Soon, all the "spectators" gathered as well. Everyone looked disheveled, many were covered in cuts and burns, and some were even unconscious.
"Sorry, it seems you had a tough time," I tried to lighten the mood.
"Don't worry," Miriam supported her sister, who clearly got the worst of it in the battle. "At least some of us even won! It was quite a useful experience. And how are you doing? Finished already?"
"No, the other side offered you to be witnesses."
"Hmm, I didn't think it would go so badly. You're the best warriors of the empire, and you lost to mere students?" The general assessed the condition of his soldiers.
"You yourself told us not to kill them. If it weren't for that order, it would have been much easier," the guard with the two-handed sword grumbled in response.
"But I enjoyed it," the girl in black pants and a short top, standing next to Miriam, smirked. "I would even say I found my love."
"And-don't-come-near-me!!!" The twin screamed and jumped away, hiding behind Asura.
"Camilla, you're always the same. Well, at least no one was seriously hurt. And I fear all your battles were in vain; everything will be decided in my duel with their swordsman," the general pointed at me, and the guards eyed me.
"Mmm, and why did we bother so much? They should have surrendered right away," a thin voice came from the armor of a headless and one-armed guard. What kind of monster was that?
"Enough empty talk, better go collect your belongings," I retorted in response to the guard's insults and drew my blades from behind my back. I could rely only on them in this battle.
"And it's getting more and more interesting," the general remained in his armor and just drew his weapons. He had two long, slightly curved blades of the same shape as my swords, but they had a dark gray hue and tapered slightly towards the hilt. The general was also skilled in the style of dual-wielding, and he undoubtedly had much more experience in this regard.
The spectators were few, and the field of our battle became the central square. I didn't yet know how to fight against such an opponent; Rumy said his style was perfectly suited to counter mine. All that was left was to strike first and hope for luck.
I prepared for the attack, lowering the larger sword and taking the smaller one with the blade downwards. The general stood still, waiting for my move. I approached him in a low stance and struck from below with the large blade. The opponent blocked the strike, and I immediately followed up with a second strike from the smaller blade, but it was also stopped by the general's second blade. He brought the blades together and forcefully pushed me back, then delivered a dual strike with both swords at once. I barely managed to block them. The force of the general's attacks was impressive, even in human form, he was formidable.
"Well, I thought you would be stronger," he commented, besides surpassing me in skill, he also enjoyed making sarcastic remarks.
I tried to attack again, striking blow after blow, trying to find an opening in his defense, but the general parried my attacks almost without moving from his position. On the other hand, his attacks were quite powerful, and although I blocked them each time, my hands were already numb from such strong strikes. Although the opponent pretended to just brush off an annoying fly.
"Krito, you won't achieve anything like this; he knows all the techniques of our style. Try something new," Rumy tried to suggest a solution, but at the moment, not the most promising ideas were coming to my mind. But in any case, I decided to try what we had trained before.
I rushed at the enemy, holding both blades with the edge facing up. Strikes from both sides with the blades like this could only be blocked with two swords. And the general lived up to my expectations, blocking the attack and trying to push me away, but I continued my motion and kneed him in the chest. Hitting right in the center of his breastplate, I sent him flying backward.
"Hah, that's your first clean hit. The battle is finally getting interesting," the general rubbed the spot where I struck. He felt the impact, but his armor partially dampened its force.
"You're not even fighting me; you're just blocking my strikes," I retorted.
"I simply don't want to injure you, but if you manage to beat me while I'm on the defense, that would count too."
"Darn it!" I charged at the enemy, realizing how I could fight him. He knew all the techniques of my style, but if I attacked him continuously, combining sword strikes with kicks and punches, he wouldn't be able to block everything.
I started showering the general with a barrage of attacks, combining sword lunges with strikes from the hilt, kicks, and knees. I circled around the general while he stood in place, mostly parrying my attacks. Though some of my strikes landed, they were too weak to bring down the dragon. A few times, I managed to land direct kicks to his head, but the general merely staggered a bit before getting back into his fighting stance. Fighting a dragon with such endurance was akin to battling a stone statue. On the other hand, I was already getting exhausted, and I needed to come up with a different way to win the fight. Killing him was not an option, but depriving him of the ability to fight was still possible.
I gathered fire mana on my blades; if I couldn't beat him, I had to at least break his defense. Crossing my arms, holding the blades with the edge facing upwards, and guiding them behind my back, I assumed the initial stance for one of the most complicated moves: a double strike from below diagonally, simultaneously aimed at the lower and upper parts of the torso, followed by flipping the blades and delivering a downward strike, and then a series of strikes after turning around, and finally, two direct strikes at the enemy's heart. Such a series could kill an opponent, but even if only part of the strikes landed, they could severely damage the enemy's health.
"This is madness!" Rumy cried out; she knew what move I was preparing, and the general couldn't be unaware of it either.
I crouched down and leaped forward. The general extended his left sword forward and pulled back with his right. It seemed as though he wanted to block my double strike with his right blade and then counter with a left-handed strike, but that was incorrect. The only way to interrupt this series was to counterattack directly into the general's chest during the first strike. However, this strike could kill the enemy, so if he countered in time, he would win, but if not, the attacker would be victorious.
As I approached the general at a distance of two meters, he began to move, intending to strike with his left hand; he wanted to kill me with this movement. And I was ready for it. I threw the blades forward, holding them by the hilt and slightly veering to the right side from my initial trajectory. The general's blade slid through the air in front of my face, where my heart had been a second ago, but I intercepted the swords with my hands and took them with the edge facing down, continuing the flip. When the general's blade stopped, I was to his right, and my small blade in my left hand was above his sword. Using the momentum, I pressed his sword to the ground and stepped on top of it. Standing on his right side, I remained out of reach for his left hand; he could either release the sword or pull it from under me with all his strength. And he chose the most expected option - a master of dual wielding wouldn't let go of his weapon. Thus, the sword was clamped in the general's hand between my leg and the ground.
I seized the opportunity and raised the large blade above my head. I couldn't kill the general; negotiations would be in vain then. But at least I could break his sword. To achieve this, I gathered all my magic into the blade, squeezing out every bit of power, and the flame at the edge of the blade changed its color. Black flames soared to the heavens, illuminating the night with an eerie glow. Breathing became difficult, and my body felt as heavy as lead, but it didn't matter if it would help me defeat the enemy. I swung and struck at the base of the sword, where the blade slightly narrowed before the hilt – it was the only weak point in his blade.
The impact brought an unprecedented force; the blade shattered into pieces, but the destruction didn't stop there. Concentric cracks spread across the ground from the point of collision, and the earth trembled. Glass in the main building began to shatter floor by floor. All the witnesses crouched down, either from the shaking or from the weight that fell upon their shoulders. Only the general remained standing, but after the sword, cracks began to cover his armor, and it gradually started crumbling to the ground.
Soon, the general stood before me, clad only in trousers from the armor, with one intact sword and the hilt of the broken sword. He was a handsome man in his thirties, with long chestnut hair. Slightly curved horns started from his forehead, passing under his eyebrows and reaching his temples, where even longer backward-curving horns emerged.
"That was impressive," the general smiled, sheathing the sword.
"The Emperor?!" A surprised exclamation from Aileen drew the attention of everyone present.