Chapter 49: Battle of Physicality
“Contestant Number 33 triumphs,” the referee announced.
Melina released a breath as all the lightning weaves dispersed into thin air, her essence threads wilting back into her essence seed at her command.
She eyed her defeated opponent, who lay on the ground, shaken by the lightning. Nodding at him, she curtsied before carrying herself to the antechamber.
The battles in the round of 32 had been much easier than she had imagined. Well, she had grown stronger since the beginning of the tournament. Still, she had hoped she would be challenged in some manner on her way to the top sixteen, but that hadn't occurred since the group stage, where she had met her first and only defeat. That already stained her otherwise unbeaten record.
In just one defeat, Melina had gone from being one of the eight contenders to win the tournament to a side character. In both mundane and awakened societies alike, the rumours of her defeat grew like weeds. That was to be expected, considering most of her reputation came from the surname she carried. Everyone had moved on since then, as more and more astonishing duels unfurled as the contest neared its peak.
Her duels, however, were much more tame in comparison. In both duels today, her opponents had managed to either evade or endure multiple of her wind spells, but when she wove lightning, it barely took two strikes to break through their defences and end their participation.
Now she did not believe her next fight would be as lacklustre, considering the opponent. Melina had a day to prepare, though her chances of victory were poor. She would have to fully trust her abilities and seize control as soon as the duel began to have a shot.
As her mind wandered to the duel ahead, her most probable opponent for the round of sixteen crept by her side. He froze, as if only noticing her now.
“Congratulations on your victory,” Arilyn said.
If he had left it at that, Melina would have thanked him and gone her way out of the amphitheatre to meet her family, since she was done for the day. But this blighted sheepherder seemed only to know how to irritate her.
“You finally seem to be using your brain a little in the duels.”
She glared at him. “You use yours better then,” she huffed, breaking her decorum, “or you might be scorched by my lightning in my next duel.”
To her dismay, the red-haired youth nodded. “I am looking forward to it.”
His nonchalant reply only seemed to aggravate her, as she almost felt like strangling him right there. Nobody but her little brother could infuriate her this much.
“Number 188, Arilyn Arcis O’Ryon, and number 136, Kelvin Maerlt. Please enter the open duelling arena.”
“Looks like my name is being called,” he said, when two other fellows joined them.
They were the two young knight squires from the Order of Iron Knights. Melina knew little of the gaunt fellow named Cassius, though she was well aware of the reputation of Kelvin, who was also Arilyn’s next opponent.
With his berserk spearmanship, Kelvin had made a name for himself, coming from a humble family. People said he was not as good with the spear as Paximus, but he made it through with his unrelenting force and stalwart defences. His aversion to armour only added to his fame. Yet today, he was in full knightly armour, swathed in black and grey metallic plates, a silver cape hanging on his back, the spear aloft in his palm, all warded against essence manipulation.
Melina did not need to be a genius to figure out the reason behind the timely changes. In the previous battle, Arilyn had smacked around his opponent with telekinesis, barely even lifting a palm. Now, a skilful display of aura could erode the telekinetic connection. Someone with better aura control could even deny essence from taking hold of their being. She did not know if Kelvin lacked that skill, but certainly, he did not want to take chances. That gave her an idea of how to prepare against Arilyn.
“Go easy on him, brother,” Cassius said, patting the red-haired boy on the shoulder.
His peer snorted. “You don't have to go easy on me,” Kelvin said to the younger boy. “Just please, for the love of the lady, don’t ruin my armour. I don’t even own it.”
Arilyn scrunched his nose, his eyes gleaming as they fell on the armament, inspecting it.
He’s not scrying for its weakness, is he?
“It's a loan from the Order,” Cassius explained. “We can only claim something as good once we’ve made it as full-fledged knights.”
Arilyn smiled sheepishly. “I don’t have a hobby of ruining fine pieces of craftsmanship.”
“No?” Cassius arched an eyebrow. “That sounds like you haven’t ruined enough to make a hobby out of it.”
“Hopefully, I would not,” Arilyn returned in all seriousness, much to the pair’s worry.
Cassius shook his head as the two of them moved towards the arena. Although Kelvin was tall and sturdy with a burly build, Arilyn did not seem to lose much in stature, though he was more slender. His palm always seemed to rest on the hilt of his sword, his facial expression serene as they stood opposite one another in the ring.
