15 Old Man POV (2)
Bran Valtz POV...
My wandering eyes stop at a certain stage as I see something unexpected.
The weakest and a strongest
My interest got piqued within just a glimpse of them.
A battle between the weakest and strongest isn't something I can see every day.
There might be a time when a sparring partner is weak and strong, but the gap between their strength ain't this far.
Just looking at this distance, I can already guess that these two individuals' power is like heaven and earth.
Their aura that lingers around them, like a kitten and a tiger, tells everything.
Interesting...
It may sound exaggerated, but I can feel my heart throbbing so fast in excitement.
Although the guy is visibly weak, I can see the flame of determination in his eyes.
He's not someone who will just give up even in this disadvantageous time.
How long has it been since I felt something like this?
The smile on my face expands a little.
Screens of memories gives a flashback of memories appears in my mind.
This young man makes me remember my younger self.
I have to look at his information.
I stand up and walk towards the table where there are scrolls scattered on it.
I pick up a random scroll and expectedly get the right one.
Having the scroll in my hand, I walks back to my seat but stand still.
Watching the two individual chats, I open the scroll which makes the information inside appears before me.
So his name is Rolan...
I nods my head... But...
Wait~
My eyes suddenly squint, my mind blanks after reading the name.
I think... This name is familiar.
I turn my head back and forth; from him, to the photo on the scroll; trying to remember where I have seen him before.
After a while, I tilt my head and search in my brain.
I bit my lower lips and I nod my head with a little doubt.
After a little consideration, no matter what I think about to, I can't deny anymore.
He is that guy.
Although I am already an old man, and my memory is a little littered, it still can function without a problem. It didn't take a long time to remember who he was.
He was the guy that got help from his sister to get enrolled in this academy.
Back then, I thought he was also as special as his sister and watched him since he entered the Academy.
Unexpectedly, this only led me to a dead-end; he turned out to be a coward and useless. The gap between him and his sister is very vast.
But why? I can feel that something is amiss with him right now. Something changed in him, but I somehow can't tell what it is.
Tsk*
Is he hiding something? Or do I misunderstand him?
Nonetheless, the fact that someone who always escapes from a battle suddenly fights someone powerful as his sparring partner is something not to be put aside.
Interesting.
I'll give him another chance to claim himself.
I'll see what he is up to.
.
.
.
Third POV*
Knowing that the both of them are finally ready, Rolan inserts force in his feet and bends down, then makes a powerful jump.
The force of the wind makes it difficult to point the sword straight, so his sword is pointing behind. The way he runs looks like a ninja at the moment.
Although his movements are awkward, he doesn't mind it. Not to mention he is a complete newbie; this is his first time fighting using an actual weapon and magic.
Tsk*
Smirks appear on both faces of Jasmine and Rolan as their eyes meet.
Jasmine didn't wait for a Rolan to come, her hand slowly moved and drew an invisible magic circle in the air.
She only eats milliseconds, and the magic circle has created. She opens her palm and points towards Rolan as she casts a spell.
"Darkness"
A defensive skill to make the enemy trap into the world of darkness. To make their senses weaken, especially their sight.
As the darkness engulfs the world, Rolan abruptly halts his movement and looks around him.
His eyebrows furrow at this scene, but this didn't make him lose hope nor make his concentration in chaos.
It's just at the right moment, he learned something from the unlocked memory of Old Rolan.
He smiles proudly as he thinks, 'Time to test my new skill!'
Rolan takes a deep breath and leads it into his belly before he transfers a powerful force to his feet. He stamps on the ground and supports his hand; he rotates his body and waves the sword in the air three sixty degrees.
This technique has named Sword Dance.
This is a skill that he learned from Old Rolan's memory. With this skill, he can cast away the dark energy that hinders his movement.
As he rotates, a stir of wind appears around his body and creates a small tornado.
The tornadic wind slowly sucks the dark energy and causes the darkness to break.
Just a few seconds and the world turns back to normal. The darkness didn't even stand for a few minutes against the tornados.
