Chapter 317 - Prideful Duel (2)

Arnold had a script ready in his head. No matter what the people said or do to counter his arguments, it ended up firing right back at them.

The discussion had turned into one-sided verbal mugging in favour of Arnold. Some of Nathan's supporters went as far as saying since Allen was their leader, he should prove his strength without using the sword. At that point, Arnold didn't know whether he should laugh at that man's stupidity or not. In the end, one could come up with a single reason to not allow Allen to use a sword.

Arnold walked over to Allen and handed him the twin-bladed black Greatsword. Nathan didn't like this shift in momentum. But he couldn't say a thing now or else he would come off as the weak contender. Something he would rather not do. 

'Do what you want, Arnold. But I won't stop until I defeat your proud and good-for-nothing brother.' Nathan gritted his teeth.

The change in Nathan's behaviour worried Nathaniel, he could tell that Nathan wasn't being himself. It was as if, someone was controlling him and poisoning his mind against Arnold and Allen.

Despite being desperate to stop this sudden change in Nathan's behaviour, Nathaniel couldn't do anything. Nathan wasn't letting him inside his head, which worried Nathaniel even more. Nathan never stopped Nathaniel from looking inside his mind so it was weird that he suddenly stopped doing so. The only thing Nathaniel could be to put his faith in Arnold and Allen.

"Competitors ready?" Johnny asked both of them, to which they nodded. "Fight!"

Nathan launched himself at Allen like a missile. His fists ready to bury Allen with a single strike. Allen, however, stayed calm. His eyes were solely focused on Nathan's movements. The next moment, Allen side-stepped, avoiding Nathan's attack before Shoving the abnormally large blade towards Nathan, grazing his left shoulder.

"Augh!" Nathan squealed in pain before jumping back. 

Everyone watching the fight was stunned. Everyone except Arnold. Nathan has covered himself in a concentrated mana layer which acted as a shield for him. It was Nathan's unique ability, but an overpowered one. This shield almost made Nathan invincible for a couple of minutes, even Johnny had a hard time getting rid of the shield and yet Allen effortlessly managed to pierce through the shield and hit Nathan? Everyone in the family knew about Nathan's shield and how difficult it was to get past it, this came as a surprise to them. Even Allen was a bit surprised but quickly recovered himself.

'Thanks for the gift brother!' Allen smirked. His eyes were glowing with newfound courage. 

Seeing the awe on everyone's faces, Arnold couldn't help but smile. After all, he made the sword specifically to deal with heavily armoured opponents like Grock and Dread. The sword, however, was only a prototype for Arnold's future experiments but still, it was more than enough to take care of someone on Nathan's level.

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Grade: SS

Strength (STR) : + 115

Weapon Type: Greatsword

Weight : 3.2 kg

Additional effect : [Defender] - Each successful strike by this sword temporarily (effective for 10 seconds) increases the user's defence by 2 points. Continuously killing three enemies give a bonus of 5 defence points. This skill has a cooldown of 3 seconds.

Additional effect : [Duellist] - Continuously striking the opponent improves the user's ability to handle the sword. The longer the fight drags on the stronger the user gets. The user's strength, agility, stamina and accuracy are increased by 3 points for every 30 seconds the user is engaged in combat. (Maximum up to 30 points) 

Additional effect : [Defiance] - When facing opponents above the rank of the user, the sword gains the ability to ignore a target's defence. This ability has a 70% chance of being triggered if the opponent has a difference of more than 100 defence points in comparison to the user. (Has a cool-down period of 10 seconds) 

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"You're hiding something, aren't you?" Nina asked when she noticed Arnold's smile.

"Well... Let's just say that I'm not foolish enough to send Allen to battle someone superior to him without a little advantage." Arnold whispered into her ear, "Either way, someone needs to knock some sense into Nathan's head. And Allen would be the perfect choice for it."

Arnold continued, "Even if Nathan doesn't admit it, he had always viewed Allen to be inferior to him. He hides it well, but I can see it in his eyes. Now, what do you think will happen when Nathan loses to someone, whom he could usually beat in while sleepwalking?"

"It will... break his spirit?" Nina replied.

"You're close, but no. It won't be enough to break him, but it'll certainly make Nathan think about his choices." Arnold told her as Allen landed yet another strike on Nathan, "Nathan won't last long if he keeps charging at Allen in a blind rage. Let's hope Nicole would call off the duel before any serious damage is dealt to either one of them. As much as I want Nathan to lose, even I don't want him to get seriously injured."

Nathan and Allen were engaged in a furious duel. None of them was going to back down and admit defeat before the other. There were only two ways to end a duel. Firstly, the Duel could come to an end if one of the competitors accepted their defeat. Secondly, if one of the competitors could demonstrate a killer strike, but according to the rules, they had to stop before the blow landed. 

Allen was fairly smaller than Nathan when it came to size, and now, he was using it to his advantage. He did his best to stick close to Nathan and not give him enough room to plan his next move or to strike him freely. Although Nathan was a brawler, he specialised in mid-range combat, hence it was quite troublesome for him to deal with Allen. And Allen was thus also preventing Nathan from going all out on him.

Everyone stood in awe at Allen's skill. All of them remembered Allen as a good-for-nothing burden like he once was. Little did they know that ever since Arnold made him his brother, Allen had been relentlessly improving his skills by sparring against Arnold's summons. Even though Allen was still an A ranker, his skills were of those that rivalled even the S rankers. Arnold knew about it very well, thus he also knew if anyone could use the Brawn Sword to its maximum potential, it was Allen.