The Stray Smith

by Born of Prayers

"A Sword is not Strength. A Sword is not Skill. A Sword is not Fellowship." These were the tenets of the Craftknight. And for the amnesiac Welf, they became a truth upon his time spent in the City of Swords as part of a story involving eight apprentices, four swords, and what lay at the bottom of the Labyrinth of Wystern.

12. Chapter 11: First Round - Part 2

Pratty frantically made her way from the open arena to the enclosed steel corridors of the Central Tower with Kutty cradled in her arms and tucked against her chest.

Trish had run away after their match ended in her loss. It was clear that she was upset despite what they promised each other earlier. So, Pratty wanted to talk to her about it and make sure they were still friends. But it was against the rules to follow her from the arena, so she had to head all the way around and hopefully catch her within the central corridor instead.

However, as soon as she emerged through the doors that would lead into the main central walk, she ended up bumping into another person. "Oh, sorry! I was in a—Ah, you're that boy from the docks!"

The golden-haired, blue-eyed boy scoffed. "It's Varil. And you should know better than to run inside the Central Tower. Don't they teach manners in the Silver Guild?"

"I said I was sorry," Pratty said, her cheeks puffed out and voice tinged with annoyance. "Anyway, did you see a girl dressed in Silturnian clothes come by here?"

"If you mean your opponent from the last match, I haven't." He glanced at her for a moment as something unspoken crossed his mind. "Why did you drag things out like that anyway?"

Pratty's brows furled. "I didn't drag anything out. Trish was a strong opponent."

"Her martial skills were…adequate, even if unpolished," he admitted. "But her decision-making was questionable when she carelessly threw herself into an attack meant for her Guardian Beast. It made no sense whatsoever for the Master to protect the creature when its job was to defend her, and the match would have ended that moment had you not allowed her to recover."

"It makes perfect sense why she did it," Pratty said in turn. "Pouso did its best to help her and so it's natural she would do her best for it too. That's what it means to be partners with a Guardian Beast—helping each other out as friends."

"The arrangement between a Craftknight and Guardian Beast is transactional by nature, both parties giving one another what was agreed in exchange for their services. Getting emotionally invested as friends will only complicate matters."

She frowned. "So, you can just be mean and rude to your partner because you don't see them as friends?"

"Of course not." His tone gave the impression he was almost offended by the accusation. "A cordial relationship is a necessity for a business arrangement, but getting tied down by your emotion will just make what should be clear-cut complicated. Her loss came about because she felt the need to save her Guardian Beast when it would have been fine otherwise."

"You're wasting your time trying to explain things to him, Pratty," a third voice cut in from behind Varil. The pair fixed their gazes in that direction and saw Sanary standing at the opposite entrance with her hands on her hips. "He's too stubborn to think anyone's way is better than his."

"I'm perfectly capable of changing my opinions," Varil said in response, tone even and measured. "But you need to give me an argument that validates your point."

"How about the fact that Pratty beat you in the first place with Kutty's help?"

"Only because my previous weapon was subpar." Varil shouldered his new weapon, which looked to clearly be another spear with a broad scabbard covering the head. "Things will be different from now."

Red eyes scrutinized his weapon before shrugging. "So, this time you actually got your money's worth?"

A twitch of the brow was followed by him holding the weapon out in front of them. "I'll have you know I forged this spear myself with materials I gathered from the Labyrinth. I made sure that what happened before will never happen again."

"And what, you want us to praise you for doing what you should have in the first place?" Saccharine smugness dripped from the grin she wore and her tone. "Good job~ We're so proud of you~"

His grasp on his weapon tightened to the point where it started shaking. Then he let out a heavy breath before turning away from her and towards the door that Pratty had just come through. "Just wait until we meet in the arena. I'll show you both that I have my pride as a Craftknight as well."

"Sure you do~" Sanary said in a mocking tone as he went through the door without turning back. She then turned on the soles of her boots and faced the branching path leading to the seating stands. "Anyway, I'm going back to my seat to watch his match—just in case he made something decent. You two can settle things on your own, right?"

Pratty quirked her head at that last part. Then there was a flicker of color that drew her attention back to the door opposite the one that she came from. She could make out the edge of familiar clothes hidden by the frame of the door. "…Trish?"

Her friend emerged from where she had been hiding, Pouso keeping a slight distance away. Her eyes looked slightly red, as if she had been crying. Letting Kutty fly freely, Pratty went over and gently held onto her shoulders. "Trish, I…"

She couldn't find the words. Did she want to apologize for winning? But wouldn't that mean dismissing Kutty and her own efforts? What should she say then?

Trish apologized instead while pulling her in for a hug. "Pratty, I'm sorry for leaving like I did. I didn't mind losing, but losing like that was just… it was too much. I'm sorry."

It was said that being skilled enough to break your opponent's weapon meant that you didn't need to take their life. So, it was considered a valid tactic in battle to target the weapon and break it. But Pratty wasn't that skilled and hadn't even been intentionally attempting to do so—it was just a fluke that Trish's weapon broke because of how she had landed.

No one could blame her for being upset at losing that way. Not when she had worked so hard and there was a very real chance that she could have turned things around. Pratty had not been lying when she said that Trish had her on the ropes most of the time and had to rely on Kutty's magic to get past her guard.

"Please, forgive me for leaving you like that in front of everyone," Trish continued. "I just didn't want anyone to see me crying and ruin your victory. You really are my best friend, Pratty."

Hearing that made her almost tear up as well while she returned the hug. Then there was a gentle touch upon their heads as their Guardian Beasts both joined in. Pratty imagined it would make for a funny picture before she pulled away, Kutty still clinging to the back of her helmet. "Shall we go back to see the rest of the matches?"

"Yes."

The four made their way back to their seating with the rest of the Silver Guild apprentices, whose gazes were fixed down on the arena where the match was underway—

"The Winner of the Ninth Match is Craftknight Varil!"

