Nameless King

Gisle was not the fearful type, for he was sure he would not tremble even in the face of a dragon, but even so, Wain's icy eyes with his words made him wary as something serious was looming.

"Tsk." Gisle spat out a clot of blood as he looked at Wain with a frown, "What the hell are you going to do? If you want to help better, tell me your story with Gladius first, that way I'll probably understand a lot more."

Wain remained silent until he thrust his sword into the ground, folded his hands on the hilt, and said, "What are you talking about? You wounded me ten times, so I will surely keep my word, however, no one said anything about the fight being over after that, did they?"

Gisle wanted to object, but as soon as he opened his mouth his eyes went wide as he realized that Wain was right.

'What...? Did he trick me? How is that possible...? This hasn't happened to me in a long time... Fuck, he took advantage of the fact that this is a friendly fight, however, now he seems to be serious.' Gisle bit his lip, realizing his mistake.

"Agh..." Wain sighed as he shook his head as if making an important decision, "There are actually other ways to help you get close to your weapon, but here you and I are similar."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Gisle gave him a puzzled look.

Wain pulled his sword from the ground and stepped forward, "I, like you, prefer to choose the most effective options without regard to such components as morale, or in your case the amount of pain you're about to experience. Don't worry, you won't have to sew your hands back on, but that's the most I can promise."

Whoooooooooosh.

At the same moment, Wain swung his sword, turning it into a black flash. It happened too fast for Gisle to react as a moment later his face creased in pain and a torrent of blood gushed from his chest from a deep horizontal cut.

'What the fuck!' Gisle inwardly exclaimed quickly coming to his senses and jumping back, 'I've got to stop him somehow or this will go on forever!

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

He released a large amount of energy as the wind currents completely covered him, protecting him from possible attacks. In response, Wain just shook his head with a slight sigh as if he was disappointed.

"I guess you still don't get it. Well, I'll have to spill more blood before you start paying attention to your weapons." Wain said calmly before rushing forward.

He reached Gisle with lightning speed, once again attacking. Gisle was ready for it, so he created a protective wind barrier, but Wain's sword cut through it with ease, thrusting toward Gisle's chest.

'What? It worked last time! He should have been thrown aside!' Gisle internally exclaimed with wide eyes as he held his katana out in front of him, defending himself.

A clang.

The weapons clashed as bright sparks appeared whose brilliance was reflected in Gisle's tense gaze as a slight smile appeared on Wain's face.

"Fine, you took the first step, but it's still not enough." Wain smirked, stepped forward, and turned his back on Gisle. He turned his sword and struck Gisle in the stomach with the hilt, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood, then Wain kicked in the same spot, throwing Gisle aside.

Gisle was in terrible pain, but it wasn't the first time he'd been in such a dangerous situation, so he reacted quickly and thrust his katana into the ground, thus stopping.

"Stop using your wind. Stop relying on energy. How the hell do you want to awaken the consciousness in your weapon if you're paying so much more attention to your energy?" Wain uttered with a shrug as if he were saying the obvious.

"Awaken consciousness in a weapon...?" Gisle whispered in disbelief with a dazed look, "What? Is that possible? Only weapons that have become masterpieces by master smiths have consciousness! It certainly is!"

"Hah, how stupid you are after all." Wain smirked, shaking his head mockingly, "I already told you that Gladius wasn't always like this, my sword couldn't always cut even a god, it's the result of our hard work together."

Gisle was puzzled as he did not understand what Wain was talking about, since he had never heard of such a thing, "But you are not a smith...? How could you improve your sword? Can it be done to all items?"

Wain shook his head, "Only with your weapon. My energy with Gladius is almost identical as if our souls were twins, only the power is different. However, it doesn't take years to awaken consciousness, in fact, it can be done in ten seconds."

"Ten seconds...?" Gisle's eyes went wide as a shiver went through his body, "You're kidding, right? I didn't even know it was possible to awaken consciousness in a weapon until now, but now you're saying it can be done so quickly... That's complete nonsense!"

"Not at all." Wain's mouth corners curved to form a sly smirk, "Before we continue, I'll give you one piece of advice. Stop using energy and try to defeat me with just your strength and your katana, the sooner you realize that the less pain you'll have to experience."

"Wait...!" Gisle exclaimed as he wanted to ask some questions, but Wain wasn't going to wait since he was already attacking.

Whoooooooooooosh.

Wain started swinging his sword rapidly, unleashing many attacks on his opponent. Gisle tried to block the attacks with his katana, but gradually more and more wounds appeared on his body since he could hardly stand on his feet.

'Shit! Shit! Shit! If this keeps up, I'll just pass out from bleeding! I have to use the energy, but... should I...?' Gisle pondered as he was momentarily distracted and immediately received a powerful blow to his chest that threw him backward.

Wain continued pacing forward about to continue until suddenly he stopped as his eyes went wide.

'Well, well, Gisle, you are smarter than the others after all.' Wain smirked as he looked at Gisle lying on the ground, clutching his katana tightly.