The ring was silent,

2 people present in the middle of the ring,

There was a distance of 10 m within them,

The crowd was silent,

Both of them were maintaining eye contact,

The head knight aka Carolus took his stance, “I will let you have the first strike, come”, he exclaimed with confidence,

Rather than rushing in front, Azrael took a step back, dashed to the side, and started circling him,

Carolus stood there following his moments with his eyes, soon afterimages of Azrael began to appear,

“From behind”, Carolus saw him rushing towards him, he dodged and counter sliced,

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Few thrusts of swords occurred,

“This just looks like an old-fashioned sword fight, neither arura nor magic, its no fun at all.”

“Come on, used some flashy techniques, then it will be more interesting”, the audience shouted

Both of them paid no heed to the noise,

Carolus used a vertical slash, Azrael dodged and replied with a horizontal strike,

His could not stop it with his sword, and decided to bend a bit back,

In standard cases, the range of the sword would not have been enough to reach him, but this time the sword extended slightly, and struck his face,

“EH, it hit him”

“Wow, it hit him, does that mean the fight is over?”

“What? that was no fun at all”, the audience shouted

The strike had done little to no damage at all, Afterall it was just a wooden sword, but Carolus was in a bind, “Did I misjudge the range of the sword”, “No, I could not have made such a mistake, did the sword extend, it not rare.”

He then looked at the sword Azrael was holding,

A standard sparing long sword’s length is around 45 inches,

The sword in his hand had the same length,

“His sword looks normal, but without a doubt, it had extended”, he thought

“So, does that count as an injury”, Azrael asked

“It was just a scratch, it’s not enough to prove your worth”. Saying that he rushed forward, this time his speed soar in a rapid rate

His speed and strength both rose, pushing Azrael back,

Like a rapier, he lunged his sword, Carolus stepped back, but again the sword extended and struck his stomach

BAM!

This time little damage was inflected,

“Again, I see you can somehow extend your sword”, Carolus spoke

“Yes, it’s a simple magic trick, I am not just a simple healer you see, you can use your sword aura, if you want, after all, I don’t want people to think I won because I used magic while your hands were tied”, Azrael replied with an indifferent expression

“Yes, use your power’s” “Don’t hold back, make it more interesting”, the audience screamed

“Very well, then”, Carolus replied

The atmospheric pressure around his sword started to increase,

A colorless aura surrounded his sword,

Their swords clashed in a parry

That clash created an incredible shockwave throughout the ring,

The sound echoed throughout

“Too loud.”

The students covered their ears while screaming in agony,

“Sir, the barrier seems to be ineffective, should we evacuate the students?.”

“Humph, no need, they were the ones yelling and demanding a serious fight, now they can see one, only their ears are injured it could be healed, later on, they should be able to endure at least this much if they want to be knights”, the senior professors discussed

“Impressive, being able to stop my attack with a wooden sword”, Carolus praised

“But can you stop this”, the pressure increased by folds, the audience struggled to even breath

He used a vertical slash targeted around Azrael’s neck

Azrael didn’t even try to dodge or did he move, he just stood there.

Before, the sword could reach his neck, it disintegrated into tiny particles,

Only the grip was left,

Hence not reaching his neck

“You got too excited, your sword had already reached its limit, it’s a wooden sword, there is no way it could have withstood such pressure, so, now, your sword’s broken, does that mean I win?”, Azrael asked

Carolus stared at his sword, only its grip was now remaining, “To think I would be this careless”, he whispered

“Very Well, I admit my defeat you win”, After saying that he turned behind and immediately left

“Well, guess now it’s time to head to the Sorcerers/Magic Tower”, Azrael also immediately left

.

The senior professors started is discussing,

“Sir, what do you think?”, many professors asked this question, to an old man, he was the most senior of them, also was the principle, he had a long mustache and beard, his eyes brows were thick and had white eyes,

“Hoho, it was an interesting battle, though both of them were holding back, and none got serious, I would have liked to see an all-out battle”, the old man replied, he had a wavery voice

“How do you think he stopped Carlos aura attack with just a wooden sword? Strengthening a sword using magic to such extent during battle should not be possible”, one of the professors asked

“I don’t think he used magic, he used sword aura”, the old man silently replied with a solemn expression

“Huh what?”, the professors asked in confusion

“Hoho, never mind me, being old, I must be seeing things”, he shook his head and changed the topic, “So, how are the children’s?”

“Sadly, most of them are unconscious, the damage is not too severe, there should not be any problems.”

“Well, that’s disappointing, the potential of knights is decreasing with every generation, it would be nice to see a new hero being born from the new generation”, saying that he left,

.

“Now then where exactly is this magic tower”, Azrael whispered in confusion

I wanted to get there as soon as possible, but why are there 8 magic towers? And which one is the one I was invited to? Damn it they should have given better instruction, well then guess, I need to visit them all and find the right one

There were precisely 8 towers in the kingdom, all of them were built around the edges of the kingdom, each of them had their purpose,