Demon Lord's Reincarnation

John clicked his tongue at how unlucky he was. Of all the people he could face he needed to face Xia the eternal as his first opponent. Among the six heroes present, she was the most troublesome of them all to deal with. No one aside from those close to the Emperor has ever seen the way she fights, most of the time she would just continuously meditate and the enemies who come close to her would die mysterious deaths. 

John knew all the stories and rumors about the famous warriors of the Empire, and he had imagined different ways on how to beat them. He was confident that he stood a chance against most warriors in the Capital, all except a few. 

There was, of course, the legendary Emperor, Ren, that no one has ever beaten before, then there was Valdel, and the wives of the Emperor. Finally, Xia the eternal, as unlike all the other warriors in the Empire, information regarding her was sparse. Even though she was widely known as the strongest of the remaining heroes that were summoned into this world, and her battle achievements were high, not much was known about her. Age, style of fighting, favorite food, preferences, most things about her were a mystery.

Just thinking about facing someone like her made John's head hurt a bit. He scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders as he stepped towards the stage. 

'I guess if I want to become the strongest warrior I need to face her at some point.' 

...

Seeing that all six participants were now standing at their designated stages, Julia who was the announcer and Judge of the tournament nodded her head. 

"Alright, all six participants bring out your weapons and take your stances!"

Upon hearing Julia's announcement the six participants took out their weapons. At this moment everyone noticed something different with one of the participants. While the others took out steel swords, magical staves, and other assortments of deadly weapons, one participant took out a wooden sword. At first, they thought that the sword was magically enhanced but to everyone's surprise, the sword didn't emit any sort of mana, meaning to everyone's eyes John's sword was nothing more than a sword made out of normal wood. 

"Is that kid joking right now?" 

"Is he throwing the match since he's facing Xia?" 

"Hey kid, you do know it's alright to use real weapons!"

While everyone was shouting at John, the person in question wasn't bothered by the noise as he took his fighting stance. The stance he took was the basic stance that the swordmen of the Empire uses. Seeing as everyone was ready Julia raised her hand and shouted with her voice that was enhanced using a spell. 

"Alright, let the preliminary rounds begin!" 

...

John slowly approached Xia and once he was close enough he began his assault. Xia who was familiar with the Empire's swordsmanship was able to predict John's moves quite easily making evading each strike he made quite easy. Still, Xia was quite impressed by the level the young man reached with just the basic footwork and attacks of the Empire's swordsmanship. 

...

After evading John's continuous attacks, Xia noticed that the others have already started fighting their second round of participants. It looks like not a single one had passed the challenge for now.

'I guess I should finish this one already.' 

Even though she was restricted to using only thirty percent of her power that was enough for her to win. She gathered mana, formed it into a little ball, and flicked it at John.

Seeing the incoming attack John had no time to evade it and had only enough time to raise his wooden sword to block the attack. The moment Xia's attack hit the wooden sword it pushed John a few feet backward. John was surprised at how powerful that attack was even after restricting Xia's power to thirty percent. Xia was also surprised by John who was able to block her attack, but more than that she was surprised that the wooden sword didn't break even after receiving her attack. 

'That wooden sword is not normal and the same could be said about that kid. Hmm, this is pretty interesting.' 

"It seems that my normal swordsmanship isn't enough to beat you," John spoke to Xia as he changed his fighting stance. He lowered his hands pointing the wooden sword to the ground, he then started to regulate his breathing as he relaxed his entire body. 

Xia was shocked to see this stance of his. The stance John took was something she has seen numerous times. Unlike the original it was no were near perfect, but the essence was there. This was the Emperor's formless sword stance. 

The audience members who have been watching the tournament every year also knew of this stance as it was the iconic loose stance the Emperor uses as he faces his opponents. 

"Does that kid think he can copy the Emperor's fighting style?" 

"He must be crazy, if it were that easy to copy the Emperor's style then everyone would've done it already." 

"The Emperor's swordsmanship could only be done by people who have been through many life and death battles, as well as having powerful physical abilities, and innate talent in the way of the sword." 

"Why the f*ck are you talking like you're a master?!" 

As the audience members were in a frenzy discussing the fighting stance John took, Ren who was watching from the shadows also grew interested in John. 

...

"Hmph, very well child, show me if you are truly capable or if you're just a fool." John found it a bit weird that Xia called him a child when she herself looks more like a child than he does. 

"You just thought of something rude, right?" Xia asked while frowning. John quickly shook his head and denied it. As he was doing that he saw an incoming small orb of mana, he dodged the attack by swaying his body to the side. He then saw numerous orbs of mana coming at him. Xia had started her attack and it was relentless. 

John would dodge those that he could and deflect the others that he could not. Even though he was nicked here and there it wasn't much damage.. The audience members who were arguing at each other finally became quiet as they were enamored by Xia and John's battle.