Chapter 2: The barbarian princess

I Vessma Stronghold heir of the house of stronghold and future wife of the heir of the house of Vendi. Was once again talked back too by that ape of a man…damn may he be that little twerp is trying to get on my nerves… I already graced him with a chance to fight at the solo battles but he still dared to question my orders and tried to make his worth more than it seems…I only hope he can do his job like the tool he is he must at least beat this sword wielder…damn savages and their primitive weapons. I never understood the reason why he was admitted to our school he should not be taught how to wield magic. Magic should be a privilege for the nobles and those of the purest of linages not for some unknown…savage.

The game is about to start and the Lord of this region will be the one to commentate on this game.

Before it started the entire ice field that was covering the platform was dissolved by magic as its owner now was eliminated.

Well let’s just hope he survives this round so that we can at least have a glimpse of their trump card’s true power.

The announcer then said

“GAME START”

Only one second passed. The announcer then said

“GAME OVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR”

What? What the hell is happening did he lose? That was fast way too fast what happened?

Smoke rose from the centre of the platform no it was actually the side of the Astartian contender.

When the smoke cleared I saw the figure of Asura standing tall while the enemy was…had his head penetrating the ground and all of his limbs were sprung in various ways.

What the hell did he do? As if hearing my taught the announcer then said

“OH MY GOD THAT WAS AMAZING, IT’S A FREGGING SUPLEX!!! I AM SO GLAD I GOT TO COMMENTATE ON THIS. A ONE HIT KILL!! AN INSTANT VICTORY FOR ASURA WHAT AN AMAZING DISPLAY OF POWER.”

The hell happened?

“I know a lot of you are wondering what happened but I am not allowed to divulge the secrets of any of the contenders as this will be a disadvantage to Asura…unless he agrees to us revealing what type of spells he used we cannot show the replay…we are sorry but let the next Astartian contender rise to the stage…Wait! Wait! Asura just gave us the right to review the scene he said that it was going to be discovered anyway…let’s see what happened then in slow motion.”

He granted them permission? what the hell…who does he think he is to do something like that without consulting me…even though I want to know…

The screen started replaying what happened.

At first both figures were standing still then Asura disappeared…it seems that his movement was even faster than the screen could display. He appeared behind the still unsuspecting contestant and grabbed him by the waist then instantly made a backward bow crushing the head of the other guy into the stone floor. It was that what caused the dust to rise.

His hit points were at 0 the second his head came into contact with the ground…normally his head would have become a stain on the floor if it was not for the barrier…what a frightening ability…why did he even reveal this…he could use this against the other girl she would not have seen this coming what an idiot…

“Marvellous just marvellous to be able to master the Shunpo technique at such a young age. What an extraordinary talent”

Shunpo?? Isn’t that one of the spells of Ousay-sama…how did he even learn it? I was told that Ousay-sama never took a disciple even Zeles was deemed unfit to be his disciple although he developed a similar skill to Shunpo he considered it a cheap copy however. But I find it really fascinating…yet this kid has already mastered one of the seven’s technique…

The stadium erupted in roars as the replay was shown it was quite deafening.

“Let the next contender rise to the stage. We want more!!”

The next in line was the girl he was dancing with yesterday… for a savage he still knew how to dance a little…

The girl had an armour breastplate that barely held down her humongous breasts…those things should be illegal!!

She had a helmet shaped like a cone with braid of black hair on top of it that was dropping all the way to her waist.

Her helmet showed only her hazel eyes while covering almost all of her face.

She had two shoulder caps with small spikes on them while her breastplate was strapped to her waist with hardened leather she wore a battle skirt made from chainmail and boots that had protective plate reaching all the way to her knees as for the knee cap she had a small spike in its centre.

All in all with her green hair showing from under her helmet and swaying in the wind while she casually held the biggest glaive I have ever seen it had a runic designee on the blade part with multiple symbols written all over the shaft . She looked barbaric…yet at the same time she had a strange presence to her, like she was enforcing respect…A barbarian princess…

The non-caring attitude of Asura soon changed when he saw her coming as a grin was now mounting his smug face he walked slowly back to his position while taking a strange fighting stance. But this time he had a sword with him when did he find the chance to bring it…

However that sword was ominous it had a strange feel to it as whenever I tried to gaze on it I had this repulsive urge to look away…it looked like it was made for a devil. It was red in colour with a draconic hilt. Its size was not that impressive but it was shaped like a scimitar.

