feeling confident the first pupil decides to taunt Rean " i honestly feel

bad for you I've been considered as the strongest pupil in this entire

training hall you won't even be able to touch me" he says with a smug

grin " he's taunting me i guess i can't blame him anyone who has been

trained by Laura probably would feel invincible but i think he's over

exaggerating about him being the strongest with the other two with him"

Rean ponders while glancing to the two other pupils on the sidelines.

Noticing that his opponent isn't even looking he immediately gets

irritated "the hell he isn't even paying attention does he think im not a

threat he ponders " fine then if words won't show you then let my

actions do the talking!!" he yells and charges Rean head on and slashes

vertically downwards. immediately snapping to attention Rean dodges

to the right effectively avoiding the blow " he's fast " ponders the third

pupil " it just like that swordsman master mentioned that one time" he

ponders glancing towards Laura the third pupil has a small flashback

about a discussion he had with Laura after sparring " not bad you've

improved since the last time" says Laura extending her hand to the third

pupil who was collapsed on the ground panting " you don't need to be

dishonest i know im not as good as i should be" says the pupil " you

know you sound a lot like my old sparring partner " says Laura " i do?"

asks the pupil " yeah and believe it or not he's the first opponent who

has ever beat me in a duel besides my father" says Laura " he was very

fast and precise with his blade you could tell he was formidable but

most importantly he was a close friend" says Laura " really i hope I'll be

able to meet this swordsman one day" says the pupil. As the third

pupils flash back ends he notices that the first pupil still hasn't manged

to gain an advantage against his opponent. The first pupil starts to feel

more and more irritated due to his opponent avoiding every attack he

deals but the most annoying fact is that his opponent hasn't even

drawn his weapon yet " what's the point of having a weapon if your not

even gonna use it !!" yells the pupil Rean glances to his tachi still resting

in its sheath " what's the point of using my tachi if their is know need to

use it" hearing this the first pupil becomes furious as his sword

immediately emits that familiar aura that the arseid style is known to

use " he's gonna come at me with everything he's got now" ponders

Rean " the hell did you just say to me" says the pupil" fine then if that's

how you want to play then I'll just have to give you a reason fight me!!"

the pupil then charges Rean who gets immediately into a counter

stance. As the pupil gets about 10 inches infront of his opponent Rean

immediately unsheathes his tachi and blocks his opponents strike then

uses his opponents moment against him by stepping to the side

allowing his opponent to immediately fall out of the arena and ending

the first duel as the winner. the arena is silent for about then bursts into

a loud cheer at the display they saw. Rean immediately sheathes his

sword and looks towards the first pupil. Expecting to be taunted the

pupil doesn't even make eye contact until he hears the complete

opposite of what he was expecting" not bad it looks like you weren't

kidding about being one of the strongest pupils" Rean says the pupil

turns around in suprise and sees a friendly smile coming from within

the hood that hid Rean's face, embarrassed at the sudden gesture the

pupil tries to regain his composure " yeah well don't get too cocky you

still have to beat the other two before you can even get to our master"

he says and walks back to the other side of the arena to join his two

other pupils. After a ten minute break Rean and the second pupil then

entered the arena for the second duel but before the second pupil

steps in the first pupil stops him and whispers something in his ear the

pupil nods and enters the arena. While Rean and the second pupil were

waiting for the signal to start the duel Laura was busy pondering

something " that voice it sounds so familiar but i don't why even his

words seemed familiar" realizing that she was being waited on by

everyone she snaps out of pondering and makes the signal for the

second duel to begin. At first the duel has a slow start with Rean and

the pupil watching each other carefully and trying to plan their strategy "

from what i saw and the advice given to me this opponent should not

be taken lightly but how do i gain the advantage in this fight he's leaving

no openings at all" ponders the second pupil " he's not taunting me at

the start this one seems to he taking this more seriously i have to

remember to not get cocky these are practitioners of the arseid one

blade style after all" ponders Rean " my best bet is to wait for him to

give me opening and finish the fight fast" after a few more minutes of

waiting the two immediately draw their weapons. The second pupil

begins condensing mana into his sword making erupt that aura again

but instead of charging Rean he then raises it over his head and slams

it down sending a wave of mana at Rean who manages to barely

dodge due to him being caught off guard " whoa that looks like Laura's

Azure Cleaver" Rean ponders the second takes advantage of the small

opening he made for himself and rushes Rean " now's my chance " he

concludes in his mind once the pupil gets in close enough range he

then swings his blade horizontally to the right. snapping to attention

Rean avoids the attack by jumping over the pupil to his back then

immediately counter attacks only to be blocked by the pupil's sword

then the retaliates by swinging his blade upward forcing Rean to back

away due to being unable to block the strike the pupil then follows up

by attacking with Azure Cleaver again only to be avoided by Rean again

but just barely. while dodging the attack Rean notices a small group of

hooded figures sneak in through the front door and hide in the

background but doesn't pay heed to it and continues focusing on the

fight he then stops to a halt and the two opponents stare each other

down " i don't know why this guy is so familiar to me but whoever he is

he's strong" ponders Laura. " this one is definitely a lot more

experienced than the first one but he has i think I've found his

weakness? his attacks are definitely powerful but he has a problem

with controlling his mana output" Rean ponders while observing his

opponents seemingly exhausted look " darn i used to much mana i

won't be able to keep this up forever i need finish this now" the second

pupil ponders while heavily panting " this next attack will decide the

duel" Rean confirms in his head. The second pupil immediately starts

building his mana causing his sword to emit a very ruptures aura Rean

responds by sheathing his Tachi and getting into a counter stance the

two stare each other down while everyone spectating seem to be at the

edge of their seats. After a few minutes of complete silence the second

pupil raises his sword and fastly begins to use Azure Cleaver again.

