Three short-handled blades flew towards Arthur.

Taking advantage of Arthur's dodging efforts, Bertrand turned defense into attack, his steps were raised and approached instantly, his arm slammed forward like an outstretched branch, and the blade of the foil, which was almost integrated with his arm, was already close to Arthur's throat.

However, just like all Fioreliu swordsmen would do, at the moment of life and death, Arthur almost subconsciously grabbed Bertran's slender foil with his hand, and his white gloves were instantly opened by the blade, revealing the iron chain buttons hidden under the gloves.

It was the cut-resistant chainmail gloves that he had specially ordered for today's duel, combined with Fioreliu's unique trembling wrestling technique, which was the best way to deal with the French foil, which was known for its stabbing strikes.

Arthur clutched the blade of his sword to restrict Bertran's movement, and in the blink of an eye, the triangular step was raised sideways, and the blade of the sword, which had turned from a long tail to a bull position, slashed horizontally with a thunderous momentum with the sound of a whistling wind, as if the sword was about to make Bertrand's head go out of place.

Bertrand's reaction was not slow, he jerked his left arm out of his cloak and placed it at his side, only to hear a crunch thud, and even the mist that filled the two of them trembled.

Bertrand grinned, "Is that all there is to it?" ”

The audience exclaimed, "Is Bertran's arm made of iron?" How did he take the blow? ”

"No, look at his arm, what is that?"

In the eyes of the audience, Bertran's left hand was equipped with a shield connected to the plate glove, and a long thorn attached to the tail finger of the glove that could be used as a dagger.

Even the well-informed Duke of Wellington and Talleyrand could not help but wonder when they saw Bertrand's new weapon.

"That shield looks so weird!"

"I think I've seen something similar to this shield somewhere, and if I'm not mistaken, it's in the Duke of Somerset's collection, but it's from the 17th century, and Bertrand probably has a lot of years to do with it."

William IV asked Brother Angelo, a sword fighting expert beside him, "What is this?" ”

Big Angelo replied with a smile: "Your Majesty, we are feasting our eyes today." I thought it was just an ordinary duel, but now it seemed that Bertrand and Mr. Hastings were more like a show of what they had learned all their lives than a duel. First, the Fiore Stream Swordsman took out the Richter's Stream Sword Technique to meet the enemy, and now the Foil Master took out the Lantern Shield in response. ”

"Lantern Shield?" William IV wondered, "Why is it called the Lantern Shield?" I don't think it looks like a lantern! ”

Little Angelo shook his head slightly with a calm face and said, "Your Majesty, you will know that this is a rather shady weapon. If Mr. Hastings doesn't handle it well, the winner will be decided in the next round. ”

As soon as little Angelo finished speaking, he saw Bertrand jerk his left arm sideways and turn the shield towards Arthur, and in an instant, a small hole suddenly appeared above the shield, and the dazzling light radiated from the small hole and shone directly on Arthur's face.

The dim environment of the dueling stage suddenly lit up, and the sudden increase in brightness illuminated Arthur in a trance, and in his vision, only a piece of light remained, and he could not see the stage and the audience, let alone find any trace of Bertran.

However, the victory or defeat of the duel was only in an instant, and Arthur's moment of trance was a great opportunity for Bertrand to attack, and the Parisian Sword Master did not hesitate to let go of the hilt of the foil that Arthur was holding, and inserted his right hand into his arms to take out the dagger that had been prepared in the morning, and approached Arthur's side between breaths, and he planned to plunge the dagger as sharp as a nail directly into Arthur's skull.

Bertrand raised an eyebrow and smiled contemptuously, "It's almost over." ”

Seeing this, the men scolded angrily: "Insidious! Vile! ”

The ladies covered their eyes with handkerchiefs, for fear of seeing some horrific scene of blood shooting.

However, the scene they expected didn't play out, perhaps because they heard the crowd's reminder that Bertrand felt like something was kicking him in the lower part of the stomach as the corners of his mouth rose to finish the match.

Bang of the bell!

Everyone saw that Bertran's whole person seemed to be a short distance upward, and his expression that was still smiling suddenly changed, his face began to turn blue and purple, his mouth was half-open but breathless, and beads of sweat dripped down his cheeks one by one.

"I ...... You ......"

Even in the noisy environment of the theater, Bertran's hissing and small inhalations were still clear.

