Magician: (Cocky) “Let’s get this show on the road then, eh? What do you say?”

The stranger looked at him with a dull expression. Not caring for his silly games, he didn’t bother to respond.

Magician: “Aaalright. I’ll just take that as a yes.”

Keeping a cocky smirk, the Magician rotated his sword. The stranger waited, allowing the Magician to unveil his first trick.

The Magician held his blade in his right hand at waist level, his arm straightened out. The blade faced horizontally; he used his off-hand to seemingly grab the handle and pull out another sword.

Stranger: (Intrigued by the blade appearing out of thin air) “Is this why you had your off-hand readily available? Because it’s normally holding a second blade?”

Magician: (Shrugging his shoulders) “Maybe. Maybe not.” 

The Magician held his sword normally in his right hand and an identical sword in his left with a reverse grip. With this first trick, he abandoned the quick slashes in favor of a devastating blow. 

The stranger was confused as he watched the Magician throw a blade into the air.

The Magician leapt off the air and planted his foot on the airborne sword to kick off and launch himself at the stranger. 

The kick launched him forward like a bullet.

While in mid-air, he repeated his trick to duplicate another sword and swung his arms to make himself spin.

In a showy attack, he hurtled toward the stranger like a flying razor, both swords pointed ahead.

Excited Man: (In disbelief, cheering) “Holy shit! He’s so dead!”

Cheerful Lady: (Shouting for the hero to hear) “You’ve got this!”

The Magician flew at him with such speed that the attack seemed practically impossible to dodge. 

But just when the Magician thought he had created an attack the stranger couldn’t dodge, the stranger prepared to parry. 

The stranger met the tips of both blades with his greatsword, disrupting the Magician’s spin.

He handled each blade separately by blocking one of the Magician’s swords with his own and slipping past the other unscathed.

Stranger: “Sorry, bu—”

The Magician quickly cut him off and kept up the pressure. Even though his planned attack didn’t damage the stranger, he returned to a rapid barrage of slashes. 

Consecutive blows were deflected by the stranger. Even with two swords, the Magician was unable to break through the stranger’s defenses.

Magician: (Internally monologuing) “How? The mystery was fun at first, but seriously, WHO is this guy? You don’t get this strong going unnoticed. People should’ve seen this guy before; he would have made a name for himself. And the scary part is, I can tell he hasn’t reached his limit. Still, it doesn’t matter. I am. The strongest.”

Still holding his swords with one standard grip and one reverse grip, the Magician was ready to end this. 

The Magician continued to unload as many slashes as he physically could, periodically noting small flaws in the opponent’s defense. 

Although his cockiness made it easy to underestimate his intellect, the Magician was highly perceptive in battle. He noticed a recurring opening and took advantage of it by kicking the stranger with a heavy blow to the midsection. 

Not wanting to dance around the stranger with quick slashes anymore, the Magician prepared to display another flashy move. 

In quick succession, the Magician threw his left-hand sword into the air and duplicated his sword. This time, he threw a sword at the stranger with so much force that it whistled in the air.

The stranger focused on the incoming projectile and sidestepped the blade.

Stranger: “You really thought that would hit me?”

While the stranger's attention remained on the projectile, the Magician braced himself and set up in an unusual stance.

Magician: “Nope.”

The stranger turned his attention to the Magician, and his eyes widened as he heard a metallic clang. 

The Magician had positioned himself as a baseball batter and struck the falling sword he had thrown earlier.

The attack sent the sword flying at extraordinary speed. The blade headed straight for the stranger’s face, leaving him with almost no time to react…