I finally get to see the man that I am dueling today. Turns out that the man I am fighting today is the very soldier who has been standing guard outside our room. I found out about it yesterday after Trevor informed me about him. Even Trevor didn't know how the man looked. He is called Eric Starfall. Right now, that is all I know about the man.
Well, I also know that the man has significantly more mana than me. Based on my mana sense, I would say he has one and a half times my master storage. I can't quantify it precisely since I do not know the draconion magic path. All I know is that they count their levels in terms of circles.
Well, I have to admit that I am at a disadvantage here due to the difference in our mana levels. I don't even have my sword with me to fight at my full strength. That means I am at a relative disadvantage here.
Right now, I am borrowing a sword from the snowwinders. Well, I don't expect that they will be playing any tricks with the way that they give importance to this duel. It would damage the reputation of the starfalls too much. The sword is pretty nice if I have to say so. It is made from only steel, but it is good, solid steel. It will be enough to wound but not kill.
To return to the duel. A duel is something I am quite familiar with. Victory in a duel is something that depends on where you put your mana.
Firstly, you could use it to boost the strength of your body. Enhancing yourself with mana feels like your body is becoming lighter. Your senses grow sharper, and you can move faster. Your body also grows more durable. Durable enough to block a sword.
At the same time, you could use it to strengthen your weapons. Then your sword becomes stronger and more durable as well. At the higher levels, I have heard of men who can change the very nature of their weapons just with their vital mana. I can't tell you how true this is, but we can make our weapons stronger. It is also the only way to pierce mana-strengthened flesh. (That is the only way in this duel to do that.)
It might sound simple, with only two things to worry about. In a fight, this can become complicated very quickly. If you sword doesn't have enough mana to strengthen it, it won't pierce the enemy flesh. At the same time, if you don't have enough mana supporting your flesh, then blood will be drawn.
It then becomes a fight of the minds. You win if you figure out how much mana the other side is using. You also have to confuse the other side about how much mana you are using. This is a game of two moves, as they say in the legion.
I can never say that I was the best at this game, but I certainly was not the worst. I know of some monsters who are geniuses at this. While I am not as skilled as these monsters. I will still be able to defeat somebody who has never been trained to fight in such a type of fight. (The snowwinders might be a warlike folk. The problem is that they train for street brawls, not duels like this.)
Finally, I guess that I should speak about the location of our duel. It is a circle that has been built in the middle of a pretty massive room in the fort. The circle itself is pretty big, big enough that it will take me a minute to move from one edge to the other. That is surprising, as I had expected a smaller circle. Duels are fought in much smaller circles. (It makes for a more bloody fight.)
The reason that I am recording about this place in the first place is due to how large it is. I am surprised at just how many mana stones they must spend to maintain such a place. Such a massive room could hold a thousand mages easily. I would think that this fort would have quite a limited amount of space. After all, a ridiculous amount of mana is being spent each second to keep the entire fort powered up.
Well, it is not my place to worry about this stuff. This is stuff that I am going to leave to the scholars. If they have to spend so much to construct a duel circle, I have to assume that things are not too harmonious here.
Again, this is not my place to worry about this. Right now, I am standing inside this duel circle with Eric, who is wielding the same sword as me.
"Shall we begin the duel, Captain? We cannot keep the soldiers waiting now, can we?" Eric speaks, looking at me. As he does so, he points to the mass of soldiers that have appeared to witness this duel.
This is the most words I have heard him speak. Otherwise, he just stands there like a statue, whether here or outside the guestroom.
"Certainly.", I reply in one word, entering into a defensive stance.
The instant that I do so, the enemy is by my side, striking me right on the throat. I barely block the strike. Well, the other side seems to be focusing quite a bit of mana into his body to be able to achieve such a speed. Gambling a bit, I focus my mana on my sword and enter for a strike. (With my sword, I would have killed him this instant.) The enemy might be a bit faster than me, but in such a close range, it does not matter. I almost succeeded, as the other side ducks out of the way at the last second.