His hand holding the dagger was as soft as a puddle of mud, and his fingertips trembled, and the dagger fell to the ground with a clatter.

The seven-foot-tall Swordmaster of Paris curled up in pain with his abdomen clutched, inhaling and muttering intermittently, "You...... I...... Didn't we say it...... Don't you need to be that hard? ”

And Arthur, who made the key interception, was no better, he half-squatted on the ground with his feet covered, and responded slightly apologetically: "Excuse me, Mr. Bertrand, I may have reacted a little too much. But on the bright side, at least the audience was happy to watch it. ”

The audience erupted in thunderous cheers, the ladies blushed, and the men laughed wickedly and whistled Bertrand to get up.

William IV and other important guests all turned their heads to look at the Angelo brothers beside them.

However, what people didn't expect was that the two battle-hardened swordsmanship masters were not surprised by this scene.

Little Angelo smiled and explained, "As you can see, Your Majesty, this is the importance of wearing a crotch guard in a duel. ”

Lionel duly inquired about the opinions of the two experts, "What do you think of the quality of this duel?" ”

Big Angelo pinched his chin and nodded slightly: "I have to say, they fought quite classically, and the duel was more intense than I imagined." Although I can't see all of their footwork because of the smoke on stage, for now, they are recreating some of the daily lives of medieval and Renaissance juggernators. The only downside may be that they play a little too complicated. ”

In the box on the other side, Alexandre Dumas laughed and punched the air: "Fuck, I'll just say Arthur can handle it!" ”

Disraeli subconsciously tugged at his pants, and he only felt a phantom pain in his lower limbs: "This kick is too hard, I feel that Bertran's whole person is about to fly into the sky." ”

Dickens looked at Tennyson beside him with a strange expression: "Alfred, didn't you just say that you wanted to write a poem?" What about words? ”

Tennyson, who had just felt a little something, was also a little speechless by this scene, he looked at Bertrand on the stage, who seemed to be about to faint at any moment, and just shook his head.

Heine on the side rolled his eyes when he saw this: "What's so difficult about this?" Look at mine. ”

He cleared his throat and uninvited chanted, "Ah! O dearest people! Can you tell me? Why are roses so pale? Why do the crisp violets wither in the flowers? Why do the sparrows in the clouds sing so sadly? Why do the loveliest buds exude the smell of death? Why am I getting more and more emaciated? Yes! O my dear one! Why did you leave me? ”

When everyone heard this, they were shocked and couldn't help but be in awe of Heine.

Tennyson, who is also a poet, was stunned for a long time before commenting: "This ...... It's a miracle that turns decay into magic. ”

Alexandre Dumas grabbed Heine's hands: "Heinrich, did you write this poem now, or did you prepare it early in the morning?" ”

Heine shrugged his shoulders and said, "I wrote it before, and this was supposed to be a love poem. But I think it's also quite appropriate to use it in this place, at least to explain why the heroine left me. Of course, that's not what I was trying to say. I mean, I don't have a problem with that, Mr. Bertrand is a special case. ”

And taking advantage of everyone's comments, Arthur and Bertrand on the dueling table also eased up.

The two protagonists get up from the ground, and Bertrand looks at the foil lying on the ground, and he is about to pick it up, but sees Arthur holding the hilt of the longsword and throwing it directly at him with a javelin throwing position.

As a master of the Sword Master-level, Bertrand naturally had been guarding against this move for a long time, and all sword fighting masters knew that there was such a 'Flying Immortal' with a killing range of more than ten meters hidden in the Fiore Stream.

Bertrand rolled around to avoid the English dagger that was large enough to pierce three adults, only to hear a thud that slammed into the mahogany closet under the stage behind Bertrand like a bolt of lightning.

It was only then that the audience discovered this inconspicuous cabinet placed under the stage.

Before they could guess what the cabinet was for, Bertrand had already flipped off the dueling table and slammed open the closet.

Immediately afterward, he saw an extra flail meteor hammer in his hand.

Just as he was about to go on stage to continue the battle, he found that Arthur on the west side of the stage had also pulled out two dual-wielding miner pickaxes from his weapons cabinet and was about to take the stage menacingly.

"Huh?!"

Seeing this, Bertrand, who was sweating profusely, hurriedly threw the meteor hammer aside, and took out Tarhoff's two-handed greatsword from the weapon cabinet.

And Arthur saw him change his weapon, and threw the miner's pickaxe in his hand, and turned out the 70-inch demon trident that he was most proud of.

