LXXX

Toril immediately flings himself towards me, and I immediately pick up on a complete lack of mana manipulation in the move, whether air, earth, or some straight magic technique. [Pretty strong guy, eh?] I notice, holding up my sword to block the attack. That both my level and strength level are much lower than his is revealed when I immediately stumble, nearly crumbling to the ground after one attack. Still, I am hardly [that] weak; I leap backwards, out of the range of his followup attack, a large sweep through the space I had previously occupied.

I am unable to infuse my jump with wind attribute mana, as any attempt at mana manipulation would be suppressed by my sword. [Man, this really is a big downside. It is good for brutally suppressing mages, but against non-mages, it immediately removes my greatest advantage. Still, his inability to defeat me in one blow and seeming lack of magical methods have almost guaranteed my victory. His sword was chipped merely by hitting the flat of my blade, I only need to resist passively and victory will be mine.

I do just that, blocking his attacks at every opportunity, never bothering to dodge, watching as his blade is chipped away. To his credit, or perhaps the refs, he doesn't try anything underhanded. Add that to the weight and size of his blade, and, despite me clearly being of lower level, I don't have much difficulty blocking his attacks. Of course, greater swordsmanship certainly helps as well.

Apparently growing frustrated by my lack of aggression in a technique that is only wearing away his pretty blade, he growls out "Do something already!"

I am too focused on my task and exhausted from the constant battering to answer, but I do think [Heh heh, why would I? If this were to continue indefinitely, I would eventually run out of stamina and lose. However, I am still in pretty good shape, from my great experience with drawn-out battles at the hands of Reinhart, I can likely continue on for hours. And, sadly for him, his sword won't last that long, it takes far too much damage when up against my still-pristine legendary blade. However, that would grow boring, and we are already approaching our thirty minute time limit, I would rather not deal with that. So, let's grant his wish and finish him now.

[As for how to do it, it is really quite simple. While he is a good deal stronger than me, I am undoubtedly the superior swordsman; his attacks are honestly quite basic and would give me no trouble whatsoever if he wasn't able to put so much strength behind them. And, even with that strength, I only need one good dodge and a quick jab and this fight would be over.

[However, I would rather end this with a bit of flair, you know? He was even able to bluff me into thinking that he may actually be a worthy opponent, for that, he deserves a humiliating defeat!]

Speaking for the first time during this fight, I say to him "Very well then, cut off your attacking and switch to defense. I promise that I shall defeat you within one swing of my sword, if I do not, I shall concede this match. Does that sound acceptable?"

"Your hubris will be the death of you… fine. You better not complain when I am declared the victor though." I glance to the referee, hovering above all the while, who nods.

My friend takes a stance as far away as the field permits, sword held defensively in front of him. "Ready?" I ask.

He only snorts in response, his eyes never leaving me. I take a deep breath and lunch forward, coming down with a massive overhead slash. If our duel was still progressing normally, I would be wary of him taking advantage of the massive opening I leave as I charge forward with my sword held above my head; but as it is, I have no worry.

[Heh heh. You shouldn't have accepted my offer… though I do suppose that you had no choice given that your sword was sure to be destroyed before your moderately superior strength defeated me. Well, now you will lose.]

My sword swings down in a simple arc, going for power over any appearance of subtlety. He raises his sword to block, a simple endeavor given the obvious trajectory of my sword. And then, like a knife cutting through cheese, my sword cuts through his thick blade and into his thigh.

"I believe that is my victory."

"Wha… my sword! It was being chipped earlier, but to cut through it with such ease?! Your blade must be of at least legendary quality! Ahh… yes, it is my loss. I should have gone for disclosure, how foolish of me…"

[Well, at least he has the dignity to accept his loss. I would insist that I don't surrender, and, as the last blow has been dealt, that the victory belongs to me. Though perhaps that wouldn't fly, after all, most melee duels would be pretty much over with that injury to his thigh, it would be somewhat unrealistic to continue.]

"Well, without the advantage my blade provided, you would have won for sure; your fighting ability and personal strength were far above what I had predicted, though I won, I would like to voluntarily retract my ill-informed insults towards you."

[Not that it matters anyway; my antagonization of my friend here has directly led to great benefit on my part; that twenty gold is a good sum, clearly the wager of someone confident in his chances of victory.

[Seriously though, I am unsure what to think of my blade. On one hand, it single handedly allowed me to win here today, against opponents stronger than I but with weaker weaponry, victory is almost guaranteed, so long as their speed or strength is not so much more powerful as to completely crush me or run circles around me in battle. But on the other hand, it is a wholly counterproductive weapon for a spellsword to possess, almost bordering on utter foolishness. Being unable to utilize any spells in battle is a massive disadvantage, perhaps even greater than the advantages a legendary weapon brings.

