"My sword tip was in the hole."
"Then show it to me, bud?" asked another.
"Look at the tip of my sword," the soldier said, his face turning red from exerting all his power. "It clearly made a hole."
"Sorry, friend, but I see no hole."
"You guys, it was clearly there."
"Yeah, I saw it," another fellow took the side of the soldier. "I saw it; only the tip was in. The flicker of sparking energy made it hard to see."
Aki, who was standing nearby, didn't let the discussion go any further. "If you had managed to hamper the integrity of the shell, the alarm would have flared," he said. "There was no alarm, which means your damage is minuscule to call it a success."
"B-but you muted the alarm," the soldiers complained.
"I did not," Aki shook his head, "I only turned down the volume of the alarm by 90%, thinking we needed at least an alert to call the winners. Do you think the Master Runesmith has the time to examine all your turns?"
