I am starting to see why the guard corps tends to be so bad at duels. Duels are places of focus. You need to look at your enemy and be ready for any move that they make before they even think of making it.

  Right now, I am trying to do exactly that, but it is getting pretty hard to figure out his thoughts. I am quite familiar with the man's fighting style, and that is the problem. There are so many things that the man could be trying for that I can't decide what he wants to do.

  Well, I want to focus on the duel at hand. The issue is that I am busier thinking about what the consequences of this match would be. What winning the duel would mean and what losing the duel would mean.

  Other than that, I am also distracted by studying what the man has managed to achieve in these years. Looks like the man has finally managed to perfect the pendulum. Well, the pendulum is an advanced move popular among those who play the game of two moves. The man could barely maintain it for a few seconds when we used to duel.

  The technique is simple in principle. You are just supposed to keep cycling your mana from your body into your weapon and vice versa. This way, you can shift from offense to defense on the fly. It also makes trying to predict enemy action almost impossible.

  It also allows you to hit at full force. Otherwise, you are always supposed to put a certain part of your mana into the sword. The remaining mana is meant to strengthen your body. Doing that allows you to be ready for any surprise that the enemy can throw at you. (Though it does end up leaving you not able to hit as hard as you would like.)

  Right now, I have placed about half of my mana in my body and the other half in my sword. It is a basic form taken by anybody who wants to play it safe. With somebody like John on the other side, playing it safe is the wiser choice.

  Well, the only reason that I am even trying to do something like this is because I have a mana advantage over the man. He got it in his head that he wanted to fight me fairly. That is why he is using the same amount of mana that he had when he was in the third stage. Trying to compete with a formation mage in terms of mana is a stupid thing.

  Knowing him, he would not break this rule even if he were to lose. Let's just say one of the legion losing to a guard would leave you with certain disadvantages. Even then, the man is unlikely to go back on his word.

  See, there I go again, not focusing on the duel. Well, there is the issue of my not knowing what to focus on. Well, I could try and predict his actions from his body language. Even for that, though, the man is standing there like a rock.

  At the moment, he is going through all the possible moves that he can make and all the possible moves that I can make. Well, the man will fight in a mock duel with the same intensity as a proper duel. That is why he got so good at it in the first place, I think.

  This is a mock duel for John. Even going all out, I have never managed to win much against the man. I would say that I have won one in every ten duels against him. Well, I am pretty sure that I will be defeated in this duel. The goal is to make it as unembarrassing as possible.

  After all, both the scholars and the mayfires are witnessing the match. Losing too badly would mean that they might listen to the legion in cases where they should have listened to us.

  As I am recording this, John finally makes his move. The man looks slow enough that even a normal person would be able to track his movement. That is a trap. John is a master of controlling his rhythm. Playing into his rhythm means that you will find a sword to your throat.

  On top of all of this, the man must be faster than when I used to practice with him.

  As expected, he speeds up in the middle of his swing. The only reason that I can react is that the man had already shown the direction of his swing. That is one of the benefits of knowing the man's habits.

  Even as I manage to get my sword in place, I can feel myself slide back. That is how great the force of the strike is. How in the hells is the man getting that much force in his strikes with that little mana?

  Well, that has always been the case with John. The man is a tidal wave. You let him build his rhythm, and the man will destroy you in a few strikes. I jump to the left, dodging a kick from the man. Even as the distance between the two of us has begun to grow, he has begun to close in.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  I place my sword in the way again, as I steel myself to the ground. The force of the strike is enough to cause cracks to appear on the sword. Still, it is worth it since it allows me to break his flow. I never really did make such decisive moves against him.

  Even as I am recording, I get into position as my sword sneaks into the man's defense.

  My sword strikes the man's arm. There is barely a scratch on his arms. The injury would not even be noticed if it were a proper duel. Unlike most duels, we are only fighting to the second blood.

  "I got the first blood.", I speak, as both of us stare at each other.

  "Looks like you have been practicing at least.", john speaks.

