Chapter 356 The Strength Of Lords (1/2)

Kadun ca Shadoord as if he wanted to finish his opponent in a single blow

Yet where Kadun seehtest sign of excitement Instead, his movements were steady and deliberate as he took a defensive position and braced himself for the attack

Then, Kadun was upon Rannoc Or rather, upon his weapon — because while Kadun held a sword, Rannoc wielded an eight-foot glaive with a reach far greater than his opponent's weapon

Eager though Kadun ht be to strike down his foe, to do so he would first need to get past the glaive's long blade — and that put hie of Rannoc's attacks

For well over aferociously to break through Rannoc's guard He attacked again and again, his sword clashi+ng with the glaive as he struggled to create an opening

Rannoc's superior reach was no se, however The tall Lord met his opponent's furious offensive with cal and denying Kadun even the slightest opening

Whenever Kadun attacked, it wasn't long before he found hilaive And before Rannoc's powerful strikes, he was inevitably forced to retreat

It was obvious that the tere expert warriors Both had a level of skill that could only be earned through a lifetih their styles holly different, neither seemed the least bit weaker than the other

Still, as Arran observed the two, he could not stop a frown froht with a level of skill that was far beyond his ohat he saas somehow less than he'd expected

They clearly were stronger than the Knight he'd faced with Kaleesh, but the difference only appeared to be a hts, Arran saw no sign of anything reseer and faster than the Knight had been, but that hardly seemed to justify their differences in status

Yet as the fight continued, Arran gradually began to feel that so subtly unnatural about the Lords'in the air around the Arran had ever seen before

Suddenly, his eyes ide, as he finally understood what he itnessing

”This isn't possible,” he said softly, shock written across his face

”But it's real,” Kaleesh replied in a tense voice ”Watch closely”

Arran nodded silently, eyes fixed on the two fighting Lords before them as he tried to find an explanation for what he saw

When the Lords es of their weapons flickered in the air for a fraction of a second, briefly appearing in nuain an instant later

Each time they matched blades, it was as if, for a e of beco real And each time, only one of those became reality

Yet in the two Lords movements, Arran saw that they reacted not just to the other's actual actions, but also to all the blurry movements that never fully materialized With each attack, they assaulted a dozen defenses, and with each defense, they blocked a dozen attacks

The blurry flickers were so brief as to be all but invisible, but now that Arran knew they were there, he had no doubt that they were real

The sight left hiic, what he saw should be all but impossible Yet soic, since there wasn't the slightest trace of Essence to be Sensed

He suspected that it was sohts, but how, he could not say

There was no tiht, either, because while he watched in astonish — and not in a good way

At first, the change was a subtle one While the reach on Rannoc's weapon had given hi before that advantage disappeared

While neither Kadun nor Rannoc scored any hits on the other, it seee eroded so him in a worse position every time the two crossed blades

Kadun,fortunes And as he saw victory looreater fury than before, increasing the pressure on his opponent with vicious glee

Arran understood that Rannoc had intentionally provoked Kadun earlier, but now, he began to wonder if that had been a e, it was becoer had not made him the least bit careless

He attacked furiously and viciously, but even so, his attacks were careful and deliberate If Rannoc's provocation had achieved anything, it was to give Kadun a burning rage to draw upon for energy

And so far, that fuel showed no sign of running out