Xander VS The Senior
The moment Xander stepped forward, he felt several gazes fall on him.
Then came the whispers.
"That's a sword, right? Doesn't that mean he intends to use channeling to fight?"
"After the display that senior showed, he still wants to fight?"
"Maybe he thinks the senior is tired after fighting that other guy and wants to take advantage of it."
"Probably. But I doubt it would work. People like them know how to pace themselves extremely well. He isn't even panting."
"For sure. That guy is in for a rude awakening."
Despite the doubtful whispers, Xander showed no reaction as he stopped a few meters in front of the senior whose expression did not change when he saw Xander's sword.
Xander smiled.
"Let's have a good battle." He said and put his hand on his sword hilt before drawing the blade. The senior nodded and pulled out his wand.
Gradually, Xander entered a stance. The sword was held low, pointing down towards the ground with his hands holding the sword in front of the body.
The Alber, or Fool's guard. A sword stance from earth that invited attacks to allow counterattacks.
"What's he doing? Why is he positioning his body and sword like that?"
"Is it some kind of technique? I've never seen it before. Looks a little weird..."
"And why isn't he channeling yet? His weapon isn't covered in anything."
For the first time, the senior showed a slight reaction. His brow rose ever so slightly, but Xander said nothing. Simply held his guard.
It was clear, he had no intentions of attacking first.
Nearly a minute passed with the two staring at each other before the senior finally made a move.
Once more using a mix of silent and rapid chanting, several earth spikes materialized in front of him and shot towards Xander at incredible speeds.
In a moment, each of them was about to hit him. But Xander, with his eyes opened wide and focused, moved.
His sword flashed, and everyone watched in shock as all the spikes got sliced through cleanly. And amazingly, instead of simply falling to the ground in two halves, they scattered back into mana.
"Did... Did he directly cut the mana convergence points?!" Someone exclaimed in shock.
But Xander wasn't done.
With a breath, he leaned forward and dashed towards the senior who was already preparing another spell.
Several mounds of earth and obstacles appeared in Xander's way to hinder him. Buying the senior more time.
Well, that was the intention, anyway.
Xander, whose movements had already started circulating his mana, used one of his adapted spells.
Suddenly, his motions turned fluid, and like water trickling through a basket, he nimbly bypassed all the obstacles without needing to slice through anything. His movements smooth but scarily fast.
Flowing Tide. A move adapted from the water spell Surging Tide.
In just a moment, he had closed the distance and reached the senior, his sword stance having changed again.
This time, his stance changed as he held his sword in a high guard, the blade high above his head and shoulders in the Vom Dach, or From the Roof stance.
The stance left his lower body open, but the senior couldn't exploit it as his downward swing was simply too fast, forcing him to change strategy.
The ground beneath his feet moved, and Xander's downward strike hit nothing as the senior was dragged along by the ground that acted as a slide almost.
The senior also countered, and numerous spikes shot out from the ground around Xander, aiming to impale him, but he simply swung his sword in a wide arc around him, slicing all the spikes in half and making them return to mana again.
Now the spectators were really baffled.
"That's impossible! How is he so fast?! And how is he so accurately slicing through the attacks? Is his sword some sort of artifact?"
"Not just that. Look at how he's moving. I've never seen anyone who practiced channeling move in such a strange way."
"Hey, has anyone actually seen him use mana yet?" The question made several people pause, and they looked closer at Xander.
It was clear that the senior was on the backfoot as Xander accurately sliced through his attacks and constantly closed the distance. Yet as they looked, none of them could see mana either on Xander's body or his blade. The realization made many of them go pale.
It was only those who had higher mana perception that could see what was really happening.
'Lord Xander is indeed using mana. But he's channeling it into his sword. Not just coating the weapon. Something I will admit that I've never seen before.' Mary observed quietly as she spectate the fight with a calm look in her eyes.
'What's more, he's only doing the bare minimum. He's just using mana circulation which does little beyond increasing his output slightly. Compared to what I've seen him do before. He's barely trying.' She concluded.
'Come on, show me what you've got.' Xander huffed as he changed his stance again and performed a thrust, accurately striking the convergence points of mana in the barrier the senior just created, destroying it instantly.
The senior's eyes were narrowed now, and Xander smirked.
"You're disappointing me here!" He yelled and pressed on with his attack.
He breached another defense, and blood was spilled.
The senior retreated as he crouched slightly, his hand holding his shoulder as blood dripped to the floor.
The wound wasn't deep, but it was clear, Xander had landed the first blow.
Xander was about to step forward when he suddenly paused. Then he instantly entered a defensive stance, and his sword flashed several times as he destroyed several attacks in a moment.
'His attack speed rose.' He thought as he narrowed his eyes slightly. Then he saw as the senior completed a chant and tapped the tip of his wand against the ground.
