His eyes and eyebrows could be raised no further; a metallic roar of anger burst out from between his bared teeth. At the same time, the blue light that was nearly gone renewed, tinged with shades of dusky black. Creak. This time, the violent grating was from Eugeo's wooden sword. The pressure on his right arm multiplied with a sharp pain running through his wrist and shoulder. The two cen it had been pushed back by was instantly regained and the two wooden swords clashed back where they had started. —What is this power!? Barely stopping it, Eugeo opened his eyes wide. Humbert, who normally doesn't work up much of a sweat and spends all his time inspecting the style forms, even when he comes to the practice arena, should not possess this much strength. If this wasn't physical strength... is this the «pride as a source of strength» that Kirito was talking about? Prizing himself and looking down on others; was the power granted to his sword with that disposition, incompatible with Eugeo's values, and enough to overturn days after days of training? I can't believe it. I definitely don't want to believe that the God of Creation Stacia could forgive such a way of life. The moment he tried to deny the phenomenon happening before his own eyes, Humbert bristled his hair with a wicked expression on and murmured. "Did you think you could beat my sword with a cowardly sneak attack?" "Co... wardly...?" "Indeed. What could you call pretending to get beaten before coming out with that skill without a style or anything else, but cowardly?" "Th... That's wrong! This is my school... this is how the «Aincrad-style» is!" Eugeo instinctively shouted back. If the High Norkia-style was a school that focused on the force and form of techniques, the Aincrad-style was a practical school that focused on the basic point of landing a hit with the sword beyond anything else. As such, it strives for speed in the activation of secret moves, even possessing «consecutive hit skills» that other schools do not have. In other words, the idea behind the Aincrad-style was the way of life of its one and only disciple, Kirito, himself. Unglamorous, unpretentious, a straight push on towards the goal. Not giving up even after running into a wall, challenging it again for the second time, the third time. If he wasn't together with him, Eugeo wouldn't have reached the town of Zakkaria, let alone Centoria. That was why Eugeo vehemently objected to Humbert who concluded that the Aincrad-style was cowardly. However, the tremors in his heart influenced his sword as well, getting pushed back further. It was Eugeo's turn for the pale blue light surrounding his wooden sword to flash unsteadily. He spread his feet and arched his upper body, desperately trying to hold his position. Humbert gave a smug smirk and whispered in a voice like that of nails scratching glass. "The vileness of that school is oozing out from your unsightly appearance. You must be thinking of usurping either Raios-dono or me in the next official match... but that is impossible. I'll crush your right shoulder and make you unable to wave a sword for a while right here." "Kuh...!"