Suddenly, there was a new spectator that decided to join in, it was Leena. Alex was not surprised by her arrival, he had expected this, Gracier waved at Leena, the latter responded with a beautiful smile.
She then turned her head in Conrad's direction, both of locked eyes before Conrad glanced at both Alex and Eleonora as if to tell them to get ready and start.
Alex and Eleonora came forward in front of everyone. They both wore grins on their faces, currently, they only had the other in the eyes, nothing else matters, only the fight.
Having noticed, the look of excitement, the battle lust in their eyes, Conrad could only smile and gave the signal, this time he did not prohibit anyone from getting heated up as he knew if he were to say that, none of the two were going to listen to him anyway, so why bother.
''Begin.''
After Conrad's signal, neither of the two made a move, they stared at each other, reading their weapons, for Eleonora it was two daggers, it seemed she was a dual wielder.
And naturally, Alex was not the one to accept the loss, he also readied his knives, however, he did not use Razor and Reaper, instead, he took out two Black Bettie's, the throwing knives he designed after The United Cutlery UC2772 Expendables Kunai. The one used by Lee Christmas in the movie The Expendables.
A grin plastered on her face, Eleonora shouted,
''I hope this fight will be fun.''
''I hope too,'' Alex responded with the same grin.
Bang!
They both disappeared and when the crowd saw them against, they were already in front of each other.
Eleonora slashed at him with the first dagger, Alex parried it, then came another slash, Alex against parried it.
Clangs! Clangs!
Metal clashed against metal creating a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air.
They keep moving at a fast speed exchanging moves.
Clangs! Clangs!
After a quick exchange, they separated themselves from each other and took a reasonable distance. They were both grinning.
Suddenly, Eleonora crouched down like a cheetah that was about to pounce on its prey, then she sprung forward and midway through her dash she threw one of her daggers at Alex, Alex's reflex was quick, he also threw one of his Black Bettie's straight at the incoming dagger.
Kin!!
Both blades clashed producing a shriek and created sparks that fly in the air.
Meanwhile, Eleonora's figure turned blurry and vanished, making use of his Six senses Alex spun around and brought his remaining Black Bettie's to defend against Eleonora's dagger.
Gakin!
''I knew you would keep up, so I brought you a little gift.''
Eleonora said with a wide grin, Alex had a bad feeling when he heard her words, suddenly Eleonora brought her other hand up and blew the content toward Alex's face, everything happened so fast that Alex was caught off guard.
He was instantly blinded even when he had quickly tried to close his eyes.
Not being someone who misses an opportunity, especially one she had created herself, Eleonora kicked Alex on the stomach sending him tumbling back.
''Gah!"
Alex rolled on the ground grunting in pain, he quickly stood up, he had been played, he had forgotten that before attacking him previously, Eleonora had crouched down, it must have been at that moment with her other hand she picked up a little bit of sand, sand she used to blind him before kicking him.
Now momentarily blind, Alex could only use his skill Divine Sense, so he used it and when Eleonora followed with another attack Alex sidestepped to the right just enough and the blade passed a hairs breath from his face.
Eleonora was momentarily stunned because she hadn't expected Alex to avoid her attack when blinded.
Quickly, before Eleonora could respond with a follow-up, Alex swiftly punched Eleonora in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the girl, and stunning her for a brief moment.
''Guh!"
It was Eleonora's turn to grunt in pain. Alex tried to follow-up by slashing at the girl, however, Eleonora had already recovered and slightly tilted her head sideways avoiding the blade.
Both quickly jumped back and stared at each other, by now Alex had recovered his sight.
Suddenly, Eleonora chanted, it was the same chant as the one Lucien muttered early, however, Eleonora's speed was quick, almost like that of Gracier.
[Wind, turn into an unseen arrow to pierce my enemies]
Like Lucien's incantation, Eleonora's incantation also warped the world and an invisible arrow was created before her eyes.
『Wind Arrow!』
At the same time the magic was completed, several arrows were fired. The invisible arrows from the skill darted toward Alex at fast speed.
Alex kicked the ground and jumped to his left rolling on the ground, he dodged the Wind arrows fired, he was well aware that it was only a distraction, Eleonora real attack was about to come, and eventually, it did come, in form of numerous small Water bullets that rained down on him, Alex instantly used his upgraded skill Accel (previously Blink) and reappear in another location.
