Chapter 49 Sword Duel 3

<A 2-star knight has been defeated.>

<Quest [Beat the knights is advanced to the second state.>

"Huh?"

"Huh? Did you see it?"

"The sword looked like it was going to attack his shoulder. How come his neck was cut?"

Between all those sounds of surprise, I heard the system sound in my head, confirming the duel was over.

'Sword of Lightning, Trick of Light.'

It was a special type of movement that made use of the human eyes' way of perceiving things.

As you may already know, we are seeing the world around us with the reflected light coming to our eyes.

Then, making use of that fact, if you can manipulate the lights around a person, you can make them perceive things in the way you want.

And this technique just does that, albeit I am not manipulating the lights firsthand.

The sword strike Heschel saw was aimed at her left shoulder, but it was actually directed at his neck. Therefore, he wasn't able to respond to the attack.

Although a veteran fighter would already have sensed it, in the absence of aura and mana, this is all this technique can do.

"That attack, it was aimed at the neck of Heschel from the beginning itself; you would be able to see it if you paid attention to the muscles of Young Lord."

I heard an exclamation coming from the knight sitting close. Around this time, the treatment of Heschel was already finished, albeit he was still unconscious.

"Young lord, do you wish to proceed with the punishment right away?"

Slowly coming closer, George asked with a stern expression on his face. No matter how honorable a knight is, it seems a father is still a father.

"I am disappointed in you, Head Knight George."

"What do you mean, Young Lord?"

"Is this the level of knights of the Augustride House? Is this how we look from the outside?"

Slowly raising my voice, I asked George, looking at his brown eyes.

This is actually not a true exclamation. Considering Heschel was still a 2-star knight, he must be one of the late bloomers. However, pressuring him might give me an opportunity.

"Ah, I am very as-"

"Do you want to save your son?"

"What?"

"I said do you want to save your son, Head Knight George?"

"I… As a knight, I shall proceed with the conditions of Sword Duel."

"As a father?"

"As a father, I wish to save my son. If his arms are removed with the Seal of Grafted, they won't be growing back. And I don't want my son to lose his path of knighthood."

Bowing his head towards me, he said with a slightly sad expression.

'The seal of Grafted. It was an item that appeared quite a lot in the game. The wounds made with that seal would never heal unless you use 8-star healing magic.'

Remembering the fact from the game, I looked at George.

"Raise your head, Head Knight. I will give you all a chance to save Heschel."

"You will?"

"Yes. I will."

Saying that I turned my head to the knights and the audience watching.

"Right now, I will stay in this arena and duel with other knights. First, pick a three-star knight to be my opponent. And, if I manage to beat the third-star knight, send me a knight with one rank higher."

"What?"

"What is he saying?"

"Is he out of his mind? Does he really want to duel with knights?"

The moment I said this, the surroundings started getting noisy.

"QUIET!"

/SWOOSH/

Excluding the pressure, with my trait [Tyrant's Aura], I screamed, making the atmosphere quiet. Albeit, it was just a momentarily stop because of surprise, not fear.

"Of course, this won't be a duel without any rewards. The person who beats me will be rewarded ten thousand Aeria, and I won't cut the arms of Knight Heschel. However, for every duel I win, I will cut two fingers of his hand with the Seal of Grafted."

/EXHALE/

Stopping to make my point stronger, I took a deep breath and said;

"As a knight, you all know how important every piece of your body is for your success. Now, his future is in your hands. I will be waiting in the corner. In five minutes, send me a contestant."

Saying that I turned my head towards the first person I had fought in my life with a sword. Just like a scared dog, he bowed his head and couldn't even look into my eyes.

'This is the fate of people who become a dog for others. Alicia won't even look at you; now the results are clear. In your next life, control your desires better.'

Slowly thinking, I reached the corner and started waiting while reviewing the fight.

'Now, although not every person is the same, around the one-star limit, people's physical attributes won't be much different. That means I can assume other enemies will also have similar strengths.'

Just like that, I replayed the fight in my head and noticed several mistakes I made, taking notes on them in the corner of my head, not to do them again.

"Lord Callius. I shall be your opponent."