—or had been, so to speak. Pratty blinked in surprise as she went over to the edge of the railing and spotted that Varil had indeed stood over his opponent with his weapon raised in the air and unveiled for all to see. It was a winged spear like his previous one, but it was made of solid steel instead of gold. The wings that fanned from the side were downturned with edges that had been clearly sharpened, unlike the last one.

"We missed the entire match?" Trish asked the others. "I didn't think we'd taken so long to get back."

"Nah, it was just over that quick," Razzy said, kicking back her legs as she folded her arms behind her head. "That guy is pretty good, but I liked your fight better though. You were both awesome!"

"Yeah, you both were really giving it your all," Welf added in. "It was bad luck that your weapon broke like that. I could tell from here you put in a lot of work towards it."

"It was indeed disheartening that things ended the way they did, but Pratty had earned her victory," Trish said. "Once she closed the distance there wasn't much that I could do… Pouso and I still have a lot of room for improvement."

"You give yourself too little credit," Caizo chimed in. "I honestly couldn't keep up with either of you. Not to mention how elegant your movements were, like grace incarnate. I count myself lucky that I had not the misfortune of fighting either of you."

"You know you're still going to have to fight Pratty or one of us who are still in it, right?" Ariel said, adjusting her glasses. "If you're going to just admit defeat already then you should probably just drop out now and save yourself the embarrassment like that poor sap lying on the ground."

His expression shifted ever so slightly before he tugged back his lips and proclaimed, "Ah, but to do that would be denying the world the magnificence of my craftsmanship."

"…But you've barely managed to win your last two matches," Mariel stated, her tone meant to be gentle but her words still harsh. "And, like it or not, Trish was probably the best opponent for you among us based on weapon preference."

Axes were heavy and destructive weapons, but they were slow by comparison. Razzy and Pratty were fast enough that he realistically wouldn't be able to hit them if they fought. Sanary had just fought an aspiring Axemaster a few rounds ago and won, and Welf's next match was against another one. And axes made easy targets for Drillmasters to break, which the twins would exploit without hesitation.

Whether it was out of empathy for Caizo or her general dislike of them, Sanary chose to speak up before they could go any further. "Same goes you two. Leaving aside the fact that you haven't even passed this round yet, we don't need two dedicated Drillmasters in the competition. Which one of you is going to drop if they decide to make you fight next?"

"It wouldn't matter," Ariel said. "We've worked on the schematics and technique for our Drill together, and so the only difference would be in our approaches. If we fought it would only be to solidify which of us would use the Mystic Ore, provided we cannot obtain another before the hypothetical match."

"Of course, if you were to be one of our opponents then we would give you the honor of being the first to face our masterpiece," Mariel finished with a smile that said clearly that they really didn't think they would lose to her.

"Now, now, that's enough of that," Trish said in a polite but firm tone as she clapped her hands together. "Rather than focusing on fighting each other, we should be focused on supporting one another so that we can all make it as far as possible. As such, I intend to make a celebratory dinner once we get back for Pratty and everyone else."

"That sounds like a good idea," Pratty said. "I'll help out as well, though I'm not really that great at fancy meals like you are."

"Can you make those snacks you mentioned a while ago?" Razzy asked.

"We'll go shopping for ingredients after the matches," Trish offered, before turning to the twins and Sanary. "I know two of you aren't fond of sweets very much, so I'll make something more suited to your palettes for dessert as well."

"We'll begin the Tenth Match shortly. Will the combatants please make their way to the Arena?"

The announcement from the Craftlord of Sapphire left Sanary to turn her attention towards Welf. "You're up. Don't lose."

"I'll do my best," he said, rising to his feet and stretching his limbs before reaching for his weapon. He slung it over his shoulder that didn't house the Fire Spirit and then started moving out. "Wish me luck."

Pratty did so. "Good luck, Welf. We'll be cheering for you."

[-|-|-|-]

Everyone's expecting a lot today, Welf quietly noted to himself. In contrast to the Preliminaries, he felt the charge in the air that had been absent the last time he had set foot upon the tiled stone of the arena once he made his way down the stairs leading down to it. The audience who had come out to see the match was likely expecting something grand on par with what Pratty and Trish pulled off, hoisting expectations on his shoulders that he never really asked for. I can't say I feel great about it, to be honest.

Something deep within him found the notion abhorrent. To be made to shoulder expectations set by others for their sakes rather than what his own desires were. It rankled him even more that he couldn't remember why he felt that way on such a visceral level.

But what could he say were his own desires here and now to begin with?

Welf still felt out of place. He wasn't chasing the seat left behind by a lost parent. He wasn't seeking to take the place of a warrior who had left the battlefield. The only thing he could say that he was here for was not to disappoint Pratty and the others who were doing their best to chase their own dreams here in this arena. Though slacking off wasn't in the cards after seeing those girls try so hard.

His current opponent—Kenon—was a young man who seemed to be an immediate peer to Welf himself. He was about as tall, with black hair kept in check by a thick headband around his forehead. He was dressed in a brown tunic laden with golden bands, worn over a blue long-sleeved cotton shirt, and kept tight over his waist with a deep blue belt.

Dark eyes met Welf's grey-blue gaze as he set foot on the arena and his lips tugged upward slightly. The right hand tucked into the pocket of his dark pants seemed to curl into a fist beneath the fabric judging by the shape. And his left tightened over the butt of his axe, which was unique by sporting a triple-edged design. Welf had to admit he was somewhat captivated by the weapon due to how strongly it contrasted with other axes he'd seen to this point.

The Novice Axe was based on standard wood-cutting axes but modified for combat by being primarily made of a composite from mixing fifteen units of Fire Ore, a single unit of Water Ore, and two units of Wind Ore. The thickness of the axe itself, along with the bevel, made up for being so relatively hard, and it could also serve as a tool outside of battle. But against hard-bodied enemies like Mechanoids it wouldn't last long.

That was where the Edge Axe came in. It used very little Fire Ore because it was specifically made into an edge bit, which was inserted after using a chisel to open the body of the axe, and then forged together into a curved blade. That provided a sharp blade that focused the momentum into a small area while having a body composed of an alloy with roughly ten times more Water Ore and five times as much Wind Ore, putting weight behind it while making it still leaving it within the standard weight class for their weapon type.

