To the onlooker, the Prince, as Nicoli was sure that everyone else up there was dead or dying, the speed at which the fighters moved was no doubt impressive. While Guardian was clearly a man on the mission, and was the aggressor in this case, Nicoli was merely fighting to keep his ground, he wasn’t ready to commit to the sort of assault that his opponent was. He wanted to have his fun first.

He felt the weapon in his left hand , his short sword,  get locked up with the dagger in his opponents right, effectively neutralizing them both for the moment. Since Nicoli had used his long sword to deflect the attack inward, in a hope to slash it that had been foiled, his opponent had to bring the weapon back to attack his right leg, that moment gave the assassin time to step back, leaving his left foot as the lead leg now.

His right arm would come back and then thrust out, the long sword aimed at Guardians gut. At the same time he would twist the wrist of his left hand to disengage the small barbs from his opponent’s weapon and retract it close to his body as a defensive measure. He wanted to know what this man was capable of. There were legends of the Guardian, and Nicoli was a man to test legends, to pit his own against the best, and so far he was still alive to tell the tale. His opponents were not.