His speed was quick, like a blur almost instantaneously dashed from his starting position towards Jay. With his wooden sword tucked beside his body, he delivered a swift strike towards Jay's body.

With Jay's starting position being a basic stance with his sword held in front of him, he awkwardly shifted his arms to block the attack. The strike wasn't empowered with Chaos, so Jay didn't respond with Chaos either.

At the level of Chaos they were able to control, it became more of a strategic resource that they could use to turn the tides and win the battle.

As such, they had to carefully pick and choose when to use their Chaos to maximize its effect.

Whether to dump all of their Chaos into one major attack or to ration it out throughout the battle, these were split decisions to be made in the heat of battle, alongside observing the enemy and their own supply and usage of Chaos.

The usage of Chaos gave these sword battles an extra dimension, which leads to numerous possibilities and opportunities. With Chaos, the tides of battle could be overturned instantaneously.

Much of these are learned not only with swordship but also with experience. Jovos was 45 years old. His long years of service as well as his dedication to his swordship lead him to be a formidable and experienced swordsman.

Jay, however, showed great talent with the sword. His ability to learn and pick up skills and techniques was unmatched in the entire clan. While this hadn't allowed him to defeat his uncle, the gap between them had been closing quickly.

All of these variables are significant in the fight between Jay and his uncle Jovos because their level of Chaos was similar. Despite their experience and talent with the sword, being pitted against individuals who possessed much higher levels of chaos like Zane or the clan leader was like fighting against an almost insurmountable wall.

While not impossible to beat, their much higher level of chaos gave them significantly more leeway to simply overpower or dictate the fight. It's like fighting a war where the enemy had multiple times the number of troops over you.

The fight continued with Jay being on the defensive. Expertly dodging and parrying his uncle's strikes, he continued to observe his uncle's movements, trying to glean any sudden changes.

The lukewarm encounter didn't last long.

Jovos made a quick dash to sidestep Jay. From the side, he infused his chaos into the sword. The light around it warped as thin, faint red wisps faded in and out of existence around the blade of the sword, forming an ominous outline around it.

Jay caught the Chaos-infused strike with his own chaos-infused sword, neutralizing significant destructive force that came with it.

He tried to parry it to make a quick counter against his defenseless uncle but Jovos expected this. Instead of letting his strike slip past Jay's sword, he applied more pressure, stepping into his strike and sliding his sword past Jay's and towards his hand.

That was his main target, he attempted to use the parry to strike Jay's hand and disarm him.

Jay, fortunately, noticed this and quickly reacted by wrapping his Chaos around his hand preventing himself from being disarmed. This short exchange did, however, leave him with less Chaos than his uncle.

These short battles which may seem meaningless due to the lack of strikes to the body were in fact strategic moves with the main aim of whittling down the opponent's Chaos while preserving yours. The greater the discrepancy between the levels of Chaos of the two opponents, the greater the chance of winning for the opponent with the greater level of Chaos, and currently, that was Jovos.

Jay made a quick dash back to create space but Jovos followed close. The battle devolved into Jovos aggressively trying to find a weakness in Jay's defensive form.

'This isn't good' Jay thought.

'The longer this goes on for, the less likely I'll be able to counter attack'

To try take back the initiative, Jay suddenly stopped. Because his uncle had been closely following him, his momentum kept him racing towards Jay.

Jay attempted to take advantage of this by extending his arm to perform a sharp stab. Unlike normal swings that both Jay and his uncle had used previously, a stab involved attacking with the tip of the sword, which contained all the force.

This move was much harder to block or parry as the small surface area of the tip was difficult to catch, but this also left the attacker without the protection of the full length of the sword.

The sudden move by Jay forced Jovos to use Chaos to shield himself from the damage, and the two separated again to leave a space between them.

'Phew, the stab worked! Our Chaos levels should be even now, I still have a chance!'

Jovos smiled. Jay's intelligence, his battle instinct, and his determination were top-class. He had come so far and Jovos couldn't help be proud of his nephew's success.

Despite living for so much longer, Jay had almost reached his own level and would eventually significantly surpass him. He felt no jealousy but was immensely happy for his nephew.

Yet, he suddenly felt sad. Like himself, Jay did not possess the level of Chaos that his brother had. To Jovos, it was like looking at himself and his brother the clan leader when they were younger.

He too worked hard to try to catch up, but no matter what he did, he never could. And now, he knew this would happen again with Jay.

"You better focus, I don't want you making any excuses for my first win!" Jay quipped.

"I know I know" Jovos lamented. While he would be happy if Jay won, he was at least going to make him work for it!