Cold sweat trickled down his back and temples, plastering his shirt to his skin.
After blocking Merlin's barrage of slashes for more than three minutes it was only obvious that he was sweating like a pig.
However, that didn't really help him in winning against Merlin. He was not yet feeling sore but it was only a matter of time before he continued like this.
Merlin wouldn't feel tired out so easily. The Longdua Saber might be a weapon that was usually wielded with two hands but the weapon's weight was not too taxing for a person like Merlin.
'What should I do?' Zayn asked himself with a tinge of desperation and frustration. He was trying to seek an opening in Merlin's defenses but there didn't seem to be anything. He was not too sure how that was possible because Merlin had one particular glaring disadvantage.
It took Merlin a short moment to initiate a follow-up attack once the previous slash connected. This short moment was only a quarter of a second to move the long and heavy saber around and observe Zayn initiate an efficient blow. That blow rendered Zayn's hopes of counterattacking useless because they came from the seemingly impossible angles with which he couldn't do anything.
He had already tried to alter the direction of the saber slash but that turned into a bigger disadvantage than expected. When Merlin noticed that Zayn intended to initiate an attack that was supposed to alter the Longdua Saber's trajectory, he swiftly altered his attack on his own. This alteration could either be a termination of his attack or turn into a more dangerous attack. Merlin would then step forward, which forced Zayn to retreat in response.
He was hardly given a chance to think straight and come up with strategies while facing Merlin. However, that was exactly what drove Zayn forward. It forced him to think on his feet and react to the attacks both instinctively and with a rational mind. He had to wage the possible risks and gains of an attack precisely before initiating it. This was difficult for Zayn even after four months of hellish training. Trying his best was not enough when faced with an opponent who was several times stronger than himself.
Merlin fought seriously but he didn't have the intention to actually harm Zayn. That was something Zayn noticed pretty quickly because Merlin didn't use several openings that would have killed him if they had been engaged in a real battle. Zayn was not sure if Merlin realized that he had intentionally left the subtle openings with the intention to counterattack his teacher the moment he was attacked.
However, what he could tell was that Merlin's repetition of attacks followed a pattern. After Zayn blocked Merlin's rapid attacks for almost five minutes, his muscles started to feel sore. That was ignored as Zayn increased his physical strength a little bit more by circulating more soul particles through his body. Every inch of his body creaked lightly as his physical strength reached a state where it bordered on straining the body beyond the limit.
Zayn narrowly navigated along that line without going beyond the limit, preventing him from harming himself. He blocked three more slashes before he burst forward all of a sudden. The Longdua Saber was to his right and the right Dragontale Twin Saber was ready to block the next incoming attack while the left Dragontale Twin Saber pierced forward.
In order to defeat Merlin, he would have to give his all. That meant he had to fight as if he was in a life-and-death battle. Zayn had to try killing Merlin in order to actually win, and that was exactly what he was trying right now.
The Dragontale Twin Saber was just about to connect and slash through Merlin's abdomen when his leg shot upward. The Longdua Saber came in cutting through the air even faster than before from the right. Zayn blocked the Longdua Saber but the impact was much harder to control.
Zayn felt a tremendous power behind the slash and he knew that he would be flung through the air just a moment later. Merlin's right leg was raised quickly as well while Merlin twisted his body to the right. Combining the momentum of the raised leg and the twist of his upper body, Merlin would be able to evade Zayn's attack.
? However, instead of feeling pressured, the corners of Zayn's lips tilted upward. At this moment, Merlin noticed that he made a huge mistake. He didn't underestimate Zayn's strength, but he hadn't noticed his bad habit of using his right leg to block his opponent's attacks.
But it was already too late and the damage was done. Zayn had analyzed his master's fighting style for a very long time and he knew Merlin's habits better than anyone else. Using this opportunity, Zayn altered his thrust into a downward slash.
A tremendous amount of soul particles circulated through his left arm and hand as he moved rapidly, inflicting three deep gashes upon Merlin's right leg before the force of the Longdua Saber's impact hurled him several meters through the dojo's training space.
Zayn twisted his body and arms to roll desperately on the ground so as to jump back on his feet and be able to continue fighting in an instant. He shot up, ignoring the soreness of his arms and the hard impact of his body on the ground as he turned around to Merlin in an instant, his eyes showing clearly that he was dead-serious and that the fight excited him to the extreme.
Merlin's eyes were filled with a trace of doubt, shock, and the same excitement that gleamed in Zayn's eyes.
With the intention to continue fighting Zayn, he took two steps forward and he was just about to attack him yet again and fight a bit longer when he felt a numb, yet somewhat painful sensation spreading through his right leg.
Merlin looked down and noticed that a layer of ice had formed around the severely bleeding gashes that had been inflicted by Zayn's Dragontale Twin Sabers.
He looked up again and sighed deeply, profound sadness glinting in his eyes.
"Looks like you won," Merlin said, "You actually got me right there!"
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