The two guards having run for their lives as they thought made it to the Fairy Tail Guild hall before falling through the door way gaining every one's attention, an elderly man wearing a white cloak and was extremely short called over from his spot on the bar countertop with a young red headed woman wearing armour and a white-haired woman in a pretty pinky red dress with bows called out "My word, it seems someone gave you quite the beating."
One of the guards pointed at Erza "We need your help, a swordsman took out six of my men without trying and he didn't get hit once, we need your help please. He's too much for us."
Humming and looking a little intrigued at the thought of an unknown swordsman she stood "I will help. Show me the way."
The other soldier who was still a teen and looking to make a career in the royal army spoke "Please don't make us go back there, just go to the South Gate Park he's on one of the stairways he has a great longsword can't miss him."
Sighing at the cowardice of the two Erza pushed past them and spoke as the guild watched slacked jawed at what had just occurred "I'll be back shortly master."
Makarov waved a little as he took a swig of his drink "Okay have fun Erza." He then hopped off the bar top and headed for his office intent on checking up on his roving surveillance lacrima and send it to the south gate park. 'Good thing Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy are taking a mission just out of town to deal with a pack of Vulcans otherwise this would be blown way out of proportion'
Kojuro having sensed a large magical aura making their way towards him moved to the centre of the staircase and drew his sword holding it at his side with an arrogant smirk on his face as he waited for whoever it was to arrive.
Seeing a red-haired woman running and appear at the bottom of the steps heard her call out "May I ask your name."
Still with his smirk on his face which was smug while he had been walking around town he had seen a poster advertising Fairy Tail and it conveniently named a couple of wizards and she was one of them the infamously famous Titania. "My name is Kojuro Sasaki the Wandering Swordsman."
Erza not quite expecting him to be so forth coming with his name gasped quietly to herself but obviously not quite enough as Kojuro spoke answering her question with a smug and arrogant look on his face and his tone mocking. "It is only natural for one to give their name before combat."
Recovering Erza answered in kind "When an opponent does so I am honour bound as a mage of Fairy Tail to do the same, but once I have you have to withdraw and leave quietly. My name is…"
Kojuro not caring for her name knowing full well who she was cut her off, getting a scowl out of the woman spoke calmly "No matter…" he then took a couple of steps down towards her raising his sword a little "My sword will tell me all I need to know of my enemy, if you wish to make me withdraw then you will have to force me." He then bought his sword around in a circle motion before flicking his sword to the side.
Erza having drawn her own sword and wearing her usual heart Kreuz armour "Did you not hear me I said withdraw we need not fight, I honestly have no business with you other than helping the Royal army."
Still with his calm demeanour and condescending look mocking tone quipped back "And did you not hear me when I said you would have to force me to. Besides if you do not hurry that young boy lying over there may die, I took the liberty of raising the stakes if you win the boy may just survive his wounds if not…Well you get the idea."
He then grinned when Erza charged him and swung only to be blocked by Kojuro who pushed her sword to the side before bringing his sword over his right shoulder and swinging horizontally and downwards making Erza bring her sword to block up by her head before stepping down a step forcing Erza to do the same and putting a little more power in his attack and using his position of power making her duck a little and bring her sword down before backflipping and dodging another pair of swings at her back and putting some space between them.
Kojuro then moved back to his starting position with his sword pointed in front of him with an arrogant smirk on his face.
Erza looking up the stairs was perplexed she had more advantages than her opponent she was lighter and more agile allowing her to move faster and her power she had the more direct style and her sword wasn't her heaven's wheel generic sword but one of the blades from her Armadura Fairy set 'how can this be weight, power, speed I have the upper hand in every way why can I not break through!?' she then charged forwards.
They then soon exchanged sword blows causing sparks to fly about this continued for a few short quick blinding seconds before Erza using her armoured hand grabbed Kojuro's blade by the hilt trying to stall his strike, using his right hand he pushed the pommel and made the blade slide across and through her gauntlet's leather padding making blood splash forth momentarily before continuing with a vicious swing which Erza blocked while jumping back at the same time. Where Erza landed five steps away.
Kojuro still very confident rested his sword on his right shoulder with the blade protruding out way past his left side, in a mocking tone he smirked at Erza "Very impressive, I should have removed your head seven times but it remains attached to your body it seems your sword play is more than flailing about like these sheep."
