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.)