Asura casually spun it around his right arm making some warm-up swings waiting for the girl to be on stage.

Once she was in front of him he spoke.

“So how about we finish that dance”

She then answered with an elusive tone

“Most certainly”

The commentator eagerly said

“GAME START”

I taught that Asura would use the same move earlier but what happened was extraordinary.

They both stood still for few moments slowly breathing out each time Asura changed his stance.

The girl would change hers in accordance they stood still yet only changed stances trying to find a weak point to penetrate through…if it was for me I would have scorched her to crisp…

After a few exchanges of stance they finally settled at one. Asura had his sword held by his right arm over his shoulder and was horizontally pointing forward as for the girl she was holding the glaive with both hands while pointing the blade in a sideway position.

In an instant Asura disappeared he must have used his Shunpo skill again this time I was prepared and focused my sight at the girl to see what she would do.

She casually flicked her glaive upwards at the empty air but what happened next was to be marvelled.

Normally she would have cut through air but she actually slammed her glaive into the sword of Asura who just appeared from thin air. The first hit made a loud metal hitting metal sound that resounded through the entire arena.

One second of delay was followed with several louder clangs that went in rapid succession they were both exchanging blows at an extremely fast pace that only made their weapons look like a blur.

One moment after they disengaged and stood still.

Then once again they started switching stances but this time it was the girl who lead and Asura who followed…

After they both stopped the girl charged forward, at first she was walking with her glaive held in front of her then she started picking up speed then she disappeared.

Asura somehow managed to fling his body backwards dodging the devastating glaive slash that cut through earth like it was butter.

Not wasting any second the girl followed with multiple thrusts of her glaive while twirling her body making consecutive body rotations in mid-air followed by consecutive vertical strikes.

Asura was being pushed back as he was jumping backwards every time the blade came close to hit him.

Surprisingly he was grinning like an idiot almost having fun being this close to getting his head crushed like an egg.

The girl finished her attack by grabbing her glaive by the end and slashing it horizontally toward Asura this time he did not jump backwards but twisted his body and made a vertical slash of his own using his sword the act almost looked similar to the attack that the girl was using but as if she was expecting it she just jerked her upper body backwards making her accursed mounds jiggle wildly while still dodging the sword that slashed in between completely missing the mark.

The audience erupted in cheers after that. Then the commentator spoke

“WHAT AN AMAZING DISPLAY OF SKILL!!! What is this? It’s been so long since I last saw two promising younglings showing this mush skill. Amazing display of power from both sides. I can’t wait when this fight reaches its climax!”

***

Damn that woman is strong! She was able to dodge my rush and still made an impressive display of strength and control with that freakishly huge weapon. I am sure that this is not even her full strength… how about we kick things up a nudge.

“Hey…”I looked up and saw that her name was Lori. “Lori…How about we stop testing the waters and we go at it for real?”

She smirked and said

“I taught you would never ask. As you remember I did promise a true dance of blades. You seem to be using spiritual buffs to power yourself I will give you time so you can use them before we go at it for real.”

I answered

“That won’t be necessary. WARRIOR ARTS FULL BUFF”

An explosion of smoke and a shockwave erupted from whiting my body followed by a glowing light. An ever changing aura was closely sticking to my body while steam was rising from my almost red cooler flesh.

She smiled once again then said

“Berserker’s rage”

As if mimicking me another shockwave erupted from within her body with a green glowing sheen almost sticking to her.

I noticed that her presence became denser, ground beneath her foot crumbled as if she weighed a hundred time more while her muscles tensed up and grew a bit. Nothing to make her look less appealing but rather made her look to be a true warrior.

In a single breath both our bodies disappeared to make three distinctive sounds of metal hitting metal.

I used Shunpo three times every time I tried to strict at her with my blade only to find her waiting for the strike.

Another breath was followed by four more hits that uselessly met with her glaive.

I used Shunpo one more time to feint an attack from her front. She struck at me but her glaive only managed to hit an after image as I already used Shunpo one more time to appear behind her.

An earth shattering smash was what I used to try and finished the fight only to be surprised by her rapid reaction as she made a 180 spin while pulling the glowing aura that surrounded her body onto her left arm.

The aura grew into a round shield of pure energy that had mesmerizing symbols and rune like writings on it that was almost a meter in diameter.

My hand struck it in the middle while a burst of compressed air erupted as I fused my fist with some wind energy. The damage should be significant as the sound of the hit almost sounded like an explosion.

