Chapter 379: A mighty clash

As the light faded and the legendary armament was once again shown to the public, the crowd turned dead silent. The old man was holding a majestic-looking broadsword in his hands.

Its long blade was double-edged, neatly sharpened on both of its sides. The entire metal had a silvery shine, a royal hue to it, all of its almost meter-long length. From the rain guard to its sharpened tip, it was clear it was not made from any ordinary metal.

The hilt was also quite extraordinary. If Rygintarth's hilt was a dragon's head, then Sir Arthur's exquisite sword's hilt was akin to his namesake, a Roaring Lion. It had a pure golden shine, it's luscious mane served as both the cross and the handguard two in one.

Another thing that whilst not many noticed, Aiden, Ryg, and surprisingly, Drake also did. As soon as the exquisite-looking blade appeared, a new presence could be felt, albeit quite faintly.

Unlike with Ryg's case, this presence was very faint, more like an intent than a full-fledged spirit. It was similar to Mort, Drake's royal blade. Like an infant soul, that hadn't completely grown its consciousness, but was definitely sentient, and not just a coalescence of essences. 

Another fact to note was that these infant souls, inhabiting these artifact-level weapons, that they all had a dominant will, a ruling intent if you will. In the case of Mort, while it may not be something that was usually present in these cases, it was Empathy, but in the case of this unnamed intent, it was Pride.

An aura of arrogance emanated from the blade, a hollow, light-blue hue coated the weapon's entire length.

Aiden's wide-eyed reverie was put to an end, when a loud guffaw, a peal of boisterous laughter filled the arena. Suddenly the eerie, dead silence broke, surprised yelps, wondrous hoots echoed in the balcony.

"Ahahaha, what is it boy, do you like Lornathiel?" The old man chuckled once more, as he slowly lowered the blade in front of his body.

While the name didn't cause any reaction, the old man still continued. 

"As you may have guessed, it is of elven origin. Lornathiel or Lorn in short was a gift to our family quite some time ago…" He reminisced with a happy smile before he lightly shook his head and returned his piercing turquoise gaze on the boy ahead.

"Anyway… Are you ready? Don't worry, as I said before, I will match my strength to only be slightly above yours, so you will be constantly pressured and the little miss behind you will need to go all out to keep you stable."

Shifting his eyes, Sir Arthur glanced at the masked lady a few steps behind the black-haired youngster.

"Missy… Since this is your test, let's say… hmm… We will go for five minutes. Your task will be to keep your partner up during that time. If he falls to the ground, goes unconscious, or for any reason would be deemed unfit to continue to battle before the time is up, your test will be considered a failure."

He donned a gentle, warm smile before he asked the girl.

"Are you fine with that, little lady?"

Though not speaking, Galina nodded after a moment of hesitation at the old man's words.

Seeing that they have come to an agreement, Sir Arthur donned a happy smile, his focus slowly shifting to his main opponent.

"Perfect! So then… Aiden…"

His expression suddenly turned fierce, suddenly the wind around him erupted, howling ferociously. Heavy battle intent, his aura cultivated through countless hardships has unfolded, turning the air in the spacious hall increasingly colder.

A strange, mysterious glint flashed in his eyes as he transformed from his gentle, kind grandfather stance into the veteran warrior. Still, the growing grin on his face was speaking tales of the usual expectancy, betraying his previous display… There was something more in his visage than just wanting to test the boy's limits.

"…show me your power boy!"

Without wasting any more time, Sir Arthur jumped forward, instantly crossing the small distance between him and the boy, and struck down with his sword that was instantly raised above his head.

A vertical strike, a silver hazy blur whistled through the air with intense momentum, aimed to instantly cut the youngster in two halves if he weren't careful. There was no warning, no warming up, the old man instantly attacked with a shocking ferocity and viciousness.

Still, whilst this surprise attack could have been dangerous, or even fatal for most of the local adventuring community, it was nothing too difficult for Aiden to react to. Before the old man's blade could reach him, the obsidian blade of Ryg was already raised sideways, thwarting the silver lion-headed broadsword without much effort.

Two majestic metals clashed together in the next instant, a loud clunking sound reverberated in the arena.

As Sir Arthur continued to push against the boy's block and was grinning, he was actually quite surprised by the boy's shocking strength. Aiden was only using one arm, his right to block his two armed struck and easily matched him. 

Even though Sir Arthur hasn't used more than ten percent of his power, it was still quite a surprising fact that this scrawny-looking youngster could match it without showing any signs of effort in his face. He was still looking calm, nonchalant…

No, what shocked Arthur was the slight frown, the miniature sign of disappointment that flashed across the young man's face.

Sir Arthur jumped back, as a peel of laughter escaped from his bearded face. 

"Ahaha… Boy, I have to admit, I may have slightly underestimated you when I compared you against my grandson. For that, I will honestly apologize, and will now play this game of ours properly. It wouldn't do us good if I were to continue boring you, right?"

Aiden on the other hand didn't react too much to the old man's words. After lowering his right arm, he returned to his calm, leisure stance as he matched the old man with his usual calm smile.

Meanwhile, the crowd that filled the balcony was stunned and astounded beyond belief. After witnessing how evenly they were matched at their first clash, the people almost went crazy with astonishment and pure shock.

"Did you guys see that?! That kid could actually block a hit from Sir Arthur!"

"No, that is impossible! The Roaring Lion must have not used any strength on that hit… He probably just wanted to measure the boy's strength!"

"Yeah… that makes sense! I bet the second attack will end the fight!"

"Or the third!"

"Ahahaha!"

Convinced that this must have been a fluke, the crowd slowly, gradually returned to their cheerful, excited mood, already looking forward to the abrupt end that the next one or two clashes will result in.

Apart from one person that stood at the doorway, nobody expected any other result. The figure, garbed in the examiner's traditional robe and hiding her face and gentle, confident expression behind her hood was watching with a different thought than the rest of the generic crowd. She was certain that the clash between these two mythical figures wouldn't result in anything so simple as a quick defeat or victory.

On one side, the legendary knight, one of the top-ranked adventurers and his majestic trusted generals, wielding his just as mysterious sword as the man himself.

On the other side, this young man, who came from seemingly nowhere, holding a shocking amount of power inside that thin frame of his, capable of wonders that goes beyond what was believed to be the limit of humanity. 

Not to mention that incredible, obsidian blade in his hands that she just couldn't comprehend at all, he also had that masked girl with a similar albeit fainter aura than the boy himself…

"This is going to be interesting… Though I should probably call those two, just in case things take a wild turn…" She muttered, before turning around and leaving the arena. Soon, her figure vanished as she turned around the corner and entered another hallway…

"Let's try a bit more force this time! Get ready kid!" Sir Arthur merrily shouted, before suddenly his figure burst forth, charging against the kid once more.

This time, however, Aiden wasn't waiting either. At the same time the old man charged ahead, his figure seemingly vanished, no trace of him could be found.

A moment later, a loud clash filled the arena, the two blades collided again, bright sparks filling the room and releasing shockwaves of blinding light one after another.

The light show continued on several times, as the two blurry, hazy silhouettes kept colliding against each other repeatedly.

Whilst the average onlooker had no idea what was going on, and could not possibly follow the inhumane movements of these two monstrous entities, the masked girl's golden irises in the back were flashing from left to right and right to left with mad speeds. 

Seemingly she wasn't lost as she followed the movement of the explosions with apt attention. Suddenly, her eyes turned fierce, as if she spotted something, her fingers lit up as she began to draw a golden rune in the air…