Redirecting my sword downwards, I barely manage to catch the other side's strike. The force of the strike is enough to force both swords away from each other. I take this moment to retreat backward. I risk a glance at my surroundings to get my bearings. Focusing exclusively on the man opposite is the quickest way for me to be tricked out of the ring.
For now, I am still decently far away from the ring. Well, looks like I will be playing this match a bit more defensively. Thinking this, I begin to push the mana in my body. I feel it strengthen my body as I begin to feel lighter. I take care not to push too much mana as it will drain my reserves completely. The goal is to just make myself fast enough to block anything that the other side might throw at me. Any more is a waste.
As I think this, I have to block two more strikes from the enemy. One to the head, the other to the knee. I blocked both of them, though that was close. The other side is faster than me. Even then, he will struggle to strike me. This is the advantage of having a superior mana sense. You can just predict their movement, even if he is much faster than you.
He tries another attack, which is a bit more successful. I jump back to dodge it, but I feel a tiny sting in my arm, as I see the man's sword has left a tiny cut on me. Thankfully, the match is not to first blood, or I would have lost right here. Still, this duel will end with two more such strikes. (Or if I am knocked out of the circle.)
Things are not going particularly well, though. This is where Eric's larger mana storage helps him. The man can waste so much more mana. While I am bleeding less vital mana than him, it is still pretty significant. I am still more skilled than him at controlling mana.
"You certainly fight well, my friend.", I say.
"Meanwhile, you stand there waiting for me to strike.", he replies, trying to taunt me. "One would think that you were scared."
"Well, what can one do? You seem to be a mighty soldier that might claim my head.", I reply, with my most taunting voice. "Maybe if you got a bit closer, you could finally end the match."
He doesn't reply to this, other than stepping away from me. I am sure that the man does not want to risk getting too close to the line. After all, a sudden attack might result in him being pushed out of the duel circle. That is why I have been steadily retreating to the edge throughout the duel.
Waiting would be beneficial for him. He can waste the mana to wait me out. I have done nothing but buy myself a few moments. If others were here, I am sure that they would have something unique to win this fight. Me, I will stick to the old tricks. That reminds me of something that I can do.
Well, this is going to be quick at the very least. I can feel my body heat up as I begin to push all of my mana into my body. For the next few moments, my body will be about as light as a feather. The trick is now to make use of these few moments to win this duel. I begin by charging towards my enemy. He reacts as I expect him to. He begins by pushing more mana into his body.
I do not give him the time to react, though, as I strike him. He barely manages to block it, but the force of the block is enough to push him backwards. It is enough to leave him out of balance as I continue my assault. I strike again and get my first blood. I press in for a second attack, but the other side ends up blocking me. The strike is enough to push the man backward, though.
In this little while, I have burned through roughly a third of my remaining reserves. I won't be maintaining it for much longer. Even as he gets up, the man has already increased his mana output, though he is not being as wild about it as me. The other side is burning only enough mana to ensure that he would be able to survive my assault. That is sad, it would have made things easy for me if he were a bit more reckless.
I continue my assault while having this thought. He barely manages to block each strike. Damn, this man is more skilled at this than I had assumed him to be. Still, he is not as careful as he thinks he is. I jump back, pointing my sword just a bit below the usual. This leaves my throat exposed, which is exactly where the other side strikes. I take a step back, dodging his sword and striking into the man's right arm. That is second blood.
It is a simple trap, what I have done. A careful man would never have been fooled by such an obvious trap. When I am burning so much mana, people seem to think that I am incapable of making use of basic traps like this. I am not a berserker, you know.
I keep pushing my attack, feeling the man slowly retreat under my attack. He maintains a solid defense in which I would not be able to get the final strike for victory. I can see in my enemy's eyes his confidence. Well, with my mana so dangerously near exhaustion, I make my final move.
It is a stupid plan that would have never worked if the enemy had even a bit of caution. Throwing my sword to the ground, I duck down. As the enemy stands there paralyzed by inaction, I charge towards his legs. The force of our collision is enough to cause him to trip right out of the boundary of the duel circle.