[Essentially, so long as I am the superior swordsman or am up against an opponent not too much more powerful than myself, I shall win. Against too strong an opponent, I shall lose in melee and lose the battle. Against any weaker mage, I shall crush them; their magic will do nothing to me as I charge them down and teach them why being unarmed in battle is a bad idea. Against strong enough mages, they will overpower my sword and crush me, as I am unable to use magic to retaliate.

[Overall, there are certainly strengths and weaknesses of this sword in and of itself, viewing myself as both a mage and a swordsman, unable to use more than one at a time. However, the issue comes in that I desire to be a spellsword, I need to be able to integrate magic into my swordsmanship technique, this blade fully blocks such efforts. Add on that I am unable to use even basic movement enhancement techniques during battle, such as propelling myself with wind, and that, when I again acquire a higher level of elemental manipulation, even my mighty asset of DNTI will be useless, suppressed by my blade.

[Thankfully, a silver lining and a hint of a solution comes in that the blade's sheath limits its effects, I can still have the weapon strapped to my side while casting magic. Therefore, there is not much real detriment to carrying the blade around (and, of course, I can always carry it around in my dimension ring.)

[The solution is rather simple, I just need to find a decent blade to use in general-use scenarios, saving my legendary blade with its critical flaw for situations in which it would be more advantageous (or necessary) to take advantage of its features as a much stronger blade than most others as well as its ability to dispel magic. Considering my strength and ring, carrying two weapons isn't really much of a burden, especially when I'll be treating Reinhart's blade as a tool for special scenarios from now on.

[This way, I'll be able to fight with the style I had previously been working on, imbuing magic into my swordsmanship, while not giving up my legendary sword in the areas in which it excels. A truly good plan, if I do say so myself. Well, perhaps I can convince my new friend to lead me to the local armory after he shows the way to the guild hall, eh?]

Before my friend can respond for my strangely-timed compliment, the referee says "This duel has been deemed fair, the victory goes to Anetor. Toril, you are responsible for providing twenty gold, directions to the Imperial Guild Hall, and a letter of recommendation to said guild hall. Failure to do any of these things will result in a permanent ban from these arenas. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Toril answers with a sigh.

"Very well then. Please, see yourselves out." At that, our referee flies off, to go mediate a match between two burly bald guys.

Toril turns to me. "I knew you had a good blade, but to think it could cut through mine in one swing… and its not like mine was cheap, either. Would you mind telling me where you got it?"

"I got it from my teacher, he left it to me when he died." [Not technically the truth, but close enough.] "Seriously though, you were quite a bit more powerful than I initially anticipated."

"Ha! Hardly. Despite the fact that I obviously outclass you in level by a good deal, you still managed to win. Even with a fancy blade that easily blocked my own, you still greatly outclassed me in swordsmanship, I never even came close to landing a hit during that fight. Even if the fight had continued, you somehow were wearing out slower than my sword, you were almost certain to win. Ah… I see why you demonstrated such a seemingly reckless disposition, with your proficiency and special sword, your victory was highly probable, even if you actually were as ignorant of my abilities as you claim. Plus, it lured me into a false sense of security when you made your final offer, you had thus far displayed only an attitude of overconfidence, it didn't seem all that strange even though you were more powerful than I had expected. Add in that I was growing increasingly frustrated… well, you certainly deserve your victory…

"Gah!" he continues on abruptly. "The letter of recommendation and directions are easy, I would give them to you for free if I encountered someone of your ability out and about. But the twenty gold! That is not an insignificant sum, you are aware! Ahh… perhaps this is just my reward for being so rude when you asked for directions. Had someone been so rude to me, a man of similar power to yourself, I would have responded equally as extreme… no, more extreme, than you did. Much more than words, blades would have flown had such unwarranted disrespect been shown towards me. Yes, you have no reason to apologize to me, I ought to apologize to you, for my manner of treating you! People able to rival me that are not adventurers are so slim, apparently I grew overconfident and careless. So, then, my sincerest apologies for my unnecessarily rude treatment towards you upon our first encounter."

[Oh? I had taken this man for a muscle-for-brains fool, perhaps he is more intelligent than I had given him credit for.]

"Heh heh…" I laugh, intentionally infusing it with an awkward edge as I scratch the back of my neck. [Man, I should become an actor!] "You only called me a shrimp, such is mild compared to the insults I directed at you, thus, I apologized. To be truthful, I was goading you unnecessarily, as I have said, I greatly underestimated you, I was simply trying to obtain entertainment from someone who appeared to me to be overly self-confident, it's a bad habit of mine."

"Well, I can't blame you, if a weakling insulted my strength, I too would perhaps want to mess with him a bit. Alright, this way to the guild."

Without noticing, we had made our way out of the central arena building, back into the bustling city streets. Again demonstrating his impeccable knowledge of the city's arrangement, Toril takes a very odd route through alleys wide and thin, avoiding the crowds that fill the more major pathways as we make our way to the guild.