The two remained at a standstill for a few minutes, sizing each other up.
"Huh? Why is the general not attacking?"
"Because that weird guy is strong? Do you expect our general to be that reckless?"
"Good point..."
While the soldiers bantered around, Julian and the samurai finally made a move.
The samurai sent out an overwhelmingly fast thrust of his glaive, yet Julian managed to let it skim past him and took the chance to close the gap.
Taking a step forward was supposed to ensure his victory, but instead, time slowed down as Julian realized the glaive was already heading back for him, its tip twisted at an odd angle, and its sharp end approaching rapidly.
In the short time he had to dodge, Julian brought his blade down on the hilt of the glaive and then rapidly stepped back.
Or so that was the plan, but the samurai didn't let up. With every step Julian took, the samurai matched it. Every form Julian dished out, the samurai countered.
It was like he was fighting a copy of a much stronger version of himself.
Within just five exchanges, Julian was knocked back by the hilt of the glaive and sent skidding across the sand, his hand still trembling from the impact.
"I respect your courage," the samurai said. "You seem to have the fundamentals down much more than other people, but what you are truly lacking is experience."
Twirling his glaive around, he stuck it into the ground.
"Tell me, have you ever fought a stronger opponent? I don't mean an evil spirit, but a human."
Julian remained silent, giving the samurai all the answers he needed.
"So much potential, but it's a pity you're an idiot who can't recognize when an opportunity is right in front of him."
With those words, the samurai pulled out his glaive from the ground and slashed it in Julian's direction. For a moment, nothing happened, until he felt a searing pain in his abdomen. Glancing down, Julian realized he had been cut.
And just like the attack Aliyah had performed, this one wasn't healing either.
'Am I really that vulnerable to Spiritual Essence?' Julian scowled. 'If that's the case, I'm like a sitting duck here.'
The attacks kept coming, and while avoiding them, Julian neared the soldiers who surrounded him. Eventually, he arrived right by a pair, and right as another attack flew past him, he swiftly jumped on top of the glaive and kicked off its tip.
He flew over the ring of soldiers, and right as he was about to land and run away, he began feeling weak, tilting forward. Only then did he realize that there was a glaive sticking out of his abdomen, pinning him to the ground.
Coughing out a mouthful of blood, Julian pushed the glaive out, and as he was bleeding to death, he staggered away. Surprisingly, no one tried to stop him. However, his vision became blurrier with every step until he eventually bumped into something, then fell to the ground.
Through his fading vision, he spotted a straw hat. Reaching out to it, Julian used every bit of Spiritual Essence he had to crush it.
And when that straw hat contorted, he finally passed out as everything turned dark.
He wasn't sure how long had passed since the fight, but once again, he was alive.
The battle he had just gone through kept playing out inside his mind, making him realize just what kind of mistake he had made.
Infiltrating an army sounded good on paper, but for starters, everything had to be perfect.
Him not anticipating the slaves to snitch was his first mistake. The second was trying to fight that samurai general.
Power-wise, they were evenly matched, but the samurai had better technique, and his combat experience made the fight seem like child's play.
'If I just did one thing differently... none of this would've happened,' Julian thought, beginning to feel his body again.
Just a single different choice... that was all it would've taken to not look like a fool.
Slowly, his eyes opened, and when they did, he found himself inside a tent. He lay on a straw bed, with his abdomen bandaged up. There was also a thick chain wrapped around his right arm and tied to a steel pole in the ground beside him.
He tried to break out, but soon enough, the pain coming from his abdomen forced him to gasp and fall back down.
"Ugh..." Julian groaned. 'I can feel miasma, but is it because the wound is infected with Spiritual Essence that I can't heal?'
It was hard to tell, but one thing was certain...
He wasn't in the Saharan Empire's camp, nor was he really dead. If he had to guesstimate, he was being held as a prisoner in the enemy camp.
Letting out a sigh, Julian carefully undid the bandage, and only then did he see the massive hole in his abdomen.
It was bad... really bad. It was surprising he was alive.
Even so, Julian needed to heal no matter what. But before that, he wanted to try something out.
He focused on the ring's Spiritual Essence, then sent it straight into his wound. To his surprise, his Spiritual Essence countered the enemy's, slowly allowing him to heal.
But only after managing to close the wound by a few centimeters, his Spiritual Essence ran out, leaving him in terrible pain again.
Yet amidst all that, the tent's flap parted, and through it came a haggard man dressed in a white lab coat. He had dark circles under his eyes and messy brown hair.
The moment their eyes met, the man frowned.
"You fool... it's already a miracle that you're alive, and yet you undid your bandages. Are you that eager to die?"
"..."
The man clicked his tongue.
"The name's Solis. I'm the healer assigned to you," he introduced himself and then wiggled his finger. "Now why don't you stay still so I can fix you up again?"