Benjamin and The boy with no face clash made Benjamin frown as he somehow felt his move getting copied.
'I need to stop using the first move... but it is the only one I mastered to use with such a low mana reserves I have right now'
Benjamin his frown deepend, at the same time did their swords cross each others path to each others throats ten times, Benjamin is feeling himself losing against him in that exchange without using his art.
"Demonstrate the world whose technique will fall into my hands!"
Benjamin listened to his shout a bit nonetheless is he struggling to keep up with him, that realised the Boy with no face as he furthermore increased his speed and strength behind his strikes and slashes.
^Clang^ ^Clang^ ^Clang^
Benjamin dodged his sword by ducking, pushing his swords up to his throat, the Boy with no face blocked it with his sword swinging them down from above his head, knocking them in the ground moreover is he stabbing towards Benjamins heart,
Benjamin dodged with a jump backwards whilst also blocking The Boy with no face sword with his sword in front of his chest creating a X.
Dirt landed in Benjamins eyes, making him temporarily not able to see clearly, as He swung his sword from the bottom to the top in a vertical arc, perfectly blocking the Boy with no face shortswords.
Both had about the same amount of Mana left in their core, Benjamin has about ten percent of his Mana pool left while the Boy with no face has a bit less Mana left in his core, however through his higher rank is his Mana also more pure and dense making it a blanced battle of perservance.
'He is good enough to easily beat me in the past, even now I struggle against him... how strong would be Ben and Alan be before I can fight Kim Yong who is a monster if he is stronger than them'
The Boy with no face at first thought that the only strong individual in their group is Kim Yong, but now even he needs to acknowledge that all of members of their group are monsters.
[First move Dragon soaring slash]
a small dragon is emerging behind Benjamin, as he pushes his arm behind his back, staring fiercely at the Boy with no face, ready to dash at him at any moment.
[First move Apocalyptic Strike]
The Boy With no face used the level 5 art of a prodigy with the fire element, who killed himself after he stole his art and the passive skill which made him special, he put one sword above his head and the other below his abdoment, his knees are slightly bend moreover is his body turned to a 90 degree furthermore is behind him a small destroyed village appearing covered in flames.
[First **** ****** s****** slash has been copied by 12.37%]
^whoosh^ ^whoosh^
Both dash towards each other at breakneck speed, The apocalyptic normal looking flame and the thunder dragon clashed with each other before the two wielder of these arts clashed, sending out gust of winds at the barrier.
^Boom^
"pfft!" "Ptui"
[First **** ****** s****** slash has been copied by 15.23%]
Benjamin spit out a mouthful of blood on the other side of the arena is The Boy with no face vomitting blood, as he stares at Benjamin with a delighted face, his mask having a small crack at the lower right corner of it.
"Why are you laughing you Ba-!!?"
[Combination Holy Snakes son has been activated]
The snake on his right arm started to light up as his hair turned white moreover are his eyes turning vertical also changing color from a black color to an amber color that are shining in the sun light.
The most pleasant surprise for the Boy with no face is the message appearing infront of him as well as a part of the knowledge of the move entering his mind.
[First **** D***** s****** slash has been copied by 30.46%]
His white hair are shimmering under the sun giving him a holy vibe, his amber eyes are shining through the sunlight, The majestic snake tattoo glowed in a beautiful white hue also changing his manas hue to white.
Benjamin looked at him taking a stance... knowing that stance he did to well furthermore is white lightning crackling around him.
'NO NO NO, I didn't use it that much and I hid most of the movements that lead up to the move... HOW?!'
Alan said that if they can't win with standard techniques of their weapons then they should use their arts in the most hidden way possible so that he can't copy it fast enough before the figh ends... Nonetheless Benjamin right now is questioning if Alan lied to him so that he will lose against him.
"You will lose if you don't use your art"
Benjamin after hearing The boy with no face voice instinctively performed all movements that lead to the move without realising it,
[First **** D***** soaring slash has been copied by 47.10%]
Benjamin realised what he did and now knew what increased his opponents understanding of his art, knowing that now it is to late trying to hide it.
'That snake tattoo is responsible for such a change of his understanding'
[First move Dragon soaring slash]
He mainly channeled his Mana to get ready and execute the art, staring at the snake tattoo which started to release white lightnings furthermore did the Boy with no face took the same stance as well as channeled his Mana the same manner he did.
[First **** Dr**** soaring slash has been copied by 50.00%]
[First **** Dr**** soaring slash has been copied to the maximum of the capacity that the host can handle.
Lower level move will be created to ensure hosts safety]
[New Move: frontal lightning assault level 5 has been created]
'What!?'
The boy with no face has a shocked expression on his face behind the mask, which to his luck Benjamin couldn't see or else he would have probably attacked, the boy with no face didn't care about that and accepted it that he can't copy everything of that art... which is not normal for him to think so.
He copied everythin he saw from Benjamin and reached the limit of the copied result still it reached level 5, leaving him questioning why he can't copy more.
Benjamin was horrified seeing his own art he practised for month to master perfectly to be used against him in such a masterful way... like he copied the entire art already.
'No Nonononono I can't lose here, I need to use the second Move... But what If he copied it too'
Despite him always being of a positive nature about things like fighting and everything else that doesn't involve Kim Yong, He right now felt fear... fear of getting all his hard work to master this art he acquired through his clans hardwork... get stolen from him... letting everyone down.
While his fragile mind came to such a conclusion, he charged all his mana into performing the first move of his art at maximum output he could muster, His muscle memory performed that move not Benjamin as his mind is currently in a fragile state.
