46 Chapter 46: Crimson Spear Society (2/2)

”All right, the both of you may begin whenever you're ready.”

”I'm ready.” Craig grinned at me as he lowered his spear, pointing it at me. ”How about you?”

”Yeah.”

”Then let's begin!”

Teacher Fielding glanced from me to Craig, and then nodded. Raising his hand, he swung it down.

”Ready…fight!”

Without waiting for me to summon anything or draw a weapon, Craig Carlson kicked off the ground and surged toward me in a single burst. His crimson spear lanced forward in a deadly manner, almost spearing through my heart.

Clang!

It never reached me. Raising my right hand, I summoned Castor and deflected it. The force blew me away, though, and I was sent stumbling backward. Craig Carlson seized the chance to slash at me with his spear, the sharp blade blurring into a crimson streak, but I parried it with Castor. Despite holding my black sword with both hands, I was thrown back helplessly.

Landing on my feet, I skidded a few meters backward, but I didn't pause. Lowering my sword, I got ready to fend off an attack.

”Your reflexes are good, at least.” Craig leisurely rested his spear on his shoulder. He cocked his head to the side, studying me. ”You've improved. In the past, you would have been taken out immediately by that.”

I didn't say anything, and merely crouched into a defensive stance, waiting for him to launch another attack. Craig merely laughed.

”Relax. I'm not going to finish you off yet. It'd be boring.” He narrowed his eyes. ”I know you're a summoner. I'm at least polite enough to wait for you to summon your magical beasts.” He snickered. ”Of course, I'm not crazy enough to wait for you to summon your big guys, but I heard you've some new summoned beasts. Call them out at least.”

”Make me,” I replied defiantly. The guy clearly intended to show off. He wanted to display to everybody how he could destroy my Constellation spirits, but at the same time he knew it would all be over if he allowed me to summon any one of my Celestial Guardians. Did he really think he could have it one way and not the other? I understood that he was wary of my formidable Celestial Guardians, but…

Even so, it pissed me off that I was still being underestimated somewhat, so I showed him the finger with my left hand.

”Ha ha ha ha!” Unoffended, Craig burst out laughing. ”Now that's the kind of attitude I like! Looks like this will be a fun match!”

The both of us continued to watch each other, the tension in the air tightening. The audience spectated with bated breath, not daring to blink, in case they missed something.

They almost did. The both of us vanished from sight, and then reappeared in the middle of the ring with our weapons crashing against each other.

Craig slashed at me, but I deflected his spear away with Castor, and then countered with a thrust. Twirling his spear, Craig fended off that attack and retaliated with a riposte that I ducked by twisting my body to the side. Whirling about, I slashed at him with my sword, but Craig parried my blade with the thick shaft of his spear. Spinning about, he cut through my defenses and attempted to impale me, but I knocked his deadly blade to the side.

Dust billowed about us as our weapons forcibly collided, sparks scattering from the tremendous impact. We almost seemed to be dancing, our bodies locked in violent combat, matching each other step for step and trading blows. Blade crashed against shaft, and the barbed tip was knocked away by a hair's breadth. We both whirled about and rammed our weapons against each other again before breaking apart in combat.

Then I kicked off the ground and leaped high up. With a yell, I grabbed Castor with both hands and swung it down. Realizing the danger, Craig brought his spear up with both hands to parry the blow, the metal screaming as they kissed and sparks flying violently as my blade dragged against his shaft. Infusing magical energy into my strike in the same manner that Teacher Fielding taught me during combat magic class, I unleashed basic offensive spell called sword blast at pointblank range, the aggressive energies detonating against Craig and sending him flying across the ring to slam into the strings that made up the border.

Boom!

The training room shook from tremors caused by the impact, and the strings actually snapped. The ground itself shattered, with pieces of concrete debris raining all over the poor spearman. However, before anyone could say anything, a particularly colossal chunk of debris was hurled in my direction. I calmly stood my ground as the damned thing missed me entirely, breaking apart as it collided against the ground behind me.

Craig was just showing off. He never intended to hit me with that attack. He would find that extremely boring.

”Heh!”

To my complete lack of surprise, Craig was completely unscathed. He emerged from the cloud of dust and debris without a single scratch, a broad smile spreading across his face. Lowering his spear, he then shot out and thrust his deadly weapon at me at an incredible speed.

My reflexes were barely able to save me. I just about managed to block Craig's strike, but the tremendous force behind his attack smashed Castor out of my hands and shattered the Constellation sword.

”Idiot. This is what you get for showing off!”

Craig's lips curled into a sneer and he stabbed me with his spear. With me completely disarmed at the moment, there was nothing I could do except helplessly watch his lethal weapon pierce toward my chest…