Stalker II

Moving left, moving right. Kyle smoothly dodged and parried his opponent's attacks.

The spar should have ended the moment it started. Since Kyle was too kind, he gave a chance to his opponent to show off their skills.

From his perspective, he was being considerate. But who knew what his opponent thought about that.

Judging from Kyle's opponent's expression, he was clearly annoyed by Kyle's action.

"Are you looking down on me?!" Was what could be perceived from his face.

Noticing his opponent started attacking erratically, Kyle decided it was time to put it off.

Parrying the last horizontal swing from above, Kyle moved in and kicked his opponent on the back of the knee, incapacitating him. Next, he disarmed the weapon of his sparring partner and stopped his wooden sword close to his opponent's neck.

A student the instructor appointed to watch over the east ring blew the whistle, announcing the winner of the spar.

"The winner of the east ring is Kyle!"

Another whistle sounded for the west, announcing Felix as the winner.

The applause intensified as the two matches ended simultaneously.

Their matches were great, indeed. Everyone seemed amazed by Kyle's and Felix's skills. As expected from two individuals who came from remarkable clans.

But that wasn't enough to distract Noir from watching the center ring.

'I don't know much about Astor. But knowing Joshua is from a clan of swordsmen, it is supposed to be an easy win for him. However...'

Noir shook his head upon seeing Astor overpowered Joshua in a sword fight.

Initially, Joshua was leading against Astor. But because his fighting style required him to have a lot of stamina, the game slowly shifted to Astor's side as time went on.

Even after observing their spar meticulously, Noir still had no idea how strong Astor was.

'His technique, stamina, and footwork are amazing. That's at least at the level of the Elite-class Resonant.'

On top of that, he was smart.

In the beginning, it was always Joshua who was attacking.

Meanwhile, Astor defended against Joshua's relentless assault with as little movement as possible, be it dodging, parrying, or blocking. Over time, Joshua's attack became more sluggish.

After that, the winner of the spar was decided.

'Right... the only youngest master story that ends up becoming stronger is when the protagonist regresses.'

Noir glanced at Joshua, who struggled to defend against Astor.

'It seems he's just the 'original' youngest master who's pathetic in their first life.'

Astor thrust his staff and swung it after reaching Joshua, disarming his wooden sword. Pulling back the staff, Astor spun his body. With the momentum of spinning, he smashed Joshua's neck with the staff.

When Joshua fell flat on the ground and couldn't get up, Instructor Majin blew the whistle.

"Nice fight! You two!"

With that, the first round ended. The six students shook their hands, displaying sportsmanship even though it was only a spar.

Standing up, Noir caught Astor stealing a glance at him before he looked away.

"???"

He was not sure what that was. At least Noir didn't sense a hostility in his gaze.

"Next!" Instructor Majin shouted. He called another three pairs, including Noir and Argent.

***

Standing inside the ring, Noir looked to his right. He saw the other two pairs had already exchanged blows.

Seeing them using the same weapon, Noir sighed.

'What's so good about using a sword?'

He looked at his fists. Wooden knuckles were strapped onto the leather gloves, covering his hands. A wristguard, also from wood, hugged his skin from the wrist down to below the shoulder.

'If you're a man. You have to use your fist!'

Shifting into her stance, Argent held the wooden sword with one hand.

"Are you ready?"

Bumping his fist, Noir smiled.

"Come."

At his words, Argent plunged forward. Her speed was incredible. It only took her 3 seconds to cover the 20-meter distance.

Although surprised, Noir managed to put up his guard at the last second.

'So fast!'

Argent's weapon rebounded after its first contact with the wristguard. But she quickly recovered her balance and swung again. Yet, Noir blocked her attack once again.

Smiling, Noir deflected the next swing and backstepped. However, he quickly returned to his original position and thrust a punch, catching Argent off guard.

She retreated several steps despite blocking it in time.

"I didn't expect a feint coming from you," Argent said, holding back a smile.

Argent changed her stance. She didn't grip the sword as if it was a sword, but a rapier. Rushing in, she threw thrusts at Noir.

Knowing the pattern of her thrust attacks, Noir casually dodged all of them.

Noticing none of her attacks worked, Argent attempted a feint.

Hiding her smile, she threw a quick thrust aiming at Noir's neck. Seeing Noir react to it, Argent quickly pulled her weapon and thrust at the knee instead.

Unluckily, Noir noticed the feint. He jumped up and somersaulted after the second jump, using the wooden blade as a stepping stone.

"Huh?!"

Argent's eyes widened as she saw Noir's body roll backward mid-air while her hand couldn't stop but continued the feint attack.

'Haha! Finally, after working my ass off in improving this body's condition, I can do this again!'

As Noir somersaulted, he noticed everyone's eyes were on him. At that moment, Noir realized if he continued it like this, he would have no choice but to participate in the plan he made out of his own volition.

'This gonna hurt...'

Thud!

Crack!

'Gruhh!!'

Noir deliberately thwarted his smooth landing, resulting in an ankle injury.

Not knowing her opponent got injured after the landing, Argent pressed him with a rapid thrust.

Noir managed to block and parry them off, but some attacks bypassed his defense, causing him to crumble each time the wooden sword hit him like a needle.

At the end of Argent's continuous strike, Noir was frozen like a statue. His eyes focused on the tip of the wooden sword before him.

The whistle rang in his head.

"Nice fight! You two!" Instructor Majin said.

Looking at Noir, he continued.

"Noir Teundre. Go get yourself treated, hurry!"

"Yes. Instructor," Noir responded.

Upon hearing the instructor's words, Argent finally realized Noir was injured during the fight.

Her smiling face was quickly replaced by worry as she stared at Noir.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were injured."

Noir turned at her, smirking.

"Nah, don't worry. It's just a little accident."

"But..." Her words drifted. She watched as Noir walked strugglingly.

Argent glanced at Instructor Majin. Before she could say anything, the instructor already gave her the green light.

Sighing relievedly, Argent ran toward Noir.

"At least let me help you."

She offered a hand to help, and Noir accepted. Putting his arm around her neck, they disappeared from everyone's eyes, leaving the training ground.