A drenched Bertrand hurriedly tossed the Talhof greatsword aside, and before the crowd could boo their displeasure with the two fighters' armaments, he chose his axe gun at the bottom of the box as the final weapon.

But when he picked up the axe and rushed back to the stage, Bertrand found that a fog had risen on the stage at some point, and a large amount of liquid carbon dioxide was frantically absorbing the heat in the air, and the stage of the entire Astrid Theater had dropped a few degrees.

The gentlemen tightened their blouses, and the ladies put on their shawls that had just been taken off because of the heat.

As for Bertrand on the dueling ring, the sweat on his gloves and clothes had all solidified and turned into a thin layer of hoarfrost.

In the light of the torch, his whole body shimmered, and he looked like he was wearing armor embellished with diamond chips.

Arthur, who had just appeared with a 70-inch trident, was nowhere to be seen, and by the time Bertrand turned to get his weapon, he had already hidden himself in the fog.

Bertrand looked around the stage, and he didn't dare to act rashly. The sheer size of the axe gun gives him an advantage in attack range, but it also limits his movement. In such a moment when it is impossible to judge the opponent's position, taking the initiative is tantamount to exposing one's vulnerable parts to the opponent.

Just as Bertrand was caught in a psychological self-game, a thunderbolt of lightning erupted on the edge of the stage.

On the nine iron pillars that surrounded the dueling platform, lightning roared down, like nine poisonous snakes that curled up and attacked quickly.

Blue-purple lightning whistled by, lighting up the dim dueling arena again, and Bertrand jerked back, a black shadow with a sword in the thick fog, and the guy was already close to the limit.

"What are you looking for, Mr. Bertrand?"

With a kick of Arthur's toe, Guy Fawkes' mask burst through the mist, and instead of Bertrand's envisioned demon trident, it was a British saber with a cold edge, or more accurately, a Scottish Yard officer's command knife with an intricately patterned gauntlet and a Wigginsonian blade.

Not a special weapon, on the contrary, it was Arthur's most common conventional weapon.

Bertrand didn't have time to change frames, so he had to let go of his left hand holding the axe, hold the axe in his right hand, and raise the lantern shield in his left arm to try to take the blow again, and almost at the same time, he repeated his trick to open the hole in the shield and release the light to disrupt Arthur's next attack.

But this time it was clear that he couldn't succeed again, and Arthur was just as quick to change steps.

A simple backward leap staggered the direction of the light, and Arthur stepped on the hilt of his axe and spear, just as he had stepped on the gangplank between the two ships a year earlier to kill the Barbary pirates, and his feet sped along the handle.

The weight of the axe and spear, combined with the weight of a grown man, made it impossible for Bertrand to lift it, and the Parisian Juggernaut decisively abandoned his weapon once more, and simply met the enemy with his deputy's lantern shield.

The sword light was staggered, and the fist spurs on the gloves connected to the lantern shield plate armor collided with the police officer's knife several times between breaths, and there were several crashing sounds, and the audience could even vaguely see a few sparks burst out of the sword blade and fall into the mist that was enough to drown the lower half of the two of them.

Arthur slashed horizontally, Bertran's right breastplate suddenly opened a few holes, Bertran's fist pierced, and Arthur's Guy Fawkes mask also instantly opened a few cracks.

When the Angelo brothers in the box saw this, they couldn't help but have a look of surprise on their faces, and the words that they wanted to complain about just now were swallowed back into their stomachs.

The Duke of Wellington picked up his glass and nodded slightly: "I can understand these moves, this is the standard swordsmanship in the army." Typical of Scotland Yard's broadsword, the soldiers of the 42nd Regiment played a major role in the Battle of Four Arms Village with this highland broadsword, and this group of Scottish men met the enemy with fearless courage and repelled Ney's onslaught, thus consolidating the flank of Marshal Blücher of Prussia. Had it not been for them and the outnumbered Prince of Orange, who commanded the Battle of Four Arms, we would never have been able to wait for Prussian reinforcements at Waterloo. At this point, Mr. Angelo, I have to thank you, you are also one of the heroes of Waterloo. ”

Big Angelo was flattered when he heard this, and he touched Wellington with his wine glass and said, "Your Excellency, you are really too famous. It has also been a privilege to be in charge of directing the training of the Black Guards, and I am glad that what I have done has really helped Britain and you. ”

When William IV heard this, he smiled and asked, "Then as far as you can see, how much of the essence of Scottish Highland broadsword has been obtained?" ”

Big Angelo glanced at Arthur, who seemed to be in a bitter battle under the stage, and it was difficult to say it directly, after all, this young man was using his highland broadsword skills to fight, and saying that he couldn't do it was tantamount to slapping himself in the face?

