The suggestion put forward by Lince was an incredibly interesting one. To fight a certain way and deliberately limit himself to such a strict degree? It made Raze wonder exactly why the Demonic Clan head thought this highly restrictive approach might actually work. But it was definitely sothing he felt he should at least try, especially since absolutely nothing else had appeared to work in breaking his frustrating bottleneck.
"Alright, Lince. Let's have a fight then," Raze claid, his voice carrying a calm, unyielding determination. He reached down and unfastened his heavy cloak, tossing it aside to signify his acceptance of the mortal terms.
The gathered group of veteran warriors grew intensely curious as they waited in hushed anticipation for this specific match. If the profound question was to be asked across the entire continent—who was the most powerful Pagna warrior?—there were perhaps many different, hotly debated answers depending on which territory you stood in. But if they were to solely talk about pure, unadulterated martial skill, then the definitive answer would probably be Lince.
Unlike the other formidable leaders they had faced over the years, Lince was sowhat able to keep up with the absolute best in the realm even though he had nothing inherently supernatural or special about his bloodline. He didn't wield a legendary, world-ending weapon gifted by the gods. He didn't possess a terrifying hybrid beast form. He didn't have a single drop of magic in his veins, and he certainly didn't practice a lost, special art that no longer existed in Pagna like B did.
He just possessed the raw, hardened martial skills he had painstakingly perfected over decades of blood, sweat, and relentless discipline. Because of that pure, mortal dedication, maybe he truly was the absolute best opponent for Raze to fight under these strict limitations.
"Begin!" Da shouted, his arm dropping sharply to signal the start of the duel.
Imdiately, Lince was the very first to act. With blinding speed, he swung out his arm. His signature cloth wraps uncoiled like striking vipers, wrapping tightly around Raze's wrist. With a sharp, practiced tug, he pulled the heavy cloth downward, forcing Raze's arm to nearly hit the stone floor. Using the tension of the taut wrap as an anchor, Lince pulled himself rapidly forward through the air, launching a heavy flying kick aid directly at Raze's chest.
Relying entirely on his imnse physical strength rather than magical reinforcent, Raze was just barely able to lift his trapped hand and brace his forearm to block the incoming kick right in the nick of ti. The heavy impact rang out across the courtyard, but Lince didn't stop there.
Using the rebound of the blocked kick, Lince was suddenly, inexplicably standing right behind him. He drew a sharp dagger from his belt and struck with lethal precision, aiming directly for the back of Raze's head. But when the steel blade went to strike flesh, it hit nothing but thin air. Raze himself had quickly ducked and shifted away, his boots sliding effortlessly across the stone.
"Right. Your whole reputation within the Demonic Faction was built entirely on stealth assassination and gathering deep underground information, so you are naturally incredibly fast on your feet," Raze claid, turning around to face his opponent and carefully assessing the distance.
"It seems you are exceptionally fast on your feet as well," Lince replied back, a competitive smirk crossing his scarred face as he twirled his dagger. "I honestly thought you had gotten a large majority of your overwhelming physical speed from your lightning magic, but it appears you actually do possess so genuine martial skill underneath all those spells."
Lince's observation was astute. Raze had spent countless hours training in a multitude of the traditional Pagna arts. When he was on his desperate, bloody search to get stronger to defeat the Grand Magus, he had absorbed various techniques, especially from the hidden archives of the Dark Faction. But he always had a specific, underlying focus: he prioritized taking the physical techniques that he could eventually combine seamlessly with his own dark magic.
The phantom footwork he had just used to escape the dagger thrust was also one of those stolen Pagna techniques. Usually, he would infuse his lightning magic into his legs, giving him blinding speed and making it completely impossible for mortal attackers to approach him. Now, relying solely on his physical muscles and raw Qi, the physical burden felt heavier on his joints, but his form remained absolutely flawless.
"Alright, then. Let's do this properly," Raze said, drawing his sword.
His body suddenly vanished from the sight of the ordinary onlookers. A split second later, it was the exact sa for Lince on the other side of the platform. The two blurs converged, until both of their drawn weapons clashed explosively in the dead center of the stone stage. However, there was undeniably more raw physical power behind one specific strike, as Lince's arm was forcefully pushed back, his boots skidding across the stone.
The two elite fighters quickly exchanged a breathless flurry of high-speed blows in the center of the ring. Their weapons clashed constantly, bright sparks flying into the air, and missed each other's throats by re inches as they dodged, parried, and utilized various high-level martial techniques.
Realizing he was being overpowered in a direct clash, Lince tried to change up the rhythm of the fight. He seamlessly transitioned into using more aggressive Demonic Sword Clan techniques to overwhelm his opponent's guard. But that was exactly when Raze had done the sa, completely shifting his own stance. He smoothly blocked a heavy, downward strike coming his way by holding his sword up in a graceful, sweeping, moon-like motion.
Raze then started to effortlessly block all the rapid, aggressive strikes coming from the Demonic leader with flowing, circular parries. As B watched this unfold from the edge of the crowd, her eyes widened in profound recognition. She had definitely seen this highly specific, defensive technique before. It was the Light Faction's signature parry—the exact sword form that Beatrix had specialized in. Raze had perfectly assimilated it into his own repertoire.
Right after absorbing the flurry, dense Demonic Qi began to visibly gather and swirl along the edge of Raze's sword. From the dark steel of the blade itself, a sweeping, ethereal wing of dark energy seed to appear. He then swung it forward with devastating force, and several crescent-shaped Qi strikes went tearing through the air directly at Lince.
As Lince crossed his arms to block the ranged strikes, Raze instantly used his phantom footwork technique to appear right at the blind side of his opponent. Right after he materialized, Raze gathered a concentrated burst of Qi at the back of the hilt of his sword. He forcefully thrust the heavy hilt forward, crashing it brutally into Lince's guarding arms and forcing his entire defensive guard completely open.
Quickly, Raze shifted his grip again. He channeled a final burst of dense Qi strikes as he swung his sword forward. Before Lince even knew what was happening, Raze had leaped high into the air. He was right above the Demonic leader and swung his heavy sword down, hitting Lince squarely and crashing his body hard into the stone ground.
A thick cloud of dust appeared everywhere across the stage as the crushing blow landed. So of the watching crowd were genuinely worried; given Raze's terrifying physical strength, they feared that Lince would have been cut entirely in half. But as the dust settled, he was relatively fine. Raze had expertly rotated his wrist at the very last microsecond, using the blunt back of his sword to perform the devastating strike. Lince was still bruised and hurt, but he was alive.
Coughing as he slowly pushed himself up from the cracked stone, Lince looked up at the Dark Magus.
"I can safely say that you completely own that victory," Lince replied, wiping sweat from his brow and offering a respectful nod. "I knew you could still effectively use the basic Dark Edge sword arts, but perfectly combining them with the Light and Demonic Faction techniques you have learned... it has done you incredibly well."
Lince slowly climbed to his feet, breathing heavily as he looked at the man who had just bested him entirely on mortal terms.
"We can definitively say... even without a single drop of Magic, you are the strongest Pagna warrior there is."
As soon as Raze heard those exact words echo across the silent courtyard, a profound spark caught. It had ignited sothing deeply dormant inside his core.
**
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