They both charge at each other at breakneck speed, appearing to face each other in less than a second, at the same time are both stabbing with their shortswords forward.
^Boom^
The explosion wasn't huge nonetheless the view of everyone watching was obstructed as the white lightning and teal lightning clashed, causing ablinding light to obstruct their vision.
The blinding light disappeared and dust was still flying in the air, after a minute it slowly settled and everyone saw the result... not knowing if they should cheer or be terrified.
Benjamin with two shortswords through the center of his chest, bleeding profusely as his eyes seemed to have lost all their life in them including The boy with no face frozen in one place with two swords raised high in the sky... ready to cut Benjaimns head off.
"......"
No one spoke a word as someone no one expected to even be able to enter the barrier appeared and pullled the swords out of Benjamins chest, feeding him a potion.
"Why did you try to stab his heart?"
The person with his white hair and well build muscles pressing through his T-shirt asked, at the same time his blue eyes started to glow through his hair looking at him.
"Why shouldn't I go for the kill if I have the chance"
He whispered that response to Bens question making him even more angry, the medical team arrived taking immediate care on Benjamin furthermore are running with him back to the healing station.
Ben who couldn't control his anger summoned his two greatswords, ready to kill that monster in human skin.
^Tap^
as a light tap on his shoulder is making him calm down almost in an instant, as the Boy with no face is gritting his teeth seeing that person.
Kim Yong arrived on the stage without a care in the world and only said one word to the boy with no face, making the boy with no face spit blood and let him bleed out of his eyes.
"Pathetic"
Kim Yong and Ben headed out the arena as all finally registered who won and what happened, The commentator also came out of his daze and announced the wimmer of this match.
"The winner of this match is the trash of titan"
No excitement was in his voice as he announced that, making it pretty clear to understand that nothing of this was a fun little fight between students.
"We will take an hour break... so please have some fun outside for the time or look here in the arena the most recent successfull movie The Beauty and the Slaves forbidden love"
Benjamin Pov
'I lost'
I couldn't feel any kind of emotions right now as I felt like an empty vessel ready for a demon to take over, staring at the ceiling and tapping with my finger on the metallic side of the medical bed.
'I lost...my art...too'
I remembered before we clashed, I...hesitated to strike him while his sword stabbed through my chest destroying my lungs.
"Why am I such a pathetic being?"
I felt something hot flowing down my face, my vision turned blurry as I remembered... how many people I dissapointed, my family, my clan... my friends.
I don't know why but at that moment I thought of Rica cheering me on before this fight, I didn't really had feelings for her as Ben and I started to annoying her... I thought it was fun but that was it, nothing more or nothing less than friends... however now I don't know anymore.
"You a pathetic being? wouldn't make me a more pathetic being than you are?"
I heard a deep and raspy voice next to me yet his voice calmed my mind right now, My Masters voice sounded so soothing that I couldn't help but calm down.
"You really don't want to look at your Masters proud face"
'Proud?! I LOS-'
"Yeah you lost a pretty close match between you two nonetheless am I proud of you to even fight someone knowing he could take your art.
By the way your art isn't something someone can copy without the fitting body to don't explode while using it."
Like he could read my mind, he answered both of my questions without even thinking much about it... and his voice has the tone of happiness in it.
'Why are you proud over a losing disciple?'
I thought hoping he cold read my thoughts... hoping that I can finally understand why I am his favorite between me and Kim Yong despite Kim Yong being a literal monster in all aspects.
"do you want to know why I choose you as my favorite dsciple?"
Master Barak asked with a happy tone in his voice, I finally looked at him... smiling at me.
"Yeah please tell me"
Master Barak smile turned soft as he observes me, creating out of lightning two dolls where one got a deep hidden secret black lightning in him and the other one has a pure one with multiple lightnings coursing through it.
"You are my favorite because the world didn't already corrupt you moreover you don't hide things if they hurt you or you can't, you tell me if you have a problem or tell it your friends... what is Kim Yong doing in such a situations?"
"He hides it until he isn't able to hide it anymore and I don't know if he ever talked about his emotions with us"
I replied not knowing what he is meaning with all that, as his smile soften and he is stroking my hair.
"You are my favorite because you don't understand what I showed you entirely, while Kim Yong would have understood it what I meant with the pain of the doll with the black lightning in them.
You rely on your friends but can also fight for yourself to reach your goals, which not many people can do so recklessly like you, Ben or Alan do it.
Your art wasn't copied instead I would call it reconstructed to fit his body, so don't be so hard on yourself and think about how you can beat him next time."
His words as well as his smile are strangely soothing and ignite something again in me, I don't know what it is but Rica again jumps in my thoughts with a picture of her smiling after we all completed our training.
"Oh I forgot, when are you going to ask Rica to go on a date?"
"I don't know, probably in our third year after that tournament or in the second year since we have a lot of time in the mercenary group why ar- huh?!"
My face is getting hotter and my thoughts are turning chaotic, while my Master is grinning from one ear to another.
"So are you finally back to your normal state of mind?"
I felt a lot better after hearing him... and his one embarrassing question, so I nodded my head and he only stood up and turn his back to me.
"We will increase your training a bit and will increase your understanding of your arts more, so that you can beat everyone without them able to see you."
He vanished and mainly a blue trace of lightning remained in the room from him, as I felt my lips curving up.
"I am smiling, thanks to my Masters help"
I am laying back down on the bed as the exhaustion catches up to me again, my eyes feel heavy and before I knew it I fell asleep.