Suffocating.
It felt as if somebody was chocking me by my neck, and in front of me was a demon that reeked of thick blood, and I could tell for sure that it wasn't a scent that a person who fought monsters would reek.
I will meet stronger people in the future, so I can't flatter now, not even slightly! With that thought in my mind, I exhaled sharply, and with my right foot in the front, I raised the broad sword, which I held with both of my arms, and with a slight flinch, I abruptly appeared in front of Reynolds and swung down at him, vertically, without wasting a single snap.
TING
BOOM!
With a slight tap of his double-edged sword at the centre of the broadsword, he deflected the swing, and I stopped the sword before it hit the ground, as a small force behind the swing dispersed with a loud 'boom', as I didn't want to damage the property or struggle if my sword stuck in the ground.
WHOOOSH!
Soon after, a strong gust of wind pressure came crashing down, which was the dispersing force behind my swing, which none present found amazing and wasn't something one couldn't do; even I wasn't impressed by it.
"Not bad." With a small, twisted smile, Reynolds commented, and with a sharp inhale, he swung his sword at me.
*
Eshwar swung his sword in all directions, relentlessly, which would be difficult for any normal warrior to block, but unfortunately for him, Reynolds, his opponent wasn't a "normal" warrior. Reynolds blocked, deflected, and country attacked in an extremely precise manner while also using his swordsmanship skills, which quite honestly surprised Neal and Grace, who were staring and analysing the spar.
Reynolds never used his swordsmanship skills except against those whom he deemed worthy. Eshwar was giving the fight his all, yet not a single slash of his connected, but they still couldn't help but be slightly taken aback by his swordsmanship because Eshwar's sword was extremely simple, containing a stab, a vertical, a diagonal, and a horizontal slash; these were the only moments that he was using; he hadn't used a single flashy moment since the beginning of the fight, yet they couldn't read how he was going to slash until he himself did so.
"An open book that can't be read." Neal mumbled with a small smile.
With an indifferent look on his face, Eshwar swung his left arm at Reynolds in a crude manner. Thinking that Eshwar was frustrated with his attacks not connecting, Reynolds was slightly disappointed by Eshwar's actions, so he thought of ending the spar with the next move.
It was then that Reynolds felt an extremely cold gust of wind surround Eshwar's arm, as it morphed into a translucent blackish demon-like arm by the next instance, with which he clawed at Reynolds, who sensed some ghastly threat incoming, jumped back, barely dodging Eshwar's claw.
Neal and Grace were shocked beyond belief when they saw Reynolds jump back! But the fight wasn't over yet, and Eshwar didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping there.
Eshwar's moments, which were slightly stiff at the beginning, had gotten smoother the more he swung his sword; his frustration for being unable to bring out his strength could be seen in his simple yet reckless sword swings, but neither his breathing nor his martial stance flattered.
Reynolds, who seemed to be impressed by the man's tenacity, decided to show what it is like to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship. His double-edged sword began to get covered in a bright red hue; the colour of his hair and eyes changed similarly; soon after, Reynolds could be seen as a walking humanoid dyed in a blood red hue.
With a bright red glow swirling around his sword, Reynolds glared at Eshwar with a bright, blood-dyed gaze.
"I don't know how you'll take it, but if you make it your goal and work for it, you too can reach this stage one day." Reynolds said and disappeared from the spot where he stood.
With a sigh, Grace created a barrier around the entire coliseum and glanced at Isha from the corner of her eyes, trying to find a shocked expression on her face, only to be disappointed since Isha still had an indifferent look on her face. Determined to get any kind of reaction out of Isha, Grace took a step back, stood next to Isha, and
"Seems like you're not worried about your lover getting hurt." Grace said, provoking Isha bluntly.
"You don't have to worry; that much is nothing." Isha commented without a single change in her expression, without even thinking about it for a second.
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
"Neal! Call a healer!!" Grace yelled loudly, ignoring Isha's words with a sigh, thinking Isha was underestimating them just because they were the staff of the academy. As the mountain-like dust cloud began to clear up, slowly but surely, it revealed a humongous, expanding "V"-shaped sword strike carved into the ground, reaching up to 6 feet deep in the ground.
"There won't be a need. He's not that weak." Isha said and waved her hand, clearing out the huge dust cloud in an instant, surprising Grace and Neal, who were thinking about what to do.
After the dust cloud cleared out, it revealed two immobile figures standing right in front of the sword strike that was carved into the ground. Reynolds had a surprised expression on his face, while Eshwar was right in front of him, with his right knee planted into the ground, and the hilt of Reynolds' sword was on Eshwar's right shoulder, as his back bled.
"That hurt." Eshwar mumbled with an expressionless expression on his face and stood back up, completely unfazed by the sword swing and his bleeding back.
"What was that sword's name?" Eshwar asked.
"Bloody Mary." Reynolds answered, dazed.
"Wow, your naming sense is worse than mine." Eshwar mumbled with a small chuckle.
"Anyway, I guess a little more damage won't do that much harm. And that's not what the pinnacle of swordsmanship looks like." Eshwar said, snapping the three academic staff out of their stupor. Slightly taken aback and enraged by Eshwar's words, Reynolds glare intensified, but unbothered by his gaze, Eshwar held his broad sword with both of his hands and raised it up to the back of his head.
Taking a deep breath, Eshwar tensed all of his muscles; his bright orange gaze dimmed before it was completely dyed pitch black.
"I have become extremely weak now, so I don't know how much I'll be able to exert myself, so pardon me." Eshwar said.
"I call this "World Splitter."" That was it; as soon as they heard those words, the worlds of those who had their gaze on Eshwar's sword darkened, until nothing else was visible except for Eshwar's sword-held figure in front of them. They noticed fluctuating black magic power trying to climb up the sword; in a second that felt like an eternity, a thin layer of black magic power covered the upper edge of the sword that was behind Eshwar's head, which he swung down,
WHOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
Their worlds were abruptly dyed white as a thin, pitch-black, light-devouring line descended upon them, and
THUD
With a subtle thud, their worlds returned to reality, and their gaze fell on Eshwar's figure that had dropped on the ground, unconscious.
CRA-CRACK
SHATTER!
And the barrier that covered the coliseum shattered, snapping the people crowding the coliseum out of their daze, while Isha calmly walked towards Eshwar, picked him up like a princess, and walked back towards the dazed Grace.
"Can we stay in a single room? We are a couple, and we need some privacy, you see."