The dark elf captain's erald eyes glead with challenge before stepping forward. She held her daggers with an unwavering attitude.
Leonhardt exhaled, stepping away from Zafira and approaching the dark elf captain. The gathered dark elves watched in silence, their expressions hidden following their leader's challenge, and now they awaited his answer.
"You questioned my worth?" He asked with a calm voice, his gaze firmly locked on the tall dark elf.
The captain didn't flinch. Instead, her eyes flashed with delight. "Strength decides the right to lead. Words an nothing."
'This woman is different from the ones who accepted instantly.'
Excited by the appearance of the unique dark elf, a smirk grew on his lips. "Then let show you."
"Nyxara, captain of the dark elf warriors, accepts your challenge."
Leonhardt's body flickered with embers of fire, his eyes focused on Nyxara. The captain tensed from the sudden magic—not in fear, but in anticipation. Her hands moved, brushing over the handles of her twin daggers.
The gathered dark elves took a step back, and created a space between them. The tension thickened, creating a crackle of anticipation in the air, like the embers dancing around Leonhardt.
'I want to defeat her!'
Nyxara tilted her head and narrowed her erald eyes, "You rely on magic?" she mused, her tongue laced with amusent. "Let's see if you can keep that calm face when my steel ets flesh."
'Did she misunderstand?'
In a single, well-trained motion, she lowered herself into an aggressive stance. Her knees bent, daggers angled low, poised to strike.
Leonhardt remained unfazed, his Mana flowing through his veins, the heat distorting the surrounding air.
Woosh!
Then she moved.
Nyxara darted forward like a blur, her speed surpassing any of the warriors Leon fought in the past. "What?" A dagger flashed towards his throat, forcing him to twist away as flas collected in his palm to push her away.
Bang!
The strike missed by a hair's breadth, thanks to the sudden explosion of flas creating a small pillar. But she didn't falter. Her feet pivoted mid-step, and reversed the grip of her second dagger, slashing upward at Leonhardt from the side.
Clang!
Leonhardt raised his arm, fire hardening over his skin just in ti to deflect the blow. Molten sparks flew as steel scraped against the burning barrier, forcing Nyxara to retreat with a quick step backward.
"Not bad." Her lips trembled into a deep grin, her breathing increased.
Leonhardt exhaled while smirking at the beautiful woman with a light sweat covering her skin. "I'm just getting started."
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, the embers at his feet exploded outward, creating a wall of fire that turned the battlefield into a dance of fire and shadow.
Nyxara's grin widened as Leonhardt's flas flickered out. His body remained warm but stopped emitting flas. Instead of weaving another spell, he reached out and grasped the air.
With a single motion, a huge black and dark blue greatsword manifested in his hand, causing the dark elves to gasp in admiration.
The mont his sword appeared, the air seed to grow heavier as the dark-blue blade glead under the flaming wall's dim light. His weapon was massive, longer than most two-handed swords, and clearly not a weapon ant for finesse.
A weapon of overwhelming force.
"You'd rather fight like this?" Nyxara asked after sliding her tongue across her lower lip. "Bold choice."
Leonhardt faced with his foe planted his feet, deep in the dirt and gripping the hilt with both hands. "I don't need magic to put you down, elf."
Nyxara's eyes fluttered seductively as her smile deepened. A spark of sothing wild flickered in her erald eyes. "Then, try."
'She wanted sothing like this?'
She moved first.
A sharp breath, before shifting her stance. Then she darted forward, faster than before, almost too fast to track. He brought his sword up as she flickered to his side, her dagger carving towards his ribs.
Clang!
He intercepted the strike, swinging his sword in a broad arc. The sheer weight and force sent Nyxara retreating.
"Tsk."
But she didn't stop.
Like a dragonfly, she fluttered across the ground, vanishing from sight. This ti, he lost her completely.
'Where?!'
—Shadow step
Leonhardt's eyes widened.
He couldn't see or hear her until the last mont. He reacted on instinct and turned, pivoting with the full weight of his blade. Steel clashed against steel as Nyxara barely caught the strike with crossed daggers, her feet skidding against the stone floor.
His strength wasn't superior, but his sheer weight and reach made trading blows risky. She had to stay ahead of him.
This ti Leonhardt pressed the attack, swinging again.
Nyxara ducked, weaving through the arc like water, the edge almost cutting her cheek, forcing her to retaliate with a skill.
—Dagger Flurry
Five rapid strikes.
The first sunk into his side. The second scraped across his shoulder. The third and fourth clashed against his sword as he tried to reposition—
The fifth struck deep.
An agonising pain grew from his side as her dagger gouged his flesh. A faint warmth followed—the slow burn of the bleeding wound.
Leonhardt gritted his teeth before kicking Nyxara away.
His eyes narrowed, glowing dull red after watching and observing, he noticed and analysed her pattern. Thanks to his Fae pupil, her movents and skills started to beco his.
He exhaled, while gathering Mana, a familiar feeling as he pushed it towards his limbs.
His body tensed, muscles tightening.
"Dual cast—"
"—Tyrant Accel"
An aggressive, overbearing power surged through him, his muscles and organs pumped full of Mana responding instantly to his dual cast of Tyrant Accel.
Leonhardt's head rang with the sound of bells, his sluggish movents increased explosively in speed and stability.
And this ti, when Nyxara moved to disappear again, he was ready.
Nyxara lunged again, her form blurring with a Shadow Step—but this ti, he caught her movent.
Clang!
His greatsword intercepted her mid-dash, forcing her to retreat before she could strike. Surprise flickered in her erald eyes.
"You—"
Leonhardt didn't give her ti to recover.
He charged forward, and carved through the air like a storm, each swing brimming with power, and brutally fast. Nyxara dodged, barely slipping between strikes, but the pressure was relentless.
She tried to counter.
A feint—a flicker of movent—then Dagger Flurry.
Leonhardt didn't evade.
He stepped into the attack.
The first dagger strike t his shoulder—but his increased strength ant he barely flinched. The second and third grazed his ribs, but by then, his sword was already coming down.
She was too close to dodge.
Boom!
The flat of his greatsword slamd into her midsection like a battering ram. Nyxara's body shot backward, crashing into the dirt. She coughed, her breath knocked out of her, struggling to push herself up—
But Leonhardt's foot stepped on her head, forcing her down, sword resting on his shoulder.
"Submit to ," he ordered.
Nyxara stared at him, breath heavy. Her body tensed as if considering one last move. But she wasn't reckless. She knew when a battle was lost.
A slow, sharp smile tugged at her lips, and her cheeks looked slightly pink.
• Nyxara Affection Increased by 10
• Nyxara Loyalty Increased by 50
"You're stronger than I thought," she admitted, her voice edged with reluctant amusent. She let her daggers drop to the dirt. "I yield."
The mont the duel ended, all the dark elves stirred a sense of delight and joy among themselves. They found a new ho, and a lord who would lead them.
Leonhardt breathed deeply, feeling the rush of Tyrant Accel slowly fade.
His arms ached, his body throbbed where her daggers had landed—but he stood victorious. And from the way Nyxara looked at him now, eyes gleaming with sothing between respect and obsession—he knew he had won more than just a fight.
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