"Ugh…!"

I managed to block his foot with a raised leg, but his attack still caused me to stumble back. Huffing, I slashed at him with Bai Ri – a desperate maneuver that bought me a little more time and forced him back. Cain flipped up to kick at my head after I deflected his sword to the side, but I succeeded in dodging that while replying with a kick of my own.

As we evaded each other's kicks, we whirled around and clashed, sparks flying as our swords crashed heavily against each other. Mana surged through our arms and blades before we sprang apart in a small detonation.

"Huff…"

Both of us were breathing heavily. I dropped down to a slight crouch, raising Bai Ri with my left hand while lowering Hei Yue with my right.

"This posture…!"

Cain couldn't help but gasp. I raised an eyebrow.

"What about my posture?"

"Adorno's Thirteen Chained Strikes?! How do you know my move?! Did you just learn it from seeing me execute it once?! Impossible!"

"…what the f.u.c.k?!"

I actually dropped my stance and straightened up to gap at him.

"What Adorno's Thirteen Chained Strikes?! What the h.e.l.l are you talking about!? Are you sure you aren't mistaking reality for Battle Frenzy?! Do you seriously expect me to rip off w.a.n.g Zhong or something?! I'm not some G.o.d-like Mary Sue protagonist who can immediately learn and perform a technique just from seeing it once, and use it perfectly against an opponent! Furthermore, don't tell me you think I'll start a.n.a.lyzing your techniques and somehow point out the flaws and imperfections in your moves?! I'm not an author who's deeply in love with his own protagonist to the extent I make him a genius at everything!"

"Wait, what? You're an author?!"

"Never mind." I dropped back to my stance again and got ready to attack. "By the way, you're mistaking something. I'm not trying to copy your moves at all – I'm not some genius who can learn and copy other people's moves instantly from watching them use them once. I'm merely using the Miyamoto sword style that my dad taught me."

"…oh, right. Miyamoto sword style. Indeed, I heard that there is a branch of the Miyamoto School that specializes in wielding two swords." Cain nodded in acknowledgement, and then parried my strikes with his sword. "Sorry, I got a bit confused for a moment because I was trying to rip off Battle Frenzy."

"Dude, that story is getting old now."

Sighing, I knocked Cain back while withdrawing a step to avoid getting cut by his blade. Alternating my attacks with my two swords, I held one back for defense while using the other proactively to attack. I took care to switch roles between the two swords, so as not to make my attacks and defense predictable.

Otherwise Cain would notice that I was favoring Hei Yue for attack and Bai Yue for defense, for example. And he would move to exploit that.

"Again!"

Cain was attacking me relentlessly now, his blade thrusting at me from multiple angles. It was almost as if I was facing a hail of a hundred blades, each of my opponeent's strike moving almost too quickly for me to follow.

"Gah…!"

I parried and deflected as best as I could, sustaining cuts and hits here and there. Even though he was successfully drawing blood, Cain was growing increasingly frustrated and impatient when he found himself unable to deliver that single decisive blow that would end the match.

Evidently he was not used to long matches, or battles of attrition. He had been winning most of his matches single-handedly or decisively, taking his opponents out in a relatively short time.

…or he had been defeated in an instant by far superior enemies.

I sensed a spike in Cain's mana as his attacks grew heavier and became faster. The blades were coming like a hurricane now, turning into a single blur that swirled like a raging maelstrom. Pulling back as far as I could while doing my best to keep Cain's sword at bay, I crossed both of my swords to weather his ferocious onslaught.

Determined to break through my crumbling defenses, Cain kicked off the ground and spun his body, almost turning into a human whirlwind.

"Spiraling Charge!" he yelled. His sword almost turned into a spinning drill, a move that would inevitably drill through whatever defense I might have.

Taking a deep breath, I paused whatever spell I was casting and switched to another one. Dropping my Bai Ri onto the ground, I raised my left hand and murmured an incantation.

"I am the soul of my sword."

"This is…"

Cain realized something was amiss, but he was too committed to his attack to pull back now. Unable to halt his momentum, he decided to just plunge forward and smash through whatever I had planned with brute force.

"Fear is my body, frost is my blood."

Unintimidated by Cain's fierce Spiralling Charge, I stood my ground and gathered azure mana into my left hand, holding it up. A faint silhouette s.h.i.+mmered into existence in front of me, its petals unfurling majestically.

Even though he knew I was up to something, Cain resolutely thrust his spinning sword forward to drill through the flickering figure of a gigantic snowflake.

My eyes narrowed as I completed my spell.

"Snow Aegis."

"!"

Clang!

Cain's sword collided against my now fully materialized snowflake s.h.i.+eld, the spinning blade attempting to drill through my icy defenses, but to no avail.

"What?"

Still spinning haplessly, Cain was stunned to see that his drilling sword had failed to penetrate my Snow Aegis. Gritting his teeth, he tried to regain his footing to increase the pressure behind his thrust, but he slipped and almost fell over.

"?!"

He didn't realize that the ground around me had frozen over completely, ice covering the stage and making it slippery. Unable to maintain his footing, Cain whirled about desperately to prevent himself from falling into an undignified heap, and somehow staggered several meters away. Huffing, he swung his sword to preemptively keep me back, but I did not pursue him at all. Instead, I merely dismissed my Snow Aegis and retrieved my Bai Ri, which was standing with the tip of its blade piercing the ground.

"Captain Cain," I addressed him with an amused smirk. "It seems that my technique managed to stop you cold."

"!!"