Swoosh*
When the darkness disappears, the tornado turns slower and comes back inside Rolan's body.
Without giving time for shocked Jasmine, Rolan stamps his feet once again and stirs another powerful jump.
He pulls his sword as he points it to Jasmine.
Bam*
Unfortunately, even with how fast his actions are, Jasmine also proves that she's not slow nor a fool, either.
Dark energy comes out from her palm and leads her mana to envelop her entire body. She makes the academy lend armor and her energy to blend and turns her defense strength into max.
As Rolan's sword hits Jasmine, something (un)expected happens.
With the sound of *boom* Rolan feels a tremendous force walk from the sword and make his hand numb. The force didn't stop, but rapidly crawled into his entire body and made him weaken and fly like a paper away from Jasmine.
Clang*
Argh*
His face turns green as he groans in pain when his hand that is holding the sword smashes on the concrete floor.
With the force that he got from hitting Jasmine and the weight of the sword, it is so painful that he accidentally loses his grip on it and throws it away.
He feels like the bones in his hand just then into a million pieces.
'As expected, I am so weak! '
He whispered beneath his breath.
His heartbeats turn heavy as his breathing gets limited. However, this doesn't mean he'll give up already. 'Although it is painful, at least, it can testify that I am still alive!: With a bitter smile, he comforts himself.
He lays for a few seconds until his breathing gets better before he raises his feet and hops up.
As he stands up wackily, he can't help but spit his saliva and raises his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.
'The taste of the blood isn't nice. '
Although he feels lightheaded, he still stubbornly tries to walk and pick up the sword.
"Are you okay?!"
Jasmine, not far away, lowers her hand and a sense of worry appears on her face, but just as she's about to step forward to help Rolan, he gesture her to halt with a wave of his hand. He smiles at her and says; "I'm okay, let's continue"
Holding the sword, Rolan takes a few deep breaths and cracks his bones to ease the pain, even a little.
Just now, he underestimated or; he merely gave a little preparation. But now that he finally wakes up from reality and understands that their power has a gap like heaven and earth, he decides he'll give more of himself to this spar.
Although it won't help much, at least he may hold longer than this.
He circulates the remaining mana inside his mana storage and leads it towards the sword.
Mana, or faint black smoke that is almost like Jasmine's energy, comes out from his hand and enters the handle of the sword before it hastily envelops the whole blade.
Looking at his mana color, Rolan suddenly feels startled.
He watches the sword until it turns into a hazy black blade and looks more intimidating.
His guts are telling him that something is weird.
He does not know that he has dark mana, and even after seeing that he can manipulate it, there is no sign of him opening a memory of Old Rolan about it.
There is the only thing he could think of. That is; this is his own mana and not from Old Rolan.
Unfortunately, although it feels weird, he doesn't have too much time to think at the moment.
He puts all the thought at the back of his head and looks at Jasmine.
The battle is still ongoing.
...
Rolan POV*
Bam*
Argh*
Clang*
Another failure...
I got sent flying again and slams on the ground.
Blood drips in my mouth, and cuts are visible around my entire body.
After a long battle, it turns out I really don't have enough power to damage Jasmine even a little.
Even a punching bag would feel ashamed to be compared to me...
Tsk*
If only I try to train my mana and physical body and didn't solely rely on the memories of the damn old Rolan, maybe I won't end up in this state.
Although there is no use in blaming myself, I just can't restrain myself from doing so.
I lay on the floor and closed my eyes. I put my hand on my belly as I take several deep breaths to calm myself.
The pain is now running through my entire body and I can feel my muscles shaking. I can barely move and I don't even have enough energy to support myself to stand up.
However, although I lost both from the sparring and the gamble, I can't say that I earned anything. At least I understood something.
I am weak. Not just weak, but too weak.
I can't rely solely on memories, but I have to train myself too...
Also, this fight helps my prowess to progress so much...
From this onward, I'll try to train as much as I can.
Plummets of sweat slip from my forehead and entire face, slowly soaking the floor as I mutter to myself.
