Holographic screens floated in the sky—zood in on the two fighters below whose steps began to grow rapidly faster and the distance between the two dramatically nearer.
Step. Step. Step.
The goal was simple. To knock the challenger's sword out of their hand or make them fall unconscious. It was either that or getting them to admit defeat.
Lillian continued to move forward, pushing through the air filled with thick tension between her and the young man, who did the sa with ease.
Her nose twitched at the sll of dust and sand, which led to a suffocating feeling inside her chest... Which she ca to know very well.
Her heart was beating rapidly.
And with so many people watching... There was no wonder why.
However, she knew that she would stay calm. That she would stay confident in her abilities.
She had Lady Luck's necklace, after all.
As she moved forward, she gripped the sheathe of her jian and slowly drew its polished blade—its clean tallic surface shone as the sun's light made contact with it.
She looked ahead, watching as Kuro, who already had his sword drawn, moved into a stance whilst still making steady steps towards her.
She grimaced.
Perhaps she should've invested so ti into sword techniques instead of completely leaning towards the "mage build".
Perhaps... She should've begged Marionette to teach her so techniques her family may had.
Wait... Would she even do that?
She shook her head, finding that it was not a good ti for her mind to linger over such trivial matters that wouldn't assist her in the sword match ahead.
It didn't matter if she didn't have any impressive techniques with the sword that would leave a person to gape at her skills. She had her instincts.
And that...
Had worked out well thus far.
This match would also prove to be a valuable learning experience.
After a deep breath, she stabilised her breathing... her heart rate... And finally, crossed the gap between them.
The genius swordsman dashed towards her like lightning with an overhead swing that slamd against the side of her jian like a sledgehamr.
CLANG!
Lillian groaned under the force of the blow, feeling her arms shaking. The sword genius had started off with a mana-enhanced blow!
Her mind raced, quickly recalling the young man's family techniques.
Kuro's family of sword techniques involved heavy strikes and quick retreat with the following actions.
Sothing she was shown imdiately as she felt the man's blade slowly levitate off of hers, removing the weight it had been pressuring.
Lillian, noticing this, imdiately brought her blade to the side, circulating her arms with mana before—
CLANG!
—Blocking a swift horizontal strike that left her skidding a bit to the side.
Her face contorted, and although the tremble in her arms had reduced, she could steel feel how heavy Kuro's strikes were.
They continued to stay on the defensive, finding herself locked in a seemingly neverending stream of slashes that continued to push her down.
Every ti she tried to counterattack, the young swordsman would always back away as though predicting her very movents in a split second.
The feeling of being the victim of his flowing attacks made her unconsciously imagine herself sitting under a cold waterfall with falling rocks mixed into it.
His heavy slashes were the rocks, and her arms were her shoulders, in this scenario, in which the stones would slam against in their descent.
CLANG! CLANG. CLANG...
As ti went on, Lillian couldn't help but find Kuro's movents slowing down. Could it be... He was tired? There was no way. That couldn't be the reason for his attack speed lowering.
So...
What could it be?
Lillian slowly lowered her guard, looking past her arms and past her blade.
Only ti find—
SWISH!
—Kuro's blade stabbing towards her with ferocious intent.
Lillian quickly leaned her body to the side, raising the flat side of her blade to the sharp edge of Kuro's sword.
Skrrrr...!
His blade skidded along the flat, polished side of her blade.
He then twisted his wrist around, manoeuvring and adjusting his steps.
He pushed against Lillian's sword and narrow handguard, essentially locking them together into a clash.
Lillian gritted her teeth as she felt his sword push against her. She resisted, circulating even more mana into her muscles.
As she was doing this, she took a glance towards his face, only to find a look of disappointnt.
She then heard him mutter:
"I've watched your first match and found your skills lacking. To think... It was lacking by this much..."
Kuro's body charged with mana, enhancing his strength even further to the point where he won over their clash, sending Lillian back.
***
"Yikes! Lillian is getting destroyed out there!"
Millis muttered, sitting at the edge of her seat as she shovelled popcorn into her mouth. Veronica, who was sitting beside her, couldn't help but nod worriedly.
"Lillian did so well in her first match that I didn't think there would be a need to worry... What do you think, Marionette...?"
Veronica glanced to her side, finding the black-haired woman, who had her arms crossed, and her gaze completely focused on the match.
Although she may look calm on the outside...
Veronica stared at the Assassin's finger, which repeatedly tapped at the side of its arm in an... Anxious manner...
Eventually, Marionette tore her eyes from the match and towards the woman beside her.
She opened her mouth.
"I..."
But then imdiately closed it.
What should she say to reassure the mother of her lover that her daughter would be okay in the end?
All this ti, she had been training Lillian's physical abilities and mainly the girl's mastery of her abilities... With the countless tis they used weapons...
Maybe she should've taught her sothing actually useful, even if it may be against her family's rules.
Her body then shivered at the thought of the consequences that may bring.
She slowly turned away from the mother beside her and back to the match. Unable to answer the woman's question.
She...
Couldn't see a way that Lillian could win.
More specifically, she couldn't see a way for Lillian to win easily. Even with her talents.
Currently, the girl was completely defensive and was constantly backed into a corner. Each ti the white-haired girl had to dodge, it was also by an inch of a hair.
She slowly raised a hand to the lower half of her mouth, thinking of the possible ways of Lillian possibly getting an edge in the fight.
That was when it hit her.
What if...
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