"Arrgh!" Claudia exclaimed in frustration, hissing from the pain, before holding her nicked shoulder.
Haru put a sword to Claudia's neck and smirked. He won pretty handily against one of the best fighters of this land, so it was a bit satisfying to show up these people by beating their leaders in battle.
"I win." Haru smiled.
"That was a great fight!" Alicia exclaimed while walking to the Duke. "You are quite the swordsman Haru!"
"That may be." Haru said while putting down his longsword. "But I'm far from being the best fighter in this army."
"What!? That's nonsense! A leader should be a greater than his subordinates!" Claudia retorted.
"Well I do know a specific someone woho is blatant exception to that rule." Haru mused while pointing to a giant redhead man with his poleaxe. "That man over there is a much better fighter than I am."
"Just who is he?" Alicia questioned, intrigued at the man's size. "How is he so large?"
"That man's name is Pyrrho, the captain of my personal guard. Risen from the ranks of peasant soldier to being my personal guard. I've sparred with him multiple times and I always come out the loser."
"But he's way bigger than you! He's probably bigger than Volt!" Claudia added.
"But that's the thing, size matters. If two men of different sizes had the same amount of experience, then the bigger one would win more often than not."
Their conversation is interrupted by the cage opening, with the Duke perking up and saying.
"Ah! Here's our chance to witness Pyrrho's prowess!"
The trio walked closer to see Pyrrho ready himself, and standing his ground against the emerging monster. It had a bull's head, but a man's body. Its appearance frightened spectators as they kept their distance. But Pyrrho stood still, ready to brave the incoming beast.
"A minotaur?" Alice questioned. "Where did you get it?"
"We're gathering some of the monsters for the public tournaments, to keep the populace entertained."
"You do that?" Claudia questioned.
"Oh no doubt, we used to do it with the local fauna but now that the monsters are here, the money we'll gather from betting pool alone will make us a fortune!" Haru laughed.
"That seems cruel for the animals." Alicia commented with a hint of distaste.
"Well God has given Man dominion over his creations, we are merely exercising that right." Haru said while pointing at Pyrrho. "Ignore that for now, let us see Pyrrho in action."
Alicia and Claudia then looked at Pyrrho, who was unafraid of the roaring minotaur. The minotaur began to scratch the ground with its hooves. The minotaur then charged right for Pyrrho, who held his poleaxe up in anticipation for the monster. As soon as the monster got into range, Pyrrho thrust the spear end of his poleaxe into the monster. With all his strength, he flipped the monster over him. This move shocked Alicia and Claudia, as they had not seen a man with that sort of strength, flipping over a half-ton minotaur like a pancake.
Of course, the minotaur does not go down easy and quickly gets up. It then unsheathes a giant sword, shocking the spectators and worrying Alicia and Claudia for Pyrrho's safety. But the Duke doesn't react and continues to watch.
The minotaur tries an overhead strike with his giant sword, but Pyrrho blocks and redirects the strike, throwing the minotaur off-balance. The minotaur staggers for a bit, giving Pyrrho time to readjust the grip of his poleaxe, and swinging the hammer side of the poleaxe at the minotaur's face. The minotaur falls from the strike, dazed by the strike. Pyrrho then raised his axe and swung down on the minotaur's head, decapitating him.
Alicia and Claudia were stunned at that. The battle was over so quickly and Pyrrho had done it so masterfully. Alicia was curious on how to fight someone so strong yet so masterful in his strikes. Claudia wanted to know how strong he really was, and there was only one way of doing it.
"Haru, I wish to challenge Pyrrho to a spar."
"Go ahead, he won't hurt you." Haru replied plainly.
Claudia vaulted over the fence and propped her armor. It was still a bit uncomfortable to wear so much metal, but she was getting used to it. She walked up to Pyrrho, who turned to her and looked down, indicating the clear disparity of height.
"Do you mind terribly if we spar? I wish to get a clear picture of your form." Claudia said.
"It's no trouble. Should I hold back you or all-out?" Pyrrho asked.
"All-out."
Claudia drew her sword, while Pyrrho readied his poleaxe. Spectators gathered closely as they wanted to see who would win between the Herculean Pyrrho and the Dawn Templar leader Claudia.
Claudia was the first one to strike, agilely lunging at Pyrrho. Pyrrho stands his ground and deflects a strike before thrusting his polearm at Claudia. Claudia barely dodged the strike, before swiping at Pyrrho's exposed side. But Pyrrho slides back, dodging the strike from Claudia and throwing her off balance. Pyrrho then thrusted his spear at Claudia, and she closed her eyes in fear at the attack.
Claudia slowly opened her eyes, to see that the spear tip was close to her face. Pyrrho had the control to stop his thrust just in time. Pyrrho then withdrew his poleaxe and said,
"Good fight."
Claudia breathed in relief as she then extended her hand for a handshake, and with Pyrrho responding in kind.
"You're an amazing fighter, I did not expect to lose so quickly."
"That is due to the fact that you had too much wasted movement. Had you been more precise in your strikes, you would have been able to recover your footing long before I even could react."
"Well to be honest, I thought that you'd be a little slower." Claudia admitted. "So I thought that I could afford to be a little negligent in movement."
"That's the mistake people make in fighting me. I may be cumbersome, but I can still avoid attacks decently, and people's underestimation of my speed is what always gives me an edge against skilled opponents. Even the great Duke himself lost embarrassingly to me."
"So I've heard."
"But throughout our fights, he's been improving. Becoming more precise and more alert in fighting me, succeeding fights would drag on even longer as he knew my form better. Honestly, the only reason I win is because he insists on using a longsword and that I am much larger than him."
"Well I would like to try my hand against you soon."
"Same here." Pyrrho nodded.
Claudia returned to Alicia and noticed that Haru wasn't there anymore and hissed at Alicia.
"Where is he?"
"He said that he was going to go to the balcony to clear his head on some things." Alicia replied.
"You fool!" Claudia chided. "Lady Rias instructed us to keep him occupied."
"That begs the question, why are we so subservient to these people?" Alicia asked, crossing her arms.
"Because I'd much rather get them as our rulers than those Black Dogs."