When Gary pulled out the strange sword, it brought back a load of memories for Ray. The sword was found deep underneath the Avrion tunnels, and it was able to do things even he wasn't. Certain beasts had incredible regeneration speed, and when cut with the sword it would completely negate the ability.

  It was hard to say what tier the weapon was when it could slide through anything it touched. When Gary first started using the sword, he started to go slightly mad, Ray thought it was infected by the shadow, but when looking at it, he could find no such thing. Still, because of how Gary was being consumed by the sword, he had asked him to get rid of it.

  But Gary never did, bringing it with him on journeys, and using it whenever he needed to. The sword ended up helping them, and Gary seemed to be in control rather than the sword, so later on, Ray was fine with him using it.

  However, the sword's origin was still a mystery.T hat scared Ray more than the Dragon hammer and gauntlet, that they at least knew about.

  "You can't use that to fight," Kyle said, knowing some of the effects of the sword.

  "It's not like I can use magic. This will be purely skill; this is the only sword I will use," Gary replied.

  He didn't like it, but he had no choice. As Kyle went up, many of the Redwing members were wondering if Kyle was really the best choice.

  Roki was known as the best swordsman in the empire. If anyone had a chance against Gary, it would be him. They did understand that perhaps Roki wouldn't have it in his heart to fight as hard for Avrion as they didn't understand who Gary was.

  But if not Roki, then why not Harry? After Gary, Harry was considered the best swordsman and even proved it in the all kingdom tournament. The reason for Gary not volunteering himself was because he couldn't.

  Every time he looked at Gary, his hands started to shake. He didn't know why but it was possible it was due to his life hanging by a thread, while in Gary's hand not too long ago. He felt the pure energy and power at his very fingertips.

  Even if he wanted to fight, he was too afraid he would freeze up.

  "Harry, do you mind if I borrow your sword?" Kyle asked, and he was handed the Black Raven given to him by Ray. He didn't have a sword of his own because his choice of weapons was the heavy chain; this just made people doubt Kyle's ability once again.

  He hadn't trained with a sword for a while.

  "Kyle, you were always a slacker even when we were back sash knights. The only thing you could beat me in is a competition of running your mouth." Gary said.

  "I'm surprised you could even remember something like that. I thought the real Gary had disappeared and forgotten about everything that happened at Avrion." Kyle replied.

  "Oh, I am very much aware of everything. Everyone seems to think that I'm being forced to do this, but they are wrong. You all will soon understand, when you are given such power, why would you listen to what others say? Anyway, are we going to talk or fight?"

  Charging in, Kyle started off with an overhead strike. The black Raven was lighter than he thought, and his strike was quicker than he thought. It seemed like Gary was also surprised by this, as he lifted his own blade at the last second to parry the strike away.

  He was thrown slightly off balance, and Kyle went in for the attack again, but Gary was able to regain his footing quite easily and was ready to counter. Whatever blow Kyle had for him this time, he would strike a fatal wound back.

  However, an attack from the front never came, and Kyle was suddenly behind Gary and struck him diagonally going for the neck, but lifting his shoulder, it clinked off, doing no damage.

  Quickly, Gary moved away.

  "It looks like you have been training during this time," Gary said.

  "And it looks like you haven't used your sword once during this whole time. Do you know every day the Redwings have had some problem, some type of crisis that we have had to face? Even if I haven't been practising my sword work, I have had to fight, I've had to train my black sash skills and pass them on to the future generation!"

  "Shut up!" Gary shouted, swinging his sword widely, but it was powerful. When Kyle tried to use his footwork to move out of the way, it appeared as if the sword was following him, and it managed to go through his light armour, hitting him on the shoulder, but it stopped there, and Gary dragged it out slicing his flesh.

  One would scream in pain, but Kyle didn't; instead, he used this drive and pain to come back with his own flurry of attacks. They were coming from all sorts of angles, and he was using the footwork to make his moves unpredictable.

  "I've never seen Kyle so skilful with the sword before. Was he always this strong?" Martha asked.

  "Kyle has always just needed motivation." Sir K said.

  "Don't you remember?" Dan replied. "There was one time at the tournament where Kyle was trying to impress a girl. He won that fight in nearly an instant, the truth is. Whenever Kyle is serious about something, I have never seen him lose a fight, and it doesn't look like he'll lose this one either."

  Eventually, the attacks were too much for Gary, and he was no longer his former self. The skill he had with the sword, not using it for a year, greatly affected him. An unexpected crouch and kick to the legs knocked Gary down.

  When he was on the floor, Kyle went to thrust it into his throat, the fight was over, and all that was to be done was to kill Gary, but at that moment, he hesitated, his blade slowed, and it looked like it was going to stop before penetrating his neck.

  Seeing this hesitation, Gary took advantage, sweeping Kyle's legs, toppling his body from under him. He fell to the floor. The tides had turned, and now it was Gary's chance to kill Kyle.

  When he swung his blade down, he did not hesitate. Many people closed their eyes as they couldn't believe the turnaround and were about to see another friend lost.

  Duels were a sacred thing between kingdoms' and even the empire as well as the Dark guild respected them. No matter what, one wasn't meant to get involved. A fight to the death or until one person had given up.

  When Kyle volunteered himself, he knew the consequences, and he knew what would happen.

  But then, a strong wind force was felt pushing the sword away from Kyle, and Gary was being blown back. He tried to look up and walk forward, but the wind was incredibly strong. Peaking through, he could see who it was coming from.

  "Ray!" Gary shouted. "You can not get involved in a duel; you have broken the tradition and rules!"

  "These rules were made for humans!" Ray shouted back and started to push with even more force. To the others, it looked like he simply had his hands out.

  The power Ray had now was far stronger than before, and they were wondering what had happened to him during that time. Being suppressed, Gary sheathed his sword back into his side, and the gauntlet started to glow again.

  "Fine, if this duel is void, then I will deal with you!" Gary shouted, and with his anger, the gauntlet started to glow more.

  "This fight is over!" Ray shouted back. The wind stopped, and instead, now his hands were running with blue lighting going up both ends upwards to the top of his shoulders.

  He walked forward with the power flowing around him, such strong lightning powers that would strike the ground, destroying rocks once in a while.

  "It looks like I can't save you, you were about to take a life of another Redwing." Ray said. "I can't keep giving you second chances. I tried to bring you back, but I can't forgive you for trying to kill Kyle."

  With both his hands and all of his Mana, Ray thrust them forward, and a large, powerful lightning bolt was fired into Gary. He lifted the gauntlet to block the blow, but it was far too powerful and flung him in the air.

  The lighting continued to hit him and sent him back all the way until he was thrown through the castle walls.

  "This magical power," Roy said with his mouth open. "It's stronger than any of the tower masters could ever produce. It's inhuman."

  'That's because he's a dragon, and not just any dragon, but the king of dragons.' Bliss thought.

  ******

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