If Melina believed Arilyn would end the duel instantly with a sublime display of kinetic force, then she would be devastatingly wrong. As the duel began, he did not even surge with a speck of essence, instead engaging Kelvin with his blade.
“What is he doing?” she could not help but wonder. Obviously, he was not bad with a sword; Melina had experienced it firsthand, though she struggled to believe he could outshine a knight squire in a physical duel.
“Probably training something called sword sense,” Cassius answered, frowning as he watched the battle.
Melina had no clue what that was, nor did she have much interest. She watched the duel unfold.
“What is a sword sense?” another voice echoed from her right. Only then did she notice Leaf standing beside her. With his superior agility, he could come and go unnoticed by anyone’s senses, unless, of course, they were concentrating. Delivering her a silent greeting, he peered at the duel with narrowed eyes.
“Hell if I know,” Cassius said. “It’s kind of an auric ability that seems to be exclusive to a swordsman.”
“So something like a battle sense or danger sense?” Leaf asked.
“Maybe.”
It wasn’t only the three of them who were spectating the match-up. Melina noted many distinguished contenders observing the duel carefully. Among them were the young lady from House Solvyn, Paximus, and Rudiger of House Evans. Perhaps she only missed Marnus’s figure among them, who seemed to have returned to his quarters after winning his duels.
***
IN A DUEL BETWEEN a sword and a spear, the spear tends to have the advantage, especially with its broader reach. Of course, a sword could be wielded more swiftly. Its swings might not be as heavy as a spear’s, but a sword’s edge could be narrower than the eye could track.
I had been extremely careful about the spear’s reach since the duel began. It took a minute or two to adjust, since I rarely had a chance to spar against a spearman, which was why this was such a challenging match-up, and hopefully a rewarding one too.
Although we both preferred different weapons, even our styles were quite distinct from one another. While I preferred finesse, Kelvin seemed to have built his entire spearmanship around brutality. Where I looked for a lapse in my opponent’s defences or sought to trap them into one, Kelvin charged unrelentingly, commanding a torrent of overbearing aura such that even a single strike would leave a grievous wound.
His aura reflected him completely in its tyranny. The reason why he never retracted it was not because he was clumsy with it, but rather because it was not in his nature.
The sound of metallic clanks echoed throughout as our weapons clashed, dispersing concentrated aura in their wake.
“If you believe you can defeat me just on your swordsmanship alone,” Kelvin barked without resting his swings, “then I hate to break it to you. You don’t stand a chance.”
“Say that after you land a blow.”
A ruthless spear hurtled towards my right eye. I deflected it upward. The very next instant, Kelvin thrust with the butt end. I parried, taking a step back. My mind was entirely focused on the battle, reading my opponent’s moves as they came.
From his relentless charge, it was evident that Kelvin believed he could win this duel. It was not a delusion, but a conviction of his, as shown by his surging aura.
Not wanting to lose out on such a good opportunity, I met him head-on. As the duel carried on, I was not concerned with whether my sword could match up to his, but whether my endurance and stamina would last as long.
I could have taken the battle to the sky and had Kelvin chase after me. His knightly armament did come with levitation, though I was unsure how adept he was in aerial battle. I did not force him into an aerial fight for the same reason I had avoided using my essence.
After ten minutes of relentless exchange, both of us had landed more blows than we would like to count. Kelvin’s defences were unshakable, even when I assaulted him with my aura blade. But his incessant pursuit was slowing down.
He was actually the one to initiate aerial combat, as our figures clashed in the open air. Despite his swings growing slower, Kelvin seemed to have the resilience and aura to maintain that high-intensity battle for a long time.
Well, without a powerful display of shaping, I surely could not penetrate his knightly armament. Then there was his Iron Skin. That left only one path to victory: to outshine him in a physical battle.
With Walking Mountain Guard, I could absorb his relentless pursuits, letting him exhaust himself. But I did not want to remain passive throughout either. To train Sword Sense was to both defend and attack.
Additionally, it allowed me to see how far I could take my Adaptive Physicality. The major attribute was not known for its power. It adjusted remarkably well with my swordsmanship, which was how my movements had become so refined in such a short time. But I reckoned I could raise my endurance too by working it together with Fortitude.
Anyhow, I would like to see whether my body would give out first, or whether I would see a crack in Kelvin’s invincibility.