Chapter 213 - Precision Against Skill

Carmichael's smile had faded was he drew his wakizashi what was left was a calm determination. He had watched the fight between Jien and his teammates from start to end. He had seen how some of them seemed to shudder when his posture relaxed during the first match. He didn't understand why they seemed to fear that act until it was facing off against him now. Jien drew his training rapier, his posture seemingly loosening to the point that a gust looked enough to blow him over, his eyes closing like he was going to doze off on his feet. When those eyes opened, he felt a pressure on his very psyche that sent a chill up his spine.There was a tense moment where Rebecca stood from her space on the stands, raised her hand resolutely. She drew her hand down quickly and shouted in a serious tone "Start!" Despite the call it was like they were frozen in place, not a single person moved, eyeing each other closely, one side tense to the point of starting to sweat, the other calm and relaxed. Julie finally grew irritated by the stalemate, taking a step forward. With her movement chaos broke loose.As Julie took her second step Jien had already sent a mana thread to each member for communication. Suddenly he had made himself the hub for communication among all the members, his previous teammates taking to it like fish returned to water. Status reports flowed from one to the other through Jien' filtering out the unnecessary information for each. The deluge of information nearly stalled Julie and the others in their tracks until Jien took a more fine-tooth control of communications.Suddenly everything was much clearer, Julie could tell what Barret was planning, watching him begin to fade into the surroundings. She could tell that Lesley was going to aim for the back row of the pyramid formation to tie them up in defensive measures moments before arrows began to fly over her head. Alys was the first of the new members to get a hold of this method of communication, informing the others that she would provide cover for the Vanguard before beginning to fire off arrows herself from her position while moving forward slowly.Suddenly Julie heard a simple message during her next steps forward. "I will give you a boost so breaks their formation." The message was Jien's voice, but the tone lacked any hint of emotion that she could find. It was eerie, like she wasn't hearing a living human, but she felt the air around her begin to stir as Jien seemed to be muttering a long string of words in a language that she didn't comprehend. She was forced to focus as she felt the air begin to swirl around her legs like a brace. She knew that she didn't have much choice, his spell was going to come whether she was ready or not, so she immediately lowered her stance, braced her shield and set her spear firmly against the rim of her shield and pushed off, looking to charge into the right side of the formation.She found that she had still underestimated what Jien could do, realizing that during his match with her he didn't seem to use any real spells. Her legs, packed with mana from her own manipulation and braced by the wind that Jien had conjured swirling around them, pushed off as if ready to charge forward. She became grateful that she had braced her shield in front of her when instead of a step she ended up bursting forward with a speed that left a blur. One moment at the front of her unit's formation, the next slamming into the side of the enemy formation with such ferocity that it took half their members to actually stop the charge and of the five only 2 had managed to remain standing despite deep defensive stances.Despite the abrupt disruption the one-armed warriors were not pushovers, using the strength of the few that remained standing to shove Julie out of their formation with a practiced ease. Soon those that had been knocked over were back on their feet after those who remained standing stepped forward to close off the formation once again. Despite the seeming lack of success, the goal of the sudden attack had been completed. Jien was now engaged in a clash with Carmichael, his relaxed and reflexive style facing off against a fluid and practiced swordsmanship.One could tell that Carmichael was trained well in swordsmanship. His movements were clean, and minimalistic, yet carried the power of his body in ways that Jien's swordsmanship lacked. Despite this the boy seemed to be pushed back by constant strikes aiming at any and every perceived opening, aiming for vitals and forcing the blonde boy to continuously up his game and tighten up his stances. It truly seemed that regardless of what Carmichael did he was being put on his backfoot by Jien's needling strikes.