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?

some time passed, Mervin returned with a

looked at the young

be older than

Shang saw the boy, he felt a slight

opponent. The slight feeling of threat he felt

a

all, even a Pest Cat had the

young man looked at

and the

prove his worth in front of

two will fight each other. Shang, this match won't decide if you can join our academy or not. It's simply there so we can get a better

as he gestured to the

the table's at

one end of the hall as

focused on a mixture of speed and power. It wasn't as thin as a rapier, but it also wasn't very

Clk!

none of the present people could see what Shang was

they saw that. Keeping one's weapon

you want.

BANG!

lot of power reverberated throughout the hall, interrupting Soran's

been ready for Shang to suddenly attack, and he quickly lifted his sword

didn't know from which

sword was still hidden behind his

block to a chop. In the academy, he had learned that the only option was to attack when one couldn't find a

saw the sword swing towards him, but

knew more about how to wield a

his power into his sword arm and directly

BANG!

each other,

SHING!

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

opponent put all of his power into

blown back since he had let go of the

off such a maneuver took a lot of practice,

moment, Shang's opponent was out of balance as he tried to pull his

BANG!

into his opponent's torso, taking

opponent over and fell on top of him. Then, Shang moved

CRK!

"AAAHHH!"