Relaxing her stance Erza nodded "Your impressive for a man of your stature, if nothing else you are a master of cunning tricks and mockery."
Taking some exception to her words Kojuro answered in kind enjoying the brief exchange of words between himself and an exceptional swordswoman worthy to be his rival "Well now you have the edge in both strength and spirit, that only leaves me with my wiles to defeat you, but I now know the style in which you use to fight I've seen through it all."
Gritting her teeth Erza readied herself 'From just that brief exchange, this man surpasses me so greatly in sword technique.'
Kojuro oblivious to her thoughts but seeing her get ready spoke with his mocking tone "Now let us continue, show me what you are really capable of Titania."
Scowling and glancing at the young boy who looked in pain and holding his side growled a little 'Hold on boy.'
It was then they heard a shout making Erza look past Kojuro and look annoyed at seeing Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy coming her way. Seeing her distraction Kojuro struck forwards with a stabbing motion, Erza seeing the blade coming for her neck bought her pink sword up and just blocked the blade diverting it just enough that it only just nicked her neck drawing more blood before she pushed his sword out the way from her.
Seeing her shocked look Kojuro laughed a little "That's twice now."
They then continued to exchange blows in much the same vein with vigour before jumping apart and hearing an extra loud groan from the teen he had smashed in the side with the reverse side of his blade earlier "Well now it seems like the boy won't last much longer and I don't really want to have an innocent life on my hands and therefore I don't have the luxury of concealing my true skill and even now you won't bring out your stronger weapons or armour. Your master is either a fool or a novice how can his mages be so ill trained that they don't know when someone is serious, yet I find your faith in his abilities admirable and half-hearted measures won't put a dent in that…" he then walked down the stairs until he was opposite Erza who was coincidentally on ground at the bottom of the stairs "…And that simply won't do."
Erza who was shocked at his actions and at the fact spoke incredulously "You will willingly give up the advantage of higher ground, what are you playing at."
Standing opposite her Kojuro held his sword by his side "I have devoted my life to the sword, if you insist on not showing your true strength I'll take your faith and break it open with brute force." As he said that his eyes took on a deadly quality finally having enough of fighting with the kiddie gloves on, took on a special stance ignoring the fact that Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy were watching along with a large crowd of civilians.
Bringing his sword up to eye level and pointed at Erza with his stance wide and slightly angled away from her spoke without the mocking tone "Secret Sword Art…" Erza looking into his eyes and feeling the killing intent radiating off of him gasped as she envisioned her own death being nearly sliced cleanly in half along with her head being removed from her shoulders.
She quickly re-quipped her strongest defensive sword she had from her Purgatory Armour set but by the time she had done so Kojuro's sword was glowing purple with slight sparks coming off the blade 'To late!'
Kojuro then lunged forwards with sparks coming off his body "…Turning Swallow Strike!" sending his first strike at her left side going up at her side, then at the same time another strike from her left arcing downwards towards her neck and the last one from her right around shoulder height coming horizontally all making a horrible screeching sound as they came near her.
Erza just managed at the last millisecond stepped back half a centimetre but thanks to the power of the strikes caused a set of small pot holes to surround her feet as she felt the last strike slice through her armoured breast plate like it was butter shocking her immensely thanks to the pressure behind that last blow despite it not actually doing any damage to her body made her fall sideways before rolling along the ground with a silent cry of pain trying to escape her lips as she rolled she was able to right herself and gave Kojuro a murderous look of fury.
Kojuro seeing her kneeling on the ground was still looking completely serious all trace of the mocking tone and arrogance and smug attitude gone complimented her of all things "Very impressive, you dodged well. As far as tricks go that wasn't all that special though, it was something I mastered one day when I had the urge to slay a swallow. A flying swallow cannot be snared by my blade which is but a singularity but with two or three singularities attacking that changes everything, however they are swift little things, too accomplish this feat one must repeatedly strike within time of a single breath that is beyond the ability of normal men, but I had nothing else to do…" at this point he bought his sword up as he saw that some autumn leaves were falling around him and watched as some of them split as they hit his monohoshizao blade. "…but other than to master the skill, I achieved this goal that I so wished for. I used the technique without knowing it."
