Chapter 113 - Ugly Yet Dashing (1/2)
It took Merlin quite a while to recover her mana, far more than usual because even though she had her eyes closed, she constantly heard the distinct clinking of metals around her. When she finished her round of mediation, she stood up from the ground and muttered, ”This is insane.”
Earlier, the moment Will was confronted by Ibrahim, Merlin sat down and started to immediately mediate. She had that much confidence in Ibrahim, they all did. Everyone else wanted to follow suit, but they couldn't concentrate long enough to actually gather energy, which should have become second nature to them.
Merlin had the greatest mental strength, so she was able to get into the groove of it, albeit with some difficulty. The reason everyone was having trouble concentration was simple. Ibrahim's fight with Will was ridiculous!
”Is this really a battle between two level 74's?” asked a bewildered Salty. The question wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but everyone who heard it shook their heads.
Will and Ibrahim, or rather their silhouettes, were constantly clashing, their blades clinging together. At the beginning of the battle, Will had created a weapon from water. To everyone's shock, instead of creating a katana like the one on his waist, he created a scimitar, just like Ibrahim's! To Ibrahim, this was a great insult, and so a battle ensued.
Ibrahim planned to teach Will a lesson for tiring to imitate him by fighting seriously from the get-go, unfortunately, he was really teaching Will a lesson…literally.
As the duo clashed more and more, Will's initially clumsy-looking movements started to mirror Ibrahim's, and this improvement was happening by the second!
This was due to multiple reasons. The first being Will's passive ability Sword Enlightenment. The second reason was the analytical ability he gained from Dual Mind Propagation. The third and most important reason, which linked the previous two reasons nicely, was the fact that Will had achieved Martial Harmony! The first bottleneck in the world of Martial Arts!
The difference between a martial artist with Martial Harmony and one without was as clear as day. Ibrahim himself was on the verge of achieving the state, but he still was lacking the final piece of the puzzle.
It only took a few minutes for the young Will to completely pick up and utilize Ibrahim's saber art; Sandstorm Fury.
'It requires a lot of arm strength and focuses on applying swift straightforward attacks with varied agile footsteps. It seems to work better the calmer one is and is very demanding of a person's ability to control their strength.'
Will did not know what the art was called, but he didn't care, because he was not planning on using it that much. He did, however, gain a great understanding of scimitars, including how to not only wield them but also how to deal with a scimitar user.
After some time, Ibrahim realized that he was falling behind. Not only was he shocked by Will's sword skills, but he was also even more shocked by the fact that his weapon had not even caused a single nick. It was obvious that Will's scimitar was not made from ordinary ice.
With a snort, Ibrahim formed a pike of sand. Will lamented deep in his heart, 'Even when he snorts he looks so handsome. Life is just unfair.'
The pike and the ice scimitar made contact. Within a few seconds, the scimitar had cut through it like a hot knife through butter, whilst dissipating at the same time. The rest of the ice broke apart, leaving Will's right-hand clutching air. Ibrahim smirked and readied himself to attack with his scimitar in his free hand, but it was met with another ice scimitar.
'He made another one so fast?'
Ibrahim was shocked internally but made no sign of it externally. He aimed his pike for the new scimitar, intending to do the same thing. But this time he was met with disappointment. The pike of sand was stopped in its tracks.