Cain sighed and shook his head as he studied me. Exhaling, he straightened up and crushed the ice beneath his feet, his mana flaring up exponentially.

"I hadn't planned on revealing my ultimate technique here, so soon in the tournament, but you leave me no choice."

"You always have a choice," I replied with a shrug. "But I agree with you. Best not to hold anything back or you'll regret it later. I don't want you to use the excuse, 'if only I had used this ultimate technique back then, I wouldn't have lost!' or some bulls.h.i.+t like that."

"Hmph." Cain snorted. "Richard, you are really impressive. You've concealed your true abilities a lot better than I ever did!"

"Huh? I never concealed my true abilities, you dolt!"

"However, you're not my opponent!"

Ignoring me, Cain continued with his fierce declaration. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d really didn't seem to be paying attention to anything I said.

"Oho! The atmosphere has totally transformed!" the commentator was going wild. "It seems that Captain Cain is revealing his trump card!"

"Heavy Sword Style!"

With a bellow, Cain leaped off the ground, sending fragments of frost flying and scattering in his wake. Soaring high up in the arena, he then arced downward, descending upon me with his rapidly expanding sword.

No…the rapid expansion was simply my imagination. That was all of Cain's mana coalescing around his blade and giving the impression of a gigantic sword. I could almost see the manifestation of a ghostly tower appearing behind him, as if he was bringing the weight of an entire supersized structure down on me.

"!"

I crossed both of my swords and parried Cain's strike, knowing that I didn't have any time to dodge or evade it. My knees buckled and the ground beneath my feet split apart, turning into a crumbling crater of debris from the sheer force of Cain's attack.

"Kuh…" I grunted, gritting my teeth as I struggled to withstand the powerful blow.

Without pausing, Cain swung his sword a second time and almost knocked me off my feet. Unable to endure the sheer power of his strike, I was sent hurtling across the stage and skidding across the ground, leaving a trail of broken concrete in my wake.

Dropping to a knee, I leaned on Bai Ri while holding Hei Yue out to fend off another attack. Just in case.

"Richard!" Yue Chu shouted from the side, concerned. But Harrison waved him back, his expression still unreadable despite taking in the unfavorable situation I was now in.

"Your magical power is too weak," Cain told me coldly. "How many more hits can you withstand? Or perhaps you should do your best to evade for as long as you can?"

"Yeah, yeah." I stood up shakily and straightened up despite still not having fully recovered from the earlier exchange. "But you know, you seem to be forgetting something."

Cain didn't even bother to rise to any provocation. He sprang forward, raising his sword with both hands and swinging it down to deliver another heavy strike. Again, that ma.s.sive tower materialized behind him, almost lending weight to his powerful attacks.

In the face of such overwhelming strength, I grinned.

"You seem to be treating me like a fellow swordsman. But have you forgotten that I'm a summoner by specialization?"

Boom!

A powerful maelstrom of mana exploded around me, immense shockwaves buffeting Cain and knocking him off his trajectory. Shocked, the superlative swordsman was sent spinning helplessly to the side with a cough and curse. He crashed onto the ground, but managed to immediately roll back to his feet.

Countless flower petals drifted around me, a myriad of vibrant colors and a dazzling display of variety.

That wasn't all. Rearing behind me was a colossal dragon. Green Dragon, to be exact, the full magnificence of my Celestial Guardian unleashed within the view of my opponent. Cain looked up, almost awestruck, as he struggled to take in the full figure of my gigantic Green Dragon. It was clear from his gaping expression that he sensed the potent waves of mana emanating from him.

However, as expected of the captain of Adorno Academy, he refused to be cowed from such a terrifying sight. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and lunged at Green Dragon with a determined bellow. His sword once again took on the aspect of a tower as he prepared to mete out the tremendous weight and power upon my Celestial Guardian.

In a single motion, Green Dragon's tail whipped out and struck the charging Cain, almost catching the poor swordsman by surprise. Despite the irresistible momentum behind his heavy sword style, Cain's relatively insignificant weight was no match for the sheer power of Green Dragon, and he was hurled several dozen meters across the stage, cras.h.i.+ng into the wall and disappearing beneath a pile of rubble.

"What the h.e.l.l?!"

"What just happened?!"

"That dragon…?!"

"Holy s.h.i.+t, did Richard actually summon a dragon?! A real dragon?!"

The spectators were yelling boisterously at the sudden turn of events. What, you didn't realize that I hadn't cast any spells and entirely relied on my Miyamoto sword techniques this entire time just so I could summon one of my most powerful Constellation spirits?

Green Dragon looked at the surrounding spectators almost disdainfully, and I had the sense that he wanted to return to whatever dimension he resided in before I rudely summoned him here. I mentally sent him an apology and requested for his patience.

"After all," I told him telepathically. "The battle is far from over."

As if to prove my point, the debris at the far end of the arena blew up, flying in multiple directions. Leaning on his sword, a bleeding and battered Cain crouched upward, struggling to stand. He glared at me defiantly and slowly rose to his feet while wiping the blood from his moutn. However, he didn't attempt to close the distance, at least not yet.

I watched him for a few seconds, and then smiled. Shrugging, I stepped forward – a cue for my Green Dragon to coil protectively around me. Thousands of flower petals continued to drift and spiral around me, almost as if my spells had transformed the arena into a garden in full bloom during spring.

"Captain Cain," I said as I beckoned him over. When he didn't budge, I shrugged. "If you're not going to make a move, then I a.s.sume it's now my turn to attack?"