Chapter 8 - The duel

As both the boys started at each other waiting to begin. Each had a different reason for wanting to fight. Gil wanted to test himself and see where he stands in terms of power. He know his stats but want able to compare them to others. Joe wanted to fight to show he was the strongest. News that Gil broke a sword in a single swing during the test spread to the other groups and they thought his power was strength related. To Joe, who always wanted to be the strongest, this was a sign of weakness. This was why Joe was happy to fight, he was confident in his power and believed he would win.

Only focusing on each other and not the people around them the word "Begin" seemed older then it should be. At that instant they both charged forward. Gil set of sooner and was faster so reached the Joe before Joe reached him. This meant on was ready sooner.

Gil used the same attack he did during the test, dashing forward then swinging with a slash, but this time he followed through instead of sliding down. Joe, although was a second late to attack he wasn't any slower then Gil to block the strike. The sound of Gils sword and Joes battle axe meeting for the first time filled the hall. Both of them using there strength to attempt to ouch the other back.

Joe wanted to push him back to prove he was the strongest at the earliest possible moment.

Gil wanted to observe how the mana around Joe acts when he uses his power. He saw, unlike Natasha where the mana comes from the environment to form her power, Joes came from within himself moving into his arms as he pushed his axe.

After no one was able to push the other back, Joe acted first. He brought his own axe back causing Gil to stumble forward. Joe followed through swiftly swinging his blade again, with the small distance from when he pulled his axe back matched with Gil being of balance, when Gil blocked the axe he was pushed backwards. This action caused some cheers from the crowd as the two exchanged there first blows.

[-10 health]

Gil had not taken any damage since he had the system and wasn't aware it showed this. "After the battle I need to find out how many health points I have" Gil thought to himself.

"Seems I'm the stronger one" Joe stated.

Gil didn't bother to respond as he charges on again, he activated his swordsmanship skill. When he had this activated he felt like he's movements where cleaner and sharper. As he and Joe brought down there weapons clashing again, in the second the force caused bother there arms to go numb for a second, Gil raised his spare hand.

As Gil raises his hand, Joe couldn't move his axe in time, he could only watch as a ball of fire was formed and shot at his chest. As the fire blast hit Joe he stumbled back with a smouldering circle in his chest.

All the spectators cheered for this calling for "Silver" or "Joe". After the last exchange there seemed to be more people cheering for "Silver". There where a few people in the crowd that weren't cheering but watching the match as a chance to observe and learn.

Capitalising on the stubbing Joe, Gil picked forward. Attacking with slashes and mana burst of all the elements, not allowing Joe to attack and pushing him further and further back.

The duel suddenly turned into a one sided attack all the way into Joe fell to one knee. In a split second Joe roll beside him, with each facing the other way on one knee. At first people thought Gil fell due to exhaustion but soon realised his hand was behind Joes with his blade against his neck.

"So, who was is the strongest" Gil whispered.

Up to this point no one had heard Gil speak, even though it was a whisper a few of the people near them headed this and got shoved sent down there spine.

"I surrender" Joe said with a saddened tone.

[200 exp acquired]

[level 10 has been reached please open status screen for new update]

After Gil saw this message he decided to head to his bed and ignore everything else. As he left the platform a few people went up to speak to him but Gil just walked past. As he got to the doors of the training room, Natasha was stood there and saw Gil walk past everyone and what she thought straight to her. Natasha wasn't an arrogant person and thought everybody wanted to talk to her. It's just that is what she had experienced, she had never met someone like Gil who seemed to not care about her status or beauty and treated her like everyone else, as he walked right out the doors not even turning his head.