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?

time passed, Mervin returned with a

young man, or

couldn't be older than

boy, he felt

at judging his opponent. The slight feeling of threat he felt meant that the other side was capable of injuring him, but

wasn't a real

a Pest Cat had the capabilities to

looked at Shang with burning

the

prove his worth

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

you can fight over there," Soran said as he gestured to the empty

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

walked over to one end of the hall as he looked

a one-handed sword focused on a mixture of speed and power. It wasn't as thin as a rapier,

Clk!

be heard from Shang, but none of the present people could see

weapon hidden made it

can start whenever you want. This fight is

BANG!

with a lot of power reverberated throughout the hall, interrupting

to suddenly attack, and

he didn't know from which direction Shang would

sword was still hidden

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

but he had already known that would

more about how to wield a

the sword swing down. Shang put all his power into his

BANG!

each other,

SHING!

ground. Shang 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 sword, leaving

wasn't blown back since he had let go of the source

took a lot

of balance

BANG!

into his opponent's torso, taking the air

on top of him. Then, Shang moved around his opponent's body with practiced

CRK!

"AAAHHH!"