The ground started to shake, and Xander barely managed to keep his balance as the floor began to rise in uneven chunks.
'He's trying to mess up my footing.' Xander thought with some surprise. It was clear that this guy noticed that a lot of Xander's movements depended on good footwork. Was he trying to throw off his balance?
'Not a bad strategy!' Xander grinned as he sensed things were finally ramping up.
To counter the sudden lack of balance, he used another adapted spell.
'Feather Step.' All of a sudden, Xander's movements became as light as a feather as he jumped between the uneven pieces of earth, his balance seemingly unaffected.
But the senior wasn't done.
While the new environment was meant to be disadvantageous to Xander, the senior was thriving.
Every step and movement he made was aided by the ground, making him both faster and unpredictable. Suddenly, even with his movement techniques, Xander found himself struggling the reach the senior.
Moreover, the nature of the attacks had changed.
Now, whenever Xander took a step, the ground would suddenly try to clamp onto his feet, pinning him down.
What's more, the dust that was being released from all of this also turned on him. It didn't hit as hard as the earth, but it was faster.
In an instant, the situation had changed, and now Xander was the one on the defensive as the environment itself turned on him.
'Brilliant. Typically, large scale spells consume a huge amount of mana. Mana he probably doesn't have. So he combined several smaller spells to achieve a similar result while cutting down the cost!' Xander thought with what could only be described as glee.
"How on Tatonia is he resisting all of this...?" Someone asked, their jaw dropping.
"It's not just his speed and power... His perception is unbelievable. Even attacks from his blindspots get defended. Does he have some special sensory ability?" Another wondered aloud.
And that... was actually an accurate assessment.
Xander had made immense progress during his training in all avenues, but one of the most potent things to have been improved were his senses.
After all, those were still a part of the 'body magic' he was practicing, and by straining them to their limits constantly, he not only gained incredible awareness and perception. He also attained the ability to 'see' mana. Which was how he was so accurately slicing through the convergence points of mana in the spells.
"Be that as it may. He only needs to make one mistake," One suddenly said. "He can't close the distance anymore. His situation is far more dangerous than the senior who is now in a more comfortable spot."
'Can't disagree with that.' Xander hummed as he fended off the latest barrage of attacks. The sheer number of obstructions made reaching the senior a dire task. All it would take was one mistake, and Xander would sustain serious damage, or worse.
'That said...' He suddenly took a inhaled, and Mary suddenly snapped to attention.
'Here it comes.' Mary's eyes widened a little.
'... I have the pattern down now.' He exhaled, and his sword moved.
However, the range was no longer limited to the reach of the sword as green winds concentrated at the tip and edge.
'Bladed Net.' Countless intersecting slashes of wind erupted out with Xander as the center, and both the unstable ground as well as the incoming attacks were cleaved through.
But this cutting wasn't random.
He had made the attack just as a fresh wave of attacks were starting to condense. The senior had been relaxing his attacks at a specific pace in order to conserve mana expenditure.
And Xander had keyed into that fact perfectly. His move created a sizeable gap in the onslaught, and he dashed forward.
The senior was startled, but he didn't get flustered as he cast another spell, and twin earth snakes as thick as an adult man's waist surged from the ground and shot at Xander. But he didn't wait for them to get close as he gripped his sword with two hands and took another breath.
His stance changed as he aimed the tip of the blade at the gap between the snakes, right at the senior.
'Solar-Edge Thrust!' He thrust the blade forward just as heat condensed at the tip of it, as a thin beam barely the thickness of a fingers shot forward so fast it was almost instant.
The senior staggered as he looked down, and the sight of a smoking hole in his lower abdomen that went all the way through was reflected in his gaze.
The pain and surprise caused his attention to flicker, and that was all Xander needed.
'Flowing Tide.' The senior looked up again only to see a blade moving towards his neck.
He had no time to cast a spell or move to defend himself.
Just before he could get beheaded, the sword stopped inches away from his neck, and a small cut appeared where blood seeped out.
The onlookers were silent as Xander declared with a calm smile.
"It's my win." The senior stared at him for a few seconds before sighing and dropping his wand. The he raised his hands.
"I concede." He said gruffly, and the students went into an uproar.
People started yelling questions, some wanting to approach Xander directly, but Xander just kept his haze on the senior who winced and brought a hand to his wound. He made sure not to hit any vital spots, but a hole like that, especially with a heat based attack, was bound to hurt quite a bit.
"You can enter. Someone will be waiting for you. Follow me." The senior said. He seemed curious, but he kept his questions to himself as he turned and walked towards the gate.
Xander turned to Mary and nodded, the maid returning the gesture as she carried his luggage, the two of them following the senior in.
'Interesting.' In the crowd, a figure wearing a hood smiled faintly as they stared after Xander's retreating figure.
'Maybe... this place will be a bit more interesting than I had originally anticipated.