Kenon's Axe was different. The front and rear axe-heads were broad to the point of being the size of his head while the blades were wide and double-beveled. The top blade was shorter and curved at a short but steep angle in contrast, while the thick blue handle was roughly as long as his legs. They were attached to a central body, a squared section that had slots on the four sides through which the blades were all fixed, and then fitted with golden cross bands to keep them tight.

Was the third blade meant to be ornamental? Wouldn't the construction render it more vulnerable to shock and then being wrenched apart by a strong enough impact compared to if it had been eyed and wedged? So many questions…

"You're the one who beat Chaves, right?" Kenon said, pulling Welf's attention from the three blades back onto their wielder. "I've been looking forward to meeting you in battle."

"Hmm… you don't seem to want to get revenge for him," Welf said in response. He didn't know his opponent, but reading his facial expression didn't give the implication of this being a grudge match of any sort. He seemed amicable if anything. "Then again, I understand that our guilds apparently have something of a rivalry."

"You misunderstand," Kenon said calmly. "It's not out of a grudge or anything like that. Rather, I've been wanting to test myself against you since I learned you were to be my opponent. Not many apprentices could forge weapons capable of standing up to Chaves' Sword, let alone break it. I'm a bit excited to see if my own can hold up."

"We're getting ready to start the match," Master Sakuro said, standing in the center of the ring between them. "Are you going to call out your Guardian Beast, Craftknight Kenon?"

"Yes." Kenon nodded before presenting a Summonite Gem from his pocket. The air then became charged with mana as he held it out. "Come forth—Loki!"

A swirl of light became engulfed in flames before a lean, slightly tanned figure emerged from it and revealed their full height to be roughly around the same as Pratty. He sported grey hair cropped short in the front beside the bangs that hung off to the side of his small, thumb-sized yellow horns. His body was covered by a battle-torn black top and white pants that came to a stop a fair bit just below his knees to reveal his shins wrapped in white bandage. Around his waist was a tiger-striped sash, the tail of which hung off to his left side, and on his back was what looked to be an Iron Saber.

"So, these are our opponents?" said the kid, who was clearly of the Oni-kind and from Silturn, as he stared at both the Fire Spirit and her Master. Then he sported a smile as he punched his hand into his opened fist in an excitable gesture. "The match is as good as ours!"

"Don't go underestimating them, Loki," Kenon warned him. "Take it seriously."

"…If he's anything like the Gremlins then he's probably got a knack for fire due to being an Oni," Welf informed his own companion. "I'll leave that to you if it comes up."

As you wish, Urus responded. Her flames grew livelier and their hues brightened in anticipation of combat as Sakuro then raised his ceremonial sword to perform the opening rite for the match.

"We will now commence the Tenth Match of the First Round of the Craftlord Tournament. The match will be between Craftknight Welf of the Silver Guild and Craftknight Kenon of the Gold Guild. Are both sides ready?"

Kenon hefted his axe off the ground with one hand and held it out to the side. "Yes."

Welf held his sword out to the opposite side in a mirror. "Yeah."

"Then, as Craftknights of Wystern, fight with honor and dignity—" The blade descended. "—FIGHT!"

No sooner than the battle was announced did fire burst from the body of the Oni Child. Deep red flames swaddled him as the Summonite Gem shone radiantly within his partner's grip. He then rocketed forward like a burning missile straight towards the pair, sword pulled back and ready to be swung.

In response, Urus' own flames grew stronger. She drew upon the mana within her Summonite and burned hotter from bright red to deep orange. Then she flung herself forward to meet his attack head-on before he could get close to Welf.

The air screamed as flames roared. The center of the arena was turned into an inferno. Lashing tongues of red and orange fire writhed in a chaotic struggle to smother one another for a single moment that seemed to stretch on for much longer.

The Fire Spirit won out in the end. Orange flames encompassing her body burned hotter and closed in like dozens of limbs that threatened to smother his cherry flames within their blazing grasp. It was only by a timely retreat that Loki avoided being swallowed up.

CLANG!

That was when the smashing of metal against metal rang out like a gunshot in the arena and Urus cast her incandescent gaze back to see that her partner was under attack. The wry smile Loki sported showed he had accomplished what he set out to do in the end. The moment that Master and Guardian Beast had split from one another, Kenon had closed the distance to meet his opponent head-on.

The Fire Spirit moved to rejoin him, only for a streak of silver to enter the fringes of her vision. The mass of flames that made up her body sank downwards and narrowly avoided the Iron Saber that cut through where her head had been. She responded to the boy's interference by shaping her flame-woven fingers into blazing white claws and lashing out at temperatures even an Oni wouldn't be able to ignore.

Meanwhile, Kenon pressed his attack. Reorienting the axe that had already bitten into the softer jacket of the greatsword and gripping it with his non-dominant hand as well, its mirror-polished blade reflected Welf's neck as its target. Then he put all his strength into a whirlwind cleave meant to sever the smith's head from shoulders.

A grunt ripped its way out of Welf's mouth as tremors ran up his arms in the face of the powerful blow meeting the broadside of his greatsword. Even reinforcing it with his left arm to avoid it bashing through his guard resulted in his legs being backpedaled to avoid getting knocked flat onto his back. Even then he was forced to abandon that footing to pivot and avoid a skull-splitting cleave from an overhead blow, only for something to slam into his chest right afterward.

Welf landed firmly on his back before snapping his head up to see that he had been shoulder-rammed from Kenon's non-dominant side. There hadn't been much space between them, and it didn't do any damage considering his defensive aura was in place. Yet it still had enough force to knock him off his feet while he was off-balance and leave him on the floor, which was exactly the worst place to be considering he saw Kenon pushing ahead with that shoulder to rotate while bringing his axe up in the process.

