431 Fall and Rise - II
CLANG!
SPARK!
SLASH!
SLASH!
Asher's sword slashed the air, as Kevin started dodging. It was hard to predict Asher's movement as Kevin kept evading his strikes.
Kevin's motive wasn't just to defeat Asher, but he wanted to make sure that everyone would remember this match.
"Take this!" Kevin said as he used his leg and made a crack on the stage.
A huge crack formed, and it forced Asher to take a few steps back as Kevin took the chance and charged at him.
Kevin was only watching out for Asher's unpredictability which was part of his movement art.
Kevin didn't know that what Asher was using was his version of the snake steps that Xander had taught him.
"His movement has depth, but that sword lacks conviction," Silvus muttered.
Despite being a mage, he had fought a lot of weapon users, and he could see that Asher's sword art was refined but it wasn't good enough.
It felt lacking to Silvus, as his sword had no purpose. It felt monotonous that Silvus wondered how the grandson of the Sword God did not have conviction in his sword art.
But in reality, it wasn't these things that were holding Asher back, but it was Asher's limit he placed on himself.
The only time he felt like he truly used his sword was when he used it to kill something. It was like every part of his being was consumed by his madness.
But those shackles loosened as Asher found another purpose, something he felt that was truly worth investing his time into.
Right now, Asher still wasn't ready to change the way he used his sword or fought.
But he was still doing fine for now, but it slowly started changing as Kevin started getting stronger.
Kevin's body became lighter, his senses grew sharper, and he could feel his energy becoming stronger.
Asher's eyes traced Kevin's movement Asher could see the mana around Kevin growing thicker.
'I guess this much is enough,' Asher thought.
He charged in with his sword, and a smile erupted on Kevin's face as he had seen that movement so many times during this match.
The start of snake steps started by charging first. And Asher was using it again. Previously, Kevin couldn't follow that movement with his eyes, but he could see it now.
"You think it will work?" Kevin said as he swung his spear in an arc.
The next step of the Snake Step was to move in a diagonal direction two steps away from their target.
And Kevin's spear was long enough to cover those two steps, as Kevin took a step further.
He was ready to counter Asher, but something unexpected happened as Asher ducked under Kevin's spear as it went over his face.
And used his sword and thrust into the ground and used to rotate his body and turn his back that was facing the ground right now, while lifting his leg and kicking it.
BAM!
A loud noise appeared as Kevin felt the strength of Asher's kick right in his right jaw, he was pushed back to the side.
Blood started flowing out Kevin's nose, as he glared at Asher.
Kevin was both angry and confused as he didn't sense any change in Asher's movement by using the sparks on the ground.
He was ready if Asher performed a feint, but there was no change in his footwork at all.
Asher took out his sword as he felt weak and out of breath, but nobody could notice it judging by his outer appearance.
It looked like Asher Greville was fighting Kevin Whiteheart as an equal but that wasn't the case.
Till now, Asher was aware of the sparks and how Kevin was reacting to the change of his footsteps without even watching them.
Judging by all this, Asher changed the movement of his upper torso and charged just like he did in the first movement of the snake step.
Knowing that Kevin was underestimating him, he knew he would only focus on the information that he gained from the sparks.
The snake step was a fluid movement that Xander made for himself when he was young, it was made for a person to hunt his prey down, even if the prey was stronger than the predator.
But there were flaws in those movements that Asher found, it was suited to hunt humans.
Xander's way worked against a monster that was bigger in size, but against a person whose movement art lacked a few things.
And this is what Asher created for himself, after changing what he learned from Xander.
'Yeah, this is enough,' Asher thought.
Wiping the blood off his face, Kevin unleashed his lightning aura as he grew stronger.
His motives were to show others how weak Asher Greville was, but if he didn't expect such a scenario to happen.
Dash!
Kevin dashed making cracks on the stage, Asher who barely kept up until now saw Kevin dash towards him, making him change his stance to block the incoming spear strike.
"Think you can stop this!?" Kevin said as he swung the spear.
His spear was about to meet Asher's sword when, Asher tilted the tip of his sword downwards and let the spear pass through as he used his hand to stop the spear while tilting his sword up, hooking it into the spear.
His hands started getting damaged by the lightning clad around the spear, it was something no sane person would try.
BAM!
Hit by the impact, Asher was pushed back but he pulled the spear with him, as he used his leg and struck the ground making Kevin lose his footing, as Kevin was pulled along with Asher.
Kevin twisted his spear, but Asher's hand and sword were making it impossible to do so, as he increased his lightning and let go of the spear while making a blast of lightning, pushing him away from Asher.
BOOM!
Kevin landed on the stage laying on his back, and he lifted his head to look at Asher who was sent away from the boundary and crashed outside the stage, but he was on his feet with his hands burnt and Kevin's spear in his arm.
"KEVIN WHITEHEART IS THE WINNER!!"
The crowd cheered for him, but Kevin felt awful as he didn't achieve a perfect victory, and looked like he struggled against Asher Greville when that wasn't the case at all.
Asher, who was breathing heavily, was surrounded by the medics, as his injuries weren't serious, but his hands needed to be treated immediately.
Many people were impressed by Asher, and Kevin's idea flopped as Asher took a deep breath as he had achieved what he wanted.
Defeating Kevin was impossible, and in a long-drawn battle Asher would tire himself even further, and this was the only way to lose while seemingly looking closer to Kevin's skill level.
He saw Farnus appear on the stage to reward Kevin, as Asher was taken to the medic room for further treatment.
A day after, Asher was sitting in the Faculty Council,
His left hand was still in pain, but he didn't have time to rest as he needed to complete his report.
His own injuries weren't so serious that he needed to be admitted to the Medical Facility Building, so he was called by Professor Fernando to complete his research report.
While this going on, Kevin, Elena, Eva, Amelia, and Lishia with Matthew with Ria Adler were all in the Outer Sector celebrating his victory in one of the places in the outer sector.
"You were great in the finals!" Ria said.
Kevin nodded, but he was feeling a bit icky about his win. It wasn't the perfect victory he wanted, but he didn't want to bring down the mood of the party that Elena arranged for him.
"By the way, I am excited for the trip!" Ria said.
"I have never visited Halcyon, what kind of place is it?" Ria asked as she looked at Lishia.
"It's a beautiful place, I am sure you will like it," Lishia replied.
"I see, but I am sure the princess is excited to visit her country," Ria said as Lishia smiled at her.
"Amelia, have some sweets as well," Elena said.
Amelia, who was in deep thought, looked at Elena.
"O-Oh, Sorry, I was thinking about something," Amelia replied.
Kevin noticed Amelia's expression, but as Elena and Amelia started their conversation, he didn't say anything about it.
Amelia merged in with the others but there was a thought in her mind.
'I guess mom and dad saw his potential that's why,' Amelia thought in her head.
She couldn't help but feel that Asher's talent exceeded hers seeing his progress in the last two years.
It was nothing but a shock for everyone here that a Rank 8 Ranker took the second place, but nobody said anything about this knowing that it might offend the people present here.
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