Sihan stood in front of his opponent, who obviously had the shock of his life since Theo or Alea was supposed to be the one standing before him.
Sihan took a deep breath and looked Kyoichi in the eyes.
"Ahaha, I am sweating right now." Kyoichi shook his head helplessly.
"I don't care." Sihan squinted his eyes as he raised his shield and pulled his sword with a serious expression. "All I need to do is defeat you."
"Match starts!"
Kyoichi leaped forward and unleashed the first attack. His katana glowed in red as he waved his sword from the side.
Sihan went to the side to push the sword with his shield, but the red glow turned into a red fire that burst out of his weapon, creating a small explosion whose force helped push Sihan back.
As if already preparing for it, Sihan adjusted his stance and managed to stop the force with only one step back.
After that, he waved his sword from the side, but Kyoichi waved his sword counter-clockwise and repelled his sword from below.
"Reverse Strike." He used that repelling force to swing backward, releasing two blue lights that looped around him like a crescent moon and hit Kyoichi's shoulders.
Luckily, Kyoichi raised his blade in time and received it with his blade instead of his body.
And Sihan used that chance to slam his shield to Kyoichi, striking both hands that were still holding the sword.
"Kh!" The latter took a few steps back, but Sihan followed right behind him. He thought, 'Sword will be coming…'
Kyoichi raised his eyebrows, trying to figure out where the sword would appear. "Left or right? Or will it come from the top?"
However, Sihan's action was truly beyond his imagination.
The shield started turning with the small blunt edge facing Kyoichi. Sihan then slammed it straight into Kyoichi's katana like that of a sword.
"Kh. A shield like that of a sword." Kyoichi gritted his teeth before jumping on top of Sihan with his body upside down.
It was where Sihan and Kyoichi clashed their blades until Kyoichi landed on the ground.
Suddenly, a graze appeared on both Sihan's cheek and Kyoichi's shoulder as they both seemed to be able to strike their opponent.
With their backs facing each other, Sihan leaped to the back, trying to slam his body against Kyoichi's back.
The latter also planned to do the same thing and their backs hit each other. They then spun their bodies at the same time and struck each other's swords again.
Sihan took this chance and slammed his shield again, but Kyoichi already got accustomed to it and spun his body, using that momentum to slide his sword and hit the shield.
With his sword missing its target and his shield getting stopped, Sihan saw Kyoichi raising his foot.
The next second he felt an excruciating pain in his lower abdomen and flew in the air.
"Iron Blade."
The sword struck the ground and split it into two until it reached Sihan, who just landed.
There was only one purpose of destroying the ground.
He approached Sihan from the side and struck his shield again.
"Tsk." Sihan clicked his tongue. Because of the ground, he needed to spread his legs a bit wider than usual, meaning he couldn't get enough force to stop the attack.
Bam.
Sihan floated in the air for two seconds before dropping to the ground.
Kyoichi took this chance to pin Sihan's on the ground by faking his slash.
When Sihan was about to block his strike with his shield, Kyoichi stopped and landed on top of Sihan's shield, using his body's weight to prevent Sihan from using his shield.
At the same time, his katana already made its way toward Sihan's neck.
"This is the end." Kyoichi released all his power at this moment.
However, Sihan still had one more thing to use.
"Frenzy." Sihan increased the metabolism of his body to gain additional strength.
He used that strength to raise his shield, making the katana miss his neck because it was already out of reach.
Using that chance, Sihan rolled his body and forced Kyoichi to leap away.
"Hmm…" Kyoichi furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Sihan's condition. "This skill… It's a skill that can increase your physical ability for a period of time. You won't need to fight anymore, so I guess it's fine, but there's no chance I'm going to let you win.
"Your Sword and Shield are indeed troublesome and you have been awfully close to me since the beginning, stopping me from using most of my skills. However, if you think you can win against me with only this skill, you are wrong.
"I am stronger than you." Kyoichi raised his sword and took a deep breath. "I'm going."
He leaped forward with his blade in the front.
Suddenly, Sihan threw his shield to the front to stop Kyoichi's charge.
And he successfully did it since Kyoichi stopped for a second to strike his shield.
"What are you doing? Throwing your weapon so easily?" Kyoichi shouted and took a step to the side before continuing his charge.
He saw the flying shield, Sihan, and his sword.
"Without your shield, I am not afraid of you." He quickly arrived at Sihan's side and struck him. "Extra Slash."
"Dawn Strike." Sihan struck his sword, albeit got pushed back by Kyoichi's strength.
"This is your choice!" Kyoichi snorted and released all his strength.
However, Sihan exaggeratedly slid his sword and continued until his body spun, resulting in Kyoichi's sword going past his defense.
"I got him. We—" When the sword was about to hit his back, a huge item suddenly hit his left, injuring his left arm and left cheek.
"What…" Kyoichi was still shocked, but he somehow rolled his eyes to the side as Sihan's shield appeared in his vision. "How?" was the only question on his mind, but he soon found a string, that was covered by blue-colored energy, attached to the sword before disappearing to the side.
Because of his current vision, he already knew that the string's other end was tied to the shield and Sihan spinning his body was to call back the shield he threw. "Seriously?!"