Chapter 80 - Clash Of The Grandmasters II

Arthur emptied the magazine and discarded the gun before raising his sword to counter Owen who had closed the distance.

A different rune flashed at the back of Owen's palm as his body became one with the wind.

"?!"

'Withdraw, and I might get f*cked' 

Sensing this, Arthur quickly stepped forward instead. The next moment, a fierce blow rocked his right arm, raised to defend himself. The two swords clashed at eye height, sending sparks everywhere. 

'He's so fast and strong!'

"Oh…!"

The pressure from the sword pushed him back. A mere second after the first blow, his wrist screamed; it could take no more. 

That was when Arthur knew—he didn't have time to dance around and observe. Owen was a superior stage grandmaster, he had the strength to match it

"Mm?!"

Owen suddenly lost his footing. The once-solid ground had swallowed his leg up to his ankle. This was a magic spell know as Grave Soil. Using a bit of magical interference, the floor had turned as soft as a quagmire and snagged his foot.

'That earth magic artifact is quite annoying.'

"Hmph!"

With Owen off-balance, Arthur quickly dodged to the side and swung a follow-up attack aimed at his back. Mercy was the last thing on his mind in that short moment. But halfway through his swing, a blade appeared on his opponent's shoulder.

"—?!"

Sensing danger Arthur jumped back. As soon as he did, the blade's tip shot up, half an inch from his face—Owen had shown him his back, only to immediately jab at him. But instead of turning around and then stabbing, he converted the act of turning itself into a thrust.

"Haah…"

Owen had righted his footing by now, and the positional advantage Arthur had caused with Grave Soil was gone. 

Arthur couldn't care less about that, by showing him the Earth magic artifact, Arthur had made Owen think the grave soil was casted by it.

However, it was casted by Arthur himself.

'I wonder how much I can use while not exposing myself, uncle Creusery's ring has a limited range of concealment effect after all.'

Owen stared at Arthur in silence, he originally had the intention to humiliate Arthur however after testing the waters now, he was sure of something.

'This guy isn't a master realm, he's a grandmaster, at least inferior stage!'

He had guessed that Arthur was not a master realm, reaching that point he also began guessing whether Arthur was truly unable to use his energy.

As for the spectators, although they saw Arthur using a lot of artifacts, not many spoke badly of it.

To them, Arthur was a superior stage master who couldn't use his energy, using artifacts against Owen who had somehow reached the superior stage of the grandmaster realm was normal.

Meanwhile in the center of the arena, Arthur and Owen were still staring down on each other silently.

There was a thick tension between the two.

The two engaged in an invisible battle, one in which their breathing, their small movements, the shuffle of their feet, their eyesight, the shaking of their feet, etc. couldn't be seen.

It was an imaginary battle, or a capturing race.

Owen was the first one to break the stalemate.

**Whoosh!

He rushed forward, and swung his sword downwards with blistering speed.

Arthur responded immediately.

His weapon, a magic sword created by his favorite artifact, drew a beautiful arc in the air.

**Whir!

Before Arthur began fighting with his hands, he first learned the sword, as such his sword skills were superior to his hand to hand combat skills.

Coincidentally or not, Owen was the same, he had learned the sword before picking up other martial arts or magic.

The two swords forcefully clashed.

**Clang!

The force of impact was so great that both blades were pushed back in opposite directions.

Arthur quickly got back into position, and swung his sword diagonally.

'First an enhanced Slash!'

His sword, coated in an almost unnoticeable thin layer of dim light, flew through the air with great speed and power. 

Owen quickly retaliated by immediately swinging his condensed mana sword horizontally, in his free hand, mana condensed once again and formed a blade.

**Slash!

**Clang!

Sparks flew once more, and a metallic 'clang' rang out.

Their swords, created with magic, were stronger than ordinary metals.

Owen and Arthur continually crossed blades.

***Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Owen was akin to a forest fire. He repeatedly attacked Arthur with both his swords.

Whereas Arthur was like a lake. With his calm and simple movements, he was able to repel Owen's fierce assault without much issue.

Thus, it appeared like Owen was completely pushing him around. However, looks could be deceiving.

If Owen hadn't been good at hiding his emotions, then people would be able to tell how irritated he was.

Owen was like fire, while Arthur was like water. The flame was slowly diminishing.

'He has no weak points.'

Normally, whenever Owen fought and he attacked his opponent like this, they would expose some weak points. After all, his attack power was ridiculous, even more so after becoming a superior stage grandmaster.

However, Arthur blocked every one of Owen's attacks while not revealing a single weak point.

Which meant...!

'I don't want to admit it, but he's a level above me when it comes to swordsmanship.' 

Owen gritted his teeth.

At that moment...

Flash!

Arthur's sword flew over, as if he'd used an Aura Blade technique.

It was as though someone else had swung his sword. After all, his attack was completely different from before.

**Swish!

The sword moved towards Owen's neck, causing him to stop his attack and avoid Arthur's sword.

Fortunately, it wasn't a fatal hit. Before it hit him, Owen leaned back, causing the blade to merely graze his neck.

The light injury had already healed by the time the sword had completed its movement.

'Hoh!' Arthur's eyes gleamed.

Owen was no fool, at this point he had realized it, Arthur was definitely using energy.

The confusing thing was that he was somehow able to conceal it from others, how he achieved that was what Owen couldn't understand.

All these thoughts went through his head in just a second, he counterattacked immediately with magic and aura. 

Two runes glowed on the back of each of his palms.

"Wave of darkness!"

"Torrent of flames!"

The two waves tossed and turned, and flew straight at Arthur.

Arthur quickly swung his sword. Owen stared closely at Arthur's blade hoping to see him use energy, and that he did.

'That was clearly an Aura Slash!'

The sword, surrounded by dim light, cleaved through both the jet-black and red waves with a single swing!

Arthur dashed through the split waves, and thrust his sword.

'And a Vital Thrust…!'

Owen identified the technique before quickly turning his body, and tilted one of his swords.

'Sword Parry!'

**Clang!

Arthur's temporary magic sword slid across Owen's condensed mana blade, and Arthur lost his balance.

'An opening!'

This was the first time he'd seen a weak point. He immediately aimed for the opening with his blade.

'This will definitely work!' 

Owen was certain of that.

However...!

He wasn't sure when he withdrew his sword, but Arthur blocked the blade with the magic sword. No, he parried it.

**Screech!

**Bam!

The blade slid off Arthur's magic sword and was stuck in the ground.

He had used the Sword Parry technique himself, as if saying to Owen;

'Did you think you were the only one who could use it!?'

**Whoosh!

Arthur slashed at him multiple times, forcing him to back away.

The distance, was what Arthur needed. He pulled out an artifact, one that stored Aura within it and augmented the user's attacks. The people who used it were mostly those who had difficulty manipulating their aura, or could not use it at all.

It was a rare artifact and it gave the opponents the illusion that the user was actually using Aura, however if one activated an artifact canceller, they would realize the trick.

It was in the form of a bracelet, taking off the other bracelet that helped him see through all sorts of cloaking, he put on the aura augmenting artifact.

To others, Arthur used that because he could not actually use aura, to Owen however, it was different.

'The aura isn't from the artifact, it's from him! The artifact is there to fool them!'

Arthur grinned and raised his sword, he activated the artifact and added his actual aura to the mix. Those watching could not see the difference, after all, the aura stored in the artifact was Arthur's, there was no difference between that and the one coming from his body directly.

The magic sword glowed with golden light.

"Sword of Victory." 

A calm voice flowed out from Arthur's lips as a golden pillar of light surged from his sword.

To Owen, It felt like a yellow dragon was trying to gobble him whole.

Then, the world slowed.