He immediately rolled across the ground before the axe came down on top of him. The edge went moderately deep into the floor and spoke of just how hard the bit was, which was warning enough not to take too many hits like that. He then snapped upright, one foot firmly on the ground and the other kneeling as he braced the spine of his blade and angled it downwards in anticipation of a follow-up swing.

There was a screech of steel and a bloom of sparks that scattered into the air between them. The result of two edges made of hardened Fire Ore smashing into one another. The axe blade that had been coming around to cut Welf down as he came up instead scraped its way down the sloped edge and into the ground next to him, giving him the opening he needed.

He pushed off his chambered foot and launched his head straight into that of his opponent's unprotected nose. It felt like he was crashing it into a helmet thanks to his opponent's own mana acting as skin-tight armor. But Kenon was still caught off-guard at the aggressive act and ended up stumbling back, giving Welf an opportunity to ram the blade's edge into his chest with all his strength to knock the apprentice Axemaster further back.

It didn't do much, but it gave Welf breathing room and time to get into a proper stance.

Kenon then prepared to charge, only for firelight to grow stronger from the corner of his vision. It was all the warning he needed before he jumped back in time to avoid the curtain of living flames that descended between them. The Fire Spirit had arrived with tongues of orange flames rolling off her body like agitated serpents, ready to lash out as she swiped a blazing claw toward him to drive him away from her Master.

"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!" shouted the Oni Child as he moved to strike her down from above. She had abandoned their fight to return to her Master's side and thus left herself open. The edge of his Iron Saber glinted as it came down onto her with a decapitating strike—

GONG!

—only to be intercepted with a dull sound as it struck the flat of Welf's blade. The red-headed smith was standing just over her with the backside of his blade braced with his left arm, sheltering them both like they were sharing a metal umbrella beneath a steel rain. He then raised the back-end and pushed out to knock the flat of the blade into the kid's face and send him falling back beyond the flames over to Kenon.

"Thanks for that," Welf told his partner as he took a deep breath while keeping his eyes on his opponent, who was doing the same even as he used one hand to help his partner back onto his feet. For a moment, and only a moment, he shifted his blade just enough so that the edge was visible and focused on where it had intercepted the axe.

There was a deep chip in it. Not enough to be considered a fracture, but notable. He had to take that into account going forward. Then, shifting the blade back to its straight alignment, he focused on his opponent's weapon.

The distance and flames made it hard to see exactly, but he could tell that the edge had chipped to a degree from the shock of the impacts. Fire Ore made for hard and sharp edges to cut through tough objects, but that made them worse at handling impacts as the force transferred back through it—especially against objects of similar hardness.

If it was like the Edge Axe then it would offset that by using a smaller Fire Ore bit and nine times as many units of Water Ore for the body, using its additional mass to put force behind the swing while absorbing some of the impact with compression. But judging from how fast his blade had chipped it seemed he hadn't used nearly the same amount. In other words, that blade would break before his own did if he fought defensively.

But considering how skilled he is, I doubt he'll just let me get by defending until his weapon breaks. Welf pressed the flat of his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he spotted his opponent meeting his gaze. Kenon wasn't just letting him catch his breath. He was no doubt doing the same, running through his own options and planning. The fact that the Oni Child was getting ready to move again hadn't escaped Welf's notice either.

He made his decision. "Urus, I have an idea."

[-|-|-|-]

Pratty watched from her seat with the rest of the Silver Guild as the fire between Welf and his opponent suddenly twisted and wove itself around his blade, leaving it enchanted with flames as the light of their Summonite Gem died out. "Oh, is he going to melt it like he did his last opponent's?"

Sanary was quick to shoot the suggestion down. "That super-heating trick won't work again."

Pratty quirked her head inquisitively at that. The red-haired swordswoman gestured to his opponent as he held his axe out while his Guardian Beast cupped a ball of flames between his hands. It passed onto the weapon itself and set it ablaze.

"Anyone who watched their last match or heard about it will have come up with a countermeasure," she continued. "In this case, changing the weapon's element to the same one with magic makes it more resilient against that element. You're literally trying to fight fire with fire."

Kenon and his partner renewed their attack now that his weapon burned with magical flames to counteract that of his opponents. The pair split to the left and right as they closed in on Welf and Urus, attempting a pincer attack towards the two. But rather than wait for them to come to the center, Welf and Urus turned around and then split apart to face one another's previous foes.

The Oni Child, who'd been preparing to swing his chambered blade into Urus, was instead forced to brake hurriedly in the face of the taller figure descending upon him with a mass of flaming steel. Even at a distance, it was clear to all that if he hadn't spun on his soles to avoid the blade it would have struck him hard. No one could fault him for immediately putting some distance between them after that.

As for Kenon, he was forced to brake as well when the Fire Spirit brandished both of her incandescent claws and drew a burning cross toward his chest. However, instead of retreating, he chose to use the central portion of his axe as a makeshift shield. Fire burst free from the point of impact where opposing flames met without him giving ground and then came the counterattack.

Twisting his wrist to align the blade of the axe, Kenon unleashed a blazing slice meant to cut through her torso. But with a fluid contortion of the flames that made up her body, Urus managed to roll beneath and around the attack. She then returned the favor with a rising claw that grazed his arm with the lingering flames lapping in the wake of her motions.

Trish clasped her hands together as she realized their strategy. "They swapped opponents so they could better match them. That Kenon fellow can't hit Urus as easily as he could Welf, while Welf can deal more damage to his Guardian Beast despite their resilience to fire due to his sword."

"Under normal circumstances, that probably would have been the right call," Mariel agreed, peering at the match through her glasses unblinkingly. "But here it might have been a mistake."

Pratty's brows furled at that as Welf sent a quick thrust of the sloped point of his blade towards the chest of the Oni Child. The boy was so lanky that she was fairly sure that if it slammed into his chest he would go flying just from the difference in their size. Yet he managed to avoid it rather easily by twisting his body not just once, but twice to avoid the second thrust.

Then he retaliated. Sliding his right leg out and pivoting around on it, the Oni Child used the circular motion to bring his right hand around and the Iron Saber with it. The sharp edge sliced through the air on a straight path towards Welf's neck.

