31 Obrecht's Fourth Periodical Battle Part 2

We remain speechless as we watch Obrecht swing the gray sword with his left hand, successfully fending off Raguk a few steps backwards. The former slips the gray sword so that the tip points down the same direction as his elbow. He then raises the black sword on his right and proceeds to cross it over the blade of the other, his knees slightly lowered and his feet precisely apart by a distance.

Panting he may be, but this does not diminish the brightness in Obrecht's eyes, the adrenaline caused by a well-matched fight making his blood boil in anticipation for more. I can feel the battle lust emanating from every fiber of his body.

"Ah, I get it now."

"What is it, Krael? What do you get?"

"Obrecht's fighting style has a wider range than most swordsman."

"Because he wields double swords?"

"Partly, yes. I thought that he included the light sword as a backup for himself if he had trouble with the heavy sword in general, but if you really look into it, he can adapt to use the gray sword as a shield for attacks, though it might be harder to do."

"…But the sword is hollow in the middle, won't the attacks just pass through", I question.

"But if you time it out properly, and let your opponents carelessly slide in the middle, Obrecht can easily flick the hilt to rotate the sword and disarm the other person, or better yet, break the other person's weapon if it was made of less superior material. This is Tungsten and Titanium we're talking about", Krael reasons out.

"All in all, he has a lot of options on what kind of fighting style he wants." Vera pouts and says, "I wish I had that kind of versatility. Alas—" Vera sighs and shrugs. "God and Aovialutre made me average."

"Don't belittle yourself; your aim is terrifying accurate and precise every time we practice. You just need the most compatible weapon on you", Krael says passively, as if he wasn't encouraging or complimenting someone.

Vera's eyes stray from the arena to glance at Krael, her cheeks slightly cherry in color.

Obrecht takes the lead on the following attacks, with his black sword swinging ferociously. They do not pause in their exchange, Raguk swinging deftly his leg as Obrecht jumps up on the air in a summersault and lands with a swing off his blade. Raguk dodges his blade by bending his upper torso backwards, and then kicking Obrecht hard on the face as he twists his body to the side, using the ground to anchor himself while his feet attack. Of course, Obrecht doesn't allow this as he uses his gray sword to shield against the kick.

Obrecht staggers back a couple of steps as Raguk shifts his weight on his arms and propels himself upright after a splendid cartwheel.

Taking the opportunity that Obrecht is off-balance, Raguk agilely kicks off the ground towards his opponent to mercilessly attack when the other was least ready. Unfortunately, Obrecht's eyes flash to him.

After having observed Raguk's style during battle, it seemed as if Obrecht had anticipated that Raguk would go for him when he was least ready, and so he had baited him. It was too late for Raguk to retreat. Obrecht lifted his gray hollow sword faster than how he moved before and slid Raguk's blade to the middle.

A few sparks at the friction of the two metals sliding past each other. With a flick of his wrist, Obrecht sends Raguk's sword flying towards the audience. A few younger students jump off their benches as the katana lands on the surface of the smooth stone bench, the tip got embedded on it, creating a crack visible at the sides of the blade.

I feel a bit relieved that, that small thing didn't break against the gigantic heavy swords Obrecht wielded. The blades here are stronger than they look.

Raguk and Obrecht straighten up, the former before the latter. There were a number of ways to defeat your opponent, but the majority was to yield the other unable to continue the fight. Since Obrecht has sent Raguk's sword out of the arena, Raguk cannot get it back unless he voluntarily moves out of the circular boundary, but that would instantly disqualify him.

Options like fighting bare-handedly were also available, but given that he already had a hard time fighting Obrecht with a sword, his chances would dramatically lower without a weapon to counter attack and defend with. Thus, Raguk nods to Rohati, who was strictly monitoring their fight.

Rohati sounds the gong again, signaling Raguk's defeat and Obrecht's victory. The audience sounded lively as they reminisced the parts they liked the most.

The two bow at each other before walking their own ways, deaf to the new buzzing of the younger generations. Raguk retrieves his sword and heads somewhere, while Obrecht just straight forwardly heads over to my direction.

"Congratulations", I say as he arrives.

A sincere smile breaks out from Obrecht's lips, quickly dispersing the somber look he had seconds ago, making it look like the other person wasn't him at all.

"Thanks, Vid", he says as he rubs the fur on my head.

Why does he act like I'm the one who won? Ah… never mind. This isn't so bad.

I smile contentedly behind the mask.