Booom—!!!
Kabooom—!!
With each clash of their weapons, brilliant flames erupted, crimson lightning flashed, and explosions rocked the arena, reducing it to a half-ruined state.
The ground bore deep grooves, marked with depressions and huge craters, as concrete shards flew in the air with every passing second.
In terms of skill, technique, and battle prowess, Lucas and Trish seemed evenly matched.
If only Lucas could utilize Phoenix's Embrace… If only.
Lacking the protection and enhancement provided by his semi-divine grade relic, Lucas was not able to perform at his peak.
Still, that didn't mean he was losing ground. In fact, he was going head-on against Trish.
The silver-haired swordswoman proved to be even stronger than Lucas had initially thought.
As she hadn't played a major role in the novel up to this point, Lucas didn't have much information about her.
He knew she was strong, but he hadn't expected her to be THIS strong! Well, he did have an idea, considering she was a member of the Disciplinary Committee, after all.
But it didn't matter. Regardless of her strength, Lucas was confident that he could defeat her if this was the extent of her abilities.
At first glance, it may appear that Trish and Lucas were evenly matched, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Trish maintained a relentless offensive stance, while Lucas predominantly adopted a defensive approach.
He rarely launched attacks, unless he had no other choice but to do so.
For the most part of the battle, he just blocked, evaded, deflected, and parried with utmost precision.
One might wonder why Lucas adopted this strategy. Why wasn't he attacking? Why was he staying on the back foot?
Well, the reason was that he was carefully studying his opponent's fighting style.
The young woman relentlessly attacking him was using firm and grounded footwork, allowing her to execute fast and surgical precise strikes with her jian.
Whenever needed, she swiftly transitioned into a defensive posture, making it nearly impossible to find any openings in her technique.
Even Lucas couldn't find any flaw in her technique, despite his rigorous training under Leo who taught him to dissect and decipher his opponent's technique to counter it.
Leo always said that a warrior's body should function like a well-oiled machine, with each part performing its designated function in perfect harmony, yielding astonishing results.
To achieve this, various techniques were employed, helping in coordinating the body's movements.
However, if an opponent managed to break and decipher these techniques, the entire machine would crumble.
However, as far as Lucas could tell by clashing blades with her, the girl before him had already mastered her technique.
There were no openings. There were no patterns to study. The movement of her sword was swift and unpredictable. Her footwork was impeccable and disorienting to look at.
She was the master of her art.
"Argh!" A stifled yelp of pain escaped Lucas' lips as a faintly glowing pink blade slashed across his right arm, leaving a shallow gash behind.
Before he had the chance to react, the right side of his ribs and upper left shoulder were also slashed.
Blood spurted out and Lucas staggered back but maintained his stance, continuing to deflect and parry Trish's blade.
She was fast and his defense was slipping. Soon, she was going to break through his attempts to block her attacks and make him surrender.
Heh!
Or at least, that's what he wanted her to think. The corner of Lucas' lips curled up as he began his counter.
Lucas knew that he wouldn't be able to break Trish's technique. Not without his armor and not without making too much of an effort.
He hates hard work. There was an easy solution to all this. If he couldn't find any openings in Trish's defense, then he would just subtly manipulate her and lead her into a trap then end her.
Manipulating the flow of battle and the movements of your opponent was not as easy as Lucas made it sound.
In fact, it was something that Leo had long noticed but didn't point out to him.
He didn't tell him that what he is capable of doing is far more terrifying than any amount of raw power one could ever face in a battle.
Knowing that you didn't have any free will from the start… that all the moves you made were not only predicted but forced onto you by your opponent… What could be scarier than that?
And right now, Trish was about to feel that terror.
As she thrust her blade forward, aiming at Lucas' heart, the silver-haired spearman used the long reach of his weapon to parry the incoming attack once again.
Clang—
Lucas' spear collided with Trish's short sword and pushed it to their right.
But instead of stopping or staggering, the silver-haired swordswoman spun on her foot to her left, using the momentum to unleash a slash at Lucas' vulnerable open left side.
The pink glowing plum blossom petals danced around her graceful figure and swirled around her blade.
A glint of victory appeared in Trish's eyes but suddenly she felt as if something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Lucas had been on the defensive for quite some time now. Why did he parry with the end of his spear blade?
Did he make a mistake? But why? This late in the battle he should've grown used to Trish's battle style.
