"What are you waiting for!", Jonat shouted defiantly, unable to suppress a grin. He hadn't had a serious opponent in a long time, and even though he was aware of the current circumstances, he couldn't completely contain his anticipation.
But the stranger was not deterred by his exclamation. Silently, he emerged from the shadows of the trees, his bright blue eyes never leaving Jonat for a second.
A shiver ran through Jonat.
Suddenly, all his senses screamed one word: Run.
Jonat couldn't say exactly why, but he had greatly underestimated the stranger. The last time he had felt this way was when he faced his father in battle. A fear that enveloped him like cold sweat. A fear that tensed every muscle in his body and made all his hair stand on end.
Fear of death.
Jonat immediately realized that this was no ordinary child standing before him. The stranger, Zod Adenia, was a fighter. A survivor. A killer. Someone who shouldn't exist in the current era of peace. Someone who had seen and done things that no one would believe him.
"Doubts?", Zod Adenia spoke up. His words sounded arrogant, but at the same time confident. "Doubts have no place in a duel."
Jonat was overcome by a feeling of déjà vu, as if his own voice were repeating these words.
Taking a deep breath, he put all doubts aside and started to sprint. Jonat lunged at his opponent in a high arc, while the latter was already gathering momentum and swinging his weapon at him at the same time. A loud clang could be heard as their weapons clashed and Jonat was thrown back. Irritated, he immediately launched another attack, only to be repelled with the same elegant movement.
In the next moment, Jonat intercepted Zod Adenia's attack with his weapon and held it above him for a few seconds before pushing it down with force and using the movement to spin around his own axis and aim his weapon at Zod Adenia from below. In doing so, he released the mana of Zurakekama, which manifested itself in a wave of electrifying lightning bolts, forcing Zod Adenia to distance himself from his current position.
For a moment, neither of them moved, waiting for the lightning to subside before Jonat made the first move again. Zod Adenia followed his example and collided head-on with him. Both swordmasters now used their mana, causing the lightning and thunder to merge and make such a noise that it could be heard throughout the entire region. This created a shock wave that knocked down the surrounding trees as if in a storm and sent leaves swirling around them.
In the center of the storm, Jonat struck Zod Adenia repeatedly, who parried the attacks with ease, again and again. After the seventh blow, Zod Adenia ducked under Zurakekama and attacked Jonat from behind. At the last moment, Jonat managed to turn around and parry the attack, but he couldn't prevent the blade from hitting him in the chest.
Jonat suddenly distanced himself from the center.
"That brings back memories", Jonat muttered quietly, forcing himself to sound calm, even though he was anything but. The blow had hit him, but it was neither particularly deep nor in a dangerous spot, which made Jonat realize something.
The stranger was playing with him.
Given his skill with the sword, the blow should have been much worse, but Zod Adenia had held back. This fact made Jonat angry.
"Shouldn't you rather try to kill me?"
He received no answer. Instead, the stranger slowly approached him, and only now did Jonat notice that Zod Adenia had positioned himself between him and the first attacker.
As if Zod Adenia had read his mind, he lunged at Jonat. Jonat deftly dodged to the side, but the stranger gave him no time to think. As if weightless, Zod Adenia flew over the treetops and hurled Karekama at him again before Jonat hurled a massive bolt of lightning at him from the sky.
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Like a feather carried by the wind, Zod Adenia dodged the attack without slowing down. Once again, their swords clashed, accompanied by a loud thunderclap generated by Karekama.
Every muscle in his body screamed, but Jonat forced himself to withstand the pressure. With practiced ease, he pushed the stranger aside and spun around to gain momentum, but the stranger read him like an open book and ducked before Jonat could complete his attack. Instinctively, Jonat knew that a blow to his stomach would follow, so he broke off the attack halfway and withdrew with a powerful thrust.
From a safe distance, Jonat watched as the stranger stood up and remained motionless. For a moment, the sight of the stranger merged with that of his father. The man to whom Jonat owed his martial arts skills.
As much as Jonat doubted the idea, the stranger was living proof that he had missed something important. The way Zod Adenia moved seemed strangely familiar to him. It was as if Zod Adenia knew exactly what Jonat was going to do.
Before Jonat could say anything, Zod Adenia began running in a circle, and Jonat immediately guessed what he was planning. The next moment, Zod Adenia pushed off from a tree and abruptly changed direction, now charging head-on toward Jonat. Jonat skillfully dodged to the side and swung his weapon, but Zod Adenia released one hand from his weapon and, with a slight twist, swung his now free hand at Jonat. Surprised, Jonat ducked to the side, only to be greeted by a knee.
