856 C-6, Rain Month 2, Moon 28
It was as if time had come to a halt. Reflected in my eyes was something I’d been dreaming of—the Blade Saint had a sword at his neck, and he was about to lose his life. It was the moment I’d been waiting for since I’d arrived here, yet something felt wrong.
The Blade Saint’s neck had been within reach of my claws. Just a little bit more and everything would’ve ended, but then this field of shadow had appeared out of nowhere. I could tell that it’d been created with very intricate spell work. There were multiple layers, starting with a barrier on the outside, a barrier of smoke with special properties to diffuse mana, a barrier that disconnected us from the outside world, and yet another barrier of smoke with special properties. Entering or exiting the barrier was impossible without ample time to break down each layer one by one.
My heart beat as I watched the imminent death of the Blade Saint. In that brief moment, memories flashed through my head.
The sound of a blade rendering flesh and eliciting screams from my brethren.
A once peaceful village reduced to a sea of flames and corpses.
My father, who’d desperately tried to protect everything we’d loved, sliced limb by limb.
And finally, at the end of a long, intense battle with the Blade Saint, the cold steel of his blade in my neck.
I had no clue who this individual who was about to kill the Blade Saint was, but we might share that pain; I could feel my neck throb where his blade had been. Even so, what was this unsettling feeling welling up within me? Looking at this new challenger sent chills down my spine, similar to when I’d met the vampire.
The bigger question though was whether or not this situation was acceptable. The Blade Saint perishing was my goal. But did it truly matter if it was by my own hand? That question was why I’d hesitated to do anything since the barrier was erected. Could I look my people—my father—in the eye and say that I let someone else fell the very same butcher who’d left them as bloody, unrecognizable piles of meat? Was the Blade Saint really deserving of such a peaceful death as a beheading? Was that really the end he deserved? Was it what my people deserved?
My answer’s clear. I used a powerful burst of flames to propel myself to the center of the arena and caught the blade before it sank any deeper into the Blade Saint’s neck. In order to ensure he wasn’t hurt any further, I kicked him backward. As I did, I felt the teeth on the blades attempting to burrow their ways into my skin, but they had no chance of piercing an elder dragon’s defenses.
The mysterious individual had a confused and angry expression as he looked at me, his blade now stuck firmly in my grasp.
“Leave now if you value your life,” I growled.
He cackled, seemingly finding my statement amusing. “I have no clue who you are, little girl, but you should’ve stayed cowering in the corner. I might’ve let you live.”
I scoffed. “Who are you trying to fool with that bloodlust of yours? I know the eyes of a butcher when I see them.”
Hearing my words, he chuckled with delight. “So be it. If you insist on getting in between me and my destiny...” I could feel him pushing his blade further into my hand, my arm slowly being forced back. “I’ll simply use your blood to fuel my battle against that imposter. When I’m done and have claimed my title as the true Blade Saint, I’ll kill everyone here as a celebration for avenging the smudge on my name.”
“True...Blade Saint?” Butcher you may be, but you look nothing like the Blade Saint I fought.
“You don’t know anything, do you? And yet you defend him. Pathetic.”
“I don’t know anything?” I chuckled, my grip on his blade becoming stronger. I began to hear creaking. “Keep that tongue in your mouth if you value it. I’m more than prepared to rip it out.”
“Your confidence is exemplary. I’ve seen lesser fools die with that amount of arrogance.”
Usually, I’d belittle him for thinking he could pose a challenge to an elder dragon, but he wasn’t aware of my identity. And also, I could now tell what species he was, which made me all the more reluctant to break my focus to banter. There was only one other species that could keep up with an elder dragon.
“What are the odds of running into not just one but two greater vampire lords,” I mumbled bitterly.
