Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Chapter 140: A Battle Without Maha Mana (1)

"For the way of the battle, I choose the fairest way. A duel without Maha mana." Arjamith's voice reverberated in the space. 

Wrik sucked in a cold breath. And he was not the only one. Lily, who was doing her job, was the same. The tall came to her senses before anyone. She sighed once and asked Wrik. 

"Does the challenger agree with it?" 

Wrik let out a breath self-consciously. "I do," he said. He did not know in which way it appeared a fair battle to Arjamith. The only thing Wrik was convinced, he was better than him was mana application but by the privilege, Arjamith crippled that. But there was no turning back now. Lily had already gambled her life on it, even not fully aware of his plan. 

Before Lily could continue, Arjamith gestured towards the man standing behind his shoulder. The man nodded and came before everyone. His appearance showed he was one of them. One of the Borgemen, but his height and skin were not as prominent as Arjamith. He was about two metres of height, lighter skin than others. Wrik had seen him before with Arjamithhe could be called as the right-hand man of Arjamith. 

"Shanlar has the ability to seal one's mana," Arjamith said, looking at Wrik, then to Lily, the judge. "He will seal both of our mana. The judge will preside over to check any unfairness."

Lily looked at Wrik. Seeing no complaint from him, she nodded as well. 

Shanlar came forward among the discriminating gazes of Lily and went over to Wrik. He gestured for Wrik to give him an arm and Wrik followed without complaint, giving him his left arm. 

The guy smiled and caught the arm, and in the very next moment Wrik felt an invisible force blocking out the Maha point in his body one by one and Wrik let him do it.

It took the guy a good couple of minutes to seal all the maha point and mana circuit on Wrik's body. And the guy reinforced his ability well. Wrik felt quite powerless when he tried to revolve the mana. Nothing happened. Though he could feel the mana inside, he could not revolve it nor discharge out of his body.

If Wrik was not wrong, it would take him hours to break the seal if he did not use any outer help. 

"Good luck," the guy said to Wrik before giving Lily a look to check the sealing. "You are going to need it," saying that Shanlar moved towards Arjamith.

Lily checked and did the same for Arjamith. She gave an approving glance to Wrik, which indicated Shanlar was fair in his sealing.

At last, the only thing left was the duel to start. 

Lily looked at the sun still peeking in the horizon. She let out a breath and said, "The duel will start when the sun goes down."

There were about ten or so minutes left for the sun to go down. Wrik looked at the beautiful but artificial afterglow of the sun when Dairyl came behind him. With her were two more maidens, bringing in his breastplate and other parts of the light armour.

"I'll help you prepare," she said. 

Wrik nodded. He stripped off the cloak and felt a chill of excitement through the icy wind. He let her help him put on the light armour. In between, Wrik saw Arjamith was looking at him with a vicious look. What's the problem with this guy? Wrik did not know. But he could guess some part of him.

He had seen the look on Arjamith a couple of times before when He was looking at Dairyl. 'Mother of God, is this guy jealous of me?!' a slight smile lingered on his lips as he thought that. 

"You cannot lose," Dairyl said. "For Lily and me." 

"Don't worry," Wrik said with as much confidence as he could muster. 'If everything goes well, then we will not have to worry about this guy in the test.' Wrik did not say that, instead he said, "I won't lose even if all of them came at me together."

That was not false bravado. Wrik was not confident if it was a fair duel when he had to fight Arjamith with his ability, but this was never a fair battle. Wrik never wanted a fair battle. If it was that, then he would never challenge this guy. 

Dairyl nodded and was about to help him put on the legwear, but Wrik stopped her.

By the time he was ready, the Sun was still lingering only a few minutes left for it to vanish. Unsheathing the sword from his shoulder, Wrik walked in the middle and stopped when he was about ten yards away from the enemy.

Arjamith stood with the tall spear in his arm. Both of their mana were sealed, but it was only a little inconvenience to Arjamith, compared to Wrik, who was only better at manipulating mana. 

"You made a mistake, outlander," Arjamith said to Wrik.

"Yes," Wrik said with a little mocking tone. "I should have made sure you were down for good on your first meeting." 

ON their first time, this enormous man was assisting Tanya and Byul with a gang of a dozen. Tanya had paid a large prize then to freeze him in ice. If Wrik wanted, then Wrik could have dealt more blows to the immobile Arjamith, but he chose to flee worrying over his condition and Tanya's. There were a few men of Arjamith then who were still in the limit of going on, but if Wrik was hell-bent on finishing this guy then, he might have a less problem now.

Arjamith did not seem to mind the mock. "I don't see the mage here today," he said, looking all over behind Wrik. "Nor do I see the messenger you sent to deliver the latter of the Duel. I wanted to break his mouth after all the nasty words he used."

"They were in a good place," Wrik answered. 

As the both of them trash talked to each other, the sun disappeared from the horizon. The duel officially began now. 

Wrik felt a rush of adrenaline in his mind as he saw his opponent running towards him with a spear half a metre taller than him. He rushed to Arjamith as well. 

The spear and sword clash the moment the two of them meet. It was the third time they were battling. This time there was no overflow of mana from the clashes like the previous two times, but it was by no chance, not majestic.

There was no mana in both the weapon. Wrik's sword was of a fine quality that he bought from Wrik a few days ago, while his opponents were not anything easy either. Borgemen do not use weapons made by others, but that does not imply that their weapons were inferior. No, they were not. If anyone thinks that was, then they will be gravely mistaken. 

The weapons made by the Borgemen were something that resonated with their blood. The better the master, the more dominating the spear. And Arjamith was a true spearman. 

Wrik ducked the incoming spear and assaulted the large man below the waist. He was successful in claiming the first blow, but he suffered sooner as well. Arjamith swung his spear in returning, and he had no time to dodge hit hard on his breastplate. Wrik felt the mad force of Arjamith again. Mana or no mana, this man could dominate anyone with just his physical strength.

Fortunately, the new armour was strong enough to hold against the blow, though Wrik felt the pain. 

The surroundings got darker as the duel continued, but it was by no means pitch dark yet, but with the mist, anyone with poor eyesight would have problems with their vision. But none of the duellists goes into the list of bad eyesight. The instinct of the Borgemen was like a wild animal. 

Arjamith fought like a lion in human clothing while Wrik put his entire concentration and heart into it. Even though he was in the defensive positions now, he had the confidence to turn it around at any moment. 

But Wrik did not need to do it. It was not the time yet. NOt Yet. He needs more time. 

With that thought, Wrik ducked below the swing. Rolling on the snowy ground, he stood up a few steps away from Arjamith. It was not time yet to join in an intense battle. With that thought, Wrik turned and ran towards where the trees were thicker. 

"Do you think you can run from me?" Arjamith roared, chasing after the disappearing Wrik. 

"Bite me." was all Wrik said. He needs to enlarge the battle for at least an hour to succeed in his plan. He would be a fool if he wanted to do that with duelling fairly. 

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