Aizen managed to avoid direct contact, but the swing of Ainkrad's wooden sword was hefty. If he persisted in blocking the slash, the wooden stick would break. He also had no choice and flexed his hands until the wooden stick almost touched the floor as a whole.
He managed to get the footing to be his axis with the right foot. He quickly released the hold on his left hand and only held the end of the wooden stick with his right hand. Next, he kicked the wooden stick below with the reflex of his left foot. The wooden stick then swung down from the left, aiming for Ainkrad's leg, which looked unprotected.
"Tsk! Troublesome!"
Ainkrad clicked his tongue and considered whether to jump back, dodging. Or defend, and proceed to attack Aizen.
In the end, he chose to block the stick's swing with the sole of his right foot. He felt it was a weak and disappointing attack for Aizen's class, who had better technique than that.
'Is this brat at his wit's end? Well, making me a bit more serious is a good accomplishment. But hoping to corner me or even to make me yield is decades too soon!'
Ainkrad could withstand the swing of the wooden stick, which was indeed as weak as he had expected. He immediately swung the wooden sword from top to bottom, intending to end the spar.
But surprisingly, as Ainkrad's upper body bent, Aizen's left leg kick came, stabbing swiftly into his chest area from below.
Aizen used both his hands and right leg to sustain the force of the thrust to produce a fast and powerful kick.
That obviously caught Ainkrad off guard. He didn't have time to pull his right hand that was holding the wooden sword back because Aizen's left leg had already passed through it.
He had no choice but to immediately move his left hand to block the attack. But unexpectedly, Aizen's kick was quite strong and tough, causing him to be pushed back even though it didn't make direct contact with his chest.
"Sir Ainkrad, you underestimate me too much to be tricked by such a clumsy attack."
Aizen said with a smile and got up, lifting the wooden stick that was lying on the floor after repelling Ainkrad.
Ainkrad smirked. "Heh! Student Barthomelo, you seem to be feeling the upper hand. But I admit, that was a good attack just now."
As a knight instructor, he was aware of what Aizen was doing after being hit by that attack.
The swing of the wooden stick was done to lock the movement, which was also followed by the swing of the wooden sword from above. Those two things sealed Ainkrad's move to dodge and left him with the only option to block or take the attack head-on.
It couldn't be accomplished with mere knight fighting techniques alone. It required quick wits and experience in dueling.
In Aizen's case, quick wits could indeed be given credit. But for experience, he doubted Aizen had the necessary expertise. Because no matter how great Aizen was, he was only a 20-year-old boy.
Such a child, where did combat experience come from?
'Haha! Maybe this brat really is a genius who will become a Genesis Knight!'
Ainkrad had been doing a background check on Aizen ever since he saw the Heavenly Thunder First Movement technique on the first day.
And what he got was not what he expected.
Aizen was an orphan at the Starlight Orphanage, managed by the mage professor, Dante Alexander.
From that alone, it was clear that Aizen had a mage background, even though he was not a direct descendant or family.
On top of that, Aizen had been in an orphanage since he was a baby and no records of his family exist at all.
In that case, where did those knight techniques come from?
The disciple of a famous knight at the Grand Knight level or perhaps at the Genesis Knight level. Only those two levels were able to make Aizen what he was now.
Ainkrad had thought that way and knew the limits of a Knight level like him. It would be impossible to train someone like Aizen to reach his current abilities, even if Ainkrad taught Aizen from the time the boy started walking.
And if Aizen was not a powerful knight disciple, that meant he was a talented child who had the wit in battle.
What Ainkrad liked about Aizen was his speed and reaction ability. It was like being in harmony with a knight's fighting wit. So that the movement was smoother and could be achieved with satisfactory results.
'Hah. It wasn't in vain that I bothered proposing the competition festival event for the Knight Division with the principal.'
The Knight Division orientation competition festival event was Ainkrad's idea because he felt that Aizen's presence would bring about a change. Up until now, it was always Class 1 and Class 2 that were recommended for demonstrating knightly skills since Class 3 was basically just a place for the rest of the ones that got screened.
Now, he wanted to show that the students under him could rival those talented and well-built students.
Well, in general. It simply was because he wanted to pay back the ridicule and disdain of the two class instructors. That was the biggest reason and the main influence why he begged and bothered to negotiate with the principal.
"Ho! Good. As a reward, I'll show you Mana Aura."
Ainkrad smiled devilishly. His doing so was basically a statement to end the sparring in his absolute win.
It was overkill!
Even the other students, who were watching while holding their breath, were also worried and restless.
Mana Aura to fight a teenager, who hadn't even reached the Knight Apprentice level, was too much!
However, that differed from Aizen's own opinion. He felt that Ainkrad had done him the honor of using the true power of a knight.
Simply put, Ainkrad had considered Aizen on an equal footing.
As an opponent in sparring, nothing could flatter Aizen other than being taken seriously and not being looked down upon.
He showed an icy, cold gaze. He then exhaled briefly and opened his mouth slightly.
"Heavenly Thunder Second Movement, Spear Rumble."
Even without Reeva's power, he still wanted to use the continuation of the Heavenly Thunder Movement technique. That was because only the latter could be used against Mana Aura, and his current physique could endure.
Aizen relaxed his stance and stood up straight, facing Ainkrad with only his right hand holding the wooden stick and its tip resting on the floor ahead.
Meanwhile, Mana began to be felt and seen enveloping Ainkrad's entire body. The air around him changed in an instant. He instantly blinked his eyes and suddenly disappeared from the spot.
Aizen responded quickly and released a second breath. He immediately dragged the end of the wooden stick on the floor backward while changing his upright stance.
He faced the left side of his body forward and immediately lifted the wooden stick parallel to his stomach.
And when Ainkrad closed the distance and appeared before him out of nowhere.
"Haa!!"
Aizen shouted and immediately launched wooden stick thrusts in succession without a break. The number of thrusts reached the tens in just a fraction of a second, trying to push Ainkrad back.
But it didn't work. Ainkrad managed to get close, even though several parts of his body had to be hit by the wooden stick. On the other hand, several of those thrusts also got stopped by the swing of his wooden sword.
But Aizen was still able to carry out those attacks, even when Ainkrad's wooden sword slash came, aiming for his left shoulder.
Even though he was finally hit by the attack and spat blood slightly from his mouth, the wooden stick thrusts did not cease until Aizen was blown away hard to the floor. Ferociously, in his fallen position and lying on the ground, his wooden stick remained aimed at Ainkrad's left chest, despite being caught with Ainkrad's left hand.
"Impressive," Ainkrad said while dispelling his Mana Aura.
Meanwhile, Aizen smiled with a bit of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. "This is my loss, Sir Ainkrad. Thank you for the lesson." He then stretched out his right arm and released his grip on the wooden stick.
On the other hand, Ainkrad was still staring at Aizen with an expression full of awe and confusion as he held the end of the wooden stick.
'That's fast. Even with Mana Aura alone, I couldn't dodge perfectly and had to get shoved a few times.
'If this wasn't a wooden weapon but a real spear. Will I survive?'
That thought arose amidst his admiration for the technique he had just seen. Although Ainkrad didn't attack at full power because it wasn't a life-and-death situation, it still had the power to overwhelm the opponent.
But the reality that just happened was not like that. He was ultimately unable to overpower Aizen completely.
'Those thrusts are faster in contrast to previous techniques. It's a perfect way to knock an opponent back with a barrage of attacks, even though the stabbing damage isn't lethal.
'However, if those tens manage to break through the defenses of the advancing person, heavy injuries will without a doubt be incurred.'