Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 81: Swordfight

George’s barriers worked one at a time. He couldn’t create two or more at once. What he could do was morph the single barrier at right angles to make it look like it was more barrier than just one.

His barriers stopped everything physical from entering through it. Only light, heat, and sound could pass through. Even when intangible, everything physical was still stopped.

There was only a set amount of strength his barrier could defend against at maximum. And the power reduced depending on the surface area of the barrier, and the number of times a barrier was used.

He could also never made barriers that wasn’t facing him, so there was no point in trying to create a barrier in a way that it was used as an attack, rather than to defend oneself.

If he had tried to capture Stanley in his barrier just now, he could be in trouble as the house was on fire. The shrinking of size took a long time, so he would’ve died before Stanley had any problems.

Instead, he chose to encase himself in the box-shaped barrier he made and taunted Stanley so he wouldn’t try to break through the weak barrier that was around them.

As long as he stayed inside, he had a chance

Stanley was properly taunted. He wasn’t even considering the fact that he could run away from here. He was already angry that this man had tried to kill his brother, and now he was trying ot kill him.

All for the chance at being the next mayor.

Stanley attacked first, his longsword gleaming orange in the fire’s light. He swung down his sword in a powerful arc, looking to destroy George in one single swing.

George understood that a direct clash was deadly for him, so he instead fought closely, redirecting the blade instead of outright stopping it. He used both blade on his hand to push the long blade to the side, before using the closest blade to slice at Stanley.

Stanley moved his upper body back, the blade moving between his chin and his chest. He kicked the blade away, while flipping back and landing with his longsword in a graceful manner.

He jumped back with a low sweep, his sword aiming at the ankles. George retaliated by jumping and slamming both swords down where Stanley was.

Stanley moved out of the way of one, and used his arm to push one away using its flat side.

George didn’t stop. He threw a flurry of slashes that seemed to move around Stanley in a manner that screamed highly practice. His attacks looked more like the man was dancing than anything.

Stanley took two shallow cuts around his upper right bicep and lower left thigh before he got a hit in as well.

A stab with his longsword gave a wound to George’s left bicep.

As the fight progressed, Stanley understood that there was a problem. No matter how strong he was, no matter how trained, George was better.

George was forged in true life and death battle against many Crawlers. He was used to fighting opponents that were large and strong, and he was used to fighting opponents that were also small and strong.

Physical enhancement wasn’t that big of a deal in the end, anyway. Many people had that skill, so George was used to it. In fact, the fact that Stanley was even alive right now, despite the prolonged fight only went to show that he had quite the talent as well.

There was also the fact that he was constantly being bombarded with feelings that he couldn’t make sense of in the moment. These feelings were different from the ones that just brought him panic.

This time, they gave him the answer as to what they were warning about. However, trying to understand that in the midst of battle was asking too much of him when he was facing life and death right now.

He understood that it would help him survive, but a vague feeling of getting cut wasn’t going to help him right now. He needed something more distinct and he didn’t have time to analyze his feelings and find out.

Stanley jumped back into the fight, attacking harder and faster to not let the man hurt him back.

The outside world was a mix of smoke and fire as nothing entered the room, aside from just light and heat. They had no idea who was doing what as they continued fighting against each of other.

As they continued attacking each other, wounding even more, George noticed something happening that he he could take advantage of in the right circumstances. He just needed to drag the fight a little longer.

He continued fighting, his body getting weaker, his sword chipped at many places. It all got worse as he fought and in the end, he made a mistake.

His swing was a little too slow, allowing Stanley to dodge and attack him. George realized he could not dodge at all, and instead used his sword to defend himself.

His sword bent at an impossible angle when Stanley struck it with a heavy force and the side of the sword still cut him across his chest, albeit not deep enough to kill him right then and there.

However, with how much he bled from that wound, if he didn’t close the wound immediately, he was going to bleed out in just a few minutes and die.

"You..." George spoke with a blank look on his face that struggled to understand what had just happened.

His eyes wandered looking everywhere, and then he noticed the thing he had been keeping an eye on. This was his one and only change.

He coughed up a bit of blood and stared at Stanley with a bloody grin. "I don’t plan on dying alone," he said and dropped the sword before reaching out with his left hand.

Stanley got ready to attack and just then, he got a danger warning once more. As he tried to understand it, George did something of his own.

He snapped his fingers.