35 Caine Smith 4 (2/2)
”Let us cut to the chase, let me see how much you have improved since receiving the spider core.” Reine said as she brandished her wicked looking black lance.
Caine did not say anything. He simply summoned all 27 golems of his and went into an open stance.For near an hour, sounds of battles echoed throughout the clearing.
—
”Impressive… The strength of your combined golems far exceeds my expectations.” Reine said as she extracted her lance from a ruined golem. Caine's eyes twitched as he surveyed his golems, half of them lay in ruins after his duel with Reine.
”For a spirit beast yet to achieve King class, your strength is already at that level. I wonder who exceeded whose expectations.” Caine replied in a languid manner as he retrieved his golems.
Reine merely gave a half grin in reply.
”I will give you an answer before we head to the contested lands,” Reine said as she left the clearing.
—
In the practice ground, sword met glaive in a shower of blue sparks.
The black glaive blows had the imposing aura of a sea and struck out with the rage of a dragon.
The sword appeared to have an aura all of its own. It appeared neither hurried nor slow as it received every blow from the black glaive.
The gems of the glaive glowed and the glaive smashed down towards the ground creating a crater.
Aureus side stepped the heavy blow and moved in as his own gems glowed.
His sword was poised as Johan's neck in the next moment.
However, Johan had let go of his glaive after the move missed and drew a gladius and had it positioned at Aureus's midriff.
The two combatants gave a smile before disengaging.
Edward headed over, carrying two pitchers of water which he then threw to the two in the ring.
”You have improved once more, Johan. The day where you surpass me will not be far.” Aureus said after taking a deep draught of the pitcher.
”Highness, you overrate me. If you had the time to practice the blade, I doubt I will surpass you in this lifetime.” Johan replied after he took a drink.
Edward rolled his eyes and asked Aureus jokingly about just how easy did he went on him in their initial bout. It was Aureus's turn to be amused as he replied that he did not lower his guard for a second during his first duel with Edward.
”Basic combat mode and Full combat mode are far too different to be compared. I did go all out during the duel.” Aureus replied blithely as he finished the pitcher of water.
As the three made their way to the stand where Brandon was situated with a stack of reports, Johan summoned a battered looking sword and began polishing it with the supplies stacked at the entrance of the grounds.
Edward's eyes narrowed as he looked at the dilapidated sword but Aureus did not say a thing and handed over a bottle of clove oil to Johan.
Edward reported his progress with the cores transmutation and said that he had prepared a reserve of grade 4 and 5 cores and that they would be transferred into the castle's treasury on the morrow. Brandon tipped his hat as Edward mentioned about the treasury transfer.
Aureus nodded and proceeded to pepper Edward with questions about technology from his realm while making jokes about how ludicrous some of them sounded- such as the Large Hadron Collider. The idea that so much power could be generated by something that could not even be perceived by the naked eye was causing Aureus fits of laughter.
Meanwhile, Johan applied the oil to the sword and began wiping it with a cloth of wool with slow and careful motions. Edward's eyes roved over Johan as he did so but he did not break conversation with Aureus.
Finally, Johan was done and the three decided to head to the dining hall for a sumptuous meal.