The blow caused Jonat to lose his bearings for a moment. But he could sense Zod Adenia moving and instinctively pushed himself into the air, even though he was open to another attack at that moment. Jonat needed this moment to find his focus, before dodging Zod Adenia's hand at the last moment. Jonat parried the attack, but at that moment he realized what Sir Adenia was after.
With a dull thud, Jonat landed back on the ground, a few meters away from him, Zod Adenia did the same. As calm as he had been during their first encounter, Zod Adenia watched him as if waiting for a reaction. Or a mistake.
A movement in the corner of his eye caused Jonat to shift his attention to the forest for a brief moment. From a safe distance, the other stranger, Julius Venlan, watched the fight. Far enough away not to get involved, but close enough to see everything.
"Have you changed your mind..."
Jonat didn't let Zod Adenia finish. In the same breath, he sprinted forward and shot a few dozen lightning bolts in his direction. As expected, Zod Adenia dodged the attack as if it were a walk in the woods, but that wasn't Jonat's intention anyway.
Within seconds, he had closed the distance between himself and Julius Venlan, which Zod Adenia also seemed to notice. But the stranger reacted too late.
With a single, effortless blow, he forced Julius Venlan to his knees, then grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up as if he were holding nothing more than a captured animal in his hands.
Zod Adenia stopped a few meters in front of him and showed panic for the first time. At that moment, Jonat was sure he had regained the upper hand in the fight. Even though he hated to admit it, the stranger was too dangerous an opponent for him. Not in his current situation. If he had been in Frignez and had taken care of Zurakekama's future, he would have loved to fight a battle to the death. But since the stranger did not seem to intend to do so, and Jonat had more important things to do, he decided to end the fight in a different way.
Complete submission.
"That's pretty cowardly of you. Let him go."
At that moment, Julius Venlan tried to free himself from the grip, but he had neither his sword in his hand nor any real strength. In response, Jonat tightened his grip so tightly that he could hear Julius Venlan gasping for air in panic, followed by a mixture of tears and saliva.
Jonat's gaze, however, was fixed on Zod Adenia, who did not dare to approach him. A moment later, Julius Venlan collapsed, leaving Jonat holding a lifeless body in the air.
Just as Jonat was about to speak, he was suddenly thrown back by a tremendous amount of mana. He slammed into a rock with full force and groaned as a burning pain shot through his body. Tears welled up in his eyes as he followed his instincts and jumped to his feet to brace himself for a possible follow-up attack. But it didn't come.
Instead, he spotted Sir Adenia with a grim look on his face, Karekama in his right hand and the unconscious man slung over his left shoulder. Jonat immediately realized that the stranger had deliberately put himself in a bad position, because protecting a person during a fight, let alone carrying them, was suicidal. Jonat's gaze wandered across the ground and he spotted his sword a few meters away, but he didn't let on what he was aiming for.
"I must admit, I didn't expect that", Jonat said calmly, straightening up while simultaneously preparing to sprint. "Will you tell me what you've done?"
"Oh, suddenly you want to talk to me?", Zod Adenia retorted visibly annoyed.
With a loud breath, Julius Venlan opened his eyes and began to fidget frantically. Jonat had been waiting for this moment of inattention.
"Forgive my lack of respect, but the old man here is curious."
"You don't think I'm stupid enough to..."
Jonat lunged forward and could already see Zurakekama in his hands before he was thrown back again with full force. A buzzing sound rang out and his vision doubled as he felt warm blood on the back of his head. His whole body screamed in pain, so he didn't dare move. Jonat knew he had broken a few bones, and without Zurakekama, he didn't stand a chance against the stranger anyway.
Dazed, he watched as Zod Adenia said something to his protégé without putting him down. But Jonat's eyes wandered to his sword, which was beginning to fly.
"What in the name of the gods...", Jonat muttered quietly as his senses slowly returned and he could be sure that he wasn't imagining things.
"I warned you, Jonat Paseru", Zod Adenia replied sharply. "I warned you more than once, and yet you still engaged in battle with me. A battle you cannot possibly win."
"You're not a normal swordmaster...?"
"No", Sir Adenia replied menacingly, slowly approaching Jonat, who now stood helplessly before him. Normally, Jonat would have tried to face him in a fistfight, but the fact that the stranger stood before him unscathed made one thing clear to him.
Zod Adenia was a monster.
"In the name of the royal house you are hereby arrested, swordmaster Jonat Paseru. It wasn't pleasure meeting you", the stranger announced in a cold voice, and in the next moment, Jonat saw black.