Shun slowly goes forward.
“I think it’s close to ending.”
Says Argo, and Siphon nods. It’s been close to thirty minutes since they started fighting, and they keep trading blows.
People don’t want to miss that moment when it happens, so they’re not even blinking.
Their distance shrinks, and the first to make a move is the beast king.
The moment he’s in range of the sword, he rushes forward quickly.
Shun blocks all the attacks by a small margin, and the beast king changes it up by trying to grab him, but he avoids that too.
Argo and the others let out voices of appreciation, but the beast king continues his attacks, looking not at all surprised.
Shun doesn’t attack even once, almost like he’s betting everything on his next attack.
The beast king keeps going, and it feels like his precision is slowly going down. It’s a small difference, but his moves do look a little different.
“He’s ready.”
Says Naoto, and right after, Shun ends this purely defensive battle and goes on offense.
He’s not using feints or anything, just swinging his sword, but the beast king isn’t trying to dodge, and puts out his fists towards the sword.
The sword and fist don’t clash, as both stop as if something is between them. .. And then explosive energy surges from that point outwards.
The spectators are fine, but people close to the ring are flung away.
“That’s Shun’s skill… Well, special move. He needs to build it up, so it’s hard to use, but…”
Says Naoto, and I use Appraisal, Presence Detection, and Magic Energy Detection.
I see it on Shun’s side, but I also see a lot of magic energy enveloping the beast king’s fists.
Is that why his moves weren’t as good? Because he was setting that up?
Even that large magic energy can’t push Shun’s sword back, but Shun is also unable to push back that fist.
It’s like a test of strength, with both sword and fists trembling, but unable to push forward.
I feel no magic energy from Shun, so he must be using something else. It’s probably an offensive skill of Swordmaster…
Even as I think that, the immense energy rages, but this clash is brought to an end abruptly.
The beast king’s fist pushes forward a little, and as if signaled by this, it’s suddenly pushed away.
The energy building up pushes towards Shun, and himself and the sword he’s holding are thrown horizontally towards the crowd. He clashes against the wall, and disappears.
That’s proof that he suffered fatal damage, giving the beast king the victory.
The winner lowers his fist, and falls to his knees on the ring. He’s conscious, but doesn’t look well.
But he then composes his breathing, that pained expression is erased from his face, and he raises his fist in the air.
The moment the crowd sees this, they cheer, and the beast king is declared the winner.
◇ ◇ ◇
When the award ceremony ends, the spectators rush to the exit.
There’s a whole lot of noise as people talk about the tournament, but apparently that’s normal.
Shun comes back, looking frustrated.
That attack really was a skill, so he was building up that power to release it all at once against his opponent. It’s a special move for short battles, and it’s not supposed to hold energy for that long.
“It took down a dragon, but…”
I’m surprised to hear that. So that’s what the beast king managed to block.
Speaking of the beast king, he’s being treated. He didn’t suffer fatal injuries, so he didn’t heal through that.
Mia cast Heal on him to heal his wounds, but he’s feeling languid due to using too much magic energy.
“That was an incredible attack. I’ve never seen someone push the beast king that far.”
Says Ryuryu, and the beast people knights nod.
“And he got what he deserved for trying to take your special move head on.”
I don’t know if he knew Shun had an attack like that, but he might have sensed something instinctively. That’s why he took measures against it.
“Well, you lost against the beast king, but there’s no doubt that it was a good fight. I wouldn’t be able to go that far. You’ve gotten stronger, Shun.”
Says Argo, and Shun looks surprised, but that’s quickly replaced with a happy smile.
They’ve been traveling together for a while, so a compliment from Argo probably means a lot.
We continue talking about the tournament as we enjoy food we prepared.
Yuno isn’t stopping Siphon from drinking today, so he’s letting loose. But he’s not the only one, as the whole city is staying up late partying.
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the beast people knights nod -> the beast knights nod
Thanks and have a nice weekend.
Thanks for this weeks updates, & have a good weekend. 😎👍