Angelo, who is not good at verbal expression, pondered for a long time, and finally chose to throw this problem to his younger brother: "It is absolutely impossible to summarize Mr. Hastings's sword moves with highland broadsword skills, as you can see, he is not only a master of Fiore, but also knows the German Richtenar, and I also see a little bit of the charm of the Royal Navy sailor's knife from his steps just now." It is well known that the standard exercises and training materials for the sailor knives of the Royal Navy, "Infantry Swordsmanship Practice", were the responsibility of my younger brother, who clearly had more say in this regard than I did. ”

Faced with his brother's behavior of dragging the Royal Navy sailor he created into the water, little Angelo could only curse in his heart for being obscene, but he still kept a smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, when it comes to duels, I think the battle is more convincing than anything else. Mr. Hastings is a master of solving problems on the high seas one-on-three and he can match Bertrand's 49-game winning streak in London...... Hehe, Your Majesty, in fact, in my personal opinion, it is really rude to use a certain fixed routine to describe such a swordsmanship master. Masters such as Fiore, George Silver, and Richtenar all had a combination of strengths and eventually developed a fighting style that suited them best.

When I was compiling the Royal Navy swordsmanship textbook, I also fully took into account the bumpy combat environment of the sailors, so I finally finalized it into the three basic and practical positions. Mr. Hastings's swordsmanship includes swift sword moves, English short sword routines, German long swordsmanship, and highland broadsword and sailor skills, all in all, this is the most suitable style for himself and the most suitable for the dueling table, and I can't find a more suitable one. ”

When Lionel heard little Angelo's high emotional intelligence speech, Rao has always been proud of his expression management, and he almost laughed out loud without holding back.

If you hadn't paid close attention, you really wouldn't have heard that little Angelo was euphemistically expressing that Arthur and Bertrand were performing swordsmanship.

Sure enough, even swordsmen like the Angelo brothers are not exempt from vulgarity, as long as they take out their sailor swords and highland broadswordsmanship, they will not be willing to see the true face of this duel even if they can't see it.

When William IV, who was watching the excitement, heard this, he couldn't help touching his beard and nodded: "I know that this young man is very strong, but it is still a little unexpected for me to be recognized by the two of you." ”

At this moment, Arthur and Bertrand fought with each other, fists and police knives were deadlocked, and even the iron cage hanging above the dueling table began to linger in flashing arcs, as if the will of the two swordsmen had accumulated in these countless arcs of lightning and fire.

The iron cage is like another moon in the sky, but compared to the charming moonlight, it is a little more violent and shiny.

In everyone's sight, the corners of Bertran's mouth twitched, and the frost condensed on his body also melted little by little due to the heat emitted by his body after intense exercise, he looked like a monster thawing from an iceberg.

On Arthur's side, the ice beads hanging from Guy Fawkes' mask were also melting little by little, and rows of water droplets were dripping from the corners of the mask's eyes, but no one knew who these tears were for.

Suddenly, a fireball suddenly exploded from the electric light around the iron cage above.

This explosion was like a starting pistol, Bertrand moved, he swung his lantern shield to block the officer's knife, and his free right hand wanted to lock Arthur's joints in an attempt to drag him to the ground, but he accidentally threw himself directly into the air, and Arthur's knee slammed upwards directly on his mask.

With just one blow, Bertrand felt like his head was going to be shattered, and large patches of blood poured out of his mask, and the overflowing blood flowed directly over his entire face

"Hastings !!"

With a roar of anger after being injured, and I don't know whether it was out of shame or anger, Bertrand raised his arm and hit Arthur's shoulder with his elbow joint, only to hear a hissing sound, and Arthur's dueling suit was directly opened by him.