As difficult as it was to admit, at my current strength, there was no chance of me besting him. The worst part of it all was that I currently couldn’t connect to my mana reserve that I’d set up nearby the campus. The multiple barriers didn’t only keep individuals out—they kept everything from coming in here. Even the oxygen in here would eventually run out. My only option was to eliminate him with my full strength before he could react. I was saving this for the end of my battle with the Blade Saint, but this isn’t the time to be picky. Streaks of red lines extended across my body as my elder dragon blood activated.
He raised his eyebrow, obviously unfamiliar with what was happening, but I wasn’t about to give him time to analyze me. I stomped my foot, and in response, spikes shot out of the ground toward him. As expected, he jumped back, so I loosened my grip on his sword in order for me to begin my assault. I took a deep breath and spewed out a burst of flame.
He used his blade to cut through it, and I used that opportunity to fling myself forward, flip in the air, and use my flames to land a dropkick on his head, forcing him to his knees. But I wasn’t done. As soon as I landed, I used this opening I’d made to charge up my strongest flames in both of my hands. Once they were charged, I clapped them together, creating a hot inferno in front of me that engulfed his entire body in it. The ground beneath him began to melt from the intensity of the flames, but I couldn’t slack on their power; otherwise, he’d survive.
I wasn’t naive enough to think that this was sufficient to finish him off, so I immediately began casting follow-up spells.
“Spell tracking. Spell amplification. Multishot. Inferno lance!”
Carefully constructed lances of flame appeared in a circle around my opponent. Each one was powerful enough to pierce the hide of even an elder dragon. I’d also rigged them to explode into tinier lances, each locked onto his mana signature, ensuring that he’d be hit. At my command, they shot toward him, creating a powerful inferno that he was guaranteed to not come out from unscathed.
“If that’s what you begin a battle with, I’m excited to see how you end it,” a chilling voice called from behind me.
I didn’t even have time to be surprised that he’d somehow avoided my attack. He’d already begun his counterattack. As he thrust his blade at my torso, I narrowly avoided it by turning my body to the side, and then I immediately followed up by slashing at his head with my claws.
He didn’t even try to dodge?
I couldn’t understand what he was thinking. I knew he had the speed to avoid my attack, which meant that he’d intentionally taken it head-on for some reason. He stood there grinning, his red eyes fixed on me. Blood slowly rolled down his face, and as soon as it reached his mouth, he licked it.
“Those claws... It’s the first time I’ve seen them, so I decided to allow myself to be hit by them, but”—his grin widened—“they really hurt!” He began cackling uncontrollably. “Here I thought only that kid over there could put a scratch on me, and yet, here’s a student who can do that. Well, I do certainly hope you have more of that in the tank,” he said, pointing his blade at me. “Otherwise, taking you seriously will be quite the disappointment.”
Suddenly the air changed, and his blade emitted a dull red glow. It might have been my imagination, but I swore chilling screams were escaping through the holes between the teeth. Are these the screams of those that the blade has claimed?
Either way, this wasn’t good. I’d thrown out some of the biggest attacks I could muster with my current weakened state, and yet, he was completely unaffected. At this point, the only option left to me was to focus everything on defense and then look for an opportunity to hit him with one more powerful spell.
Even if he hit me with a kick or a punch, I was confident I could withstand it. His blade, however, had changed. Though I’d initially been able to catch it with my bare hands, I was beginning to feel that would no longer be the case. Getting cut by it now might spell the end for me. Thus, I locked my eyes on his blade and didn’t let myself lose track of it for even a second. As long as I could follow it, I could make sure that I’d avoid taking any serious damage.
“I know what you’re thinking. Dodging my blade to avoid even the slightest scratch will allow you to live slightly longer, but...” My eyes widened as the blade, which had been at a safe distance from me, suddenly threatened to cut me in half. “How long do you think you can keep that up?”
I used flames to propel myself to the side, narrowly getting myself away from the blade’s trajectory, but unfortunately, I lost my balance in the process. I needed but a second to regain that lost balance, but within that short period, the blade was already threatening another horizontal slice to my torso.