Despite the signal to start the duels, neither of the two boys moved from their positions. In their adopted stances, they looked at each other, searching for places to attack.

Landis, despite not having been trained before, adopted a good stance for defense. He bent his knees slightly to better absorb the strike, grabbed the sword tightly, and held it almost horizontally above his head, In this way, normally defense would be ineffective as it exposes the entire chest, but all of them could only use an overhead attack, so there will always be a collision with the sword, and in this situation it is an effective posture.

Kane, looking at the stance of his opponent, tried to figure out how to attack him.

"If I attack normally, I'll hit the sword, this time, attacking at the wrists won't work, especially since we are of similar height, It is possible to take a chance with force, but I doubt it will work..."

Wondering, the boy said in his head to himself, when he suddenly remembered training with barbells.

"Although, if I strike the end of his sword with all my strength, it will be difficult for him to maintain his stance.... To start with, I'll try to attack the end of the sword with all my strength, and then immediately follow up with a quick strike to hit him when he exposes himself."

With his plan ready, the boy began to gradually approach Landis, taking a stance and preparing to strike.

"He's finally moving, there's a reason he won so much sparring yesterday, he's not throwing himself without thinking at me, he's planning his move. Is he going to aim at my hands, so I'll let go of the sword?"

Landis tightened his sword even harder after this thought, preparing to take the hit.

Kane, seeing that he was at the right distance, launched a overhead attack with all his strength. By making the opponent think that the boy would aim for his hands, the other end of the sword was an even better target to hit. When Kane hit the sword end with all his strength, a surprised Landis was unable to hold the sword through the pressure, and his sword fell down. The boy took the opportunity and made a second quick strike, hitting Landis in the shoulder.

"1 to 0, now I'm defending."

Kane said, withdrawing his sword.

Landis was still surprised at what had happened, that he had misread the situation, but he was even more excited at the thought of fighting the boy.

The second duel started. The situation repeated itself, both stood still, looking at each other. Kane, knowing that Landis' way of defending himself was ineffective, especially since he had just shown him how to get through him, had to quickly come up with something new. He realized that since he had succeeded in forcibly breaking through, he was physically no different from his opponent, meaning that maybe this time he could deflect the attack, something he had not tried yesterday.

As Landis took his stance and began to approach, Kane slightly bent his knees, and, with his right hand, grabbed the sword with all his strength, holding it behind him, so that when making a swing, he would have more impact force, and deflect the sword more effectively.

The opponent begins his attack, at the same moment when Kane saw the sword heading toward him, he made a quick swing with all his strength, striking Landis' sword. The force of the collision of the swords was so powerful that the hands of both boys went numb and moved backward. After a few seconds to recover, they quickly took their stances back.

Landis, with a smile on his face, approached again, taking a stance.

"He came up with something."

Kane thought, waiting for the right moment to deflect the attack.

The opponent begins to strike, and the boy again makes a swing as before to deflect the attack, but in the middle of the strike, Landis stops his sword. Kane made a full-force swing and did not manage to stop his sword. The boy, made a swing in front of his opponent's stomach. Landis took the opportunity and resumed the strike, hitting Kane.

"1 to 1"

He said it with a smile, returning to his position, preparing to defend himself.

Kane felt such excitement for the first time in his life, seeing that he had gotten a good opponent.

The third round began. Landis took the same defensive stance as before, but held the sword with his right hand and supported the blade with his left to avoid the previous situation. Kane watched his opponent's defense, looking for an opening.

"In this situation, the rule of using only an overhead attack makes the situation more difficult..."

He thought, trying to figure out how to attack.

"Okay, I'll risk losing a hit, but it might work."

He started walking toward Landis, who was waiting for the attack. Kane, with all the strength he had in his hands, quickly strike twice at the center of his opponent's sword, Through the force of the impact his opponent took, he unconsciously had his sword hands positioned lower than before, exposing his head. 

Kane, without hesitation, took advantage of the situation he had been waiting for, and, no longer using force but speed, attacked a third time, successfully hitting Landis in the head.

His opponent was surprised that despite his defense, he was hit, and only after a moment when he looked at his hands did he realize what happened.

"2 to 1"

Landis said, feeling more and more excited despite his loss.

The fourth duel. Landis, knowing that Kane always thinks before taking a defensive stance that would be most effective, immediately attacked him, counting on luck and his unpreparedness.

The boy, who was not ready to defend himself, panicked a bit, not expecting such a quick attack, and only at the last moment reflexively adopted the stance from yesterday's sparring, holding the sword slightly tilted, where Landis hit. 

Kane's hands were slightly numb from the impact, but the opponent continued to push with all his strength, striking two more times with a overhead attack, until finally the boy's hands, after a full day of training, couldn't take it and hit Kane with a fourth attack to the shoulder.

"2 to 2, give me a moment, I need to stretch my arm, because I got hit hard."

"Okay, then we have a break of five minutes?"

After a moment's break, Landis finally asked while staring at Kane.

"Someone taught you how to fight?"

"No, I just think before I do something, When your only goal is to defend yourself, and you know, how the opponent will attack, it's easier to set up, and you were trained by someone?"

"No, I used to live near the city walls and often saw soldiers fighting each other for fun, and I watched a bit."

He said it with a smile, tiredly catching his breath in his free time

"Shall we begin?"

After resting, Kane suggested

" I guess we can."

They got into position and began the fifth duel, Kane took his stance and began to approach, but to his surprise, Landis took an attack-like stance, even though he was standing on defense, holding his sword in front of him with both hands.