A stern sound appeared from the other side. Finally, our first contestant appeared.

'Let's check who you are and whether you are a third-star or not?'

Slowly raising my head, I activated my [All Seeing Eye]. Since I had raised its mastery for quite, I am now able to raise the intent, albeit the person in contact will still feel uncomfortable by my gaze.

Observing the man in front of me, he has brown hair, green eyes, and a slightly bulky body. Earth attribute doing wonders at that.

Name - Leonidas Windsor

Age - 16

Class- Knight

Knight Rank- 3-star

Attributes- Earth

Looking at the system panel in front of me, I confirmed that he was a three-star knight. However, since his rank was higher than mine, seeing his skills was still impossible.

"State your name."

Calling his name, George said.

"Leonidas Windsor, sir."

"Knight Leonidas, do you accept the conditions of the duel?"

"I accept."

"Lord Callius?"

"I accept."

"Then we shall commence. Contestants, take your positions."

Just like that, we went to our corners. Since I had my bracelets on me, I didn't bother with unequipping them, and Leonidas was brought with one as well.

Slowly drawing my sword, I took the same opening position I did last time. Looking at the enemy, it seems he will use a spear for the fight. And he has slightly heavy armor on him, meaning he trusts his strength, albeit it is not too strong.

Although this duel is named sword duel, of course, not every person in this world uses swords as their main weapon. However, since, at first, the duel only commenced with sword users, and then it spread around the world for other weapons, the name stayed like that.

"Are you both ready?"

/NOD/ /NOD/

"Then, I am throwing the coin."

/DASH/

The moment the coin hit the ground, I dashed toward him. But he chose to stay still.

/SWOOSH/

Since the spear has more range than the rapier, he must have decided to use this advantage.

'An obvious move.'

Thinking that, I slightly tilted my body to the side to dodge the thrust attack, trying to get closer.

Without even stopping, I activated my [All Seeing Eye] and started reading his tiny bit of muscle movements.

'A right sweep from the ground.'

/SWOOSH/ /JUMP/

Immediately jumping upwards, I dodged the spear sweep coming from under.

'He has good control over his spear; seeing me dodge, he immediately stopped his thrust attack and changed its direction to interrupt my advance. Now, he will attack seeing me standing in the air.'

Reading his muscle movements, I concluded, however, since I was in the air, dodging was basically impossible.

/CLANK/

'Sword of Lightning, Current Flow.'

Using as little strength as possible, I redirected his spear in the air, making it hit on the ground.

/THUD/ /STAGGER/

And kicked him in the face, regaining my momentum in the air, making him lose his balance.

/SWOOSH/

Then, landed on the ground with a swift movement.

/DASH/

Since I made him lose his balance, deciding to not lose this advantage, I dashed to him again.

/CLANK/ /CLANK/

However, of course, this time, his response was just like a veteran's. Predicting my advance, he started stabbing the air, just to not let me get closer, while slowly getting his posture together with his unique footwork.

/CLANK/ /SWOOSH/

Blocking all his strikes, I tried to get closer, but seeing him not letting me, I decided to retreat.

'This must be Augustride House's Footwork. As expected, a veteran knight is moving differently.'

While I was assessing, he, too, was assessing me.

/DASH/ /DASH/

And this time, we both dashed at each other, not stopping.

/SWOOSH/

I immediately dodged the incoming stab while moving to the right side.

/SWOOSH/

And he immediately followed his attack just as the same as before.

/DASH/

"Huh?"

Normally making those sharp changes in direction while moving is very hard, but this is the essence of the Augustride Family's footwork, which is superior to the footwork knights are using.

'Sword of Lightning, Thunder Steps.'

The moment I dashed to the right side before his sweep came closer, I was already in front of him.

'A fracture point.'

With my [All Seeing Eye] activated, noticing the opening on his right shoulder, I pierced this point, putting all my strength into my sword.

/CREAK/ /SPLURT/

With a creaking sound coming from his arm, blood started spurting from his wound.

/SWOOSH/

"I, I surrender."

Looking at the sword pointed to his neck, he surrendered, marking the end of the duel.