"Ai, Ai." His rough on the edges crew members hopped off the ship onto another long ship that stood close by.

“Get her boss! Show us a good fight! Don't let us down now boss! Don't rough her up too much! Give us her head!” Oz's crew chanted, hyping up the fight. They have been fighting the monsters of the Wild for quite a long time so they were naturally excited to see their boss fight a duel, against a knight of the infamous Azori Empire at that.

"Let me ask you something, my lady." Oz said in a relaxed tone with his sword's blade placed on his shoulders.

“Have you ever seen a fight between two miracle workers?” Oz asked while slowly walking to his right.

“Why should I care about how those heretics fight? “ Phen replied following Oz's every step making sure not to miss a thing.

Yeshu, who was far off on the hill with the rest of the team had his hands dyed red with Hagar's blood. He had been assisting the sweaty Eanar in stitching Hagar up.

Having heard Phen call Miracle Workers heretics, his already distressed expression turned into a mask of anguish and sorrow. He was hit with the reality he had been trying to forget.

No one seemed to notice the change in his facial expression except Leah, someone who had been intently watching him since the beginning...

“Oh, but you should. You see, Miracle workers can turn things around with just a flick of their finger, right? Then how would such a fight play out?" Oz inquired while still maintaining his defenseless and nonchalant stance.

“What's your point?” Phen asked irritated.

“Oh, don't mind me. I-am-just-trying-to-buy-time.” Oz said very slowly with a cunning smile on his face.

'What?!' A chill ran down Phen's spine as she hurriedly tilted her head into the back.

'Are the archers going to attack again?' She asked herself while scanning the whole area, looking for a surprise attack that was nowhere to be found.

“You sure are naive.” Oz's intimidating voice suddenly rang through her ears. She then realized her blunder.

Phen had made the terrible mistake of being fooled by Oz's words and shifting her attention away from the duel. This created the perfect opportunity for Oz to rush up into her personal space as she didn't have her guard up.

With his right leg stretching back and his left leg standing firm ahead, he went for an upward vertical swing aiming to cut open her torso.

“Yeahhhh!! Go, boss!!!” Oz's crew chanted happily. To them, fights like this made life all the better. Unlike the manes who were relishing in joy, Phen's team was desperately worried about their leader...

"Shit!" Phen cursed.

She barely managed to sidestep the attack and get away with a nonfatal wound that ran from her waist up to her shoulders.

'Shit, it's too shallow.' Oz thought to himself.

Phen quickly regained herself and countered with a knee kick geared toward Oz's guts. Fortunately, Oz had put up his guard by placing his arms a giant each other and raising them to his abdomen. His elbows absorbed the impact of Phen's kick leaving him with only a minor trauma.

Oz hastily retreated to the edge of the ship so as to create considerable distance between himself and Phen.

'She's strong.' He thought to himself.

'He's a coward' Phen also said to herself. He was the kind of man who used sly tactics to cut down his enemies, it was cowardly style but it was quite dangerous to face this kind of guy head-on.

'The archers up in the mountains aren't attacking yet but I shouldn't drag this.' Phen thought.

The waters were growing rough, the heavy wind blew, causing the ship sails to flutter around and the battle cry of violent men filled the air. Not keeping their eyes off each other, Oz and Phen wore a sharp gaze as they stood ready to jump in and attack at any moment.

"Don’t get beaten by a girl now boss!!” A member of Oz's crew said jokingly.

*Sigh* Oz tried to release the tense energy building up inside. of him by shooting his eyes close, taking in a deep breath, and letting out a sigh. 

'Let's end this.' He said to himself.

Utilizing the sole of his black leather boots, Oz thumped his feet against the edge of a shield that lay on the ground causing the shield to swirl up into the air, he grabbed it with his unarmed arm and took a typical wane warrior stance where he placed his shield forward and his blade by his side.

Oz instantly cut the fluttering ship sails which allowed the wind to act on it and cause it to violently dance in the air thereby obstructing Phen's view.

'Where did he go?' Phen asked herself as she tried to grab the irregular flapping sails.

Without warming a rapidly spinning axe suddenly flew through the sails, violently charging toward  Phen's head.

Phen easily tilted her head to the side and evaded the axe but Oz wasn't done yet as he dashed forward and ran a furry of blows on Phen.

Oz's earlier axe throw caused Phen to respond a second late and end up on the defensive. Oz was relentless in his attacks as he continued to fiercely press against her, chipping away at her sword bit by bit, strike by strike.

'He is going for my sword.' Phen thought to herself as she deflected another one of his swings.

Oz's wanted to snap her sword in half and render Phen unarmed.

'I am not gonna let him.' Phen said with a  determined tone. She tightened her core, stood firm, and dropped her guard taking Oz's next attack head-on.

“Argh." Phen groaned painfully as Oz's sword struck her by the shoulder, probably dealing a substantial wound to her muscles.

Bearing the pain, she gripped Oz's blade firmly with her bare hands, even while it tore open her skin and blood dripped out Phen refused to let go.

Oz struggled to haul out his sword but it just wouldn't budge,  Phen utilized this chan and attempted to slash him by the side with a horizontal sword strike.

*Snap* Oz let out a grin at the sound of Phen's sword snapping in half.

Phen had been so focused on cutting Oz down that she forgot about the shield Oz held on his arms.

Just as Phen's sword was about to reach for his side, Oz raised his left arm that held a mane-style shield and guarded against the attack causing the already chipped blade to break.

“Boss!!!!!” Oz's crew chanted loudly as wide scary smiles spread throughout their faces. They felt the surge, the surge of a victor. At this moment, they were extremely proud to have sailed under Oz, they would go on to tell the story about how their boss bested a highly distinguished knight of the Azori Empire.

“Want to go on?” Oz asked Phen with his usual arrogant smile with his sword stretched toward her neck.

“…. It's my loss." Phen admitted her loss and dropped her already broken sword to the ground.

*Tang*

OZ WON.