24 Sports Festival (Part 4)

"I'm not going to go easy on you but don't lose too quickly, yea?" Damian taunted as both of them stood at the centre of the ring.

"I would be glad to accept your challenge. I have much to learn," Leo brushed aside the jeer, which irritated Damian a little.

"Tch, you're no fun."

"Ready?" The referee looked at both of them with their blades raised up. "Fence!"

Damian felt that he was on his peak form, heated up from the previous match.

He made a quick lunge after several feigns into a direct slash. Leo quickly prepared to parry but the sword suddenly changed its angle and struck his arm. He did not have enough time to react to the abrupt shift.

"It's a quick one-point for red. What a rapid swipe! It might look simple but the red participant must have possessed incredible mastery to have such precise control," The commentator explained.

The round continued and Damian continued his diversion tactics, this time feigning attacks to his arms before cutting his thigh.

"Another two points for red. This is starting to look one-sided here with complete domination. Although the attacks were still minor, the points racked up could quickly snowball. What would our blue participant do?"

'I am still too slow for him. I should try to predict his moves instead. What is he looking at? What is his body's posture? What clues does he leak out?' Leo rummaged his mind for a solution. For someone still lacking experience, it was a huge gamble.

Damian was becoming more aggressive with his prior successes, he began aiming for more valuable targets while parrying a few times with Leo.

'What could he be aiming for? I can't really read him…' Leo scanned for patterns or habits but he could not point out any major ones. 'Wait, what if I purposely left a vulnerability to lure him in?'

Leo started to push forward striking mostly on his left, opening his right flank at risk. He still defended sometimes to avoid suspicion. Before long, Damian jumped at the opportunity.

Leo easily parried the blow and pushed forward to his defenseless leg. He's now wide open.

"Luring me into your trap and then targeting my leg? Nice plan but you're still too green!" Damian laughed as he took advantage of his greater dexterity to intercept the attack.

'I'll be taking one from your books,' Leo smiled, but the mask concealed it away from Damian. The assault aiming for the leg turned into an uppercut to the head.

"Score! What a turnaround! A strike to the head earning blue four points, which means blue is currently leading now," the caster shouted in excitement. "We have Mr Seiei, a prominent master of the sword to explain to us what transpired just now."

"Blue had the physical disadvantage with red being more agile and nimble. However, blue used his wits to close that chasm by planning a double bait before finally finishing with the trick used by red. Did he actually foresee his first plan to be read by red? Splendid strategy! Magnificent!"

"You punk with your petty tricks. You got me good this time but I'm not going to fall for that again," Damian raised his sword at Leo. "Steel yourself."

"Ready? Fence!"

Damian immediately charged, jumped and hammered down with an overhead cut. Leo blocked it but the impact resonated throughout his arms from the heavy blow, forcing him to retreat a few steps. Without room to breathe, he struck down again, this time blowing his defense apart allowing him to secure an easy strike to the torso.

"Hold! 3 points for red!" The referee bellowed. "Warning for red. No excessive force. Control your strength, we're no longer in the Age of Chaos. Do it again and you'll be penalised."

He went to check on Leo. "Are you alright?"

He still felt some shaking in his hands but other than that, he's fine. He nodded to the referee. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Very well. We will continue then. Ready? Let's fence!"

Once again, Damian took on the offensive to close the gap between them. Both of them traded a flurry of blows. The exchange looked even but he slowly crept forward. Meanwhile, Leo was searching for an opening but he wondered what Damian was trying to attempt by maintaining his distance.

Suddenly an opening appeared on Damian due to his aggressive advancement and Leo took it, going for a thrust straight to the middle of his chest.

'Damn, I don't have enough time to defend with my blade,' he was taken by surprise. He wanted to close the gap to seal Leo's movement but it ended up becoming his flaw.

By sheer desperation, he swerved to the right and managed to narrowly dodge the strike by a hair's breadth. Taking the opportunity from the now overextended offense, Damian grabbed Leo's hand, preventing him from moving before slashing the sides of his gambeson. He too had learnt from his opponents.

"Hold! 3 points for red. The match is over!" The referee announced.

"What an amazing finale! It was an amazing match to behold but nevertheless red with the superior skills persevered and took the victory. What are your comments on this, Mr Seiei?"

"It was truly entertaining to watch these youths still have such calibre in this time and age. The future of sword fighting is bright indeed. The last bout was truly a narrow one, I would even say luck is in play with that narrow evasion. I am really looking forward to the finals."

"That's right folks! Stay tuned as we have the hottest match in an hour. With that said, we will be taking a break."

Back at the preparation room, both of them removed their stifling gears. Leo congratulated Damian on his victory.

"That was a good fight. I've learnt a lot and it was truly an eye-opener. Again, thank you for being my opponent today," Leo bowed to Damian.

"Yeah, it was a good match. Not bad for an amateur, certainly gave me some trouble," Damian paused for a moment while removing his shin guards before continuing. "Well, I'm sorry for the intemperament earlier. I�� got carried away."

Leo smiled. He knew how awkward it must be for Damian to apologise but at least it's a good start to acknowledge one's mistakes and amend for it. "It's fine. Everyone would make a blunder in the heat of the moment. Don't sweat it too much."

He looked at the box of drinks and threw one to Damian. "Rest up. You have a rematch coming soon. You'll need it. We will be at the spectator boxes rooting for you."

Damian looked away and smiled. He was too reticent to show his happiness to Leo.

'I have some good friends.'