After a moment's hesitation, Kane attacked, intending to hit him in the forearm, but Landis reacted to the attempt and collided his sword with Kane's, wasting his first strike. The boy, not wanting to waste any more strikes, began to press toward Landis.

"So, this time you bet on strength rather than technique?"

Asked Kane.

"I wanted to test how it would work."

Landis answered him with a smile, while enjoying the duel.

The boys exchanged sword clashes, and watched each other's actions, conducting their longest duel to that point.

Despite Kane's efforts in this duel, he used all his strikes and failed to hit his opponent.

"Hahaha, finally you lost on the attack, I am winning 3 to 2."

Landis exclaimed with difficulty from exhaustion. When the bell rang and tutor Lorenz shouted.

"Last sparring match, put the equipment in place, and go to dinner, that's enough for today!"

"Okay, last sparring, and lets go."

Kane was standing up and already thinking of a new way to defend himself when it suddenly dawned on him.

The idea seemed so brilliant in his mind that the corners of his lips lifted slightly for the first time in years, showing an almost invisible smile of satisfaction.

The two boys got into position for the sixth and final sparring match. Landis took a stance as shock appeared on his face from what he saw. Kane assumed the most unusual defensive position the boy had ever seen. When Nilon saw what the boy had prepared for the last sparring match, he smiled out of excitement, knowing that Kane had talent, and impatiently continued to watch their fight.

Kane extended his right leg forward and slightly bent his knees, holding his left hand behind him as he caught his sword like a dagger in his right hand. Thanks to this way of holding the sword, it was positioned alongside his arm, covering his forearm, and by hiding his left hand behind him, it left no places to be easily hit.

Landis, not knowing what was going on, asked perplexedly

"Are you testing something new? Did you learn it somewhere?"

"Now that I made it up, we'll see if it works".

Kane replied, waiting for an attack. The opponent approached and attacked by hitting Kane's sword. Thanks to the way the boy held the weapon, at the moment of collision, Kane's blade, under the force of the impact, moved toward him alongside his forearm, turning the force of the attack against Landis, who, attacking, used all his strength, causing his blade to slide over alongside Kane's forearm, hitting the ground.

"So that's how you figured it out."

Landis said, hiding the fact that he didn't know how to get past such a defense. Keeper Nilon was impressed with the talent of both boys after seeing all their sparring, but it was Kane who had higher hopes.

Landis, knowing after the first strike that force would be of no use, decided to strike slowly and control his sword to bring about a clash and ensure that his sword would not slide over again.

As he decided, so he did, prepared his stance, and attacked, putting everything under control rather than strength or speed. Landis' sword did not slide over after the impact, so he began to press with force. When Kane sensed sword resistance, this time it was Kane who specifically moved the blade to his forearm. Because of the force Landis put against Kane, his sword again slides over after the unexpected change in the position of the blade.

He retreated, wasting his second strike, and looked toward Kane, not knowing how to attack him. He wasted his third and fourth attacks with unsuccessful attempts. Knowing that he had one last strike left, he desperately hid his pride and decided to strike at Kane's hand, which held the sword.

The boy concentrated and waited for the last attack, Landis brought out his last strike as fast as he could. At the last moment, the boy, after seeing his opponent's sword swerve toward his hand, fearfully quickly moved his whole body to the left side, sliding Landis' sword across his blade again at the last moment.

"That was the fifth strike. Good fight, but we have a draw. 3 to 3"

Said Kane, walking exhaustedly towards the dining hall, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and leaving Landis on the training ground.

As he was eating his supper, tutor Lorenz came out to the middle of the dining hall.

"Attention everyone, I have to interrupt you from eating for a moment. As you might have guessed from what we told you on the first day, everyone will leave Byrock at different times, it all depends on how quickly you master everything we want to teach you. 

Even though the first posture is the easiest of all, we didn't expect some to learn it in 2 days. Tutors will notify selected people tomorrow before the morning run who can start learning the second stance, These people will form a separate group. That's it from me, you can continue."

Whispers and conversations resonated throughout the dining hall. In the distance, Kane noticed Landis talking to the person next to him, after which they both looked in his direction. After staring at them for a moment, Kane returned to his food.

"But that after 2 days? Do you think who was successful?"

Daren asked.

"I hope they pick me, in sparring I did well".

Collin expressed his hopes with determination.

"We'll find out tomorrow, and how did you do today with sparring?"

Kane began to ask

"I lost 3 to 8, my hands were so sore that I wasn't able to do anything..."

Sighs Daren with a grimace on his face.

"5 to 6, one more fight, then maybe I would have been able to draw."

Said a disappointed Auren looking at Kane 

"Today I had a draw, 3 to 3, and I got a good opponent."

"Only 6 fights? Why did they wait so long for you?"

Began to ask Auren, who had played almost twice as many

"Even though we both gave it our all, it was hard to get through, and compared to the rest, he didn't rush at me, he just planned his moves, that's why the duels took a while."

When they were interrupted by Collin

"Haha! And I won 7 to 3 today, so what!"

He stood up and started laughing so loudly that other groups in the distance started looking in his direction.

Kane, annoyed by Collin's bold behavior, snorted and tried to finish his food as quickly as possible, so he wouldn't listen to him and go to his room to sleep.

"Ehh, I can dream of learning second stance, they'll probably take those who win their duels all the time, like the ones from yesterday."

Daren began to complain about his lack of skills.

"Did you hear any results from the duels today?"

Asked Auren curious, who might be the strongest in Byrock.

"No, I didn't hear anything this time, we'll find out tomorrow when they're selecting for the new group."

Daren disappointed everyone when Kane finished his food and got up from the table to go to bed.