  As we are speaking, both of us are retreating to the edge of our duel grounds. It is supposed to be a rule of the game of two moves. You are supposed to return to the positions where you started the duel after each blood. It is rarely followed, though, because it ruins the momentum of the entire fight. John follows this in our duels because it is just another handicap for him.

  "Still, I would have preferred it if you had used that sword of yours. That would have evened things up.", he replies. He begins to circle me.

  "Well, I have explained it to you many times. I can't control that sword particularly well.", I reply, kind of getting annoyed. This is not the first time I have told him that. It won't be the last time as either.

  "So you say.", he replies.

  The man stops speaking after this as he begins to circle me.

  He is looking at me like a hawk staring at a rat. It is not a pleasant feeling when you have to be the rat that is being stared at.

  I just wish that the scholars were not here. I have a little experience with the Mayfires. My defeat at John's hand would not be so impactful with them. After all, I could be said to be the reason that quite a few of them are alive right now.

  The scholars are an unknown variable in all of this. I have no way of telling how my defeat will affect them. Whether it will make an alliance harder to make or easier.

  I have no way of understanding that. They are the reason for half of my wor......

  I find myself on the ground, tasting the dirt. I swear that I had been staring at the man with all of my focus. I might have been recording, but that thing doesn't distract me that much. He could have caught me off guard, but there is no way that I wouldn't have seen a trace of his movement.

  Even as I get up, I see that there is a small cut on my throat. It is such a small injury that I did not even notice it. The man could have easily struck me a bit harder and decapitated me.

  Still, there is a small bit of blood flowing from it. It would be enough to be counted as the first blood for him. Even as the two of us move back.

  "You might have kept up with your practice.", the man says. The grin on his face makes me feel like punching his face. I naturally won't. (It will most likely result in my hand being cut to pieces.) "But you still don't have a lot of practical experience with fighting."

  "Well, fighting is not exactly a part of my work anymore.", I reply. "I am doing something wrong if fighting becomes a part of the job."

  "Well, you are becoming a guard through and through then.", the man smirks. "To think you would become an airhead like those bastards."

  I don't reply to this as I look at the man. I focus on the man and his movement. There is no way that I am going to be caught off guard again like that.

  If I were a part of the troop, they would not have let me forget it for the next couple of years. Even now, it could have consequences that I don't want to think about at this moment. I have a duel to focus on.

  "Why are we fighting this duel?" I ask. "We both know how we stand while fighting each other."

  "Well, I might know it, but the people here should know it as well.", he replies. "Anyways, you know that it is protocol. Would you rather that I duel with the bastards from the Aegis?"

  As he speaks, the man swipes his sword at me playfully. I can block it by repositioning my sword a bit.

  "Well, that would have certainly caused problems.", I reply. "Still, this method causes me more problems. You could have fought the soldiers from the Aegis."

  "Well, that was the goal in the first place.", he replies. "How long are we going to keep flirting like this? Let's fight already."

  Even as he speaks, the man charges at me. This time, I do not have the benefit of the man approaching me slowly. Still, I can block the man. I almost stumble to the ground as the man punches at me.

  I raise the sword at the last moment, blocking the man's strike. I swear that the man is hitting me hard enough that I can feel my sword heat up. This doesn't mean that I get to breathe as the man keeps pummeling me with his sword. I cannot believe that I can block the man for so long.

  I am not able to maintain it for very lo.ng, though, as I feel the man's movement get faster and faster. The man is supposed to have less mana than me. How in the hells is he pushing me back to such a degree?

  Even as this thought is forming in my head, the man manages to break through my defense. I can almost see it happen to me as if I have left my body as his sword pierces my chest. I can barely feel the pain, though it is a pretty serious injury. Well, a bit of blood mana will fix it up completely.

  The man had no intention of hitting me that hard. I can see it in his eyes. It is pretty hard for you to control your movement in the middle of a fight, though. Good to see that I at least forced the man to put in some effort in the fight.

  "Well, that concludes our duel.", I speak, circling my mana into the injury. "Looks like you have won this match."

  "Well, it was a well-fought duel.", he replies. He speaks loud enough that the man's voice is audible to our audience. I wonder if anybody will believe that.