*PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
Blanc has been on the defensive ever since Alexander changed his fighting style. Although he was getting hit lightly here and there, Blanc was able to defend against fifty percent of Alexander's attacks.
However, as more exchanges happen, the percentage of attacks that Blanc is able to block is increasing steadily.
Seeing that Blanc is starting to adapt to his combinations, Alexander starts to apply sudden changes of pace while attacking.
After attacking aggressively with combinations for a while, he would suddenly switch to his steady swordsmanship style.
Unfortunately for him, after a few exchanges, Blanc was able to adapt to this combination of fighting styles.
Every time Alexander would switch to the slow and steady fighting style, Blanc always trades blow for blow with him with the same expressionless face.
Due to this, Alexander gradually decided to abandon the slow and steady fighting style for good.
"So this is what Leif felt huh… It's like he's slowly suffocating me by limiting my options. It's all because of that annoying face! I can't tell what he's thinking!"
"Fuck! I need to calm down…"
Alexander thought to himself as he took a deep breath.
"Since I only have one option which is to overwhelm him…Then I just have to do it!"
Alexander resolved himself to stick to an aggressive and overwhelming fighting style no matter what happened.
He dashed towards Blanc and started to attack him with his complex attack patterns again.
Unfortunately for him, this time, Blanc is able to block almost 80 percent of his blows while the remaining twenty percent is either dodged or parried.
"Shit! How did the mayor develop this annoying fighting style?! I know that he's been targeting my mental fortitude ever since earlier but I can't do anything about it!"
Alexander cursed inwardly.
Blanc is the one who sustained heavier injuries but Alexander feels that he is slowly losing!
*PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
Alexander isn't stopping his attacks though, he has already decided to fight to the end with this aggressive fighting style.
*PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
"Kuhahhkk.."
Alexander's dreaded moment has come. Blanc has already adapted to all of his attack patterns and is now sneaking in some counters in the middle of his combos.
After fifteen more minutes of exchanges, Blanc is already in the lead. Alexander's body has sustained more damage than Blanc's.
Although he told himself not to panic, he couldn't help it. He was out of options, nothing was working against Blanc.
Unless he uses sword intent, it would be hard for him to win.
"If I'm going down, I'll take you with me!"
Alexander's fighting spirit was ignited once more. He has resolved himself to go down with Blanc.
He changed his fighting style for the last time and switched to the slow and steady fighting style again.
"You want to trade blows? Then let's trade blows!"
*PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
"Enough! Blanc wins!"
After a few more exchanges, Alexander's body collapsed to the ground.
This time, the sparring grounds went quiet. The fight was so intense and full of insights that the soldiers forgot to cheer.
As for Alexander, he was so frustrated because this was the first time that he lost a match since becoming a Swordmaster.
He thought that he was invincible against those who hadn't become a Swordmaster yet.
Today, Blanc taught him a harsh lesson that the mind is way stronger than the body.
The biggest proof of this is that he was still defeated even though there should've been no way for Blanc to defeat him.
Thus he vowed to himself to devote some time to mental training.
Helena walked towards where Alexander was.
"G-General…I'm sorry…I have disappointed you…"
"Huh? What do you mean? That was a great fight! I'm also proud of you for not using your sword intent in a sparring match even though you're starting to lose!"
"General…"
Alexander was relieved, he thought that he had disappointed Helena. But unexpectedly, she was quite satisfied with their battle.
"How close was I to defeating the mayor? His expressionless face really whittled down my mental fortitude. I'll take that one from him!"
"Hahahahahaha how close were you to defeating Blanc? That close."
"Ahhh…He really escaped this time! I would've fought against him too if he didn't lose consciousness! I guess our sparring match will have to wait."
Helena laughed as she looked at Blanc's direction.
Alexander's eyes widened in surprise.
Blanc is already lying on the ground unconscious. He was drained both physically and mentally.
Maintaining a poker face while hurting all over takes an amazing amount of mental strength to pull off.
Alexander closed his eyes and laughed after realizing that he had been played so hard by the mayor.
Blanc didn't cut any of his options at all, he himself did! If only he didn't overthink because of that expressionless face.
He would've won easily if he kept on trading blows with Blanc right from the start!
He's definitely taking that expressionless face from him! He looked forward to fighting other swordsmen in the future because of it.
After all was said and done, Alexander was quite happy.
He learned a lot from his fight with Blanc including the importance of mental strength and a serene heart.
It was like he forgot everything he did in training when he was cornered and he definitely didn't want to feel like that again.
An hour passed, and the training grounds were now back to normal.
The battalion commanders and the soldiers continued on with their training except for Blanc and Alexander.
Leif was nowhere to be found but Helena didn't mind. Leif has to defeat his inner demons first before he can continue to improve.
Training together with them wouldn't do Leif any good anyway so Helena gave him some space for now.
After a few more minutes, Blanc woke up.
The battalion commanders immediately stopped training and bombarded him with questions.
Blanc explained his training regimen to them and they were visibly disappointed upon learning that Blanc's training regimen is only customized for himself.
Still, they were very happy because they got a mental training regimen from Blanc.
The battalion commanders saw the huge disparity when someone is mentally trained so they were excited to strengthen their mental fortitude as well.
They know that the time will come when their mental fortitude will pull them through difficult battles.