Chapter 262 - Alphonso's tears

Kretos happily lunged at Alphonso who summoned a black staff made out of unknown materials. Kretos concentrated his mana into his hand creating a long sword made out of pure mana. When Kretos's mana sword made contact with Alphonso's staff, Alphonso was about to redirect the flow of attack towards the side and counter. 

Kretos could feel what Alphonso was about to do with the slight shift in the momentum of his attack. So before Alphonso could finish what he was doing, Kretos sent out a kick towards Alphonso's head. Kretos's attack was swift and precise that if it was any other opponent their heads would've already flown away. 

Alphonso was able to keep up and lifted the head of his staff upward and blocked both Kretos's sword strike and his kick. But that wasn't the end of it, Kretos dispelled the mana sword which made Alphonso stumble forward. The moment Alphonso lost his balance Kretos was going to attack but to his surprise, Alphonso used the momentum of him stumbling forward to try and crash towards Kretos. 

When Kretos saw what Alphonso was trying to do he used the spell [Earth Wall] in which Alphonso countered with a [Water Slice]. A small amount of water formed into a blade that sliced the wall made of earth. 

Once that first exchange was done Kretos and Alphonso backed away. "That was some nice set of moves, your style of fighting seems to be using defense as a cover for your true style of battle which is offensive. That's a pretty nice fighting style you have there, I wonder who taught it to you?" 

Kretos couldn't help but praise Alphonso's fighting style, it was a style that fits well with him. In fact, Kretos found the very style of fighting similar to his, but unlike Alphonso's, Kretos doesn't mask defensive moves to counterattack, his style only focuses on one thing that is on attacking. Kretos way of fighting is to keep on attacking and doing so in every possible way available. 

When Alphonso heard what Kretos said, he tried to stop himself from laughing. 'Of course, you like this fighting style, you're the one who created it and taught it to me. Well, I did change some of the moves and even the philosophy of the style so that I can make it my own.' 

Alphonso couldn't help but remember the time Michael taught him the skills he needed to win a battle. It was so long ago now, that some of those memories are becoming a bit foggy. As Alphonso was about to reminisce about the time when he tried to modify the style, Kretos spoke. 

"Though I think that fighting style is good, I do have a piece of advice to give you. That style seems to be more suited for an aggressive style of fighting, masking it with defense won't really help it out. You should just keep on attacking like this!" 

Kretos threw some blades made out of mana, which Alphonso deflected using his staff. Kretos then appeared in front of him almost instantly after throwing those blades made of mana. Once he was in close quarters combat with Alphonso, Kretos began attacking from all directions. Using his fists, his legs, and numerous spells, Kretos happily attacked. 

Alphonso who was trying to find a way out of the torrent of attacks so that he could counterattack was still a little bit shocked by what Kretos said. The advice Kretos gave him was basically telling him to discard all the alterations he made to the style and go back to the original style he was taught. 

'Are you saying all my hard work to improve this style, didn't improve it but just made it worse?' Alphonso gritted his teeth, although he knew that the person in front of him wasn't Michael but someone else with a very similar personality, Alphonso couldn't help but feel like it was Michael who said those words to him. 

Kretos sensed that something was happening to Alphonso and saw that the Alphonso changed his stance. Alphonso held the staff in his right hand and was now in a throwing stance. He then threw the staff like a spear towards Kretos. 

Seeing the incoming staff Kretos tried to evade, but even though it just passed by him he felt like his skin was torn open. There was no external damage to Kretos, but he knew that if he was a bit slower, that attack could've spelled his death. 

Kretos who was a bit rattled by the earlier attack, then saw a fist was about to hit his head so he ducked but the moment he did that, a knee was about to hit his chin. Kretos was only left with one option and that was to block the attack, he used both his hands to stop the knee from hitting him.

When Kretos felt like he couldn't fully stop the incoming attack he absorbed a bit of its power and jumped upward negating its strength. Kretos using the knee strike as a springboard was now flying high up in the air. 

As he was about to counter attack with long-distance spells Kretos saw Alphonso had jumped upward and was speeding towards him. Seeing that action made Kretos smile even more as he gathered most of his mana into the palm of his hand. 

When Alphonso got near him he unleashed the mana point-blank at Alphonoso's face. Alphonso was shocked by this movement and quickly summoned a shield that was only able to block a portion of the attack. Alphonso fell from the sky and landed on the mountain top destroying the peak. 

Kretos landed softly beside the newly formed crater on the mountain top. He then spotted Alphonso standing up from the falling debris. Although Alphonso's robe was now dirty Alphonso himself didn't receive any damage. 

"That was better than before, but being aggressive without understanding the flow of battle isn't really a good thing." When Kretos once again gave out some advice, he noticed something weird. Alphonso had tears falling down his face. 

"Huh... Are you actually crying?" Kretos couldn't help but ask. When Alphonso heard what Kretos said he touched his face. 'I'm crying...' 

Alphonso was confused at first, but then he understood what was happening. He couldn't help it, seeing Kretos telling him about his inadequacies, reminded him of the past when Michael was doing the same thing. The way they talked, the way they think, even the subtle movements he made were near identical. 

The last time Alphonso met an incarnation of Michael that person was near death, but same as the Michael he knew even nearing his demise, that incarnation wanted to fight him. 

'No matter the era, no matter the race, no matter how powerful, you and all your incarnations remain the same...' Alphonso wiped away his tears and summoned a spear that had its blade being held by the mouth of a dragon. 

"Sorry about that, something you said just made me remember someone I knew long ago. So seeing that we can finally talk properly how about we stop this little scuffle of ours and talk like civilized people." 

"Is that why you summoned that ominous-looking spear so that we can have a civilized talk?" Kretos rebuked as he got ready to attack again. 

"No this is just a precaution. I really do want to just talk it out. I just want to help you, since I know how to get your memories back. So what do you say?"