Once the match began, Blanc immediately put some distance between him and Alexander.
He knew that Alexander was now a tier 1 Swordmaster with a tier 1 master combatant physique. This fight will probably be very hard for him.
His game plan was to observe Alexander's movements as much as possible before trying to fight him head-on.
Before Helena and the expedition team came back, Blanc was able to break through to tier 1 master combatant physique.
Unfortunately for him, his swordsmanship is only at tier 5 advanced swordsmanship. He couldn't break through to sword master since he needed some kind of special opportunity before being able to do so.
Breaking through to Swordmaster with just a training regimen isn't very realistic and that's why Blanc wanted to fight Alexander even though he knew that he would be at a disadvantage.
Alexander is very determined to defeat Blanc though since he needs to protect the pride of the battalion commanders.
All of them trained hard every day under Helena's guidance. Although he knows that Blanc has been intermittently training ever since he was a child, that is not a valid reason for him to lose.
In his opinion, Blanc is very busy with his town hall tasks. It would be very embarrassing if all the battalion commanders lost to someone who is inside his office most of the time.
Unbeknownst to him, for the past 11 months, Blanc has been training for at least 8 hours a day with a customized training regimen.
If he knew this, then it wouldn't be so embarrassing for him to lose to Blanc.
The match started in a very slow manner. Blanc is waiting for Alexander to charge at him but Alexander isn't charging at all.
He is slowly closing the distance between him and Blanc by using his impressive footwork. He plans to corner Blanc before facing him in a calm head-on exchange.
Blanc inwardly cursed. He thought that Alexander would try to quickly defeat him after seeing that he could adapt very fast.
He didn't think that Alexander would patiently corner him like this. It seems that Alexander is very confident about his own swordsmanship, unlike Leif.
Only a few seconds passed and Blanc was already cornered. Alexander started to attack him with various attack patterns calmly, slowly increasing the speed of his attacks over time.
Blanc had no problems defending against Alexander's attacks at the beginning but as Alexander increased the speed and complexity of his attacks, Blanc started to have trouble defending.
Alexander's prowess as a Swordmaster is on full display as Blanc struggles to defend.
"This guy…He really knows how to effectively utilize his advantages." Blanc thought.
Blanc tries to escape to the sides but Alexander isn't giving him any chances to escape.
After at least fifty exchanges, Blanc's body suffered some light injuries.
"What's the matter, mayor? Is this all you got?"
Alexander said as he looked at Blanc's face. Just like the other battalion commanders, seeing Blanc's indifferent face seemed to piss him off a little.
"You're losing already! At least show some frustration!" Alexander inwardly thought.
However, Alexander is different from Leif. He took a deep breath to calm himself down as he continued doing what he was doing earlier.
In his mind, as long as he continues inflicting light injuries on Blanc, he will eventually win.
However, Blanc isn't someone who would continue fighting in a disadvantageous position. Instead of defending ineffectively against Alexander, what Blanc did was, he traded blow for blow with Alexander.
He didn't even bother defending himself, every time he received a strike, he would hit him back at the same time with his full power.
After a few exchanges like this, Alexander was forced to step back a little.
"Fuck, that hurts!" Alexander inwardly thought as he looked at Blanc's expressionless face.
"Again with that expressionless face! I know my blows are hurting you so stop pretending!"
Frustrating thoughts started to creep into Alexander's mind.
Although he was in denial, deep inside, his confidence was slightly wavering and thoughts such as "Does he have a stronger physique than me? Is that why he's willing to trade blow for blow?" bugged him.
Of course, Blanc is only human and he's also hurt by their exchanges. However, it's just that Blanc is a master of the mind.
It isn't that Blanc is physically stronger since they were both at tier 1 master combatant physique.
Blanc is at a disadvantage when it comes to swordsmanship and they are only equal when it comes to physique.
Logically, there should be no way for Blanc to win. However, he doesn't believe that a fight is only composed of swordsmanship skills and physique.
Mental warfare is also part of a fight and this is the part where Blanc has a huge advantage against Alexander.
Although Alexander has a better mindset and mental fortitude than Leif, he is still no match for Blanc who's been consistently training his mind ever since he was young.
Blanc knew this so he made Alexander think that he is willing to exchange blow for blow because he has a better physique than Alexander.
Unbeknownst to Alexander, it was all on his mind. He's overthinking if he should continue trading blow for blow with Blanc because Blanc isn't showing any reaction at all as if his blows weren't affecting him.
In fact, if he decides to continue to trade blow for blow, Blanc's body will surely give in first.
Unfortunately for Alexander, he chose to stop trading blow for blow and because of this, he had no choice but to aggressively overwhelm Blanc.
This is because if he tries to slowly corner Blanc again, he would just continue to trade blow for blow which Alexander doesn't want to do anymore.
He thinks that he is slowly falling into a disadvantage by trading blow for blow with Blanc.
Why should he trade blow for blow when it is as clear as day that he is better in terms of swordsmanship?
Alexander changed his fighting style into an aggressive one and he tried to overwhelm Blanc with superior combinations and attack patterns.
What he didn't know was, he was only giving Blanc a chance by changing his fighting style.
Although there was a bit of doubt in his heart, Alexander charged forward and started to attack Blanc with complex but powerful attack patterns.
A shadow of a smile appeared in the corner of Blanc's lips as he parried, blocked, and dodged Alexander's attacks.
Helena also smiled after seeing Alexander change his fighting style.
It seems like this fight is far from over!