Chapter 18: The First

Asteraoth stood in a ready stance, legs spreaded out, the knife in his right hand pointed at me and the left covering his chest.

I lowered my shield slightly, protecting my torso and my sword hung from above, tip facing towards the ground. " Trace weapon, harden weapon structure. Time Alter - Double Acceleration. " I chanted under my breath.

I leapt forward and swing my shield towards his face, he dodged to the left and rushed towards me. I spun to the right to avoid his daggers, narrowly missing me. My blade stabbed his right knee. But missing his tendon.

" Weapon art - vertical slash. " my blade contacted his helmet and cause a slight dent. Asteraoth stood up straight and declared that he concedes the battle, he lifted his helmet to reveal that he was bleeding from the impact of the blade. And his right knee was bleeding to fast that he would die from blood loss should the battle continue. A healer arrived to heal up his injuries and left the field.

" I'm Eae, I shall be your tester, you monster. Ready yourself and we shall begin " He drew an English longsword, readied it. He was fully clad in a heavy silver armour.

I realized the severity of this test. I needed a long and heavy weapon. I dropped my Viking sword and small shield and grabbed my halberd instead. I quickly put on my maile, gambison and my Dragon scaled armour. "Trace armour, strengthen armour link. Trace weapon, copy weapon structure data. Alright Eae, Sir. I'm ready. " I Swung my halberd backwards resting on my right hip. Ready for a direct charge from Eae.

Eae charges straight on but his sword was brought to his left side as if ready to counter my defence. I Swung my halberd hard " time alter - Quadruple Acceleration!" I quickly spun my halberd in the opposite direction over my head and went for the legs from my left side. sweeping him off his feet as my time alteration returned to normal. " Duplicate copied weapon structure data." I used the copy of my halberd to disarm him and the actual halberd pointing at his throat.

I spotted a figure grabbing a blade from Adam. He took up the oriental long blade and the oriental double sword.

" Hey boy, I'm Kareal. Choose a weapon you prefer to use. There is no point in keeping all these power here if you aren't going to show me. No one will be harmed. I've put up a barrier strong enough to hold armies of demons. So choose. It's your time yo show us that you deserve to live. The Nodachi or the dual broadswords."

I pointed at the dual broadswords in his left hand. He casually tosses it up high into the sky. However, he unsheathed the Nodachi and dashes towards me before I could even grab the broadswords. " Sorry! Dispersion! " I watched as the Nodachi sliced down towards me, I raised both arms by instinct. The Nodachi's blade sliced through me but without leaving a single scratch. I quickly grabbed the broadswords and unsheathed it. Power flowed through my very veins. Power I had long forgotten. Powers that I felt the day I trained with the Dragon, destroying everything in it's path. Memories flooded back, memories I had sealed for the fear of recalling, for the fear I had never felt before, for the very fear that I feared myself.