Both of us moved at the same time.
With a sudden burst, I lunged forward, my sword slashing through the air. Because it was just the beginning, I went a little easy and didn't use all of my strength.
Still, I was still way stronger than Grand Marshal Garland and was equal to a Level 95 individual with my current controlled strength.
Surprisingly, Cleric reacted swiftly. His movement was precise as he parried my initial strike. The clash of our blades sent sparks flying and a shockwave that shook the surrounding leaves.
"Oh?" I raised an amazed voice. "You're strong."
Cleric didn't say anything. He gritted his teeth as he tried to find a way to deflect my sword. After noticing that he could use my strength, he tilted his sword slightly and used his small body to go under.
"You're not bad too. But too inexperienced!" Cleric shouted as he thrust his sword forward.
His attack was fast. A normal person couldn't avoid this thrust and would have their head pierced.
However, I was far from what people called normal. A shift occurred, and I jumped back to avoid his strike.
A simple jump brought me a few meters away from him, surprising the old human who introduced himself as the first Paladin's older brother.
His eyes widened as he looked around, "What?"
"Over here."
I whispered from behind and sent another slash. He twisted his body and blocked my attack, creating another spark and shockwave through the area. The clanging of the metals rang loudly. The earth shook as we rapidly exchanged strikes with one another.
I had to admit that he was probably the strongest person I had ever fought in this world. Even when I used the same amount of strength to decimate the Assassin's Den, he was able to block my attacks.
Alas, Cleric wasn't an overpowered jerk like me. His body was riddled with wounds from the wind blades and spark created from our clash.
The clearing transformed into a battleground. We moved around and kept trying to get into each other's defense. Trees were swaying from the shockwave of our clashes.
A smile began to creep into Cleric's face. It was that of satisfaction from finding an opponent of his level after reaching the pinnacle. He had forgotten about the bet from this fight and only did it for himself.
"Hahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Both of us were laughing. We didn't use any skills yet and used pure <Swordsmanship> in this duel. The destruction we caused by our clash was not a joke, however…
"<Heavy Slash!>" Cleric shouted loudly, bringing his sword down above his head.
The blade was covered in a blue light, activating the skill that increased the attack power by twice. I parried the downward swing.
Clang!
A bigger spark sent flying toward the nearby trees, making it catch on fire. But water quickly splashed on it, extinguishing the fire. Alesia had made sure that nothing hindered our fight.
"You're using a skill now? Fine!" I brought my sword back and thrust it forward. "<Pierce!>"
A single light. That was what was left of my sword as it went over Cleric's chest.
Still, as a seasoned fighter, I had no doubt he would be able to dodge this.
"<Blink>."
Just as expected, he still had that skill in his pocket and disappeared. I felt a chill from my right and, following my intuition, quickly raised my sword.
Clang!
Cleric's sword met mine. I was able to block his surprise attack. But it seemed like he had already expected it from the grin on his face.
"<Body Enhancement>, <Sharp Edge>, <Razor>, <Sword Edge>." He began to chant buff, and his body was covered in light. His blade hummed, shining a blue light as the effect of the buff activated.
Then….
"<Whirlwind!>"
His blade moved fast and created a fury of wind blades.
From my experience, I knew that this attack was undodgeable, as the attack was random and unpredictable.
<Whirlwind> was an area attack. Using it in an individual fight like this was cheating.
That was if the opponent set any rule beforehand. We didn't do that as we both were confident to win.
Being undodgeable didn't mean this attack was a sure hit.
I decided this was time to show my true strength.
With a grin on my face, I brought my sword back and swung it upward while activating a skill, "<Mountain Cleaver>."
A gust of wind clashed against the wind blades, followed by a large amount of dirt from the force of my swing, creating a large brown tsunami.
Leaves and dirt flew from a single swing. The very ground trembled beneath us.
This attack was enough to block both <Whirlwind> and Cleric's vision. I immediately used <Blink> to appear behind him.
He was still surprised with my way of dealing with his attack and didn't notice me. Only when I swung my sword did he manage to reach, but that was too late.
"Gah!"