Did he grow desperate? He did receive some wounds, so was he trying to end this battle quickly and made a blunder?
Trish's eyes widened as she realized…
Trap! It's a trap!
But it was already too late. Even though her mind realized the situation, her body had followed through with the attack.
Clang—!!
A loud clangor of metal reverberated in the air as the butt of Lucas' spear struck the flat side of Trish's sword.
Since his left upper shoulder was damaged and the blade of his spear was away, Trish thought it was the right time to move in.
But to her surprise, Lucas had dropped to one knee in order to bring the pommel of his spear down and push away her blade.
This time, her right side was left open.
Before she could react, Lucas jumped back from his kneeling position and pulled up the end of his spear, bringing its blade down like a lever.
Kach—!!
A shallow cut appeared on Trish's right wrist as Lucas' spear blade slid across her hand.
Even though the cut was shallow, it did its work. It severed the median nerve on the wrist of the swordswoman.
As Trish lost the feeling in her right hand's grip weakening, the hilt of her jian slid from her fingers.
Fortunately, she caught her weapon with her left hand before it could hit the ground, but she was nearly not fast enough.
Lucas used this time to charge at her and follow up with his attacks. Trish already knew what was coming as she had seen Lucas raising his spear from her peripheral vision.
He was about to deliver a downward slash to possibly mutilate her left shoulder and render her incapable of using her weapon anymore.
To counter it, she quickly raised her sword over her and prepared to stop Lucas' spear from reaching her shoulder.
Unfortunately, it was another trap. By raising her blade, Trish had left her whole body vulnerable.
Thak—!!
Lucas' spear harmlessly struck the ground on her left as the spearman himself lunged forward to deliver a forceful knee strike to her pretty little face.
Thwack—!!
The force of the impact sent her crashing back a few steps, blood streaming down from her fractured nose.
Trish tried to move her body but she was left momentarily stunned and disoriented. The world around her was spinning.
However, her body which had been trained for countless hours remembered the instincts drilled into her.
Her hands quickly searched for her blade which had jerked from her grip earlier.
Upon finding her sword, she rolled onto her belly and got on all fours, struggling to get up on her feet.
A crooked smile appeared on Lucas' face as he saw the perfect position in which Trish was in. Willing mana into his legs, the young Morningstar prepared to deliver a perfect curb stomp.
But before he could do that, a figure of a man jumped out from his side and lunged at him.
Lucas had barely any time to react before the rim of a triangular metal shield neared the left side of his face.
Thack—!!
Lucas quickly enveloped his body in a thick layer of mana, deploying his Martial Aura. But even that wasn't enough to shield him from the surprise attack completely.
As the blow connected with his jaw, Lucas swayed sideways and fell to his right knee.
Before he had any chance to react, Chase rushed forward and grabbed Lucas' head in place with one hand, and pulled back his other.
He then unleashed a fury of relentless punches, bashing the edge of his shield against Lucas' face.
Chase's metal gauntlets featured tough, triangular-shaped shields at the back of his hands, covering most of his forearms.
The shield's triangular design provided an advantage in combat, allowing him to deflect and block attacks from various angles more effectively than a traditional circular shield.
But far more importantly, its pointed, blunt edge that extended out to cover his fists could be used to deliver powerful, concentrated blows.
So getting hit by it was not a pleasant experience. A few hits were enough to render anyone incapable of moving.
Yet, instead of a triumphant gleam, a feeling that could only be described as pure, beasteal fear crept into Chase's eyes with each punch he threw at Lucas.
His blows were powerful enough to shatter boulders, yet Lucas' face was far from the bloody mess he had hoped to turn it into.
Instead, Lucas looked almost… unscathed.
Chase's eyes widened as a cold feeling of dread settled into his heart. A realization forced its way into his mind.
M-My attacks… My attacks aren't doing any damage? He thought.
Yes, aside from that first surprise attack, none of his blows did any significant damage.
Lucas' face was bleeding in many places, but his teeth and jaw were still intact as if the silver-haired boy was made of steel.
The reason for that was his Martial Aura. It has grown a lot stronger and sturdier now. Instead of an undulating surface of liquid, the mana surrounding his body now looked like a semi-solid structure.
Since Chase didn't know how to use Martial Aura yet and couldn't enhance his weapon with it, his attacks could not inflict proper damage on him.
