Alec readjusted his grip on his sword with his broken hand. Well, I’d thought it was broken, but it had healed almost instantly. That’d be his immortal demon blood at work. There was a fire in his eyes that seemed to say, “In North God Style, this is where the real fight begins.”
Stepping forward, Gino launched into a ferocious attack. With every swing of his sword, he broke one of Alec’s arms or legs. It didn’t take Alec more than an instant to recover, so the attacks didn’t disable him, but that was the only upside. Alec was probably trying plenty of moves, but none fazed his opponent. Gino didn’t allow a single opening for Alec to go on the offensive.
At last, Alec lowered his sword and said, “I yield.”
He was unwounded, but his clothes were in tatters, and the tip of his wooden sword was in splinters. Gino, meanwhile, was unscathed. He was damp with sweat, but it was still an overwhelming victory. I hadn’t expected there to be such a wide gap, not against an opponent as strong as Alec. Gino could have rivaled the Great Powers—wait, scratch that. He was already one of the Great Powers.
“My word, you’re strong!” Alec exclaimed. “This has been a reminder that no matter how strong you are, there’s always someone stronger.”
“Ah, but you fought one-handed. Who knows what would happen in a real battle?”
“If this were a real battle, I expect I’d be in pieces,” Alec said, graciously accepting his defeat.
This was what the Sword God could do with a practice sword without a scabbard. With a real sword, he’d be even faster. The gap between them might be even greater then.
“Right.” Still gripping his wooden sword, Alec came back to where we sat. Despite losing, his expression was bright. There was a touch of disappointment there, but nothing like how he’d yelled and cried back in the Biheiril Kingdom. I guess he’d grown too.
“Hm?” I glanced over and saw that all eyes in the training hall were on me. Even though the sparring was over, Gino was still in the center of the hall. He was watching me too.
I heard the Sword Saints talking in hushed voices.
“The Seventh Great Power…”
“We get to witness a battle between two Great Powers!”
“Not that the Sword God will lose, of course.”
“We might even get to see some of Dragon God Orsted’s powers.”
Wuh? Huh? Say what now?
“Sir Rudeus,” Alec whispered in my ear, “by all means, demonstrate for them the might of the Magic Armor with which you defeated me!”
At that, I responded automatically. I already had my speech prepared.
“My word, you at the Sword Sanctum really get fired up about your training! But would you look at that? The sun’s about to set, and I’m starving! What do you say we wrap things up here?!”
It didn’t go over so well.
I wrapped up my visit to the Sword Sanctum. The Sword Saints all thought I was a coward, but what did I care? The Sword Sanctum—or, rather, Gino Britz—would remain neutral for as long as he lived. That was good enough for me.