Erza still glaring at him doubted his words there was more to it than that. 'repeatedly strike within a single breath that was not what that was. They were at exactly the same time in that instance three swords existed not one. It is too hard to believe but that was a…'Spatial Refraction magic?" she finished out loud think it was the only logical reason before 'But wait how did he do it without flaring any magic or showing any sign of using it, spatial magic requires a lot of magic it's like he didn't even employ magic at all in that attack'
Hearing the boy cry out again Erza completely ignored Kojuro and burst past him "Hold On!"
Kojuro hearing the scream of pain winced a little and turned to watch as Erza got to his side along with Natsu and the others who were mages from Fairy Tail tch'ed at the interruption "It seems if he isn't seen to…soon he will die." Kojuro then sheathed his sword surprising everyone including Erza.
Erza holding the boy while Lucy checked him over spoke making Natsu and Gray step out the way of being between Kojuro and her "Kojuro tell me why did you not strike me down just then?"
With his eyes closed having finally picking up on three large magic powers that dwarfed his own, well to be fair he was using his concealment magic to appear weak but still it was like he was feeling two wizard saints and a S class wizard spoke covering himself "I was captivated I suppose, you were attractive when you were fighting but your concern for a stranger is an exquisite sight and so you caught my eyes…" he then turned and faced them before walking away "That is enough fighting for today, I think I will take my leave now." He then began walking away before calling over his shoulder as he went "Until next time my rival."
Natsu seeing his chance launched forwards with his fists engulfed in fire "Get back here bastard your next fight is with ME!"
Kojuro merely smirked arrogantly with his back to Natsu who was getting closer by the second "Yes until next time indeed" his body then shot forth a wall of purple lightning in a current like wave hitting Natsu and knocking him back before his body disappeared in a clap of purple thunder and lightning.
Soon after Kojuro had disappeared Natsu was lying on the ground twitching a little thanks to the electricity running through him. Gray and Lucy were helping the soldiers who were injured.
Erza who had finished bandaging her hand that was bleeding was holding a cloth to her neck trying to clot the cut on her neck when she saw Makarov walking towards where she was sat on the bottom step of the stairway. While she was waiting for him she couldn't help herself 'just who are you Kojuro Sasaki…Regardless he is someone to be weary of.'
Makarov who had watched the entire fight couldn't quite believe it, there weren't many sword mages out there and those that were, they were nowhere near as good as Erza or so he thought, that man from before all but blew that belief out the water and proved on multiple occasion throughout that little exchange that he was far more skilled than Erza with swords despite her holding the advantage of weight and power. "Stings doesn't it having one's pride wounded so soundly."
Erza nodded "Indeed, but I don't understand it, I couldn't keep up with him. The longer each series of attacks lasted the more I found myself struggling to counter and parry it was like I was slowing down and I couldn't read his moves either. I've never been so out skilled"
At her words, Makarov smiled he had seen through at least one of the young man's tricks "You weren't slowing down my child, he was speeding up, he was slowly increasing the amount of lightning magic running through his body, a lot more subtle than Laxus for sure."
Eye's widening at what she was hearing had to question it "That last attack, how did he do it he says it was three sword cuts in a mere breath but in the instance the sword attacked there was three of them…I suspect Spatial Refraction Magic or something like that what do you think?"
Shrugging Makarov stroked his moustache thoughtfully "If I had to guess his style revolves around lightning magic so it isn't too farfetched to think he sped his body up so fast that it looked like he was using a multi-dimensional refraction phenomenon…" he then produced a bandage and wrapped it around Erza neck "…But one thing I know for certain this is most definitely not the last time we see that man."
"Agreed."
Some distance off watching from a roof top two mysterious figures had watched the battle with earnest and wicked grins on their faces.
"It seems I've found myself another pawn" the first figure a male said.
The second who was a female nodded "Indeed, very capable not many can so easily overpower Erza…I found him Master Hade's the eighth Kin and mysterious Manslayer who has caught yours and Blue Note's attention.'
Hidden in the crowd of Civilians who were slowly dispersing a woman dressed in blue pocketed a recording Lacrima and began walking away 'Master Jose will want to see this, if we can get this man's help our war to come will be assured. Kojuro Sasaki master will be most intrigued.'