But that's not to say Lucas wasn't feeling any pain. Instead, he was in so much pain that he was entertaining the idea to rip apart Chase's throat and put down this simp in his grave right here and now.
But controlling his emotions, Lucas slowly started rising to his feet, overpowering Chase's grip which held him in place.
Chase, however, instead of backing down, started punching Lucas with the edge of his shield even more furiously now.
Thwack, Thwack, Thwack—!!
Until…
Clang—!!
The shield on his gauntlet broke. The broken shard of his triangular shield's tip broke and flew off, causing an expression of pure terror to appear on Chase's face.
Lucas, half of his face stained crimson from his own blood, looked like a vengeful, menacing demon.
His bright red eyes glistened with a cold gleam under the afternoon sun as he shot a death glare at the boy standing in front of him.
His lips twitched and then moved to produce a low growl, "You must be itching to court death, huh?"
Chase took a step back, his body shuddering involuntarily before he shot his other fist forward, intending to start bashing Lucas with his remaining, intact shield.
Lucas reacted quickly, done with entertaining this fool, and slithered under his arm like a snake before stepping behind him.
From behind him, he wrapped one of his arms around Chase's neck and the other grabbed his head from behind, locking him in a chokehold.
"Gaah–! Novti– Novti–" Chase tried to chant a spell and cast magic, but Lucas' around his neck suddenly tightened to a crushing degree.
The air neither escaped nor entered his mouth, turning Chase's face red in agony.
Lucas looked forward and saw Trish was already getting on her feet. That made him tighten his grip around Chase's neck even more until his face turned blue and his body went limp.
Retreating his hands and letting his body fall to the ground with a loud thud, Lucas stepped forward, picked up his spear from where he had dropped it, and rushed at the lithe swordswoman.
Trish, who had all the time in the world to recover until now, gritted her teeth and turned around.
Plum blossom petals danced around her legs as she disappeared and reappeared right in front of Lucas and slashed his chest.
However, instead of meeting any kind of resistance, her blade pierced through Lucas' body as if he was made of air.
In the next moment, Lucas' figure wavered and blurred out of existence like a mirage. Almost instantly, all around her, several figures of Lucas appeared and rushed at her from all sides.
Trish's eyes widened. She instantly recognized this technique as one of Leo's signature moves.
"This won't work on me, Morningstar!" Trish roared angrily and raised her blade up high.
Plum blossom petals once again swirled around her blade and in the blink of an eye, a pink tornado was created out of them above her head.
In the next moment, she brought down her sword and struck its blade into the concrete ground below.
The plum blossom petal storm dispersed and the blazing petals shot in every direction like bullets, leaving faintly glowing pink trails behind.
The petal bullets burst through the horde of mirages and destroyed every single one of them.
Only a single figure didn't disappear and rushed at Trish with breakneck speed. It was real Lucas. His right leg and forearm were pierced by the petal bullets and blood was gushing out of his wounds but he didn't halt his charge.
His spear was engulfed in bright, immolating flames and was pulled back to unleash a devastating slash.
Trish herself pulled out her sword and darted at Lucas. As soon as they both stepped into the striking range, the warriors carried out their attacks.
The blade of Lucas' spear closed in on Trish from his left, and she swung her blade from her right to counter.
Clang—!!
"Huh?!" Trish let out a surprised gasp as her sword clashed against Lucas' spear.
Lucas' attack didn't have nearly as much strength behind it as Trish had thought. It was a… feint?
No, Lucas was in no state to follow up an attack! Unless…
Trish gritted her teeth as she realized she had once again stepped into a trap. Lucas allowed the force behind Trish's sword to push away his blade.
Thwack—!!!
He then quickly changed his grip on his spear and simultaneously spun it in his hands before hitting the opposite side of Trish's jaw with the back end of his weapon's shaft.
The young swordswoman staggered to her right, visibly concussed. But before she had the chance to recover, Lucas stepped in, spun around, and delivered an elbow strike to his fractured nose.
The girl buckled down in pain, her sword leaving her grip again, as Lucas placed the cold edge of his spear against her neck.
As if waiting for that cue, the match bell rang out loud and marked the end of the match as the announcer yelled:
"[It's over! It's finally over in a shocking victory for the charming young wolf! The Princess of Mount Hua and Chase Wood have lost! Lucas Morningstar has once again emerged victorious!]"
"Haa! Finally."
