Chapter 44: Steadfast as a Rock, Fencing for True Men

Roxy blinked.

"...Does... that... does he know magic?"

Hearing this, Rudy’s stern expression suddenly relaxed, as if he had found some comfort, and he let out a chuckle.

"Fortunately, he doesn't know the first thing about magic... If Allen had any talent for magic as well, wouldn't he have to grab Roxy to be his teacher all over again? That would be way too dangerous for me!"

"Ah... I see..."

Roxy breathed a sigh of relief, completely missing what kind of danger Rudy was implying. She turned her head to look at the two figures in the courtyard, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Rudy watched Roxy's expression, feeling vaguely as though something was amiss, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what the problem was.

Meanwhile, Sylphiette blinked, glancing sideways at Roxy through her lashes, before her eyelashes fluttered and she, too, looked toward Allen.

In the courtyard, Allen and Paul had finished warming up.

Allen and Paul stood three meters apart. Compared to his relaxed posture holding the blade during his confrontation with Rudy earlier, today, facing Paul who was likewise a swordsman, he assumed a stance of absolute readiness.

With his legs in a deep lunge and firmly planted on the ground, he held his sword with both hands, resting the blade back against his shoulder, the spine of the sword extremely close to his right shoulder.

Paul looked at Allen with an easygoing smile.

"Ready? Here I come, then."

Allen took a deep breath, his pupils sharply contracting. The nascent core of Dragon Saint Battle Aura within his abdomen squeezed and compressed, surging through his body while carrying his native battle aura.

He 'perceived' the dust drifting slowly before him and smiled.

"Ready. Let's begin."

The moment the words fell, Paul’s blade had already swept toward Allen's left shoulder, far out of the blade's initial range!

Soundless Blade!

The next instant, the two figures crossed paths.

Paul stumbled slightly as he turned around in astonishment.

Allen’s feet remained steadfastly rooted to the ground.

He didn't even turn around; with his back to Paul, he merely tilted his head to lock eyes with the latter. The posture of resting the blade against his right shoulder had shifted only slightly, moving the hand holding the sword from the side of his forehead down in front of him.

The hilt of the sword happened to be right above his left shoulder.

"Did he miss?!" Zenith's exclamation rang out.

Paul dropped his easygoing expression, his face turning grave as he casually answered the question Zenith had voiced for everyone.

"...He didn't miss."

He narrowed his eyes, staring at the sword hilt hovering just above Allen's left shoulder. The tactile feedback transmitted through the blade during that split second of lightning-fast exchange was still fresh in his memory.

He had indeed struck.

Yet it had no effect.

Allen's counter-maneuver just now was simply too 'impeccable'.

He had 'precisely' transitioned his sword stance, 'precisely' placed the hilt directly above his left shoulder, 'precisely' caught the tip of the sword he had swung down, and 'precisely' deflected his blade away.

Accurate down to a fraction of a millimeter.

Without a single wasted movement.

It was as if... a massive boulder amid a rushing torrent: steadfast, utterly devoid of openings.

---

Paul stared at Allen for a long moment before asking.

"Aren't you going to turn around?"

Allen, still turning his head to look at him, kept his blade positioned against his right shoulder.

"There's no need. This stance is enough for me to handle attacks coming from any angle. Of course, that's assuming I can 'perceive' them, and I suppose I managed to perceive the old man's Soundless Blade just in time. Good fortune."

Paul chuckled.

"An ultimate synthesis of heightened perception and the Water God Style's Flowing Technique ultimate art, huh... Then, if I were just a little faster, is there any way I could land a strike on you before you even perceive me swinging my blade?"

Allen smiled with narrowed eyes.

"Feel free to try, old man."

Paul let out a sharp chuckle that drifted away in the wind. The next instant, he had already materialized right beside Allen.

The sword in his hand was suspended less than half a meter from the center of Allen's brow.

Yet Allen’s hand had moved in tandem with Paul’s form, folding his own blade right in front of his own forehead.

With a crisp *clang!*, Paul’s sword tip was parried aside by Allen's deflection. This blow, too, was deflected away by Allen using the Flowing Technique with perfect 'precision'.