It met with the broad side of the greatsword as Welf shifted the weapon to his left. Thin and faint sparks were shaved off where the soft metal met the sharp edge. But the assailing blade came around again as the boy twisted his wrist and then swung it back the way it came towards her friend's unprotected right side.

That too was blocked as Welf slid back half-a-step while pushing the rear of the hilt up to angle his blade downwards as he pulled it back enough to chamber it for a pendulum-like upward sweep. The Oni Child avoided it with ease once more before he rushed in to deliver a diagonal strike as he slipped past his larger opponent. Even from a distance, Pratty could make out the line where it had bitten into his protective veil.

And she realized what Mariel meant. "Welf's too slow."

Sanary nodded. "His weapon probably weighs as much as a greataxe, but with the weight being more spread out rather than focused in a specific area. That's less crushing power from it being concentrated on the curved edge of the blade, but he's got more versatility in exchange. However, while that's fine fighting defensively in the Labyrinth or with an opponent in a similar weapon class, against an opponent who can move around him so quickly it's a detriment."

His opponent was aggressive and brash. But Loki wasn't some Stray Summon that operated solely on instinct. He knew how to fight with his weapon and was faster than Welf, who had to use a massive sword. As long as he kept running circles around him, Loki could gradually chip away at Welf's defenses until he was beaten.

And with Urus the situation was hardly better.

She was still as fresh as Pouso when it came to combat. Sure, her body being made of fire meant she was hard to hit under normal conditions for someone using a massive weapon like Kenon. But it was clear he was a better fighter than her as he followed up with short slices that shaved away at her bit-by-bit while avoiding her attacks. It was only a matter of time before she was overwhelmed too.

"Did they overestimate their chances when they swapped because that Oni rushed in with that first attack?" Ariel wondered aloud, fixed onto the red-headed smith as the Guardian Beast landed another clean slice on him. Then she perked up. "Ohhh… he's planning something…"

All eyes focused on Welf at that moment. Squinting, Pratty could see that he was keeping his face hidden from the Oni using his weapon while stealing glances over at Urus. The boy was scoring hits against him, but Welf seemed to be moving to position himself for some reason…

Then, shifting his full attention back onto the Guardian Beast lashing out at him, Welf suddenly unleashed a burning overhead cleave. It offered no chance to block and could only be avoided by his opponent, who did so deftly without any trouble. And the large motion left a huge opening in Welf's guard that the boy wasted no time in taking advantage of.

Loki used it to deliver a full-bodied diagonal slash. He might have been lanky, but he was still an Oni with powerful muscles hidden behind that thin frame. The cut was delivered with such ferocity that it drew a silver arch as it tore into Welf's protective veil deeply…

Then the turnaround happened in an instant. Welf's left hand shot out and grabbed the handle of his opponent's sword before he could pull it back. He held the weapon in place with a white-knuckle grip of iron and followed by stomping down on the flat of the tip, anchoring it in place. Just like that, he had pinned his opponent in place.

"He took those hits to let his opponent get too confident," Sanary said, watching intently on how Welf towered over his opponent with his sword arm chambered like an executioner readying to carry out his duty. "The kid was so brash and aggressive that the moment he saw an opening for a big hit he couldn't stop himself from going for it. And the moment he got caught he basically lost whatever advantage he had."

The burning steel came crashing down without preamble upon the Guardian Beast's shoulder. The kid let out a pained cry as he collapsed onto his knees under the weight of the weapon, releasing his grasp on his own involuntarily. That seemed to be what Welf wanted in the end as he immediately released his hold and grabbed the sword to fling it while shouting in their direction, "Now!"

The scream and shout drew Kenon's attention away from Urus in time to see the Iron Saber flung in his direction. Whether reflex or a honed response, his reaction towards it coming in his direction was to use the body of his axe to knock it aside. Yet in doing so, he left himself open just long enough as Urus extended both hands in his direction while Welf's Summonite shone brighter.

Then an explosion of flames swallowed him in the blink of an eye.

[-|-|-|-]

Welf was forced to shield his eyes from the intensity of the blast unleashed upon his opponent. Urus had really put effort into it. So much so that he was partially concerned that might have been too much. But it was important to make sure that the hit they landed counted since they weren't sure they would get another chance—Kenon had proven to be too skilled for anything less.

Not that he had time to dwell on it as an intense heat washed over him.

He turned his attention back to the Oni Child who was hunched over while wild flames lashed out from his lanky frame. Loki was burning with anger (and probably a charge of the Summonite) and with such intensity that it was blackening the very ground beneath him. At the first hint of movement, Welf brought the flat of the blade between them and braced it before a burning missile slammed into him in the next breath.

Welf's world was burning red as flames swallowed everything within his vision. Suffocating heat tore at his protective veil to the extent he could feel his flesh starting to burn with a gnawing pain. He suspected that the only reason his sword had yet to melt under the blaze was because of the Enchant Flame placed upon it, but it wouldn't last.

"….!" He opened his mouth and felt words claw their way out of his throat. Was it a cry? A shout? Who could tell when sound itself was drowned out by the roaring blaze that howled as it tried to wash over steel and man alike?

The message still carried as his Guardian Beast's body swaddled over his frame, crawling over his broad back as the Summonite around his neck bloomed with crimson light. An unsettling chill, or rather an absence of heat, washed over him as she rolled down his flesh until she made it to his sword where the blessing still danced. Swallowing the enchantment and ballooning in size like a tidal wave, she then surged out and consumed the inferno before burning even hotter.

Her flesh, now a prison of flames for the Oni, went from deep orange to soft white. The all-encompassing hue drowned out the struggling lanky silhouette that writhed within her grasp for a few tense moments before the movement itself stopped. Only then did the excessive flames wink out as the radiance in his Summonite faded and Urus lowered the lightly charred and unconscious body of Oni Child to the ground.

"I figured he was hot-headed but—" Welf's words were cut off as Urus' incandescent gaze widened in alarm before a sense of urgency and danger flowed through into his mind in lieu of words. It had only been a moment that he let down his guard. That both their focus was on the Guardian Beast.

