" It looks like it has not finished yet." John was as he watched so many people gathered out side of the church building.
" What do you think , who will win ?"
" Hmm I don't know? But it sure that we will have blast watching it".
John didn't had a clue what all of them were talking about so he reached out someone asked a near by guy , that what was happening here.
The person whom John asked was Happy, he came here with his younger brother for the awakening ceremony.
" It's nothing serious, my younger brother told me that there will going to a duel between two of the newly awakened children. Father Julius and the city guardian will present to watch this, he said that the duel will happen in few minutes."
' The chanses of Max of being one of them are very few , so he might not be one to participate. Still I should ask him if he knows the names.
" Oh , do you know their names."
" Hmm , I think they announced the names both of them , one is known by the name Nathan. They are saying that this boy is a genius in swordsman ship for his age.he is also very famous among the local kids. And other one is called Max. I heard from my brother that he was choosen by the light goddess , he got the offer from the church that they will train him to become a holy knight. Is not that cool.
" But why are they having a duel.?"
" The other kid Nathan wants to show people something entertaining , that is why he suggested it ."
John found it little weird, why would they want to demonstrate a duel between two kids who had just awakened a few minutes ago. If they wanted a proper demonstration than they as well have decided to go with a experienced veteran to do friendly duel with the kids so they can learn more rather doing this kind of sh*t.
John after thinking, he decided to go in front so he could watch if anything goes wrong
" Are you going in front to watch, there allready many people , you might not reach there."
" It's okay you don't have to worry about that."
John went through the crowd like a wind, passing through the openings before anyone could notice he was allready in front of the crowd.
The front of the church had a large space, so it was easy for them to prepare a temporary platform so a duel can be held.
Max was still inside the church , father Julius was explaining about how holly magic worked as he didn't have any clue about how to utilise it. Max was left alone as father Julius returned to his work.
" Are you sure about facing my brother in a duel , he has a no plan to go easy on you. He just wants to show people that he is better than you and prove that you are not worthy for such attention of the people."
" I thought he was serious about demonstrating a battle. But what you say is truth than , I would not hold back to." Max held a long and broad sword in one hand and a shield on the other hand. Both the sword and shield were given to him by church as a gift.
Max concentrated on his sword and shield as he rooted his believe towards the light goddess as father Julius told him. A white light started to shine around both of the shield and sword. Nathaly could feel her own mana being resonated with Max as he used both of his skills simultaneously.
Nathaly was shocked as she watched Max using both of his skills after it was taught to him theoretically and was not demonstrated.
She knew that Max had no experience with it until now, unlike him she had read several books about mana and different kinds of magic. Skills were different as it was something that were attached to the body, it was like having a muscle memory. But still it several days of practices for someone to perform it first time, it's a different story after that as they can perform it multiple times.
Max didn't know that what was going on inside the girl as she looked at him with a face saying
" Are you for real ?".
Max didn't waste anymore time and exited the church and what he expected that few people will stay to watch it , instead more people were present for seeing the duel. Max looked towards right as he heard familiar voice coming from that direction and went towards the person calling him , as it was non other his dad and younger sister with his best friend Curt.
" I heard that Max named boy was choosen by light goddess for become a holy knight and he also agreed for duel with some powerful kid. Tell me that the first one is you and second one is not related to you." said Paul as he looked towards his with mixture of happy and worried expression.
" It's okay dad, it is just a friendly duel. It is not dangerous as it seems."
" I think you should listen to dad, there is no way you going to win. You shouldn't go , you will get called coward for first few days but atleast you will not return with brocken bones."
" Your sister is right , hey where did you learn to speak like that." Pointed out Paul as he looked towards his innocent looking daughter.
" Best of luck bro , I know you got it. You will be awesome. " said Curt as he talked with him before Max went towards the temporary arena ground.
" So you finally got the time to show up , I thought you ran away after being scared."
" I don't remember having any memory of you"
" You... " Nathaly stopped him before he could say any further.
" He is one of my friends , his name is Marty. I am sorry about him , he just got little exited after hearing that I have to duel someone's like you."
Before the things can get more heated , Alex arrived and announced that duel will start soon so both participate should come in the centre of the ground.
Both Max and Nathan stood confronting each other, both had already equiped with every equipment they had available. Max was using both of his sword and shield, sword in right hand and shield in left hand.
In contrast, Nathan held one long and slim sword in one hand and his other hand was empty. He wore a black leather armour that almost reached to his knees.
Alex asked both of them one by one , of they were ready. After confirming from both side he announced start of the duel.
