Before the match started, Erik analyzed Zak's status. He was an RHO2, and his stats were pretty average, to be honest However, Erik was not going to underestimate him and resolved to put in his best effort.
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- Name: Zak Ricketts.
- Brain crystal power: Sword Conjuring (Common)
-Race: Human.
-Physical characteristics: He shows signs of balding, but he otherwise has short, somewhat wavy hair of a dark black color. He has thin eyebrows, thick lips, and huge ears, in addition to his brown eyes. He is approximately 1.80 centimeters tall. Very muscular. Estimated weight of 95 kilograms.
-Personality and traits: There is no information available about his personality. Looks intimidated by the host.
-Power Level: 56
-Approximate Strength: 19
-Approximate Intelligence: 10
-Approximate Dexterity: 16
-Approximate Energy: 223
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Erik's opponent was significantly weaker than Nathaniel but was in line with most people inside the Red Palace, as his power was ranked C on the Ferebits scale. This was also shown by the amount of energy the kid had since it was very high. However, the rest of his stats were inferior to Erik's, who had more dexterity, strength, and intelligence.
Everything changed for the young man when he raised this last stat. He was able to remember things easily, think far ahead compared to his opponents, and think about things he would have never thought of otherwise.
As soon as the match started, Erik unsheathed his sword and ran toward Zak. He was now proficient enough to use the weapon against other people, and that knowledge gave him confidence. He did this many times during the past week and learned much about swords and sword fighting, thanks to Master Nieminen.
Erik swung with precision and power at Zak, but it was clear that things wouldn't be simple since the man was a skilled sword fighter. The man put his sword in a particular position and easily stopped Erik's move, controlling where his sword ended and forcing him to take an awkward stance to avoid a subsequent attack.
However, it was clear that Erik wasn't a pushover either, as he quickly changed his grip and stance to defend himself better. As soon as he saw that the sword was going to hit come at him again, he quickly jumped back and gained distance from Zak.
? This made it clear that Erik was not just an amateur swordsman; he was also willing to make quick and accurate decisions in order to keep himself prepared to counterattack. He was right in his judgment and did the right thing by moving back since his opponent shifted the sword in an unnatural way and a weird position and slashed at the empty air, exactly where Erik stood a couple of seconds ago.
SWOOSH
Even though Zak was confident, he felt intimidated by the young man after seeing his skill in previous fights. It was clear that the awakener was fast, and his attacks seemed heavy. However, he was confident in his sword ability and thought he could win. If he could get Erik to make a mistake, that would be enough to gain the upper hand.
The sword conjurer followed Erik and swung his sword again; he did it by jumping in the air and spinning on himself with all his might. Erik parried with his flyssa, and sparks appeared as both weapons clashed. Zak attempted to push Erik, but he was unable to do so because the man was stronger than him.
At that moment, the young man's opponent understood that he would lose if he fought by trying to win with his sheer strength alone.
Technique was the only thing that could save him, so he started attacking quickly with a very acrobatic sword style that required him to jump, spin, and feint to attack from different angles.
He knew that his sword style's erratic movements would at least confuse Erik and that he was bound to gain a couple of hits here and there.
However, thanks to Erik's higher dexterity, he was able to keep track of Zak's attacks easily. In response to these offensive maneuvers, the awakener easily blocked every slash. It didn't matter how hard Zak attacked because he always avoided being hit in some way, whether by parrying, deflecting, or simply dodging and evading the attacks. The longer this went on, the more frustrated Zak became.
"You're good..." said Erik. "But you don't stand a chance against me..." Erik was extremely focused; what happened inside the forest the previous week was a huge alarm bell for him. He needed to change if he really wanted to improve.
There was no more pity, no more mercy. His current goal was to defeat his opponent and take his rank so that he could challenge Nathaniel in the following days.
"We will see that," Zak replied. As he spoke, his eyes were fixed on Erik, trying to find an opening for his defense. His trained eyes spotted several, but as soon as he attacked, the awakener parried, blocked, or deflected. It was frustrating because he was having trouble taking advantage of Erik's clear lack of experience with the sword.
At the same time, Erik noticed how Zak was able to fight evenly against him only, thanks to technique. The man was making it hard for him to do anything, even when he was in range. The difference between technique and strength was visible during this fight since Zak was able to even the playing field. All of that made Erik think how desperately he needed to train and improve. The fight went on for at least ten minutes, and it seemed to never end. The two were in a stalemate.
However, the awakener was unaware of what was going on inside his opponent's mind. Zak started getting tired, as the fight had started at least twenty minutes earlier, and he had no time to rest. That was the real strength of Erik's approach. His stamina made it so he could win by simply exhausting his opponents. Besides, Erik's slashes were very heavy, and Zak had a lot of trouble resisting them. After a while, Zak began to feel the effects of Erik's relentless attack, and he started slowly losing his footing.
Everything became apparent to Erik when Zak started becoming weary, and his ability to follow Erik's attacks decreased.
"You can't keep this up for long," Erik said. "Mind surrendering so we can stop wasting time?" he added.
"Not a chance...!" Zak replied. The sword conjurer was angry; not only was Erik behaving arrogantly, but he was clearly inferior to him in many ways, and it didn't sit well with him that he was losing. He spent hours a day training and refining his sword techniques; he would have won against anyone in a range of 100 positions within his rank, but now this guy, several positions below him, was beating him because of his cheat status.
Being an awakener was really something else. However, Zak knew what Erik said was true; he was running out of stamina and having difficulty keeping up with his opponent, and he couldn't gain any significant advantage.
Erik decided he had had enough and that Zak was tired enough to finally close the match. His flyssa was a very sharp and fast sword; every time he swung it, a hiss was produced. However, it was very sturdy and could withstand the weight that Erik planned to put inside his moves.
He didn't try to find openings in his opponent since he still couldn't see many of them during a fight, especially against better-trained people, so he decided to fully use his overwhelming strength to win.
He swung the sword, and Zak parried it with his own weapon. Erik simply put more weight into the swing, and Zak staggered backward, barely able to counter the sheer force of the blow. He repeated the move, pushing a lot of weight into the sword strike, and Zak parried again, but soon his arms began to shake from the strain. Erik almost broke his opponent's stance this time since he had yet to recover from the previous attack.
Erik swung his sword one last time, and once his opponent barely parried, he was able to break his stance by pushing even more weight into the strike.
At that moment, Erik kicked Zak in the sternum and made him fall to the ground. The young man's opponent was having trouble breathing, and in the time he spent trying to recover his breath, Erik went on him and pointed his sword at Zak's neck.
"See? I won..."
At that point, the healer's voice reverberated throughout the room.
"Indeed, Zak, you lost," he said.
"Fuck! This is not right! I'm clearly better than you! This is cheating!" Zak said in frustration.
"You may be right; this is certainly unfair, but you still lost nonetheless..." Erik said. He was tired of losing, suffering, and trying to be better than the people who had abused him for years.
(A.N: The next chapters will be about the militaries. Also, sorry for the late chaps but I had to travel this morning and just recently came back home.)
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