Fuck!
Amid a rapid, muffled series of clashes of steel, Abdelon, commander of the Sons of the Emperor, finally lost his composure.
Abdelon was a remarkably refined and easygoing Son of the Emperor.
As the descendant of Old Terra's nobility, he had received the most dignified and elegant aristocratic education since childhood.
There was simply no way he could curse during a duel like those uncouth commoners.
Unless he could not hold it in.
Hehehe.
As for Kasgar, he was also doing his utmost to keep himself from laughing out loud.
When he had chosen his weapon, his decision to pick a greatshield had baffled many people, including his master, Aqua.
As the Emperor's Children Legion's rising star and talented swordsman, why would he choose a shield—the least popular weapon—as his secondary weapon?
The other prideful recruits all considered themselves supreme sword masters. They used only swords in close combat, and some squads were even made up entirely of swordsmen.
Yet he alone, among those recruits, had chosen a shield, a weapon seen as the hallmark of cowards.
And this very moment was why Kasgar had done so.
Why choose a shield?
Because shield-bashing was fucking awesome, of course!
Look at what Old Man Huang gave his own beloved Adeptus Custodes.
Shield Guard companies!
Could that old bastard who had lived for tens of thousands of years possibly lie to you about what worked best in a fight?
Just copy him and be done with it.
"A very clever approach."
"Before even entering the duel, he identified the sole weakness of dueling swordsmanship: turtling behind a shield."
"No matter how formidable a sword master may be, unless the gap in strength is truly enormous, they generally have no good way to deal with a greatshield like that."
Fulgrim had not