''Hmph.'' Len snorted and put the bo-staff into a thrusting stance, ready to end this sparring match with one swift attack.
''Go, Senior Brother Len!'' The young boys and girls around the bonfire cheered loudly, while the ones who were still higher in ranking compared to Len watched in silence.
Grandmaster Fang and Abyss sat next to each other and looked at the match with concentrated gazes.
Ichiro grabbed the staff tighter and made the first move in the match. He did a simple step forwards with his left foot while his right foot was still firmly touching the ground.
Len examined his fighting stance and didn't see anything special.
'Martial Arts of Arya, huh... Let's see...' Len changed the grip on his staff, his previous thrusting stance changed, till it became slashing stance with the staff's tip pointing towards the dark sky.
''Haahhh...'' Len closed his eyes, and soon, he reopened them with a vicious look on his dark brown eyes, ''Battle Style, First Move of Slashing!''
*SWOOSH*
He did a simple-looking downward slash, but the strength the bo-staff was erupting was far from simple.
Abyss shook his head, ''Not sharp enough.''
''Young Len is still young; he has time to grow,'' Fang said and looked towards Ichiro, curious about how he will handle the attack.
Ichiro grabbed the bo-staff from both of its ends and put it above him.
*BAM!*
Len's attack struck the bo-staff, and everyone expected Ichiro to get heavily injured after trying to block so recklessly.
But, their eyes soon widened in shock after Ichiro's condition was revealed.
His muscles slightly bulged as he was still holding the bo-staff, but his face didn't show any signs of struggle.
Len didn't look impressed; he was disappointed, ''Foolish choice, if I was using a melee weapon, I would have killed you with ease.''
But, those words made Ichiro chuckle, which caused Len to frown.
''Don't lecture me.'' Ichiro chuckled and pushed Len's bo-staff away with ease, ''I blocked like this because you were using bo-staff and not melee weapon; why do I need to fight like you are using a melee weapon when you aren't.'' He swung the bo-staff around him and pointed it towards Len, ''So, don't lecture me and especially... Don't act like you are a master when you are far from it.''
Len gritted his teeth, ''Fool, if you don't want my advice, don't blame me when one day you will die because you didn't listen to me!''
Ichiro almost bursted into laughter, but then Len lunged forwards, and with anger filling his face, he swung the bo-staff straight towards his shinbone.
Ichiro raised his leg and was about to unleash his kick, but then he remembered.
'I have to learn True Iron Style... I need to abandon my previous style...' He stopped his kick and slammed the bo-staff on the ground, which blocked Len's attack.
Two bo-staffs collided, and neither one of them won.
Abyss frowned at the sight, 'He was about to use a kick, and he should have had enough strength to kick the bo-staff away... Why didn't he do it?'
Grandmaster Fang also saw the strange scene.
''Grr...'' Len's muscles bulged as he tried to push Ichiro's bo-staff away, but without any success.
''What is your advice now? Oh, great Grandmaster Len?'' Ichiro said with sarcasm, which earned a glare from Len.
''Don't be arrogant, that is my advice!'' Len leaped on the air and swung his bo-staff suddenly towards Ichiro's neck.
His attack came out of nowhere; at first, he was still trying to push Ichiro's bo-staff away, but next, he jumped to the air and did an insanely quick swing of his bo-staff.
Masters around the bonfire nodded at the sight. It was extremely well executed.
A small smirk appeared on Len's face as the bo-staff approached Ichiro's neck, and it looked like the black-haired young man wasn't prepared for it.
Indeed, Ichiro wasn't prepared for it. That attack was very quick, something he hadn't seen before... Or, not exactly true.
'It was like Iron Burst... But, instead of moving forwards, he jumped up...' Ichiro had to admit that the technique Len used was very good.
He had a dozen ways to block the attack, but those were all part of his old Iron Style, and if he wants to abandon that path, he has to stop using those techniques.
'I will regret this...' Ichiro gulped and decided to use the defensive technique of True Iron Style!
[True Iron Style - Second Direction of Defense - Iron Death, Fourth move of Suicide!]
Everyone's eyes widened as the bo-staff struck Ichiro right in the neck; no one thought that Len would actually finish his attack!
''Young Len!'' Grandmaster Fang shouted and saw Len's disgusting smirk as Ichiro's head was pushed to the side at an awkward angle as a sizeable bruise appeared around the area where the bo-staff struck.
Abyss narrowed his eyes and knew that Ichiro could have blocked it with his eyes closed.
Len landed on the ground and expected to see Ichiro falling down to the ground in agony, but something he would have never expected happened.
''Damn!'' Ichiro shouted and rubbed the bruise; everyone widened their eyes at sight, because he looked like he just didn't get a hit by an attack, which could have enough strength to kill a person!
Ichiro gritted his teeth and moved his neck around, but it was very painful.
'I hate this technique so much!' Ichiro grimaced, but it did what it was supposed to do.
Only his flesh suffered from the attack, while his bones and everything important was completely safe.
''H-How?'' Len asked with disbelief as he took a step backward out of shock.
''Tsk.'' Ichiro swung the bo-staff and struck Len's stomach with the tip, which sent him flying straight towards the large mansion-like building.
*BAM*
Only a cloud of dust appeared as Len crashed through a wall and flew who knows where.
''W-What?!''
''H-How is he alive?!''
Shouts of shock and disbelief erupted.
Grandmaster Fang and the rest of Masters looked surprised and started to get very curious about this young man.
