Gary walked up to the stage more focused than ever. Unlike the others who wanted to prove their strength to someone, Gary was different. He needed to win this match so he could further progress to the All Kingdom Tournament.
That way he would get to meet some of the top officials at Roland Academy. Gary hadn"t planned what he would do once he met them but that didn"t matter to him right now. He could think about that later.
"Do you think Gary can win Ray?" Monk asked.
"Honestly I don"t know."
Ray wasn"t lying when he gave that response. He had fought against Harry when he was only a first-year and had completely lost. At the time, Harry had said he was only ranked 50th out of all the third years but clearly, he had been hiding his strength.
Now when Ray thought back to the event, Harry probably only showed him his rank to encourage Ray to train even harder. On the other hand, there were times were Ray thought the opponent was far too strong for Gary. Like the time they faced the Pureblood members in the forest but somehow, he came out as the victor.
As Gary stood on the arena stage. He closed his eyes as if he was listening out for something.
"Gary…you..must…win.. for…me" A soft gentle voice was heard in his mind.
Gary held his two dark purple dual blades tightly and was ready.
As Harry left the third years to go up on stage, Jack said something just as he started to walk off.
"Don"t underestimate these second years. They"re strong."
Harry continued walking and said. "I know."
Harry was also currently using two blades which were silver in colour. Both contestants stood around 15 meters apart from each other.
"The match will start in 3….2….1.."
The war horn sounded and both of them dashed in at the same time, meeting in the middle. Gary started off aggressive attacking as fast and as hard as he could but Harry stayed calm deflecting each and every strike.
"Come on, why can"t I see them?" Gary thought as he continued to attack.
Gary had been training this whole time to see the white lines appear at will. During practice, not once had Gary been able to make the white lines appear. Gary was hoping if he was put in a tough spot again, he might find the answer.
Gary continued attacking hoping that the white lines would start to appear in his vision but as he was attacking something strange started to happen. This whole time so far it felt like Harry was deflecting his attacks but now it felt like Gary"s attacks where being pulled in.
Gary tried to attack in a different direction but it felt like his sword moved to where Harry wanted him to be. It wasn"t just in Gary"s head.
Harry was no longer deflecting Gary"s sword but now matching his sword to Gary"s and moving it in the direction he wanted. Slowly as the match went on, Harry had figured the correct amount of strength and force to use to control Gary"s blade.
Then when Harry had complete control, he pulled both of Gary"s swords to the ground with his and kicked Gary in the chest.
"Is this all you have? I thought you were meant to be the strongest of the first years. If you ask me, that girl was a lot stronger than you."
Gary gritted his teeth and stood up again. Without hesitation, Gary continued to charge forward but Harry would just repeat the same thing over and over again while making sure not to hit Gary with his sword but instead either kick or punch Gary.
After 15 minutes of punches and kicks, Gary"s face was swollen all over and his body was badly hurt. Although at first, the audience thought Harry was being too nice, they now all thought differently. Harry was torturing Gary.
"We must stop the match." One of the elders said. "We are knights, not barbarians."
"No, can"t you see? The boy"s eyes…they"re not done yet."
Gary was determined to win this. What was a little pain to him? The pain that Gary felt was only reminding him that he was alive while his sister was dead. He would have gone through any amount of pain to get his sister back.
Gary suddenly started to feel a strange feeling through his body. His cells were vibrating madly and his mind felt clearer than ever.
This time Gary started to walk slowly over towards Harry. Every other time he had charged right in. Harry couldn"t help but feel that something was different about Gary this time.
As Gary got closer and closer to Harry, Harry could feel the pressure emitting from his body.
"This is more like it." Harry thought.
Harry didn"t realise it himself but his body was sweating and his heart was beating. Every cell in his body was currently telling him to get away from this person but Harry"s mind wouldn"t listen.
Harry lifted up his two swords ready to deflect whatever attack Gary was ready to give him.
When Gary was only a few short steps away from Harry he mumbled something to himself.
"Finally, I can see them."
Gary then dashed in and struck with his sword. Harry was ready to deflect it as usual but this time something different happened. As his sword was ready to collide with Gary"s, it looked like at the last second it moved like a snake and went around his sword.
Harry managed to block the strike with his other sword just in time but as he looked up another strike was coming right at his head and he no longer had any hands free to block it.
*Clang
Just before the sword reached Harry"s head, a black obsidian blade stopped the strike.
"You have won, that"s enough now." Sir K said.
As soon as Gary had heard those words his body collapsed to the ground.
"Ladies and gentlemen your winner Gary!"
Applause didn"t start straight away as the audience was confused by what had just happened. From just looking at the two opponents it was strange to say that the winner was on the floor while the loser didn"t have a mark on him.
But in the end, if a master knight intervened in the fight, then it was up to them to declare a winner and Sir K did just that declaring Gary the winner.
Everyone watching from the side was proud of Gary. Gary had his ups and downs, but everyone understood why. But one thing never changed…Gary was the strongest swordsman they all knew.
The announcer went off ready for the next match.
"Now let"s get ready for the next round, who is it going to be?"