25 Patriarch (1/2)

Even though Lou Lee was conceited, he was also thorough, he had tried to gather as much information as possible during these last 7 days.

He assumed Hartley to be a 1st layer xanthian who had affinity to a mysterious element, his grandfather had also put a file together, but the information was still sketchy, Lou Lee's grandfather couldn't imagine why Hartley was so favored by the higher ups, he was approached by a messenger from higher up and given an assignment to put together a good team and lethally assault Hartley to test his prowess and it didn't matter if he died in the process.

He recruited a couple strong combat specialist and added three reliable core disciples to carry out the mission.....The team was wiped out in minutes and they still hadn't gained any concrete information other than that he is fast and uses dual blades one short one long.

The information about the team being wiped out was top secret, but Lou Lee was warned that Hartley was very strong. Lou Lee took heed of these warnings but he still couldn't understand how a 1st layer xanthian without a proper elemental affinity could truly be of any threat to him.

There were two people stood facing each other on the main battle stage of the Lou clan, both wore red robes, one had a set of donkey-like teeth protruding downwards from his upper jaw and green eyes contaminated with hate. the other had striking blues eyes and a tranquil look like he didn't have a care in all of Aldora.

Of course one was Hartley and the other Luo Lee.

They faced each other at the center of the stage sporting serious expressions, Hartley armed with a silver bladed long sword in his right hand and a red sword about half the length in his left hand, Lou Lee had a dark colored halberd about 5 feet long, it had a sinister double axe blade and a long spear like tip.

The halberd was a cross between a battle ax and a spear, it could control distance while still being effective in close quarters. Lou Lee retreated ten meters and slashed out wasting no time, he had been yearning for this match for the last seven days, the blade of his halberd went in a smooth motion from low-middle to high-middle in a uppercut-like slash.

The halberd produced a flash of green forming wind blade about 6 feet tall in an arc shape like a bow fully drawn, the wind around the stage was whipped up into a frenzy as the blade cut into the floor of the stage and swiftly made its way towards hartley, the power of the 3rd layer xanthian expert was on full display as the crowd reacted with excitement.

The wind element blade produced strong tornado-like gusts, spitting out dust and debris in all direction leaving random bits of rock strewn in its wake.

Members of the audience erupted with noise and started to make bets as to how long the battle would last, some were adamant that this would be over in the first exchange and tried to quickly place their bets to cash in on a sure win.

People and even elders in the crowd who didn't know Hartley's capabilities nodded their heads in approval and appreciation for the impressive first strike.

Hartley squinted his eyes, set his jaw and stood there like a mountain, resembling a small boat in a turbulent deep ocean as his hair danced and wriggled in the wind, he entered state of focus and did a full 360 degrees turn, elegantly dodging to the right, avoiding the blade by inches while firmly moving through the wind.

Lou Lee didn't really expect that first strike to land, that was a set up for his second strike, which was a overhead strike from high-middle to low-middle chopping down in a straight line leaving blurry green after images of the weapon..... he had dashed forward immediately after his first strike was completed, the halberd in his hands was glowing bright green as it descended intending to split Hartley in two like firewood on the chopping block.

There were ooohs and aaahs throughout the crowd as they witnessed Luo Lee smoothly transition from his first strike to his second, it was an elegant display, almost resembling an artistic ballet.

Hartley now had a little respect for Luo Lee's skill...But only a little...

Hartley used minute movement dodging technique to slip back to the left, the blade passed so close to Hartley that the hairs on his arm were shaved off, but it was all in his calculations.

Hartley's counter move was to calmly stab his silver blade in his right hand directly at the face of Lou Lee. Lou Lee's eyes squinted in concentration as he moved his head to the right making the sword whizz over his left shoulder, this was also a set up strike by Hartley and Luo Lee had fallen into his trap, hook line and sinker.

With a sudden movement Hartley calmly flicked his wrist to the left and the flat of the silver blade slapped the lower jaw of Luo Lee with a Poposure, the pain of a dozen teeth being extracted at once caused the youth to become frantic but there was a shadow beside him getting bigger and bigger, the flabbergasted Lou Lee looked up just in time to see Hartley dropping down 10 meters from the sky with his silver sword pointing downwards while his shadow on the ground expanded.

Blocking out his pain Luo Lee managed to just scramble back enough when Boom! The sword of Hartley touched the ground and rocks and debris exploded 10 meters upwards and outwards in a circular pattern like a blooming flower.

Lou Lee wasn't caught directly but was pushed further back by the splash damage with panic in his eyes and dust in his mouth.

The last strike from Hartley had produced a thick dust curtain, Luo Lee was stumbling back when Hartley came through the curtain of dust as neatly as if he had just exited a tent.

Lou Lee reversed the grip on his halberd preparing a defensive strike when something strange happened, dust flew up and the stage shook once violently making the dust swirl upwards then Lou Lee's body was as heavy as lead, he could hardly lift the halberd.