Colt was driven to a corner. The impending danger that his future faced at such a mesely stage wasn't a laughing matter,

'I have to win this by hook or crook,' Colt gritted his teeth.

He no longer feared being unfair with his approach. But alas, Klautz would never give him the chance, for he was the king of unfair means.

Colt who had never wielded his sword finally took it out from his inventory. The hilt of the sword stung in his bleeding hands, dying the blue handle into crimson red, but he gritted his teeth and continued.

Klautz smirked.

With sich a handi cap on Colt's side, Klautz had gained a major advantage in the match already.

"Whoooo!

" The crowd burst into cheers and Gozoto too nodded in appreciation.

'Let's see where this goes.'

Gozoto didn't make an attempt to stop the match to save Colt's rorry ass.

For Gozoto customer satisfaction was indeed important but there were many more things that he carried out in secret that took precedence over it. As such Gozoto found it unmannerly to stop this match at the point it had already reached.

Not to mention that if Colt couldn't even defeat a newbie at such a stage, his future was as good as doomed! There would be no worth in a kid who no longer had chances to rise into a powerhouse would there?

"There are quite a few talents this year,

" Gozoto smirked. He was more intrigued by Klautz's potential than Colt's

Indeed he was a short tempered man who acted according to his whims. His support that was on Colt's side had flipped to Klautz's side in a matter of seconds.

He was a whimsical predator… the life of whose prey depended on his mood alone. It was this very nature that caused him to distance himself from the other guild and act on his own as an independent mercenary. After all, it was hard for someone like him to be loyal to a single guild.

In his early years he was quite infamously known as a guild 'hopper' which was another name as infamous as the ninjas. He had build up quite a few enemies because of that and yet he still stands in one piece proving his talent.

"Damn, you are courting death!

"

Colt swung his sword in the air in the air making an arc. His sword was basked in a moonlight glow that painted the stage in a glittery atmosphere.

*Clang*

But Klautz blocked his arc with his dagger alone. Having a shorter weapon in hand, Klautz definitely had a disadvantage when it came to his reach while sparring with a bonafide sword. But what Klautz lacked in weapons he made up for it, with his skill. A skill that was unfound, making him profound in the use of daggers. It was like the dagger was an extension of his own hand!

Both in the edo period and also in hell, the ninjas were the lowest garded humans of the society. In fact they were just tools meant to do the dirty work of the samurais. How could such fifth of society allowed to wield weapons of equal length as the same length as the samurais? Wouldn't that be disrespecting the samurai's honor asking them to treat the ninjas as their equals? Thus the ninjas were never allowed to wield the katana nor of any weapon of equivalent length.

The weapon of the ninjas had always been the shorter ones since ancient times. The short length ninjato that they used and their kenjustu was the very crystallization of such a history.

Thus, Klautz was used to fighting with shorter weapons.

'I wonder what this afterglow is,' Klautz thought.

Klautz raised his brows. There was no way for him to know at his current strength.

'I need more intel.'

Colt wasn't someone Klautz had targeted in his first life and he had little to no information on the skills he used either. As such Klautz could only make assumptions about the situation.

'What is it? There doesn't seem to be any visible gain in his strength with that skill of his.'

Klautz squinted his eyes. There was only one thing to do.

If Klautz's brain couldn't answer that question, he would ask Colt's body instead.

*Clang*

"Ugh

"

Colt held onto his bleeding hand as his sword flew away into the air. The blade of the sword might have been basked in a luminous glow but its hilt itself was dipping with a crimson blood.

*Drip*

Blood trickled down from his hand. His hands were wounded in the first place. Added to the clash that he and Klautz exchanged the wound only opened further and further creating a sharp pain in his body.

Such clashes shouldn't have been strong enough to injure him, if he had exchanged it with any other newbie but Klautz was stronger than himself. With an injured hand how could he fight him?

How could he hope to resist his slashes in a direct clash? Such an outcome was only predictable had Colt known about Klautz from beforehand.

*sigh*

Klautz sighed.

"Do we really need to continue this? Let me be clear. I don't bear any ill will towards you. Thus harming you in a mere match of exchanging pointers would be simply pointless for me.

"

Klautz couldn't kill Colt. The rules forbade him to. And he had no intention either. Thus there was no point in both sides struggling any further.

"Ugh…

"

But for Colt the matter wasn't as simple as cutting losses and increasing gains. What was the importance of the match? It was a means to create his own brand. But that wasn't even the true cause of his worries at this point.

'If I don't do this, it would be all over.,' Colt whispered to himself.

***

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