Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

It was late afternoon, and the Imperial Coliseum was currently full of people who were excited to see the match of the year. The sky above the empire was a little cloudy, but with little to no chance of downpour, so the audience and fighters were able to sit on the open coliseum without worrying about the heat.

After the long trial, Erik the Phantom Fencer and Prince Edward Dixon would face off in the grand finals of the annual Imperial Battle Tournament of the capital's harvest festival. Everyone was looking forward to each of the finalists, as they were remarkable on their own.

"It's the crown prince versus the Phantom Fencer. I'm so excited..."

"I'm going to throw my money on..."

"There's no way His Imperial Highness Edward could win against someone who defeated Boris..."

Along with their excitement, the audience was already speculating on the outcome of the fight before the fight got to start. By analyzing each of the fighters' capabilities, they got some ideas about how this tournament ended.

In the arena, Erik and Edward stood a few meters away from one another, wielding their preferred weapons in their hands. It was noticeable that Edward had changed his sword. From an adamantine longsword, Edward was currently wielding a type of longsword similar to a montante or Zweihänder with a pale purplish blade like that of his armor.

When he witnessed that Erik could destroy adamantine weapons with his mithrill blade, Edward was after that; he could do the same for his sword. He already heard that Erik just received an adamantine blade, which threatened his chances of winning.

For that reason, he finally used the sword that Francis provide along with the armor. Unbeknownst to him, the armor and the sword were actually made out of the alloy of two divine-class metals, violettite and celestium, which were superior to adamantine and the other legendary-class metal.

"Fight."

The referee in between them had his right arm raised upright. He then brought it down and officially started the match. However, even though the referee had stepped back to the edge of the arena, none of the fighters had made a step.

Seconds passed, and Edward made the first move and gripped his sword forward, pointing the tip at Erik. Erik then thrust his rapier forward, and before everyone's eyes, he vanished from his spot, before seeing him reappear behind Edward.

From there, Erik lunged forward and attempted to stab Edward's shoulder through the joints of his armor. With his boosted stats, which enhanced his perception speed, Edward sensed the incoming danger, and he reflexively turned around and parried the attack.

Clink!

Naturally, Edward's bigger and heavier sword easily overcame the thin blade of the rapier. But what Edward did not expect was that Erik was a lot stronger than he thought. Immediately after the parry, Erik fought against Edward's dominance, and the rapier was gaining an advantage against the double-hander.

The bind between the two blades continued with the rapier's dominance before Erik intentionally stopped the rapier a few centimeters by Edward's neck. Edward broke out in a sweat as he took a glance at the blade near his neck. It took him a few seconds before he realized he was allowed to step back.

"Who really are you, Phantom Fencer?" Edward asked. "What is your intention of joining the tournament?"

"I am just an ordinary swordsman from afar who is interested in gaining new experiences in the empire," Erik neutrally replied.

"I don't think that is the reason. I have been feeling that you are here specifically to ruin my plans." Edward then pointed his blade at Erik as he said that.

"Fufu. First of all, I don't even know who you are. Secondly, it was not my problem if I was in your way. Just like you, I am also here to win."

"If you want that, then why don't you take my—"

Edward abruptly halted his words before he could say something he should not say.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I will defeat you. Right here, right now. I don't want anyone to get in my way."

"Same here. I am not going to lose everything since I have gotten this far."

As soon as Edward ran toward Erik, the masked fencer immediately deployed several afterimages throughout the arena. With a lot of targets to deal with, Edward stopped and scanned the surroundings, which soon made him realize he could tell the differences between one another. Trusting his intuition, Edward decided to attack the one nearest to him, the afterimage in front of him.

"Hah!"

Firmly gripping the hilt of his sword, Edward swung his double-hander downward. Then, the Erik before him just stepped back to avoid the blade before he proceeded to thrust his rapier at him.

"Uh—!"

Edward tried to avoid the blade by twisting his body, but the rapier managed to hit his shoulder. If it were not for his armor, he would have been pierced.

"Right shoulder."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Erik uttered something, which Edward barely understood. Before he knew it, he already felt a powerful blunt force had just landed on his body.

"Guh—?!"

Edward felt like he was hit by a cannonball. When he checked where it landed on him, he found out that it was exactly where Erik pointed out just now. That attack came from one of his afterimages.

"Left Shoulder."

"Ahh—!"

Before Edward could recover his structure, the Erik before him thrust his rapier and hit Edward's shoulder again, causing him to lose his balance.

"Why are you saying the areas where to attack...? Are you playing with me?!"

"Front Thorax." Ignoring the prince's words, Erik continued his play.

After that, two of the afterimages, tens of meters behind Erik, swiftly rushed toward Edward. They were so fast that Edward could barely catch a glimpse of them. Once the afterimages got near to their target, they then slashed their rapiers horizontally and struck them on Edward's chest.

"Ack—!"

With two blades landing heavy blows on his chest, Edward was knocked back by a few meters, letting go of his sword in the process. Edward then rolled over the floor. As Edward was struggling to get up, Erik approached him before dropping his sword in front of him.

"Pick it up, Your Imperial Highness. I have many lessons to teach you."

"Damn you!"

Edward picked up the sword, and he engaged in a fight with Erik again. It was a few minutes before the final countdown to the finale.