Rean responds and dashes toward the pupil who begins sending his

sword to the ground theirs is then a huge shockwave which seems to

knock every spectator except Laura off their feet. As the dust begins to

settle everyone is able to see two silhouettes in the dust. After about a

few seconds the silhouette on the left side immediately drops their

weapon and falls to the ground on their knees. as the dust completely

settles everyone sees that one who is still standing is the wandering

swordsman (Rean). Rean then turns around and faces his opponent "

do you yield" he asks. The pupil ponders for a minute them slowly

raises his hands up" I clearly am not strong enough to beat you to

continue would be pointless I yield" he says the training hall is

immediately filled with the sounds of cheer again after seeing an even

more exciting spectacle made by both opponents. Once the two have

left the arena another break is started to let both opponents rest and to

prepare for the third duel that would decide the swordsman's worth to

fight Laura " darn his wiping the floor with us" says the first pupil " theirs

got to be away to gain some sort of advantage ?" the two pupils then

notice the second pupil join them " so have you figured anything out"

asks the third pupil " I think I do during my match I was managing to

formulate a possible strategy to use, unfortunately I used to much

mana before I could use it" " really then tell us" says the first pupil the

three then huddle and start strategizing. " it looks like their planning

something well they never said their rules against it that means its

really lucky for me I haven't had to use any crafts yet but something

tells me my luck is about change" Rean ponders then looks at the third

pupil " the other two were pretty much the same in strength despite

their differences but something is different about the other one" Rean

then notices the third pupil talk to Laura about something and she

seems to agree with what ever they were talking about the third pupil

then heads back to the other two pupils. After a bit of time the ten

minutes seemed to pass quickly and Rean found himself in the final

battle of this duel but this time things were a little different, of having

the two opponents start in the far back they were made to start in the

middle within close proximity to each other " so that's what they were

discussing and I'm guessing this has something to do with that

strategy they must've been planning during the break i was hoping to

avoid using any crafts until i fought Laura to hide my identity but i might

not have a choice this time i just need to hope that she doesn't notice "

he ponders. Once the signal is made the two unsheathe their weapons

and take a stance the with the third pupil taking a seemingly familiar

stance that he has seen before " that stance looks familiar to the

Viscount's looks like this one really is different" ponders Rean. After

waiting for a few minutes the third pupil immediately slashes at Rean

who barely dodges the attack Rean then counter attacks only to have it

easily deflected by the pupil. The pupil then retaliates by slashing again

at Rean which he also deflects the two then clash their swords together

and try to overpower each other the two struggle for a minute then

break away from each other. " i see now why the others had a hard time

with him but i can't afford lose this fight will be a stepping stone on my

path to mastering the arseid style and meeting the swordsman that

Laura respected show much " says the third pupil in his mind " this pupil

is impressive heck he's even amazing I wouldn't be surprised if he was

some sort of prodigy but i can't afford to lose" confirms Rean in his

mind the two then start releasing a huge amount of mana causing the

training hall to shake a little the two then charge again clashing their

swords together which causes small sparks to fly from where the

blades impacted the two break away from each other again but this

time the pupil immediately uses Azure Cleaver while Rean catching

Rean off guard " darn it's to late for me to dodge " he says in his mind " i

have no choice" Rean then immediately stops and immediately uses

Crescent slash which cancels out the wave. when Laura saw the

swordsman use this craft she saw Reans appearance from when he

was an instructor flash across the swordsman " what was that" she

thought " that can't be right there's no way that's was him". The third

pupil was unable to continue his attack because of the sudden move

that was used which Rean uses to his advantage by immediately

rushing towards the pupil and slashes towards immediately realizing

what is going on he barely manges to block Rean's strike which makes

him stumble back a bit Rean then slashes again but the pupil manges

to block the second strike which knocks him back further Rean then

goes for a third slash which the pupil manges barely block but it knocks

him off balance. Taking advantage of his opponents predicament Rean

then kicks his opponent which knocks him out of the ring declaring

Rean as the winner and officially declaring him worthy to duel Laura the

training hall is again filled with cheer even louder than the two other

duels as the third pupil was picking himself up he notices Rean extend

a hand to him " not bad your instructor has taught you well i can't wait

to see how far you'll grow" Rean says smiling the pupil gives a similar

smile and takes his hand " thank you and i can't wait see how much

stronger you grow as well" as the two were talking Laura and the two

pupils join them " well done swordsman i have to say i underestimated

your abilities but as of now you have proven yourself of being capable

of dueling me " says Laura " theirs no way that's Rean i mean we all saw

him, Crow, and Millium leave" she ponders at the same time " once the

arena is set up again and you have had a break we we'll duel" she says

pushing the thoughts away " it would be an honor" says Rean and

begins to walk away " hey" says the first pupil " you best not

underestimate her she is the strongest swordsman we know and she

won't be holding back" he warns " thanks for the advice" Rean says "

believe me you have know idea" he ponders walking. As time passes

the hooded people who he saw earlier seem to call him over which

Rean goes over to them " hey its us" says the one in the center " wait

Crow is that you?" says Rean " yeah we got tired of waiting so we snuck

in" he says " how I'm a not surprised" says Rean smiling" just stay out of

sight we don't need to cause unnecessary commotion" " got it" says

Crow who hides again while Rean goes to his seat to rest. The break

seems to fly by as the signal is sounded signaling Laura and Rean to

enter the arena " mysterious swordsman you have defeated my best

pupils and have proven yourself to capable of challenging me but their

is still time to choose another" says Laura " no this is what i want"

answers Rean " very well, then with out further ado let our duel

commence!!" she says and the to draw their weapons and prepare for

battle.

(author's note- man this one was really hard to get out but hear it is and i hope you enjoy it.)