My sword met his in a bad position, launching him back like a bullet. He hit the dirt tsunami and passed through it, rolling around the ground a few times before finally stopping.
Blood trickled down his open wound, and his figure was now dirty and covered in dirt. His eyes, however, still looked like a lion who didn't have enough of this fight.
"Come at me, Mr. Cleric!"
"Ah, sure!" He replied as he rushed forward and delivered a sharp strike. "Call me father-in-law!"
Clash!
Our swords met once again, locked in place as we tried to push each other. It seemed like he had recognized me and accepted me.
Our fight now was just to have fun, so we didn't use any more skill and only relied on pure swordsmanship. I tried to match his strength but didn't to the extreme to the point that I would disrespect him.
Exhaustion seemed to catch up to Cleric after a few exchanges. His strikes became a bit desperate; his movements were less fluid as he tried to deflect my relentless onslaught. He parried my attacks with all his might, but I was still keeping my calm pace.
Trees around us began to topple from the sheer force of our battle. The ground gouged out, and the clearing changed shape.
Finally, with the last resounding clash, I broke his sword. The tip was sent flying, landing with a metallic clang some distance away.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment as Cleric realized what had just happened.
"I assume this is my win," I grinned, lowering my sword down.
"Yes."
Cleric heaved a sigh filled with exhaustion and satisfaction—a hint of admiration and surprise hidden beneath his eyes.
"I have to admit, I underestimated you before. But it seems that you've not gone all out yet. I used <Body Reinforcement> while you just fought purely with your status. What a monster… Of course, that's a compliment." He laughed as he lowered his broken sword.
"I understand that." I nodded and put my sword away in my inventory. "But you are quite strong, Mr. Cleric. I assume you have reached Lv 9 <Swordsmanship>?"
"That's right. Seeing you able to overpower me even with that, have you reached Max Lv in <Swordsmanship>? That's impressive." The broken sword in his hand disappeared as the air distorted slightly. "Also, call me father-in-law. I have acknowledged you."
'Sorry, but that's a bit…' I answered in my mind as I smiled wryly.
Should I tell him that I didn't marry or get engaged to Milea and that she was just some kind of my lover now?
I meant it wasn't wrong that he assumed I was getting married to his daughter when Alesia mentioned domination stuff.
And if I remember correctly…
'I don't tell him that I have two fiancees yet.'
His strength could be of use to protect the world from the monster and different factors. I didn't know whether he could use <Time Magic> or not because he didn't show it earlier, but I guessed he couldn't use it at all and only use <Space Magic>.
Then his appearance was probably kept by a magic item or something of the short.
Anyway… Yeah, telling him right away would be the best.
"Umm, Mr. Cleric. Actually, I am not getting married or something to Milea."
"I know." He answered with a nod. "Alesia said she became a nun, no? Then it's impossible for her to marry the Paladin. In the past, I saw many nuns chasing after my impotent brother without realizing he had no interest in women. I just said to call me father-in-law because I wanted to be called that."
This man… Did he hate his brother?
Or rather, the first Paladin was impotent? That was why there was no Paladin successor or something along that line.
That was new for me and was surprising information. At the same time, it was also good news because that meant Juriel was still a virgin!
Anyway, I didn't need to do anything else because he knew my position and was understanding.
"Then… Father-in-law…" I called out. It felt a little bit strange, but I would get used to it soon.
"Yeah?" Cleric answered, smiling like a fool.
"I hate to break it to you, but…" I looked around at the destroyed surroundings and asked, "What should we do with this."
"Oh…" He raised his voice, realizing that we caused a destruction that was equivalent to a disaster from our fight. "I have no magic to fix the ground or the tree."
"Neither do I."
We looked at each other before nodding in understanding. We slowly looked at a female elf in the distance wearing a rather erotic dress. She noticed our gazes and sighed in exasperation.
"Fine… I will fix the surroundings for you." Alesia exclaimed as she took out her staff from her bag enhanced with <Space Magic> to enlarge the space.
Both me and I laughed at the headmistress's comment and fist-bumped. I think I have made my first real friend and father-in-law in this world.
Fight truly connected two people together.
