KINETIC

When clay entered the arena, Nila could hear the nobles around her laughing at his appearance.

"What is he wearing?"

"His clothes are five sizes too big him!"

"What do you expect from a commoner? He probably made those out of old bedsheets."

They continued to laugh and make jokes, adding upon each others comments. Although their comments bothered Nila, she chose to ignore their words and focus on the duel.

Clay and Nathan were standing across from each other with a man between them. 'Nila said that there would be a judge for the duel, this must be him.' Clay thought while looking at the man.

The judge lifted his hands and the crowd started to settle down until there was silence in the arena. He lifted a small and flat rectangular piece of metal and pressed it against the side of his neck.

In a voice much louder than any human could produce, the judge spoke "The duel between Sir Nathan Zemor and Clay of Holber Village shall commence after I have clarified the rules and conditions of victory."

"The duel will end once one of the fighters accumulates five points. A point will be gained when one fighter lands a blow on the other. The duel will end if one of the fighters chooses to concede at any point during the duel, in which case the other fighter will be the winner. If one of the fighters is injured to the point of being unable to continue, the other fighter will be the winner. Blows to the head and groin are prohibited."

"The rules have been stated, fighters get ready!" The judge said as he backed away from Clay and Nathan.

Clay lifted his wooden sword in preparation but Nathan continued to stand and act in a nonchalant manner.

"Fight!"

'I'd rather not use my ability, so let's try and win with skill if possible.' Clay thought to himself.

"Although it's typically done in private beforehand, we haven't said what we want from the other upon victory." Nathan suddenly said, a cocky smile sitting on his face.

"What do you want?" Clay asked.

"When I win, you'll become my servant for the next five years. You should be honored, it's more of a reward than a punishment." Nathan replied, his smile turning sadistic.

Clay nodded to show he accepted "Then when I win, you'll publicly apologize for the way you've treated Nila and myself, as well as admit to being less skilled than a commoner."

"Very well. I won't lose so it makes little difference what you want." Nathan said as he finally lifted his sword and prepared to fight.

Clay rushed towards Nathan and attempted a diagonal strike to the shoulder area. The strike was fast and accurate but Nathan lifted his sword and parried the attack easily with a upwards diagonal strike in the opposing direction.

When the swords collided, Clays arm was pushed away and Nathan pulled his sword back briefly before lunging forwards.

Nathans sword plunged into Clay's stomach and pushed him off his feet. Clay felt the wind get knocked out of him and tried to catch his breath as he got up from the ground.

"One point to Sir Nathan!" The judge announced and the crowd cheered.

Clay steadied himself and lifted his sword as he took a defensive stance. Nathan chuckled as he saw this "Defending won't help, I'll just break through it!"

Nathan charged forwards and attacked with the same diagonal strike aimed at the shoulder. Seeing his own attack used against him, Clay attempted to use the same parry that Nathan had.

He swung his sword up and to the side and met Nathan's sword in the middle. Rather than Nathan's sword being pushed back like Clay's when using this attack, Nathan's sword was only halted while Clay's sword was rebounded back down.

Clay felt an immense shock run through his arm when the swords connected and his entire arm went numb for a few seconds as his sword was pushed downwards.

Using the moment that Clay was stunned, Nathan spun on the spot and executed a backhanded slash into Clay's ribs.

Clay was once again winded and he was pushed a few meters to the side as he struggled to maintain his footing.

'This is what you consider to be just 'Okay' at sword fighting? What do consider good then, Nila!?' Clay shouted in his head.

' How is he so strong? He doesn't have an ability since he wasn't at the military academy but somehow he's able to overpower me. I might not be strengthening my body using my Energy but all ability users are naturally stronger than a regular human, so how is he so strong?' Clay struggled to come up with a reason and was forced to stop thinking about it.

Just as the judge announced Nathan's 2nd point, he charged at Clay once again. Clay decided to place some energy into his body to increase his strength so he wouldn't lose in the sword clashes anymore.

When an ability user channels their Energy throughout their body, it doesn't give them a huge boost in power. It increases their strength to a point that takes them from being twice as strong as an average human to three times as strong.

When their swords met this time their strength seemed to be equal, something that surprised both fighters. After realizing that neither one was pushing the other back, Nathan lifted his leg and performed a powerful kick towards Clay's stomach.

Clay saw the kick coming and managed to sidestep at the last moment. Instantly Clay swung his sword out at Nathan's ribs and due to the heavy kick having missed, he was off balance.

He tried to use his sword to block Clay's strike but due the awkwardness of his stance he was unable to do so and received a strike to the ribs.

"One point to Clay!" The judge announced. Due to this being Clay's first point after losing the first two, the crowd cheered enthusiasticly at the change of events.

Clay's strike had focused on speed rather than power. The objective was to land a hit, not to injure your opponent, so long as the sword made contact the point would be won.

Due to the attack lacking power, Nathan was unharmed and simply raised his sword to continue fighting.

Sitting up in the stands and watching the fight, Nila felt odd about what she was seeing. 'He's just a regular human, yet he's able to trade blows so easily with Clay, an ability user. Could he have an ability and hid it from the kingdom? Or does it have something to do with vessel improvement?'

While she was thinking about the abnormal strength that Nathan possessed, someone sat down beside her. It was a plump middle aged man with curly brown hair and a goatee.

"Lord Zemor? It's surprising that you've come personally to watch the duel." Nila said with a slight tone of surprise in her voice.

Whenever an event like this takes place, the head of a noble family will never come to watch personally. Typically they will send whichever of their children are closest in age to the participants of the event. Because of this, the nobles at the duel currently were all around Nilas age, apart from Nathan's father.

"Yes well, I happened to have some free time and decided to come see how much my son has improved his skills." Lord Zemor replied.

At that moment Nathan managed to win another point, bringing his total points up to three while Clay was still at one.

"It looks like he's doing quite well. That commoner never stood a chance to begin with, but it's commendable that he's managed to score one point against my son."

Nila looked at the Lord Zogarth for a second and then back at the arena where Clay and Nathan had begun fighting again.

" I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. Nathan might be winning right now but that's because Clay is letting him. If he wasn't holding back, Nathan would have lost already." Nila commented with an aloof expression and cold tone of voice.

"Who's the overconfident one now?" Lord Zogarth said while glaring at Nila. 'I'll make sure you eat your words when my son wins this duel.'

After the longest interaction between the two so far, Nathan managed to fake a strike and land a hit on Clay, securing his fourth point.

"Sir Nathan has acquired four points, one more point and he wins the duel!" The judge announced, causing the crowed to cheer from the excitement.

'It seems I can't win with skill alone. Even after I matched his strength, he still managed to maintain the advantage over me. I might not have wanted to win like this but it doesn't really matter all that much to me.' Clay thought to himself.

"It's time i stop holding back." Clay suddenly said. Nathan squinted in surprise and then started laughing "Holding back? Oh please, don't try to act like you've been letting me win this whole time. What? Now that you've seen what actual power is, you're embarrassed to say you ever challenged me, is that right?"

Nathan continued to laugh but stopped when he saw that Clay was serious. His expression turned into one of fury" I've had enough of you, just accept your loss like a good dog."

Clay pointed his sword at Nathan "Power? You don't have any power. How about I show you what real power is?" Clay smiled as his body began to double in size and his muscles bulged as far as his baggy clothes allowed.

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