263 Lost

"I've won." Alos announced as he held Ode's weapon and shield.

"Shut up you little prick." Ode said as he threw a kick.

Alos dodged it without any trouble, a smile lingering on his face. That kick wasn't meant to hit anyway, it was to tell him to stop playing around. In fact Alos felt a lot more pressure coming off the old guy despite him losing his weapons. "Do I look like I'm knocked out?" Ode spoke as he stretched his arms.

"No." Alos replied with a smiled, this guy was crazy.

He threw away the shield and sword and dashed to confront Ode. Without his great sword in tow, the captain's speed was at least three times as fast, closing in on Ode in fractions of a second.

With how fast he was now, he had the leisure of watching the old man attempt to turn towards him once he landed next to his flank.

A single punch from this position would definitely claim a rib or two and he had every intention of doing so. Watching his fist rush towards the old man's open side so clearly in his sights...

And then it wasn't.

His target had been replaced by the a cloudy blue sky.

Or to be more precise, his view had been forcibly changed, but he couldn't figure out how.

Everybody else and Ode could, wincing as a back hand landed squarely on the side of his face, sending him flying.

Only when he got up did he realize that he'd landed just short of where his great sword was jutting out from the ground.

The whole time he thought he had enough to spare to play with the old man only to find that not only had he been caught, he'd been left with a mesaage

'You better pick up your weapon or you're going to regret it.'

Somehow, sometime during this match their positions had changed, and now, he felt like the challenger instead of the old man.

He pulled the sword from the ground and held it in his natural pose, but even with his signature weapon back in his hand, he did not have the same confidence he did at the start of the fight.

He'd even begun to question if the old man was truly injured.

Questions he couldn't spare a moment to figure out as he initiated once more. Initiating a dash, he tilted his body weight forward to drag the hefty blade behind him, reaching in front of Ode in a flash..

And suddenly he changed his posture, throwing his legs in front as his torso leaned to the back, allowing his body to skid to a halt. His weapon on the other hand, didn't seem to get the memo, the inertia of it's own weight launching it into an arc while Alos kept a tight leash on the handle.

The strongest and fastest he could unleash in his repertoire with ll the weight focused on the very tip of the blade which was measured perfectly on Ode's torso. If this landed, it wouldn't matter if Ode was behind his shield or a castle wall, it would shred him to pieces, his only option was to runaway which was exactly the Alos's objective.

The only way to make old bull concede was to show it that the younger bull was stronger than it was.

But the old man didn't budge. Despite seeing this attack coming, he had maintained his sword and shield. 'Sh#t!' Alos thought as his attack moved forward.

The point of this spar was to fulfill an empty position, he already thought the old man had little to contribute with his current state, imagine what he'd be with only half a body left. But there was no stopping this move, he was already using all his strength and weight to pull the sword back to execute this swing, unless he suddenly gained twice his weight in the next nano second it would end in only once way.

But just before it would be too late for him to move, Ode did.

A premature sigh escaped Alos's lips before his eyes widened once more. Because contrary to his expectations, the man moved towards his attack instead of away, rasing his sword arm next to his head whilst the wind pressure had arrived early to scatter his hair

Everyone from Alos to everyone spectating blanched at the sight of this. Gwendolyn wanted to cover her eyes from this sight if only it would land before her hands reached her face.

Then the hand came down.

In an instant, it seemed as if all noise in everyone's ears were replaced by the blast of a gong. Most weren't able to see what happened when the hand came down as a shock wave of wind and dust assaulted their eyes. Even Alos found himself befuddled by what was going on, one moment he was holding his sword, and the next it had left his hands completely.

The weapon in question had dug itself half way into the ground with it's sharpened edge an inch away from his opponent's toes.

Ode's fist was held in mid air, a streak of blood dripping from where the flesh had broken apart from such an impact.

It took a while for the first person to register that Ode had parried the great sword by hitting it's side while mid swing, and in spectacular fashion at that. As their ears stopped ringing and the dust cleared, neither side had yet to make a move.

Everyone wondered what was going on until one of the contenders spoke, "I lost...". This announcement sent the chaotic minds of the spectator's into a further spiral. Both sides had taken away the other side's weapon, if anything Ode did it better than his opponent so why was he announcing his own loss.

Only three people in the place knew what was going on. Ode, Alos and Travis.

Though it would seem that they were tied in the battle at this point, Ode could no longer move.

Looking at his teacher and his rival Travis couldn't help but marvel at both sides.

His teacher had used the cultivation method passed around in the Charging Bulls squad. The perk was that although it didn't exactly give a boost of overall physique, in battle it somehow constantly pushed a warrior to become stronger, faster and more brutal.

It was almost like a constantly increasingly concentrated shot of adrenaline being syphoned into him. By the end of that fight, Alos had brought down so much pressure, that Ode had reached a level of strength that could match a whole battalion, which in itself was a feat worth mentioning

It was why Ode was having trouble at the beginning of battle, the longer they fought, and the tougher a fight Alos gave him, the tougher an opponent he became. On the other hand, if Alos had pulled out his moves at the beginning of the fight, it was hard to say if Ode could actually last this long and turn this into such a close fight.

But drawing out such strength in such a short time was a double edged sword, drawing out the dwindling amount of stamina Ode held in his againg muscles.

Alos just looked at his opponent and smiled, "It's a draw." He spoke before turning around and walking off stage, not waiting for a retort to his statement.

If anyone had any qualms about whether Ode or Grendolyn should take up a position of leadership, he'd certainly be the first to step up in their defense.