"…Officially starts!"
The moment they heard it, both Heirden and Anna released their Spiritual Energy.
The eruption of their energy caused a massive shock wave that soon clashed with each other, creating immense pressure on the field. The dust was pushed to the wall, the ground began to shake, and the people had a hard time breathing.
In that moment, the four Arbiters as well as the experts who had been invited to protect the pillar, began releasing their Spiritual Energy, creating a barrier to block everything from reaching them.
"Haaa…"
There were a lot of pantings among the audience as they were gasping for air.
The announcer explained excitedly, "I'm sure that you've felt it as well. Their power seems to be equal and we'll definitely be able to see a great match, determining whether Count Heirden could remain in his position or get replaced by Anna Stargaze!"
It seemed that they deliberately allowed both of them to pressure the citizens to showcase their power. This would give them knowledge about the power of an Arbiter, not just by seeing it but also by experiencing it.
After that brief clash, the pressure died down.
Anna took out her sword while Heirden raised both hands. Rocks soon appeared out of nowhere, covering his entire arm.
Their eyes flashed as both of them leaped forward.
Anna waved her blade straight to Heirden's neck while the latter raised his hand, blocking the sword.
A clicking sound echoed. It was hard for a blade to cut down a rock, especially when both of them were coated by the same amount of energy.
However, Anna stomped the ground, using her lower body to gain a surge of strength before transferring it to her hand.
"Haaaa!" She roared, exerting strength three times more than she previously used.
"!!!" Even Heirden didn't expect such power to come from her frail body. He tried to stop the blade, but the force was too much for him to handle, causing his body to spin upside down.
Even though he was old, it didn't mean that his body was already too stiff to move. He skillfully used his hands to stand while covering his right foot with the rock before kicking Anna.
Anna blocked the kick with her sword, avoiding direct contact with her body. But she ended up jumping back to dodge the force contained in that kick.
After that, Heirden spun his body again and stood back up as if nothing happened. He even looked more confident, thinking Anna wasn't his opponent yet.
'You're amazing to be able to become a Spirit Grandmaster at that age. And you're not an average Grandmaster either, but…' Heirden thought as his expression turned grim. '…I can't afford to lose this battle.'
Since he had knocked her back earlier, Heirden leaped forth, taking the initiative to launch his attack.
On the one hand, Anna would be able to overwhelm him with the Rune drawn on her body. On the other hand, she couldn't expose it because it would just show her affiliation with Noel.
Hence, Anna gathered her power in her left hand. The lightning began to spark as she stomped the ground to get another surge of strength before grasping Heirden's fist.
Heirden covered his entire body with the rock and took Anna's lightning directly. The lightning tried to electrocute Heirden, but the rock blocked it and channeled it to the ground.
"…" Anna looked at the clash calmly before jumping back once again as if she had been pushed back.
But surprisingly, Heirden also stopped on his track while looking at his hand.
The rock managed to block the lightning, but a portion of it seemed to be able to penetrate the rock. He was sure of it because his hand had gotten numb.
It seemed that Anna was stronger than he expected and this was just getting started.
He changed Anna's threat level to someone who could actually defeat him. Getting serious, Heirden placed his hand on the ground. "Soar!"
Suddenly, the ground shook violently as four dragon heads emerged. They were made of rock and moved up and down. They even returned back to the floor before coming back out as if the ground was just water.
These four dragon heads moved toward Anna, surrounding her from all directions.
Anna jumped into the air as the four dragons followed her. One of them sped up and opened its mouth to swallow her.
But Anna skillfully stepped on its teeth before jumping to the side.
As expected, another dragon came from a different direction. Fortunately, Anna managed to rotate her body and jump again.
Heirden controlled the dragons carefully, trying to surround Anna.
Seeing Anna being toyed with by Heirden couldn't help but disappoint the people. They came here because Anna looked capable. If she managed to defeat Heirden, it would cause an uproar. Unfortunately, it seemed she was still too young to fight against an Arbiter.
"Anna Stargaze can only be on the defensive. As expected, is it going to be a one-sided match?" The announcer asked aloud before noticing something. "Wait a minute. Look at Anna Stargaze, she is…"
The announcer was tongue-tied because of the shock. When the people tried to understand what he was saying, they were stunned as well.
"!!!" Even Heirden dropped his jaw in disbelief. "She is… actually closing her eyes?!"
That was right. The thing that shocked everyone was the fact that Anna shut her eyes. She looked calm and undisturbed, relying on his instinct to read the dragons' movements.
Heirden had launched an all-out attack, but for Anna, this was not even worth mentioning. Without anyone realizing it, Anna had actually sheathed her sword.
"You brat!" Heirden gritted his teeth. Out of anger, he fully controlled one of the dragons, speeding it up.
The dragon somehow got even bigger to the point there was no way Anna could avoid it unless she could fly.
But that was the time Anna finally opened her eyes.
As she opened her eyes, her hand drew her blade, releasing the energy she had been gathering this whole time.
The draw happened in an instant and the next thing they realized, there was an energy wave that sliced the dragon's head into two.
"!!!" The people were completely dumbstruck. Anna had just cut a dragon's head that was as big as a two-story building.
The remaining energy was still traveling toward the audience, only to strike the barrier.
*Rumble!*
The barrier seemed to shake for a split second before it neutralized the energy.
Out of the people that maintained the barrier, only the Sword Arbiter understood the degree of mastery Anna had.
"What?" The Sword Arbiter looked at the trace of energy while muttering inwardly, 'That slash alone is carrying a sharp energy… Is she able to change the property of her energy to match her intent?'
After watching Noel's swordsmanship for a long time as well as the experience she had in her previous life, Anna managed to understand the concept of the sword. The current her could actually decide whether the sword could actually cut or not, similar to Noel's Everchanging Emotion Swordstyle but limited to only sharp and blunt.
After cutting the dragon head, Anna rotated her body, seeing the dumbfounded Heirden.
When their gazes met, Heirden regained his composure and hurriedly controlled the remaining three dragons. After releasing such a strike, Anna should be vulnerable.
Seeing the three incoming heads, Anna turned out to be gathering her lightning in her hand as if she didn't plan to release such a power anymore.
She pushed her hand forward, releasing the lightning forth. To everyone's surprise, the lightning spread like branches and formed a hand.
It looked like a bone, but it still served its job. The hand grabbed a dragon's head as Anna pulled herself toward the dragon, avoiding the other two.
Before reaching the dragon in front, Anna released another sword strike to sever the dragon's neck, causing its head to fall down.
Anna skillfully landed on top of the dragon's head, using it as a cushion. Yet, two meters away from the floor, Anna actually used the lightning hand to toss the dragon's head to Heirden while landing on the ground gracefully.
Heirden stomped the ground, forming a few walls. The dragon's head crushed a few walls before ultimately stopping at the last third wall.
Although the attack was a failure, it still gave Heirden a scare.
"…" Anna examined her attack and the two incoming dragons that were trying to distract her.
This time, she tossed the sword into the air and gathered a huge amount of energy in both hands as she grabbed both heads before releasing all that energy in one go.
The lightning was rampaging on the heads, shattering the rocks into pieces.
Now that the nuisance had gone, Anna grabbed the falling sword and stood firmly. Her lightning was covering her body as if it was alive.
With a confident face, Anna looked at Heirden as though she was saying, 'The battle's just started.'
'Overconfident brat.' Heirden gritted his teeth while releasing more and more energy from his body.