And that had been more than enough time for his true opponent to act.

Welf immediately turned his head back towards Kenon and found him within range to strike him down. The apprentice Axemaster now sported light burns and scorch marks over his clothing from the intensity of the blast that Urus had unleashed upon him. But the chambered axe was ready to be swung and the bladesteel was coated by a strange luminescence that his instincts told him was dangerous.

He twisted his body with his weapon in his right hand following. The distance should be enough. Their weapons should have around the same weight. And his opponent didn't have the same overwhelming brute force that Chaves did. It should end with a clash of hard-edge against hard-edge—what came after that would be anyone's guess.

…Yet Kenon's swing won out.

The chambered axe drew an arch towards his chest even faster than the greatsword could rise to meet it. There was something different about the axe. If their strength was roughly the same and their weapons were about the same weight, then the weapons should meet and repel one another. But somehow Kenon's Axe was just fast enough that it would edge out his greatsword and connect with Welf's unprotected body before his sword could intercept it.

There was a flicker of flames before the axe came crashing down.

Then Welf's world went white with agony. Nerves blazed to life. Pain coursed through his body like a thousand thunderbolts worming their way beneath his flesh from the point of impact. He felt his breath flee from his mouth as his body snapped back. The weightlessness was short-lived before the hard stone greeted him with a thankfully muted shock.

He found himself staring up at a flickering sky thinking one thing: That really hurt.

If he had to compare it to something, it would have been like the gouging blow from the Spell Sword meant to spear through his heart. He had taken a couple of hits prior, but that single blow had done enough damage that from the bleed-through alone he was surprised it hadn't completely taken him out… until soft wisps of flames flickered within his vision again.

We…l…f…

He lifted his head to follow their trail down to his chest where he saw Urus' torso splayed limp over his body. The Fire Spirit's flames were fading, a sight that pushed the pain to the back of his mind. He forced himself upright, the blade he managed to somehow keep within his grasp clattering next to him as he grasped her dwindling form. "Don't tell me… you took the hit for me?"

It had to have been in less than a second before the axe met his body. She had used her malleable form to wrap herself between the axe's edge and his body. The hint of flames before the pain had been her being torn apart under the destructive force and he'd been stricken by the softened blow.

Ar…e yo…u ok…ay…?

Her voice itself sounded feeble and weak as it touched his mind. It matched how dwindling her tangible form was. That blow had no doubt expended her strength and with it her ability to stay corporeal. Even so, her concern was only towards him.

"I'm fine," Welf told her calmly, flicking his gaze briefly over to see that Kenon was moving his own Guardian Beast over towards Master Sakuro and away from further harm. The entire front head of his axe had shattered into little more than a jagged stump, but the match still hadn't been called. "Return into the Summonite and rest."

She did so with an air of reluctance. The remnants of her flames were slowly but steadily drawn into the Summonite Gem, her presence reduced to that of a candle flame within its core. It was as though she fell into a deep slumber and would remain as such until enough mana accumulated within it to reform her body once more.

Welf only had himself to blame as his fingers gripped the hilt of his greatsword and he rose to his feet. The Craftlord would have called the match if it had been over regardless of what their Guardian Beast had done. He'd have to make it up to his partner for not keeping his guard up until the very end.

Seeing that Welf was back on his feet, Kenon sighed. "I was hoping to save it for the next round at least, but that last move you pulled didn't leave me much of a choice."

"Yeah, I could see how that would have been one of the aces up your sleeves," Welf said in response, the admission untainted by malice or any hard feelings. It hadn't been an illegal move or anything else, no different than taking the Guardian Beast's weapon and then hurdling it their way. "And it would explain why you have three blades instead of one. They were disposable."

"Nah, that's a compromise since I couldn't make it durable enough to handle the feedback from a Charged Attack with a single head," Kenon claimed even as he reversed his axe so that the backside was now facing forward. "Even this is nothing more than a shortcut that's far from what I hope to achieve one day… but we've got a match to finish, don't we?"

"Yeah," Welf agreed.

Taking their respective stances once more with their damaged weapons in hand, both men sized up their competition. Both had lost their Guardian Beasts and no longer had an enchantment upon their weapons. Welf's blade was in better condition, but his opponent was a better fighter. That meant victory would come down to whether his body or the axe broke first.

The two clashed once more to settle things once and for all.

[-|-|-|-]

Sanary watched the final fight with unyielding focus. She had known that Varil could use a Charged Attack, but she hadn't expected other apprentices to be able to do so. In that regard, she considered the fact that Welf was still standing praiseworthy even if his Guardian Beast had taken the brunt of it.

But there was no technique left between either of the two in the arena now though. They had expended every card they had to play in the last exchange. Now all that was left was just two boys frantically swinging around their big weapons to bring down the other.

Welf's blade came around heavy and slow at chest height. He had already given up his passive, defensive fighting style. Clinging to it now would only spell his defeat as his opponent whittled away at his invisible armor until it finally gave out. He instead devoted himself to attempting to land one solid hit with as much power as he could muster in a horizontal swing from left-to-right.

Kenon leapt back just enough so the blade would pass him by. It wasn't like he could block a swing backed up by as much force as that. Not since his axe had lost one of its blades and with it a decent bulk of the mass that allowed it to be such a brutal weapon. Welf could plow through such an attempt now, so dodging was his best option.

Escaping the heavy blade's edge by a slim margin while chambering his legs, the apprentice Axemaster then sprang forward while bracing his weapon horizontally by remnants of the broken edge. He then drove it forward, putting his entire body behind the motion. Just like that he rammed the edge of the axe into Welf's chest blade-first, as if it was trying to split him in half, before jerking it as he threw himself to the side to slip past the opposite side of where the greatsword could reach.

The result was a visible gash where his mana-woven protection was torn into as Welf grimaced, his left arm drawn back from the impact as he was sent off-balance. It was clear at this point he was starting to feel real pain from each impact. But he didn't let his opponent get a free hit in this time. The left arm that was drawn from the grip of his blade dropped down as he slammed his elbow with as much force as he could into his opponent's back, attempting to stagger him before he could escape his threat range with a hit-and-run.

