Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang nodded. He had waited for this examination for way too long.

Soran answered with a nod of his own and turned towards Mervin. "Mervin, you're the sword instructor. Could you get us a fitting opponent for Shang? You know how examinations work."

Mervin nodded and wanted to stand up but stopped. "Shang? That's his name?" he asked.

"That's at least what he wrote onto the form," Soran said as he waved one of the forms around.

Mervin shot a weird glance at Shang.

"Weird name, kid," he said before leaving.

Viera only snorted, showing that she didn't like what Mervin had just said.

Soran only awkwardly looked at Shang. "You have to excuse Mervin. He's an old but very capable teacher. As you might have noticed, he always speaks his mind."

"No, he's right," Shang said. "Shang is a weird name."

Soran's face transformed into a representation of confusion.

That was not the answer he had expected.

"Well, alright then. As long as you don't take what Mervin said personally," Soran said.

"How is it not personal?" Shang asked. "He literally commented on my name. It doesn't really get any more personal."

Soran moved his hands forward like he wanted to stop an expensive vase from falling to the ground. "That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant," Shang said.

Soran pulled back again as he looked at Shang with a slightly frustrated expression. "Then why didn't you say so?" he asked with forced politeness.

"Why didn't you word it correctly?" Shang answered.

"You," Soran said as his hands very lightly indicated that he wanted to strangle Shang. Then, he took a deep breath to calm down. "Fine. It's fine. The situation's resolved," he said.

Shang didn't answer anymore.

On the side, Viera shot a strange look at Shang.

This kid wasn't like most other kids.

Was something wrong with him?

passed, Mervin returned

looked at the young man, or more

couldn't be older

saw the boy, he felt a

now, Shang was very good at judging his opponent. The slight feeling of threat he felt meant that the other

a real

all, even a Pest Cat

at Shang with burning

and the

prove his worth in front

match," Soran explained. "You two will fight each other. Shang, this match won't decide if you can

said as he gestured to

that's why the table's at the side,'

one end of the hall as he looked at

of speed and power. It wasn't as thin as a

Clk!

present people could see what Shang was doing. His sword had been hidden beneath his cloak the

when they saw that. Keeping one's weapon hidden made it harder for the opponent

can start whenever you want. This fight is

BANG!

jumping forward with a lot of power reverberated throughout the hall, interrupting Soran's

Shang to suddenly attack, and he quickly lifted

he didn't know from which direction

still hidden

Shang approached, his opponent quickly changed his block to a chop. In the academy, he had learned that the only option was to

towards him, but he had already

wield a sword than him. So, entering a sword battle with

sword swing down. Shang put all his power into

BANG!

two swords hit each other, creating sparks as they

SHING!

had blocked a chop coming from above, but instead of pulling his sword back into a combat-stance, Shang let go of his

power into recovering his

Shang wasn't blown back since he had let

off such a maneuver took a lot of practice, but Shang

out of balance as he tried to pull

BANG!

his opponent's torso, taking the air

opponent over and fell on top of him. Then,

CRK!

"AAAHHH!"