Chapter 417 - The Ark Of Moving Up The Battle

"Let's see what Mavislin would say about it."

"I thought you and her would enough. Don't tell me you think that she isn't powerful enough to be on the mission alone."

"It's not that. Bryan needs to go on more missions. Out of the rest, he is still very inexperienced. And I am willing to see how he performs when under my rules. I heard that he disobeyed Ysabeau several times. I wonder if I could get him to cooperate with me," explained Z.

Baldwin opened his mouth to say something but was halted by Z.

"No, I won't be using force or fear. This boy strongly believes that respect and authority are earned, not drilled into his being by fear or emotions."

"And you are going to follow that? That's unexpected of you."

With his body on the ground, Bryan quickly rolled away before Tomoe could do any more damage. He then stood up but was met with the next move by Tomoe. But what Tomoe did not know was that Bryan had some moves of his own that he wanted to try out in this duel.

Ignoring the pain, Bryan inhaled a large breath of air and leaped from his spot. He rushed forward to Tomoe to deliver another strike, this time, he vertically spun forwards in the air. When he was finishing the later part of the rotation, he released his breath and added pressure to the last move.

Tomoe moved away just in time but his right sleeve had a piece of it sliced away. Tomoe landed on his feet gracefully while Bryan tumbled onto the grass clumsily. The Kitsune looked at the torn sleeve and then at Bryan's lying figure in amazement and curiosity.

"Impressive... I did not expect you to perform those moves so easily. You had me fooled in the first half... If I hadn't moved away, you would surely have taken off my arm," said Tomoe, grinning.

"Sorry about your kimono though..." answered Bryan, shakily getting up.

"Not to worry, I am a fine master at sewing... It's easier to repair an article of clothing than to regenerate a lost arm."

"I guess so..."

"Shall we continue?" asked Tomoe, running towards Bryan.

Bryan held up his sword in front of him in a vertical manner as he got ready to clash with Tomoe. The fox swung his sword horizontally, mimicking one of Bryan's previous moves. But when he was at the end of the swing, Tomoe switched his grip and swung his blade back to the same point.

To counteract these horizontal slashes, Bryan took in a deep breath and changed his footing to twist slightly. Bringing his blade above his shoulders, it was now his upper half to follow his lower half, forcing his entire body to twist and turn and create a full rotation.

This allowed Bryan to clash and halt Tomoe's dual slashes. By the end of the motion, Bryan brought his blade back to the starting point, striking diagonally at Tomoe's torso. The Kitsune caught on and tried to stop the last strike from touching his body by changing his sword grip.

Tomoe was surprised at how Bryan's fighting method changed so drastically. It was as if he was trying to copy his style of fighting. If Bryan could adapt so well, why did he act like he was weak before? Tomoe was confused but not worried. Bryan was still far from winning.

But Tomoe had other things to worry about now, like the oncoming downward slash by his opponent. He brought his sword to mid-level and followed his previous movement. But this time, he did a full, horizontal rotation at his opponent. Bryan was dumbfounded at the quick attack.

Since his blade missed, he continued the motion, doing a horizontal circle slash and bringing the blade to strike at Bryan's loosened stance. This added extra force to counter Bryan's blade. Kicking up winds, the blades clashed with great force but Tomoe's blade was the one to win.

This, yet again, brought Bryan flying sideways. This time, he flew towards Baldwin, who was busy munching on some cookies. Before the Angry Man could react, a giant Mage caught the flying boy with ease. Z was far from impressed at Bryan for not stopping himself.

"No flying into the spectators. Learn to angle yourself better or use whatever weight you've got to stop yourself from flying.. You are a human, you are not meant to fly," said Z, holding the shocked Mage by his hɨps.