Soshyan said while looking at the two warriors on the ring. Standing above them were the third company commander Farzad and the first company commander Mark.
There were still more than a hundred soldiers standing around the platform.
Although the Astral Knights and Soul Drinkers merged for some time, Soshiyang realized that it was not easy for the warriors of the two systems to merge, so he formulated a rule and held regular ring battles so that the warriors could become more familiar with each other.
.
In fact, this tradition also existed among the Astral Knights in the past. If we go back further, it started in the legion era. At that time, there was a sword competition within the Imperial Fists. The warriors compared each other in the competition and sharpened their skills.
Skills, after the second founding of the army, this competition became an opportunity for the Imperial Fists clan to bond.
Soshyan drew lessons from this competition, and today's first set of opponents are Farzad and Mark.
"First company commander, Mark."
Mark walked towards Farzad and drew his sword.
This is a two-handed sword, elegant yet powerful, with a long handle covered with stripes extending downward from the sword body.
Farzad stared at the weapon, assessing its weight.
After catching the other party studying this weapon, Mark smiled and did a trick.
"It's an antique, and the long handle allows me to change my grip."
He demonstrated, effortlessly switching between two hands and one hand.
Farzad nodded, drew his weapons, two broad-bladed battle axes, the same silver-gray color as his armor, and struck each other with the two battle axes.
"Third company commander, Farzad."
Mark bowed slightly with a sense of ritual, and then began to circle around Farzad in a wary posture. At the same time, he kept pulling his sword, and his eyes switched between Farzad's upper body and legs.
Farzad adjusted his breathing and began to move along his own trajectory.
He was surprised to find that the opponent never took a wrong step, never stepped within a palm's distance of his attack range, and never let the swords pass and relax between them. It was always a distant gesture that attracted him to swing forward.
Bring out the battle ax.
The other party was an experienced swordsman, and Thor had taught him how to deal with this kind of swordsman.
Farzad stopped, defending with one hand and turning the ax with the other, and remained motionless.
He fell into an unprecedented state of patience.
This is what Thor told him. When encountering the provocation of a swordsman, you must not attack forcefully. You must first exhaust the opponent's patience.
Ten more heartbeats passed.
Even the besieging soldiers began to tire of this confrontation, and their earlier cheers were replaced by cold and boring silence.
After feeling Farzad's patience, Mark's eyes narrowed.
"I originally wanted you to attack first to give you a fighting chance, but..."
He stopped, a confident smile slowly appeared on his face,
"Then I won't be polite."
Before he finished speaking, Mark's sword struck first.
In Farzad's eyes, the sword transformation was nothing more than a moving flash of light, and Mark's figure was only slightly clearer than a traceless ghost.
But the attack is real.
"good!"
He roared loudly, but Farzad's hasty movements only deflected the opponent's thrust, and defended his exposed facial flesh from Mark's sword tip.
Mark then changed his attack and hit Ustad's armor several times.
The warriors roared with approval at each new encounter and stamped their boots into the ground in a rhythmic stamping.
Farzadeh responded calmly, gave up his passive defense, and attacked with both axes from left to right, forcing Mark to retreat from the battle circle.
"I'm glad to find out that you still have some time left. I heard that you haven't served for a long time. It's rare to be able to develop such skills in such a short period of time."
"Your praise makes me happy."
Farzad put aside his distractions and focused on his breathing, carefully keeping his breathing rapid and short, as if he needed this time to rest and adjust.
Noticing this detail, Mark took the bait.
He stepped up to attack Farzad's front legs, but his attack was too obvious. Farzad ignored the feint, deflected the opponent's sword blade that was stabbing his face, and then attacked back, holding his hands tightly.
Hold the battle ax and slash at the opponent's abdomen.
At this time, there was no room for Mark to parry. The veteran calmly twisted his steps and turned to deal with the blow, trying to block Farzad's momentum with his shoulders and getting ready for the impact.
Farhad's ax blade trembled when it came into contact with the opponent's shoulder armor, and then cut all the way down the shoulder armor.
This blow obviously did not have the expected effect. Farzad twisted the ax blade and changed his holding position so that he could swing it to the side.
But it immediately came to nothing.
He was not fast enough and Mark had already rushed out of the attack range.
“Great move.”
Mark said this, but his eyes narrowed even more.
“There’s even better!”
The battle had aroused Farzad's blood, and he rushed forward with his battle ax raised above his head.
Mark blocked his downward slash, deflected another reverse attack, and stepped back a few steps when Farzad launched his kick, out of the attack range.
Farzad continued to approach, swinging a flat sweep parallel to the ground, followed by flipping the ax blade again.
This sudden outburst caught Mark off guard. Although he defended well, Farzad still let Farzad cut into his inner circle.
Farzad, who came from a barbaric world, was taller and stronger than him. This was his chance.
Farzad threw the battle axe, and when the opponent blocked it, he grabbed Mark's sword hilt with both hands, pulled the veteran toward him, and launched a headbutt.
But Mark lowered his head tactfully.
"Well--"
When Farzad's forehead hit Mark's thick skull, he frowned in pain.
The reckless move made Farzad pay the price. Mark also dropped his sword, grabbed his wrist, turned around, and threw him across the ring.
"It's not over yet!"
When Farzad jumped and stood upright again, his eyes were burning with fighting spirit.
"Did you forget something? Third company commander."
At this time, Mark smiled toothily and pointed the tip of his sword at Farzad's gauntlet.
He looked down at his empty hands and immediately cursed that damn impulse - he had just thrown the weapon.
This made Farzad himself forget the warrior's ways, calmness, restraint and thinking taught by Risol. Obviously, maintaining these in battle was more difficult than he thought, and the lessons were profound.
"This competition is over."
Soshyan took a step forward with a smile.
"Captain Mark is indeed a warrior who has experienced hundreds of battles. Your calmness and heaviness will be our most valuable asset."
Mark put away his sword and bowed respectfully to Soshyan, and the soldiers cheered for him.
"Captain Farzad, your tactics and skills have made great progress, but you still need to sharpen your will. I hope to see a braver and calmer you in the future."
Farzad bowed to Soshyan with some shame, and the soldiers also cheered for him.
"Okay, next is-"
Just when Soshyan was about to announce the next group of opponents, Armin hurried over.