As if expecting this, Eleonora's figure turned blurry, however, half through the motion, she was forced to stop because, she felt a sudden pressure descended upon her, stopping her from using her movement skill.
Alex had used his skill Intimidation on her, Accel-ing Alex appeared in front of the frozen Eleonora with his blade ready to be swung down, however, he quickly stopped his attack and sidestepped to the right just enough for the blade to pass a hairs breath from his face again.
However strands of his hair had been cut off in the process, kicking the ground he jumped back, still in the motion, Alex used a copper coin he had just brought out from his Item box and flicked it in direction of Eleonora who had pretended to be frozen when she wasn't.
The copper coin was too fast for Eleonora to completely avoid, hence she was struck on the armpit, she gritted her teeth and jumped back.
Once again they both stared at each other.
On the other side, the crowd was silent, watching the battle with a heated expression. Nobody between the two seemed to have the upper hand. Well, they had not used their strongest skill yet, the one with powerful skill would win.
Back to the battle.
〖Master, time to test your new skill don't you think?〗Silveria suddenly suggested.
The left side of Alex's lip tugged upwards creating a sinister smirk on his face as he mumbled.
'I guess so.'
Immediately Alex threw the knife in his hand at Eleonora, the latter smiled ready to intercept it, however, what happened next left the whole training ground speechless not just Eleonora.
The incoming vanished when on his side Alex mumbled.
[Accel]
Feeling chill down her spine. ''Shit, I'm in trouble.''
Eleonora swore and quickly spun around and defend against the knife that magically appears behind her.
Kin~!!
She did not have time to breathe when she heard Alex's voice coming right behind her.
''I guess it's my win,'' Alex said with another Black Bettie's held against Eleonora's delicate neck. He had a proud smile on his face.
''Do not celebrate too fast, you should look down,'' Eleonora responded with the same smile in turn.
〖Indeed you should do as she suggested. Sigh! Even I didn't see that coming. This girl is too cunning.〗Silveria said after heaving a sigh.
Indeed, Alex did as she suggested and was surprised when he saw a small blade directed at his crotch, if he advanced by a centimeter the blade would have pierced his precious jewel, instantly he felt chill down there, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Silence befalls the whole training ground, Leena was smiling, Gracier was dumbfoundedly staring at her brother and Eleonora who were so close that you would have mistaken them for embracing each other, if not for the blade Alex held against Eleonora's neck, while the latter blade was directed at his crotch, quite anticlimactic.
Finally, Conrad announced, ''This match is a draw.''
Instantly commotion arose because some of the Adventurers thought it was Alex's win. After all, in a real fight, Eleonora will be dead after her throat was sliced, even if Alex will be gravely injured.
However, they were forced to admit that it will mutual destruction because, in a real fight, Eleonora's dagger would be coated in a strong poison that could kill Alex after the blade pierced his crotch.
Alex and Eleonora smiled at each other and both muttered.
''Next time will we fight using our full strength until then let's consider this fight as a draw.''
''Indeed.'' They both nodded their heads before going back.
Gracier dashed toward her brother and checked his eyes, there were little red because, there was still some small sand inside his eyes, calming his sister down, Alex's eyes met with Leena, the latter smiled and said,
''Quite a good fight. Especially that last move of yours caught us off guard. Seriously, how many of those ridiculous skills do you possess?"
Alex only shrugged his shoulders and asked,
''It seems that at most tomorrow we'll depart toward the Zilya mountain.''
Seeing Alex did not want to talk about his skills, Leena smiled bitterly before responding.
''Indeed, it's as you said. Well, I'll be on my way. See you after.''
She went back after saying this, Alex decided to wait for Conrad to conclude this first step of the rank up test but first, he decided to check his skill description, previously he had only briefly browsed the content.
[Accel Level 1 (Former Blink upgraded)
It's a skill that lets you move instantly at will in a certain range, to teleport at will.
Range: 1 kilometer
Cost: 150 MP (Fixed)]
Until there this Accel did not look different from Blink except for the increase in range and decrease in cost for using it, although it became 150 MP it's fixed, meaning no matter how much the skill level increased you will use 150 MP. It was not bad.
However, what made Alex happy was the additional ability of the skill.
[Additional: This skill can be used on a weapon, to teleport a weapon within a certain range.
Range: 30 Meters.
Cost: 500 MP per use]
He knew that the range will increase as the skill's level went up so will the cost decreasing.