Saber vs Hale

(In The Arena)

Gazing at the black-haired opponent in front of him, a sword instantly appeared in Saber's palm. His cold and indifferent eyes for once showed a different light, for once, Saber was feeling the emotion of anticipation.

Maybe he acted as if he felt excitement for something previously, but at this present moment, he was truly interested in the feeling of the way of the sword. When he entered that previous state of enlightenment, he felt as if everything in existence could be comprehended.

And, he knew that to enter such a state once again, he needed to face an opponent who has reached a certain level of enlightenment in the way of the sword. As they say, the best way to learn is through experience.

What better way to deeper his understanding of the sword than actually facing someone with an even deeper understanding of the sword. On the other hand, the young man named Hale was also feeling a deep sense of excitement at the prospect of fighting Saber.

Though his understanding of the Sword was deeper than Saber's, his opponent had an incredible physical strength that would allow him to keep up even when he was lacking comprehension of the sword.

His white crystal-like sword then appeared in the palm of his hand as the referee called for the match to begin.

Swoosh!

Both sword cultivators instantly dashed toward each other. Soon after, their swords clashed with immense force that caused spider cracks to form on the arena grounds. Their clash of swords did not stop there as they continued for a few slashes and stabs with a back and forth.

Saber was barely able to keep up with Hale's movements, but Hale on the other hand was also finding it difficult to not be affected by Saber's strength. It was a fight between speed and technique versus brute force!

But, Saber's brute force began slowly transforming into something else. His movements became more precise while his speed also increase. The mastery of his sword techniques began rising rapidly as he began evolving during the fight.

Such things were something only Saber could do as the veins around his eyes bulged and his mind entered a cleared state. Hale's expression changed drastically once he realized that Saber's movements were beginning to become even more refined than how it was before.

Saber swung his blade in different directions as he defended against the snake-like strikes which came from Hale. His focus was absurd at this moment as one could see a liquid substance streaming down from the edges of his mouth to his chin.

His pupils were extremely large compared to previously as his techniques became more fluid and unpredictable for Hale.

On the other hand, Hale could only smile bitterly when he realized Saber wasn't even watching in his direction and instead seemed to be watching fixated on whatever was Hale.

Saber's sword attacks seemed to be reprogrammed to perfectly counter Hale's techniques, as Hale himself realized that he needed to focus.

He was also a genius, he simply needed to enter a state of enlightenment similar to Saber's as his opponent's current mastery in the sword way was almost already comparable to his. Hale took deep breaths and filled his lungs with oxygen while he defended against Saber's attacks.

His mind emptied all unnecessary thoughts as he began feeling the rhythm of the sounds of sword attacks. The sound of the sword clashing, the sound of the sword cutting through the wind, the sound of the joints cracking while they sent sword attacks to their opponent.

The veins around his eyes also began bulging as his sword attacks began quickening. The shockwaves from both Saber's and Hale's attacks, caused massive cracks to form on the floors of the rings!

To the spectators, their attacks seemed to be wild and unrestrained, but only the elder who was at a fairly high level in sword mastery was able to see and understand what was happening.

His mouth formed an O shape once seeing these two geniuses that he was completely oblivious to before today!

The attacks of Saber and Hale continued as they became stronger and faster over time. Their swords seemed to be animalistic creatures fighting instead of inanimate objects being wielded.

But, as expected of someone with the ability to evolve continuously, Saber's attacks showcased even more exaggerated and powerful speed, power, and precision. Not only that but, his attacks now seemed to contain a faint light in them as his sword and Hale's sword contacted once more.

As if his sword had taken the abilities of a certain scaly and slippery creature, Hale's sword was easily parried by Saber's sword as Hale lost balance, along with it, his state of enlightenment was seemingly broken as the veins which bulged around his eyes went down and he dropped to his knees.

Unlike Saber, Hale was still merely a human, such overexertion of his abilities left him with a weak feeling. He coughed a mouthful of blood as he dropped to the ground in an unconscious state. On the other hand, Saber, who was still under enlightenment, also awoken, but unlike the weak Hale, Saber was a lot more calm and unaffected by the previous state.

He walked up to Hale's unconscious body with a thankful smile on his face as he lightly kicked his body out of the arena along with his sword.

The crowd was left speechless by their previous fight since even if they were unable to understand what happened, the destructive power of the duo was enough to make it clear that Saber and Hale were leagues above what they could hope to achieve. Saber then began leaving the platform with a smirk on his face as he entered the lobby area.

Besides those who made the top ten, all other competitors had already been ordered to leave. The remaining competitors gazed at eyes filled with either reverence or envy but were still equally ignored by Saber as he sat down on his seat.

Thereafter, the elder mysteriously appeared in the lobby with an unconscious Hale in his hand. His space ring lit up as ten white-colored floating glass bottles appeared as nine flew to the nine conscious competitors.

"In one month, you are to return to this location. In one month, I hope you guys can absorb a substantial amount of the Domain Lord pill and at the very least, be a step away from entering the Domain Lord rank."

The elder said before he disappeared, leaving an unconscious Hale to lay on the floor with a blade and a white glass bottle on his chest. Saber also immediately left the lobby and approached his home.

The other competitors followed suit since they were in a hurry to absorb the Domain Lord pill. Some of them wouldn't be able to completely absorb the energy contained in the pill even after a few months, while others may be lucky enough to absorb it in a mere month.

Unlike all others in this group of ten, with Saber's immense talent, absorbing the Domain Lord pill in under two weeks would be incredibly easy. Plus, because he would be inside the Black Ring, Saber knew by the time he enters the Inner Sect he would already be a Domain Lord.

The only question that remained was how strong of a Domain Lord will he be.