Chapter 52: Friendly Bout III

After talking for a bit, Dustin and Raul had eventually brought up Leon’s summon, the Undead Great Swordsman.

After the tournament, they had managed to drag the truth out of him, so both of them now knew that the Great Swordsman was actually Grade 3.

They had pestered Leon about it like flies on faeces until he finally gave up and told them, though he still made both of them promise not to go around telling people.

It wasn’t because Leon believed the information would remain secret forever, though. After what happened during the tournament, that was unlikely. Anyone experienced enough had already seen what the Great Swordsman could do, and sooner or later, someone would probably estimate its Grade correctly. Experience aside, anyone with a good brain would figure it out quickly, there was no way a Grade 1 Summon could best a Grade 3 when both were clearly combat types of similar style.

Leon simply saw no reason to help the rumours spread faster.

Unfortunately, finding out the Grade only made Dustin and Raul more interested.

Both of them had been training more seriously after the tournament, and after their latest spar, they eventually came to the same conclusion.

Fighting each other was useful, but it only showed who was better between the two of them.

They wanted something stronger.

Much stronger.

With that, a plan had already formed in their heads.

"Let us fight it." Dustin said while looking at Leon.

Leon didn’t even lower his phone as he responded, not even slightly.

"No."

"You didn’t even think about it." Raul said with a weary whining expression.

"I already did."

"For how long?"

"Long enough to say no." He said, dragging hos voice as though tired of talking.

Dustin sat down across from him.

"We’re serious." He said.

"So am I."

"We just want to see how much we’ve improved."

"Then fight each other."

"We already did."

"Then do it again."

"That doesn’t help anymore." Raul shook his head as he said.

Leon lowered his phone and looked at them for a moment.

He understood what they wanted.

The Great Swordsman was already far above either of their summons individually, so fighting it together would give them a much better idea of just how large the gap still was and how well they fared against real danger.

That could actually be useful. It was just that, Leon simply didn’t care enough to arrange the whole thing.

There was also the matter of death energy.

Being an undead, the Great Swordsman constantly released death energy, and apart from the immediate effect on the mind, it wasn’t a secret that most people wouldn’t immediately suffer any serious effects from staying around it for a short time, especially Summoners. That being said, Leon already knew the energy itself wasn’t harmless, since it gradually poisoned living things.

How dangerous it became depended mostly on the concentration and how long someone remained exposed to it.

A few moments probably meant almost nothing, but weeks, months or years of regular exposure were a completely different matter.

As for just how much it would a Grade 3 would affect lower Grades, Leon still didn’t fully understand, and he wasn’t interested in finding out using his roommates either.

"Three minutes." Dustin suddenly said.

Leon looked at him.

"That’s all we need."

"We’re not trying to beat it." Raul added. "Just test ourselves."

Leon stared at the two of them.

Three minutes was short enough.

Even with the Great Swordsman’s death energy, that amount of exposure shouldn’t cause any real problem. More importantly, agreeing now was probably easier than having them ask him again tomorrow.

"Fine." He said.

Both of them immediately looked more interested.

"Three minutes." Leon said, raising one finger. "When I say stop, you stop."

"Deal." Dustin replied.

"Why do I feel like you’re going to say stop after ten seconds?" Raul narrowed his eyes.

"Because I might."

"You’re serious?"

"Very." Leon raised his phone back up. "Don’t blame me in future if anything happens to you, remember how much I warned you." He said, referring to the death energy. "Now leave me alone."

As for Raul and Dustin, they didn’t care. That was enough for both of them.

Only after they turned away did Leon actually look at them properly and notice that they were still exhausted from their earlier spar.

Dustin was sitting on the ground mostly because he clearly didn’t want to stand anymore, while Raul’s Dark Panther was lying nearby with its entire body stretched across the floor.

"Tomorrow." Leon said.

"Why?" Dustin asked with a frown.

"Because you’d last thirty seconds like this."

Raul looked at Dustin, "you’d be fighting besides yourself anyway. I’m totally juiced out."

Dustin looked back at him, he couldn’t even argue.

"Fine, tomorrow." he agreed.

That didn’t stop the two from spending most of the evening talking about the fight anyway.

They argued about whether Raul should attack first, whether the Stone Golem could survive a direct sword strike, whether Shadow Cloaking would even work properly against an undead, and if Dustin’s developing earth-control ability could somehow create an opening.

Leon ignored most of it.

He had agreed to give them three minutes. What they decided to do with those three minutes was their own problem.

By the next evening, both of them had recovered enough, and the three chose one of the quieter training areas away from most of the other students, mostly because of the death energy that Leon’s summon would be emitting.

There was plenty of open space to move around, along with several stone pillars and low walls scattered around the field.

"Good enough." Raul said after looking around.

Dustin summoned his Stone Golem first, the heavy figure appearing beside him with a dull thud, while Raul’s Dark Panther materialized shortly after.

Neither of them was joking this time.

"Remember." Leon said from the opposite side.

"Three minutes." Dustin replied.

"And when I say stop?"

"We stop." Raul finished.

Leon gave a small nod. ’I don’t want to answer any unnecessary questions later on.’

The air around the training ground drew colder. Not enough to be extreme, but enough that both Dustin and Raul noticed.

Then the figure started forming.

The ancient armour slowly materialized, followed by the long scabbard and then the tall skeletal body underneath it, two deep blue lights appearing inside the empty eye sockets.

Death energy spread outward from its body, and Dustin’s expression stiffened the moment he felt it.

Raul’s Dark Panther reacted even faster as its body lowered closer to the ground, its ears flattened, and a low growl escaping from its throat.

Raul himself felt something cold settle beneath his skin.

It wasn’t normal cold at all. Something about it made his body instinctively want to step backward and create distance.

For the first time since they came here, neither Dustin nor Raul was thinking about how much they had improved.

’Woah.’ They both thought to themselves, immediately having more respect for those that faced Leon during the tournament.

The Great Swordsman simply stood beside Leon in silence. Then its hand moved, slowly and calmly, its fingers wrapping around the hilt of the sword.

Watching it, Dustin didn’t know when he swallowed.

Most of Raul’s earlier confidence disappeared as well.

"Three minutes." Leon reminded them. "Go easy on them." He commanded the undead, as he himself stepped off towards the seats.

A faint metallic sound passed through the training ground as the sword moved less than an inch from the scabbard.

And at that moment, both Dustin and Raul realised the same thing.

Three minutes might have been a little too ambitious.