It had been enough to cause Kenon to stumble in his step. He was forced to use the hand bracing the broken edge that was the back of the axe to steady himself instead. And by the time he righted himself Welf's blade was already coming for his head.

The red-headed smith had pulled back his right leg to brace himself when he slammed his elbow down. That gave him a pivoting point to swing at his enemy's unprotected flank with a one-armed stroke. It was sloppily done and clumsy despite being deliberate, but it made all the difference since using a proper stance would have given his opponent a chance to escape.

Kenon raised and braced his blade to intercept the edge rushing towards his unprotected head at the last moment since escape wasn't an option. But it was little more than a bulwark that drove his balance backward as the blade itself snapped beneath the greatsword. Hard metal shards glinted in the light from above as the triple-edged axe was now reduced to an unbalanced top-mounted short spear at best.

Sparks bloomed in a half-circle as the edge of Welf's blade skidded against the ground to slow it down, giving its wielder enough time to regrip it with both hands and balance himself. He chambered it, getting ready to bring it down and end things once and for all. But that moment when his arms and blade weren't ready to guard his front, Kenon spotted the opening and didn't hesitate to take it.

He threw his arm out to the side, letting the haft of his two-thirds ruined axe slide in his grasp until he was gripping the butt. That had effectively given him the length he lacked until now to reach Welf before his blade could come crashing down. Then he swung it right towards the pair of grey-blue eyes that only had a half-second to realize what was happening.

A scream rang out as Welf's forward charge ended abruptly at the cost of at least one of his eyes. It hadn't been him who had let out the cry though, even as he clutched the left half of his face. It came from next to them as Trish was huddled over, eyes clenched and unable to keep watching. Sanary couldn't exactly blame her given she had found herself wincing at the sight.

"It's not like he lost the eye," Ariel said, refusing to turn away from the fight as Kenon shoulder-checked Welf and knocked him to the ground. He then moved to stab him while he was down with a thrust of the tip, only for Welf to narrowly avoid it by twisting his body while leaving the sword behind in the process. "The bleed-through might hurt, but nothing either of them has done is invalid. And he pulled back enough that at best the eyeball would be bruised rather than crushed."

"That's not helping," Sanary said out of principle when even Pratty looked sickened at the prospect. "He'll be fine."

That being said, she didn't disagree with Ariel even if she wouldn't admit it. As much as Sanary hated that method of fighting for being unpolished and unrefined, it was technically part of their history. It was during the era of the Great War when there were other soldiers who would clad themselves in armor and invade their home. Craftknights back then didn't just have to fight against Stray Summons as they do now, and it was before the use of one's mana as a protective armor became as commonplace.

Those fights were depicted as being a lot more brutal than what apprentices were accustomed to now. For a Swordmaster to get past armor they had to use punches and tackles to disorientate, before following up with murder strokes from the crossguard or pommel to beat against their helmet. Crushed and gouged eyes were more of an intended goal back then.

Most Craftknights now only had practice fighting against strays in the Labyrinth. There the best option was to use your weapon due to their natural resilience. She could only guess that Kenon was a practitioner of a more traditional combat style that hailed back to the older era's method, which was perfect for fighting against human opponents. It also explained how he knew to use a Charged Attack since it wasn't taught to apprentices anymore.

Not that Welf was down and out yet. He managed to get back onto his knees as the tip of the blade came thrusting at his chest once more. Only he instead used his forearm to intercept it, leaving it to scrape against the protective aura as he guided it wide and then lunged forward to deliver a haymaker straight into his opponent's face.

"NICE ONE!" Razzy cheered, taking more delight in the battle than a girl her age probably should. The hit managed to knock the guy off his feet and onto his back, and from the look of it he seriously felt that since he stayed down long enough for Welf to re-arm himself. "He should consider switching to Knuckles!"

Kenon's nose was bleeding and discolored from where Welf had struck him once he got up, showing that his own mana reserves were drying up. His attacks had become straightforward and relentless as a result. But he seemed to be weirdly enjoying it as he sported a smile on his face as he continued to try and strike down Welf.

The axe cut through the air with silver arches that left glowing gashes within Welf's aura that was slow to mend. It would be a surprise if he didn't have bruises and some light cuts beneath his clothes that were torn at this point. Mental and physical exhaustion was catching up, but he took the blows to trade for a solid hit as his sword came around and met with the retreating edge. The blades clashed with a spray of sparks and bits of metal forged from Elemental Ore were sent scattering—just like the bodies of their makers they had been pushed to their limits and wouldn't last long.

It'll end in the next blow, Sanary realized both made their final attacks. Neither really had the strength to raise their blades overhead and deliver a finishing cleave. The best they could do was lunge at one another and drive the sloped and broken points of their blades into each other with just enough force that it would probably knock them over. She doubted either of them would have the strength to get back up after that.

Welf and Kenon thrust forward at the same time. But the third blade of the axe had been one made for stabbing and would reach first. Driving it towards Welf with all his remaining might, not even thinking about trying to avoid the incoming rounded-tip lanced straight for his chest, the point of greatsword slammed into Kenon's ribs a half-second afterward.

Both of the boys stumbled backward and then fell over, leaving their weapons to tumble from their grasp. Their protective veils unraveled off their bodies entirely, leaving both spent and tired as they stared up at the sky. Her prediction had been right on the boam.

Master Sakuro called the match at that moment, not that either of them could keep fighting. Since neither had yielded and both had depleted their mana reserves at the same time, the winner could only be decided by the only factor separating the two…

The fact that one of their blades had finally given up and broken beneath the weight of their final attack.

"The Winner of the Tenth Round is Craftknight Welf of the Silver Guild!"

[-|-|-|-]

"Isn't this a bit much?" Welf said with a low rumble in his throat as he lay on a bed within the Infirmary of the Central Tower. His shirt had been removed and there were bandages wrapped around his torso where a large bruise had formed from where he'd taken that major hit. There were small cuts that had also been treated and a cold compress over his left eye. He thought it was excessive, to be honest.

