"Impressive! You've shocked me with a new improvement!" Gray said, commenting the boy's act while swinging his sword in a horizontal strike.
Kai ducked quickly before the sword crossed exactly where his head had been and slid to the side, his daggers aimed for the captain's open guard.
But without difficulty, Gray simply turned his sword, blocking Kai's attack. Another loud impact rang out, but neither of them gave way.
The fight's speed increased little by little with every attack. The tensing muscles, the slight twist of the hips, the way Gray gripped his sword tighter before an upward strike.
Everything seemed slower in Kai's vision, giving him more time to think and act before the attack arrived. And now, he did it perfectly.
After a while of fighting, he suddenly slipped close to Gray's body, letting the tip of his daggers graze the air near the lieutenant's chest, almost cutting him.
The lieutenant stepped back, spinning his sword in his hand and forcing Kai to retreat as well. then, he advanced again, his thrusts sequence was like a heavy rainfall, each strike extremely fast. Gray wasn't didn't hold, or wasn't ready to hold back his strength.
Kai began parrying all of them, his small structure dodging like a seahorse in a stream, but gradually, he felt the weight of the blows pressing deep into his arms.
"You've gotten faster, I can't deny that… but it's still not enough to win me," Gray said with a broad smile, though sweat had beaded his forehead.
He squeezed his eyes and advanced again with triple top-down strike. But Kai blocked. And at that time, Gray seemed to push even with more weight and power, forcing Kai to automatically go down and hit his body to the ground.
Kai had no choice than to bend to his knees. He spins to the side letting Grays sword smash against the bricked floor, echoing with a metallic sound and throwing speaks into the air.
With two steps, Kai saw a perfect opening and acted, letting the tip of his daggers lunged toward Gray's neck.
Gray raised his eyes, seeing the shimmering daggers approaching and instinctively grabbing Kai's daggers just few centimeters from hitting him.
The entire audience, including the high official who were watching all held their breath.
Gray locked Kai's daggers in his hand with brute force, and with his right hand – still clutching the sword tightly – aimed it at Kai.
The boy could have dropped his sword and dodged, but in doing so would mean inevitably losing the fight. He allowed the attack to come very close and pretended to use all his might to pull the daggers from the lieutenant's grip. And when Gray's sword was at the peak of hitting Kai's head, Kai jumped.
Knowing how Gray always made his strikes low due to his height, Kai left high, his right hand griping tightly to his daggers with which Gray held firmly.
Kai spun in the air, letting his right heel descend directly towards Gray's head with all his strength when he noticed Gray had lost focus.
Gray smiled, dropping his sword, and raising his right arm as fast as possible, blocking the kick with his forearm. He released Kai's daggers, and threw a heavy punch directly to Kai.
The fist came like a Warhammer, letting Kai cross his arms at the last moment and blocking it. He was thrown backward, landing on the stone floor, his boots sliding, but had no bone cracked, only his arms trembled.
Gray, also took steps back from the kick's impact. Blocking the kick actually left his left arm numb.
'This boy's strength is almost equal to mine. At first I held back but now, with full strength… damn.'
'I thought it would take him years to surpass me, but I doubt I'll be able to face him in a fight within the next two months.'
Gray thought. The two stared at each other, their weapons laying sideways on the ground.
'Even after all that I did, I still couldn't defeat him. I thought I had trained well and was ready… Lieutenant Gray has also grown stronger by training all this while, hasn't he?'
'Gray is not someone I can easily surpass.' Kai said this in his mind. But if it had been said louder, the other wouldn't know how to feel.
Kai was only six years old now, while the lieutenant was forty-five, and in just one year, they fought like people with the same strength.
Both of them knew that if they continued, they would remain in the same state.
A sudden applause tore from the back seat of the audience. Everyone sitting rose from their chair, joining the applause.
Finding it amusing, the lieutenant smiled, but Kai kept his calm expression, still thinking of what he could have done to enable him win the lieutenant.
Gray moved slowly, stepping forward until he was few meters away from the boy.
"Little one," Gray's voice came in a serious tone that made the applause fall to silent. "I am done with the lessons I have to give you."
Every eye around them widened.
"From now onward, you're one of the senior corporals of Bion's city guard."
Kai looked at Gray in surprise.
"Thank you, lieutenant." Kai said, clutching his hands together and thanking Gray.
"From now on, just call me brother Gray," Gray said, sighing in laughter.
The boy nodded in agreement.
After all, he was the strongest there alongside the lieutenant. And despite his age, Kai was always considered the smartest than even the old soldier he came to meet.
All the guards bowed slightly.
"SENIOR CORPORAL KAI!"
Gray laughed heartily, giving several pats on Kai's shoulder when he walked to him. It was truly entertaining for him to see a child as a senior corporal, but he was satisfied than ever.
When Kai walked out of the courtyard, the high officials of the neighboring cities met Kai, greeted him, and congratulated him.
Some of the high military officials rejected shaking hands with the boy.
'Was Gray out of his senses when he first took this little child? He shouldn't have done that, no matter what!'
'He needs to be punished for this act, mercilessly.'