The two separated in an instant, Bertrand's blood-stained right hand was inserted into his inner pocket, and a flintlock pistol was pulled out and aimed at Arthur, who was about to get up: "I didn't want to come this far!" But...... But why are you pushing me? Hastings, you're going to get ready to eat guns! ”

"Oh! O my God! ”

"Unbelievable! The Sword Master of Paris would have chosen to end the battle by such despicable means! ”

"Pull out the gun! This is simply tarnishing the honor of being a master of swordsmanship! ”

There were bursts of disgruntled shouts in the audience, and Bertrand was a little stunned when he saw this, but in an instant he saw the suitcase that had been placed in the corner of the theater, and the eyes of the Parisian sword saint closed his heart, and he shouted at the audience: "British martial arts, that's all!" ”

Immediately after, Bertrand jerked the trigger of the gunpowder but unloaded pistol, only to hear a thud, black smoke spewing out of the barrel of the flintlock pistol.

Arthur's shoulder slammed back with the gunshot, his right hand covering his left shoulder, and he snapped open the red dye bag hidden inside, and Guy Fawkes's mask slipped to the ground with the violent movement.

A viscous scarlet liquid trickled from between his fingers, his entire shoulders were stained red with large chunks of chemicals, and lifelike beads of blood flowed down his sleeves to the ground filling the brick cracks, looking like a babbling stream on a spring day.

Arthur's body also swayed, and I don't know if it was because he was tired or if he was temporarily adding a scene.

"Oh! O my God! Look what this Frenchman has done! ”

"Why is Scotland Yard subject to gun control? If it weren't for that, I'd kill this Frenchman right now! ”

In the midst of pity and scolding, Arthur staggered back to his feet, his black hair on his forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and he smiled and raised his hand, which was a tightly held Colt revolver.

Bertrand's mouth was half-open: "You ......"

Arthur's fingertips flicked lightly, and the muzzle of the revolver suddenly turned to the sky, only to hear five consecutive gunshots, and the small colored flags hanging in the air fell to the ground one after another.

In the midst of the flying flags, Arthur dragged his heavy steps, walked in front of Bertrand and kicked the Parisian sword saint who was already at the end of his crossbow to the ground, the muzzle of the black hole hole was aimed at Bertran's head, and his low and hoarse voice sounded again: "Mr. Bertrand, do you know what kind of pistol this is?" ”

"I don't know, how...... What's wrong? ”

Arthur raised his pistol and pointed it at Bertrand: "This is a Colt revolver. ”

"Ah...... And then what about ......"

In the silent theater, only a gunshot was heard, accompanied by several lightning bolts, like the sound of the final judgment, and the Paris Sword Master fell to the ground: "I'm sorry to introduce you to the new product in this way." ”

On the stage of the theater, the thick fog dispersed again, the torches rolled, the lightning thundered, and Arthur's face was reflected in the moonlight, and he looked up at the sky, soaked in blood.

This kind of performance made the audience worry about each other, although the final result was Arthur's victory, but such a victory did not make them happy.

"Mr. Hastings......"

"Where's the doctor?! Come and bandage him! ”

"Oh! O God, have mercy on him, he is still so young that he cannot afford to lose his arm. ”

Seeing this, the doctors, who had been waiting for a long time, also hurried to the stage, some of them surrounded Bertrand and carried him off the stage, while the other part walked up to Arthur and pleaded, "Mr. Hastings, you better go to the hospital for treatment first." Piano music thing, ...... today"

Unexpectedly, Arthur just waved his hand slightly, he showed a charming smile, the white mist dissipated, and a piano appeared behind him at some point.

"Don't you ......?"

Arthur just shook his head, and he shuffled slowly to the bench in front of the piano, and with a long, deep breath, his bloody white gloves finally touched the keys.

do、re、mi、fa、sol、la、si……

The audition is complete.

Arthur smiled and nodded slightly, and the theater staff couldn't bear to extinguish all the lights in the venue.

The Astrid Theatre was plunged into darkness, and for those of us Hastings fans, they certainly knew what it meant.

This is the playing habit of the pianist Mr. Hastings, who has been accustomed to performing in the dark since his first appearance.

According to him, this is done so that the listener can feel the music without distractions and not be distracted by the chaos of the outside world.

And today, this darkness is clearly given more meaning.

Most of the audience was still immersed in the shock of the newcomer, and a few men who did not know how to do it were about to ask the reason for the darkness, but before they could speak, they were severely taught a lesson by the female companion next to them.

For a moment, everyone in the Astrid Theatre held their breath as if they had made an appointment, ready to listen to what might be Hastings' last piano piece.

The playing time is the only life he has left......

Let's write here first, take a nap, and then continue writing after dinner in the evening

(End of chapter)