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(3rd Person POV)
[Third Stance, Loyal Devourer]
A terrifying pressure emerged from the executor of that stance, Edmund Talos.
This is the third stance from the seven famed swordsmanship stances of the Talos Family.
Edmund used his hands to just move Valhalla slightly in a downward gesture, there was no force behind that motion.
Just a slight tipping down of the sharp edge of the sword downwards...
Silence reigned the place for a few moments...
Then suddenly, all the air around Edmund compresses and it travels threateningly fast towards the opponent. Cracks appear on the ground in the direction that the strike is moving. It felt like the strike would devour everything that came his way.
Aston's eyes lit up on seeing immediate danger in front of him. He bent his knees as his gauntlets penetrated the ground slightly.
He flipped up the ground in front of him to use it as a shield against the strike.
His arms were then crossed in a defensive posture.
The strike from Edmund touched the soil used as a shield. For a few moments, nothing happens before a series of sounds is heard by both people.
*Schwik*
*Schiwk*
*Schwik*
The temporary defence of Aston is slashed into several tiny parts. They drop on the ground harmlessly.
"Wow, Edmund. You are really going all out, huh? Unfortunately, you couldn't do that at that incident, right?"
Aston once again rubs some salt in the already bad Edmund's wound.
Edmund doesn't reply anything but begins running towards his opponent.
Aston also dashes towards Edmund.
Aston's eyes were shaking in pure excitement. His craving for something that will make his blood boil is finally happening.
Edmund's lips were also curved upwards slightly as his mind remembered the days when he used to fight with his life on the line.
As soon as Aston comes into the vicinity of Edmund, he readied his punches in a posture and used one of the royal family's techniques.
[Hercules Punch]
With this technique, it changed the inner composition of your muscles in the body and they became much more tight, flexible and bursting with energy.
Any punch that lands on the opponent will have an inhumane impact. It will feel like boulders are hitting you at great speed.
Edmund also used one of his stances to counter His Highness's techniques.
[Fourth Stance, Staunch Strikes]
This is the fourth stance out of all the other stances. Among the members of the Talos Family, it is said to be the most useless one because it requires the person to know the behaviour of their opponent impeccably. Even a slight difference in their analysis will make the technique fail.
However, that was not the problem for Edmund. He has spent over a decade with his opponent, there is no way that he doesn't know the behaviour of his opponent.
And the clash of both of the sparring partners occurred.
*Clang*
*Bang*
*Jang*
A clutter of dissonant sounds happened. Both the parties were non-forgiving on their opponent. They weren't the kind to be easy on their opponent.
Maybe Edmund might have been slightly concerned if he hurt his highness too much, but he trusted the capabilities of his master.
It would have been an insult to the royal bloodline if their opponent didn't use their full power.
The ground cracked beneath both of their feet, air pressure was exuded from them every time they attacked each other.
It was truly a great battle.
Gradually, both of them increase the intensity of the battle and take their bodies to their limits.
Aston used the advanced version of the technique he was using currently.
[Serious Hercules Punches]
It used the extra energy stored in the body and allowed the user to put their body to the extreme.
Edmund recognised his highness's commitment and also used a combo of the two stances.
[Third Stance, Loyal Devourer]
And
[Fourth Stance, Staunch Strikes]
With every strike using the fourth stance, the moment that Valhalla Sword clashed with the opponent will have the same effect as the third stance but on a smaller scale.
It was truly a threatening combo. Edmund was the only one after the first patriarch of the Talos Family to be able to do this.
He indeed was one of the strongest people alive in this world.
It was truly a miracle that a 19-year-old person was able to go against Edmund straightforwardly.
.
.
.
This went on for a few minutes. Both the parties knew that they were in a stalemate and continuing would just fatigue them.
Without a single word between them, both of them used the maximum power they could use at that particular position and that particular time.
Aston used the legs art from [Phoenix Combat].
It is the way that the first patriarch of the Phoenix Family and the first emperor of the Phoenix Empire used to fight.
All of this was recorded and then turned into a manual. It is only passed to the descendants of the Phoenix Family, no other person is allowed to view them.
[Crescent Phoenix Kick]
Both the parties again sped up to each other.
Aston's legs went into an upward arc. It travelled incredibly fast in an upward motion.
Edmund used the maximum combo of his two techniques and attacked Aston from above using the maximum might he could exert at that particular point.
*Boom*
A deafening sound was heard throughout the clearing.
The air exerted pressure on the dust around them.
They were covered in a veil of dust.
It was a pin-drop silence before Edmund came hurtling out of the curtain of dust with blood on his butler's uniform.
It seems that Aston was the winner of that small contest between them.
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(End of the Chapter)
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