"They need to make sure there aren't any lasting injuries that could hamper your match next week," came from the bed across from his own where his opponent lay. Kenon sported burn dressings from where Urus' blast had left some of his skin scorched lightly and there was a bandage over his nose. "I did hit you with an attack that could cleave steel and go for your eye after all."

The moment the match had been called officers from the Central Tower had come with stretchers and basically ferried all of them from the arena up to here. The doctors had insisted they stay for a few hours of observation and had performed X-rays to make sure no bones had cracked or broken. They were missing out on the rest of the matches, but it couldn't be helped since they wanted to ensure no crippling harm had been done.

Their Guardian Beasts were both in worse condition and better at the same time. Urus effectively had to reform herself once she accumulated enough mana within her Summonite, meaning she was out for the rest of the day but wouldn't suffer any permanent harm. Loki was curled up on a third bed and deep asleep, but his nature and spiritual connection to the element itself meant he would heal up fine and could head back to his home realm to recover much faster once he woke up.

"…So," Welf began after a moment of lingering silence, "you mentioned a dream that you had… and your axe's design was a shortcut to that? What did you mean?"

"Ah, that…" He attempted to scrunch up his nose but winced. "During the battle, did you notice that my axe would always reach first when we swung at the same time?"

"Yeah, I noticed especially when you hit me with that… Charged Attack, you called it?"

Kenon nodded. "That's the general term for it but, depending on the weapon and skill of the user, they can be further broken down into techniques. However, my forging skills aren't the best, so the weapon wasn't quite up to par to handle that it. The less suited the weapon, the greater the structural damage, and the best I could do with that design was to have spare blades ready so that sacrificing it wouldn't remove me from the fight entirely."

"I figured that much, but don't undersell how much technical skill you would need to be able to fight with all three sides effectively. That's not something you could just learn on the fly."

"I was just familiar with those kinds of weapons from my training," he claimed. "Anyway, if we assume you kept your greatsword in the same weight range as the standard for axe-class weapons, then we should have crossed blades more often. But my axe edged your weapon out in agility even when it was whole."

Larger weapons tended to be slower to swing around because of their weight. But once they got moving, they were just as hard to stop and that was part of why they excelled in crushing open the hard bodies of Mechanoids. However, since inertia was proportional to the weight that put a limit on how large you can get it and have a functional weapon—a standard of sorts for the weapon type.

Even with the current standard it took a lot of force to change their motion under normal circumstances, which made using them more cumbersome and less wieldy. Axes never went above a certain size or weight if they were to be considered practical because of that. Greatswords were the same—at least the kinds that Welf preferred.

Welf thought about it and agreed. "If you sacrificed too much weight, then I would have broken through your guard during our first clash. And you aren't physically stronger than me like Chaves was, so the amount of force you can put in each swing is about the same. So, the difference has to be…"

"Inertia," Kenon answered with a wry smile. "Take out the weight and force, that leaves only how fast you can get it to move and stop it. My goal had been to create a greataxe that you can swing around as easily as you would a feather but maintain the weight, meaning it must directly alter the inertia. That design had been what I came up with, but it was too fragile in the end."

"I didn't think it would be possible to do that without magic," Welf admitted, impressed at the feat. "It can't just be exclusive materials, otherwise someone else would have managed to do so by now. You must be a prodigy then."

Kenon scoffed at the idea. "Nah, nothing like that. It was just good fortune that my first opponent in the Craftlord Tournament had their own forging method that made it possible to shave a fifth of the inertia itself off. Once I got their technique, I saw the possibility to make my dream a reality and incorporated it into the design I had been working on. But that was as far as I could take it."

It wasn't that his materials were exceptional or anything rare. It was that he found a forging method that allowed him to somehow lower the inertia of the axe itself without affecting the weight. Even if by only a fifth, that meant he could swing it much faster and maneuver it easier than other axes or weapons in that same category. That combined with the weight being leveraged on impact and he had made a potent weapon only held back by its frailty when it came to being able to use a Charged Attack.

Hearing that made Welf both excited and a bit sad. The excitement came from the fact that because he won that technique would be his and he could incorporate it into his own weapon design going forward. Shaving off the inertia while combining the material reduction that Chaves' managed along with his own designs meant he could possibly create a heavy sword that was able to be swung around as easily as a normal one, offsetting the penalty.

The sadness came from the fact that Kenon was aiming to completely flip the perception and weakness of axes as a whole but couldn't since his own skill was lacking. As an apprentice that was fine since he was supposed to learn and grow. But he required proper tutelage to make that happen—a dedicated Axemaster to at least give him some advice. And from what he'd heard the Gold Guild was primarily focused on profit, meaning that he wouldn't find it among their ranks.

"Hear me out," Welf began. "I might be able to introduce you to an Axemaster who'd be willing to help you make that dream a reality."

Dark eyes turned to him. "Oh, really now?"

He nodded. "Some of the errands Master Bron had me run introduced me to a couple of Masters in their weapons who became independent from the Silver Guild. One of them is an Axemaster who lives on the Second Floor. I think he'd be willing to give you at least some advice in exchange for seeing your technique and that you're serious about it, even if he can't take you on as an apprentice."

"So, you'll introduce me then… what's the catch?" Kenon asked.

"I'd like to say it would be out of respect for your dream, since that might be the very purpose of the Craftlord Tournament," he answered. "Incorporating new methods from those we beat will allow us to improve our own skills and will raise the quality of Craftknights in Wystern as a whole. But, if I can be a bit greedy, I'd ask you to teach me how to do that Charged Attack. I can use it as both a benchmark for testing my weapons and to make up for my lack of swordsmanship going forward."

Kenon scratched his hair in thought for a moment. Then he nodded. "Knowledge for knowledge—a fair trade. And you've proven yourself honorable in combat. I see no reason not to take you up on it."

"Then we have ourselves a deal."