Duel

The two blades connected and a loud clang resounded in the air. Belingar's broadsword fell down from overhead. Cain used his shortsword to block.

'It's not gonna be able to block my blade!' Belingar smirked. The boy was so cocky and yet he was gonna let it end in one swing. Obviously, he would not survive this blow but no one would miss an orphan.

"ah?" Belingar's eyed widened in surprise. Cain never intended to block at all, it was a bluff. As soon as the blades connected he turned the blade so the flat was towards the ground. He then continued to sidestep out of the way. Now that there was no threat from the blade itself he stepped forward and went right for Belingar's neck.

'Shit!' the force of his downward swing was too great, dodging wasn't an option. Belingar grit his teeth. There was no other option. Not even his supervisors knew he had this. If they did he would surely be promoted and he had no desire for that, at least not anymore.

Belignar focused and called upon the power within his chest. Only one was there but that alone was enough to make Belignar one to be feared. Within his body a green light raged, unseen by anyone in the field.

Belignar could feel his skin harden, no blade would work on his skin. Fatigue quickly built up, thankfully this fight was over.

Cain's swing reached its goal and it struck Belignar's exposed neck. gasps arose from the crowd. No one expected a death today, especially the soldier's death. Perhaps they gasped too soon, surprise continued to fill the onlookers.

The shortsword stopped against the neck, not even a trickle of blood could be seen. Belingar studied the youth in front of him. He did his best attempt at a poker face but it was a poor one. His eyes shook, his mouth opened slightly, and a gasp released.

Belignar's sword had struck the ground and sunk into it. He would need to retrieve it to finish this fight. He would not fall for the orphan's tricks again. The next blow would land and the fight would end. Memories of his lonely years' of training flooded through his mind. He personally knew why the youth fought so hard, maybe that's why he was so harsh. Belingar knew killing the kid would be the best gift he could ever give him.

Cain recovered surprisingly quickly though, he used his foot to hold the broadsword to the ground so it couldn't be recovered. Once again he looked Belingar directly in the eyes. The purple color seemed so much brighter than it did before, almost like it was glowing. Then in the blink of an eye, the boy swung his sword.

Belingar was awe-struck, the power behind it was weak due to the boy's physical limitations but the confidence and precision the swing had. It reminded him of the single slash he saw from a royal guard in the capital.

'If this kid had some monster cores or a card I would be dead' but Cain didn't have those. So once again, Cain's sword stopped against Belingar's chest. The kid was impressive, but it was time to finish it. Using his inhuman strength, Belingar lifted the sword while Cain still stood on it. This threw the orphan tumbling to the ground, wide open for attack.

Belingar used his foot to pin Cain down, and wouldn't want to miss again. Fatigue ran through his body, and using his power took a big toll on him. He would have been happy never using this power in his life, but something about this boy... Not only are his sword skills impressive, but his very existence got under Belingar's skin.

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Cain looked up at his impending doom. A giant sword swung for his face, and an unnaturally heavy foot planted on his chest. It was probably for the best if he died. The nuns sacrificed so much to provide for him. He's noticed for years now that their portions of food were always scarily small in comparison to his. The church didn't make much money and the people around here didn't have spare funds to donate.

Cain slowly let his eyes shut. He didn't want to die, of course, he wanted to be a great swordsman. Then with all the money he made, he could come back and repay the village for their kindness. But, his death was set in stone at this point. He didn't know why his opponent was trying to kill him, technically it was allowed within the law. He had been formally challenged to a duel. But no one in his village ever really fought to the death.

Before the sword could land, Cain's eyes suddenly erupted in pain. Almost like someone had poured molten lava inside his eyeballs. He needed to open them, let whatever pained him escape.

Upon opening his eyes, Cain was greeted with a strange purple mist floating in the air. Beyond that purple mist was Belingar. He still was bringing down the sword, and strangely a few tears fell from his eyes.

'Strange, why is it taking so long to kill me?' Looking around it seemed almost as if the entire world was moving in slow motion. All except the mist, it seemed almost alive in its movement. The pain seeped from his eyes but seemingly moved into the rest of his head instead.

"Fight, Win, Kill!" over and over those words seemed to sound all around. Confused Cain looked for the source but he couldn't find anything. Panic welled up within him, what was going on?

"KILL!" The voice boomed in his ear. Cain jumped and without thinking about it threw his sword. The power behind it was immense, stronger than should have been possible. As soon as the sword left his hand, suddenly the mist disappeared and time started to move like normal.

Belingar quickly noticed the sword flying towards him and did the only thing he could. He let go of his broadsword and raised his arm to block the flying blade. Cain was confused by this action, it's not like the sword would be able to break skin anyway.

Clearly, Cain spoke too soon. The tip of the sword met his arm, and then it didn't stop. The entire blade of the shortsword went through his arm and didn't stop until the hilt hit flesh. The tip of the blade stopped mere centimeters away from Belingar's eye. The large man simply plopped to the ground. The shock was unmistakable on his face. He didn't say anything for a good moment, everyone around seemed to freeze. Finally, he said 2 words that made the crowd erupt in cheers.

"I concede."