However, a smile bloomed at the corners of Paul's mouth.

Seizing the momentum, he released his grip on the sword, letting the blade slip past Allen's eyes. At the exact same time, Paul's snapping sidekick had already closed in on Allen's chest!

A feint!

All that talk about being slightly faster earlier was merely a ruse to make Allen mistakenly believe Paul intended to unleash a Sword God Style slash!

From the very beginning, he had intended to abandon his sword, using the seemingly ferocious thrust as a mere feint while placing the entire outcome of the duel on the whipping kick of his lower body!

Even so, Paul's well-laid plans came to nothing.

Allen shifted his blade once more. The instant before Paul's foot could kick into his chest, he used the hilt of his sword to barely graze Paul's foot, applying a deflecting force via the Flowing Technique to fling the kick backward past his own ribs.

At that very fraction of a second, a piercing brilliance flashed sharply in the eyes Paul and Allen exchanged. The leg Paul still had planted on the ground suddenly exerted explosive force, utilizing the kick and the deflecting momentum of the Flowing Technique to accelerate. He snatched back the very blade he had just released behind Allen, slammed his airborne foot firmly onto the ground, and channeled a fresh surge of power from the earth up through his waist and abdomen, twisting his body to lash a sword strike toward Allen's back!

There was a follow-up technique even after the whipping kick!

At this point, Allen didn't even have time to turn around!

Seeing that the blade was about to cleave into Allen's back, a trace of triumph welled up in Paul's eyes.

'This Soundless Blade was the absolute fastest speed I could possibly muster, and he hasn't even turned around yet... I've won... How could this be?!!'

Right at that moment, Allen lowered his shoulder.

A thin, razor-sharp blade, ethereal as a phantom, swept backward from over his shoulder, accurately intercepting the edge of Paul's sword just in time.

A subtle, screeching friction vibrated through the air, sending ripples echoing across space under Paul's gaze, which had rapidly transformed into utter shock.

With a sharp *clack*, the sword was batted away by the tip of the blade, howling as it spun past Paul's ear, piercing straight through the ripples in the air to embed itself firmly into a nearby tree, emitting a rapid, buzzing hum.

Zenith and the others turned their heads in unison to look at the sword lodged in the tree, then back at Allen and Paul, blank expressions plastered across their faces.

To their dynamic vision, unenhanced by battle aura, the movements of the two combatants were simply too fast. At a glance, it looked as though they had suddenly closed in, twitched their bodies spastically at each other amidst flashing lights and shadows, and before anyone could even figure out what kind of dance style they were battling with, Paul's sword had already gone flying off to stab into a tree.

It was as if they were just messing around.

Paul blinked in bewilderment, turning his head to look at the sword that had been knocked out of his hand and now slumped dejectedly in the tree trunk, before shifting his gaze back to Allen, who had lowered his shoulder and was tilting his head with a teasing look in his eyes. For a long while, he was left speechless.

Seeing Paul looking slightly dazed, Allen straightened up, reset his sword stance, turned around, and waved a hand in front of Paul's eyes, teasingly remarking,

"You really do love using the North God Style, old man..."

Paul finally snapped out of it. He looked awkwardly at his own hands, seemingly still unable to accept how he could pull out two hidden moves and still have Allen instantly disarm him using the Flowing Technique.

Still, he stubbornly refused to admit defeat.

"Ahem... That was just strategy. By the way, this ultimate art of yours is kind of ridiculous... It's practically an airtight defense with zero openings. Unless an opponent possesses overwhelming, crushing raw power, it's probably going to be almost impossible to inflict any damage on you."

Then, a mixture of puzzlement and frustration crept into his tone as he blurted out,

"This ultimate art is practically the pinnacle of Water God Style technique! What kind of inspiration were you even looking to attain an enlightenment for? Don't tell me you're planning to deflect my sword and casually chop my head off in the process?!"

Allen blinked and replied without hesitation.

"Why ever not?"

Paul stared at Allen's deadpan expression and froze.