Blanc vs General Garen

The crowd went wild as a conclusion was reached after a fierce battle. 

No one dared to mock the defeated Sabre after he fought valiantly against a Swordmaster while only being an advanced swordsman.

Unbeknownst to Sabre, he gained quite a few fans after such a flashy and nail-biting match.

In contrast, although Grand Marshal Geraint was happy that Gavin won, he couldn't help but be disappointed after finding out that Gavin wasn't actually "stone-faced". 

He thought that one of Gavin's strengths was his mental fortitude but it seems that it was actually one of his weaknesses.

Geraint planned to talk to Gavin about this after the joint military exercise.

Gavin was also disappointed with himself. Although he won, he felt like he lost a lot of face and some of his soldiers were probably disappointed in him as well.

Fortunately, Gavin was a determined guy. Instead of being depressed, he vowed to come back stronger.

As for Helena, she was happy after watching Sabre's performance. She knew that it was only a matter of time before Sabre could finally break through to Swordmaster.

After making sure that Sabre was recovering peacefully, Helena noticed that someone was walking towards the dueling grounds.

"Right on time! Blanc! It's your turn next!"

Everyone turned their heads to look at the person who was slowly walking towards the dueling grounds.

Resonance City's soldiers cheered in excitement while the Terravalleans were confused.

"Isn't he the City Lord? Why is he walking towards the center?"

Similar questions popped up in the minds of the ordinary and elite Terravallean soldiers. 

It was understandable though since they weren't present when Blanc and Helena stood their ground against the royal guards of King Terravalle IX.

It was also evident that not all the generals knew what was going on since there were only two generals who witnessed Blanc's combat prowess.

"So he's finally up huh?"

Geraint smiled as he muttered to himself. 

After seeing that their Grand Marshal expected this to happen, the curious generals finally asked about what happened during the audience with the king.

A Terravallean general named Eusford explained what happened in great detail including the time when Blanc sent the royal guards flying with a single hit.

They all knew that the royal guards were only slightly weaker than them, the generals. Even some of them couldn't send the royal guards flying with a single hit.

That meant only one thing…This city lord was a Swordmaster!

None of them dared to question the qualifications of this city lord anymore after determining that he was most likely a Swordmaster.

They were filled with respect for Blanc after hearing that he became a Swordmaster earlier than some of them even though he was busy running the city.

Naturally, Grand Marshal Geraint also chose a Swordmaster as Blanc's opponent.

A general named Garen walked towards the training ground. His body looks huge compared to Blanc but that didn't faze Blanc at all.

He stood firmly in front of him and assumed his fighting pose.

"Hoh? Garen's opponents are usually intimidated by his size even if his opponent is also a Swordmaster…It seems that this city lord isn't simple at all…"

Geraint thought to himself.

After a few more moments of staring at each other, the match finally began.

Blanc and Garen circled each other and surprisingly, it was Blanc who chose to attack first.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

He tried to attack Garen with a swift combination but Garen was able to block everything easily.

"He's a Swordmaster after all…"

Blanc muttered to himself. He thought that he could overwhelm such a large guy in terms of speed but the problem is, the guy is quite dexterous with his arms and hands.

It seems that it would be hard for him to land a clean blow.

While he was pondering about what to do, Garen charged at him and swung his blunt iron greatsword downwards.

*BANG*

Fortunately, Blanc had fast reflexes so it wasn't that hard for him to get out of the way.

He didn't dare block that full-powered downward slash from a guy with a huge physique like Garen.

Not only would it be unwise to do so, but there was no need to block it since he could just dodge to the side.

*CLANG* *BANG* *CLANG* *BANG*

The two combatants went back and forth as attackers and defenders.

Blanc's attacks were blocked by Garen while Garen's attacks were dodged by Blanc.

A stalemate!

No one was able to get any advantage over the other and Blanc knew that he would be the first one to get exhausted since it seems that this Garen specializes in long battles.

Blanc's patient fighting style finally met its match! 

He knew that he had to take risks before he could even have a chance to defeat this huge Swordmaster.

A few seconds later, an idea popped up in Blanc's mind. He smiled as he muttered to himself 

"Hmm…Maybe I can try that combat strategy…"