senses.
His shield arm was definitely broken and Alan managed to hit his Achilles heel making it pretty much impossible to use his right leg. He was forced to endure the pain and stumbled many times on his lame leg but was able to deflect all the fatal hits to less fatal areas.
However, those wounds were slowly adding up making it just as worse for Alex. He also had a broken nose that spewed fresh blood after a recent shield strike. Alan had never used his shield before but this time when he got close enough he punched him in the face like a boxer and the edge of his small shield broke his nose.
It dazed him but he managed to hold on. His body hurt a ton but his life was on the line. He wouldn't give up and now Alan was really pushing him to his limits.
On their next collision, Alex suddenly felt the increase in pressure and with wide eyes, was flown back against the barrier again. He coughed up some blood and struggled to get up.
'He definitely just moved up to 4th Ring.' Alex thought hazily as he got to his feet and just barely blocked another strike. The claymore hit his shield hard, even denting it slightly as he flew across the room hitting the barrier again.
His organs rocked around bumping into each other which only served to make Alex more queasy. He gasped for breath as the wind was knocked out of him and with blurring vision, got back into stance.
This time, Alan slowly walked toward him. This was the first time he paused his assault since they started and he quickly glanced up at the floating E-stone. The once greenish-blue stone was now an orange-red color.
Alex wouldn't know but Alan knew it meant time was almost up. The reason he paused was to give Alex a short breather since he would be going at 4th Ring strength until the end.
Alex didn't know what he was doing but he thought he was hallucinating about Alan walking. His eyes were only seeing red again as the blurriness slowly went away. Every breath hurt but he pushed on.
"Don't die on me kid." Alan mumbled to himself before dashing at an even faster speed, turning into a blurry figure.
Alex couldn't keep up but held his shield in front of him to brace himself and soon felt an enormous pressure on his broken arm followed by the grinding of metal and more searing pain in his arm.
"AHHHHHH!!" He screamed as he looked down to find a sword poking through his arm!
Alan aimed for the weak point of the metal where it had bent several times and used it to stab through. He began pulling out but it was harder to move than he thought. He unconsciously wanted to use his 6th Ring strength but found Alex to be clenching his teeth and his head vibrating from the amount of strain he was dealing with.
Alex was trying to hold onto the sword in his arm as much as possible! He was unconsciously using a strange technique to contract small individual muscles, tendons, and ligaments to hold the sword in place.
It was very destructive, as he was cutting those muscles even more to the point where he would no longer be able to use his arm but he didn't care. He had to survive.
Taking the opportunity to counter, he swung his sword back before making a strong strike downwards. Alan remembering that he was an instructor right now, furrowed his brows slightly as he let go of his sword and moved back out of range.
Watching Alex for a second, he was pleasantly surprised by his actions. The young man in front of him was very self-destructive and he didn't like that way of fighting, however, it was definitely an effective way to surprise an enemy.
Few adventurers had the gall to sacrifice a part of their body in exchange for a kill or another fatal strike. It came down to fight or flight and many chose flight when their lives were truly in danger. It was a natural response and even though they were fighters, it didn't mean they were willing to risk the end of their career for it.
Alex's hair stuck to his sweaty face and mixed with his blood. The blood from his arm constantly dribbled down the back of his shield and formed a puddle on the floor and his grip over his sword was loose, but he still held his shield in front of him ready for the next strike.
The sword stuck out in front of him, weighing his ruined arm more but he constantly shifted it back up when it got too low. It was getting harder to see but Alex just gritted his teeth and moved forward.
Without a weapon, Alan didn't mind. He got a better grip on his small shield and put his arms out in front like a boxer. He was about 5 meters away and one step forward brought him right in front of Alex again.
He aimed for an hook around his shield and between his blade. Alex's eyes widened again at his speed but quickly used his shield to knock his fist away from his face. He managed to deflect it but it instead hit the shoulder of his sword arm.
The sound of crunching bone echoed in the room as Alex screamed again in pain and flailed his shield and sword at him to make room. His arm dangled at his side and tried to hold onto his sword but it eventually came out of his grasp when Alex did a superman punch right on the pommel of the sword stuck in his body.
It caused more metal to grind and the sword to sink deeper into his arm. The tip of the bloody blade even stabbed him in the ribs shallowly making Alex realize how much trouble he was in.
He may have gotten rid of his weapon, but it didn't mean he was safe now. Alan began throwing a multitude of punches, striking dozens of times in a second. Each punch may not have been as deadly as a sword strike but his fists quickly opened up his wounds even more and added more broken bones to his body and face.
He used a form of martial arts that seemed to defy physics and the limits of the human body as he bent and turned his arms at weird angles managing to strike vital points on his body. He even used the barrier several times to his advantage, using it as a platform to jump off of or to ram Alex into and rock his ruptured organs.
Alex felt like he should have died a while ago yet he continued to hold on. Even Alan was surprised that he was still standing. Normally someone would have gone down a long time ago yet his immense willpower kept him through it all.
Alan glanced at the E-stone to see it was a bright red so he sped himself up a bit. They ended up back in the area where Alex lost his sword so Alan stomped hard on the ground, causing small cracks to form. It caused Alex to lose his balance when he saw his sword pop off the ground and Alan catching it before swinging it towards him.
His consciousness faltered at the worst moment and he wasn't able to move his flimsy shield arm far enough to block it. Alex saw a blurry line of silver get closer and closer to his neck. When he finally felt the cold embrace of death touching his skin, he knew this was it.
'Fuck...' He thought as his consciousness faded even before the sword could pierce his skin.