' hmm looking at his stance , it looks he is well trained on the other hand Max is a amature, does he really have a plan or does he has mindset that he will learn swimming after jumping in the water.'
Nathan watching Max posture smirked , " I will give you the chance to attack first".
" You better not regret it." Max ran towards Nathan with full speed , he was far more faster than he was before, his body felt light and he was running three times faster than usual even after caring both shield and sword.
Max was little shocked about his own improvement but didn't showed it outward as he slashed across Nathan with full strength, Nathan on the other hand didn't flinched and used used his sword to swing horizontal and blocked the incoming attack with just one hand.
" Is that all you got" hearing it Max didn't hold back as he used his skill holy blade, his broad sword envoloped in white colour as it slashed down .
Nathan didn't take it lightly and coated his sword in blue aura and blocked the incoming attack with his own sword , he forced his opponent's sword to bend towards right side leading to off balance of Max.
Nathan didn't let this chance go as he counter attacked immediately , Max had not recovered from previous attack so he used his left hand to move this shield in front of him to block the attack. The shield was not enforced by anything and he had not good footing on the ground , but the Nathan sword coated in aura directly landed on the shield . The tremendous force shot forward shock wave towards the whole body as Max fell down.
Nathan didn't stoped there and continued with more attacks on Max who was blocking with his shield while lying down.
" Shouldn't he stop now , it's allready clear who is winner."
" That is not how it works, until someone concedes or faints, worst case dies the other one would not stop. But rest assured that would not happen today as I am here." said Alex as he looked towards the children.
Alex knew this was the reality of the world that were living, everyone has to face it accept it sooner or later.
Max couldn't find any opening to get in control of the match , even after using the holy shield skill to protect against those brutal attacks , his hands were becoming more and more bruised.
" Now do you realise , what a true talent is? You should know your place. You are a peasant you don't deserve that, it should have been me."
" Isn't that why you fear it , you fear the idea of having a peasant like me will suppress you, someone like you who got everything he wanted without asking for it. You were trained by one of the best teachers from young age , unlike us who hasn't yet started to learn what magic is about.
But I know what magic is , it gives the people a chance to get whatever they want to become in life. I am not like you people, who wants to walk over on someone else or bury someone or blaming someone else for their failure, with magic I will create my opportunity and will Walk my own path."
A bright white light appeared blinding Nathan as he was caught off guard. Max regained his footing and coated his shield with holy magic and bashed Nathan with full force as he ran and tackling him in air.
Nathan who was blinded by the light could not see incoming attack , the brut force combined with the shield sent him flying for few seconds.
Max thought it was over but a blue energy came out of nowhere and directly heat him on the chest, sent him flying and blood sprayed allover the place as deep cut was made on his chest.
Seeing Max bloodied body being falling down on the ground, Paul , Sienna and Curt wanted to go near Max as soon as possible , but guards blocked them and don't allowed them to enter.
" Didn't I told you to stay away from brother for a time being or it will might get out of the hand" said Nathaly as she looked towards lying body of Max.
Nathan wiped out blood from his mouth and jerked his clothes to get the dust off. He smiled as he looked at the fallen body of Max laid down on the ground.
" By the way that was a great speach you told there , ofcourse for a peasant like you" said Nathan and started to walk away from max , but stopped in his movements after hearing groaning sounds coming from the behind.
Anger started to surface on Nathan as he turned toward Max , " So you would not stay still , you might like to get another scar on your body" said Nathan as he used aura slash second time.
But to his suprise a boy simmilar to his own age was standing in front of lying body of Max. The boy was unscathed, making him question that didn't he had attacked just now.
The boy was none other than John as he spoke, " it's over, you won. There is nothing more for you to gain out of this."
" It doesn't matter who you are, get out of my way."
" I don't think you in your right mind right now. you need to learn , how to control your temper a little bit. "
" I will show you what my temper is like." After hearing the remarks coming from John , Nathan didn't waited anymore as he used aura slash again.
John didn't even tried to move away as he used his bare hands to break the aura blade towards him. John didn't waited for next attack and directly ran towards Nathan in full speed, before anyone can notice he was allready in front of Nathan. A fist landed on the face of Nathan sending him flying and breaking few teeths and mandible in the process. The extreme pain made him faint as he hit the ground.
John was not normal human, he was perfect mixture of both a dragonoid and high human. Even as a child he would be considered on same level as a disaster class monster. Compared to him Nathan had didn't even made a mana core yet , considering this they both had huge power gap.
Nathaly didn't stayed ideally as she had already made move after seeing John destroying the aura blade like it was nothing , But she was to late. Everything had happened in a span of few seconds.