Chapter 10

When the day came, I leaned on the coliseum door and waited, word began spreading through KoB and eventually reaching out to the public. I waited and waited, looking at my message I sent to Toru, "Are you okay?" my message said, no reply... I stared at the messages as I took a deep breath, exhaling out thinking to myself "No holding back then...".

I pushed myself back up from the wall as I heard a voice call out. "Kirin!!" A female voice echoed as I turned to see Lisbeth with a wrapped item. "Sorry I was late!" she said gasping for breath as she stopped beside me to take a breather. "It's fine Lis, What's the thing you have?" I pointed at the wrapped item.

"Oh this thing...? It's....Oh man..."

I patted her back, replying "Breathe, now what is it?" she stood up as she sighed briefly. "It's your repaired and upgraded weapon you ordered Kirin." She said as she unwrapped the string it had on. The sword was a dark red color as it was upgraded to +15, the max on a floor boss weapon. I grabbed it as I saw the name <>. I looked at her as I thanked Lisbeth for her hard work, she smiled as she replied, "No problem, you've helped me and other smithers a lot Kirin, it's the least I can do.

I looked over at the door as I heard the door open. As it opened, I put on my mask as I walked out and was surrounded by maybe thousands of people on the bleachers. I looked around for a bit before walking to the center of the coliseum.

Kirito stood there as I stood face to face with him. "what's with the mask, you don't need it on y'know." He said a bit friendly as I sighed and shook my head, "It's a personal preference.". "Well... I'll give it my all then..." I thought and got ready. The countdown beginning, "3... 2... 1... 0!" The duel started.

The both of us unsheathed our weapons as we were both using the <> Skill, unlike Kirito's dual swords, mine was a sword and a dagger. Kirito rushed in as I was on the defensive blocking each sword swing with my eyes darting at each one coming at me.

He swung from underneath as I threw my head back a bit to dodge it, I took a step to catch myself and reverse gripped my dagger, swinging my arm at his face as Kirito jumps back. The retaliation made him jump back as our thought process was the same, each of us having a red mark on our face, one hit on each other.

Don't Underestimate The Black Swordsman.

Don't Underestimate The Reapers Horseman.

We then rushed in as we blocked swing for swing, my dagger being lighter as I was throwing quick stabs at him, it being blocked by his Dark Repulser. I then spun quickly and slashed, slamming my newly repaired sword as it sent him sliding back on his feet. His feet dragged a bit as he came to a halt.

"Didn't expect you to have a strong sword Kirin."

"Newly Repaired."

I rushed in on the offensive as Kirito did the same, I flipped my dagger to reverse grip it, predicting and parrying his Eludicator slash. Activating a combo starter skill, my dagger and Shinigami sword glowed blue as I began swinging my sword only at first. I got in three slashes as I dropped the skill combo, trying to predict him blocking as I waited a tick before Thrusting my sword.

Kirito smiled as I knew I miscalculated, he then slammed both swords down onto mine, forcing it downwards as he swiftly move and swung Dark Repulser. I was barley able to flip my dagger back to a normal grip and block it, but that left me wide open. "Checkmate!" He shouted as he spun around and slashed across my face, knocking off my mask and leaving a red mark from my chin up to my lip.

The crowd gasped as no one forced my mask off before, even in duels, PvP, or PK battles. I shot my gaze at him as I suddenly swung my sword upward, Kirito barley dodging it as he almost stumbled back. "Oh crap...Now I've done it." he muttered to himself worried a bit as I blitzed straight at him. He swung his sword as I swung mine, clashing swords as I clashed with his elucidator. we began clashing swords as I just went silent, focusing on the battle as my fighting style was sharper now.

I saw an opportunity as I stabbed my knife into his right side after he blocked with both swords, hearing him wince a bit as he lets out a battle cry right after. I pulled it out as he was now on the offensive, the crowd was roaring out with their cheers and chants as the timer was now down to three minutes.

Our attacks got faster and faster as Heathcliff, watching on the sidelines noticed this. We kept blocking and dodging each others attacks as we couldn't tell sometimes, some of the hits lands partially as our health began to decrease with the ongoing fight. We clashed swords again, this time Kirito blocked it with two swords instead of just his Elucidator this time. I tried to wobble one side as I kept moving my sword.

Kirito's eyes sharpened however as he used this as momentum and threw my sword to the side, seeing it land into the dirt as I looked and looked back quickly. I ducked under a slash as I kept dodging, being on the defensive with my dagger. I can't lose now...I'll have to find a different way to win... I looked as I jumped back, but no matter how much I move back Kirito catches up quickly. I was grazed multiple times as I blocked and dodged fatal hits. The two minute marker hit as I blocked once more and my dagger shattered.

I was now weaponless as Kirito thrusted, but I rolled past him and quickly opened my menu, swiping down as I tapped a skill, swiping my menu away. "I got you this time!" he shouted as he thrusted his sword at me. Ting! A sound went off as I parried it with my hands, my gloves changed as they had a guard covering on the outer hand.

Crap! Martial Arts...