I have used a lot of my Mana while I vowed not to use the eye to absorb natural Mana, I had to win this using my own strength.

I have enough to use Shunpo a couple more times and probably I can squeeze enough for another wind spell. She should have taken a considerable damage by now even with that weird shield of hers.

…however I still felt uncomfortable with that shield of hers…normally it should have broken into a thousand pieces but I still felt pressure on my extended fist.

As if on cue my hyper recognition activated and an image of an enraged warrior appeared in-front of me.

She appeared from the smoke swinging her glaive with her right arm, the blade coming dangerously close to me as she capitalised on my hesitation.

One more use of Shunpo to appear behind her and I was met with a well-timed kick to the chest that sent me rolling to the ground barely stopping before hitting the edge of the ring.

I think she held back there a little… quite depressing.

The commentator then said

“AMAZING!! In less than ten seconds a rapid exchange of blows at the level of master warriors just happened…I am tempted to take these kids into my service…Although Asura was quite impressive in the earlier fight it seems that he is being pushed back a bit here, did he met his match? Let’s continue to watch…as for those who have missed what happened a replay of the game will be broadcasted after this in wait for the other game to begin”

Groggily standing up on my feet I dusted my knees off. Then looked at her menacingly…I couldn’t quite keep the scary look as a small grin appeared on my face, she was strong, strong enough to give me trouble…for a warrior she is the first one at my age to have managed to push me this much.

Damn I am very low on Mana right now I should focus on using spiritual energy more I might need to use the two Shunpo I have left for close calls wasting them to land a hit or two will prove to be useless against her…I must first wither her down with constant harassment and damage and finish her off as soon as I see an opening.

Dashing toward her not using any speed enhancing abilities I must have looked like a turtle compared to our earlier exchange but I heed it no mind.

She seemed perplexed at my approach and took a defensive stance.

I propelled myself forward making a diagonal cutting motion which was sidestepped easily by the warrior princess…

She still had a confused look on her face probably thinking, why is he not using his Shunpo?

I used my elbow to strike at her exposed abdomen from when she sidestepped but again she dodged it easily and sent her glaive with one hand horizontally trying to cut me in half.

I jerked my body backwards and made a swiping motion with my right foot trying to take her down with me which she easily jumped above and sent her glaive in a downward cutting motion.

I rolled to the side dodging the first strike that was followed by another then another. Each time I rolled the glaive would make a deep gash on the floor…I am really doubting the ability of the barrier to negate this mush damage as every strike rocked the arena.

Having enough rolling on stones I jumped up and sent my sword in an almost impossible angle cutting toward her

This time she blocked it with the pole of her glaive. I didn’t put a lot of strength behind the attack but that must have made her hands a bit numb as sparks flew from the contact of metal.

She then said

“Why are you holding back?”

I answered almost mechanically.

“I actually am not…it’s complicated but don’t worry I am by no means underestimating you”

“Is that so” she said.

Then another shockwave of power rocked the arena once more it was coming from her. The green sheen that was engulfing her earlier seemed calm but now it turned into a ravaging flame like aspect. Her eyes shone for a moment white then turned back to their normal emerald colour.

She conjured her shield once more and the blade of her glaive was covered with the same green sheen only it was shaped as a scorching aura blade almost like the flame from a magical welding torch.

Hyper recognition activated the second she stepped forward. I still was unable to dodge the oncoming assault as she charged at me with her shield held forward only her helmet was above it and her glaive was protruding like a spike from a small bend in the shield.

Barely dodging the tip of the glaive I felt the heat coming from it yet I was unable to fully bypass the round shield.

I tried to use Shunpo to appear behind her but even in hyper recognition mode I was still slow…How fast is she damn it.

The impact sent me flying well above the arena grounds smashing into the barrier.

My sword dropped from my hand and I was falling to the ground on the outer ring.

This is probably it…LIKE HELL IT IS “BLAST”

Before I was in contact with the dirt I used the wind spell blast that made me propel backwards into the air and barely landing on the arena once again…

Damn that was close…I must have looked cool back there though.

However I am now unarmed and my blade is all the way in the outer ring and stepping down from the platform will disqualify me.

“OH what great reaction from Asura as he used the blast spell to blow himself back…that was close too close for comfort…but the odds seem grim for Asura right now as he is now weapon less.

The girl spoke. In a stern and obviously annoyed tone.

“I taught you were different…it is true that you were able to evade being disqualified but it seems that I have misjudged you…you are not worth the effort…surrender now and spare yourself a humiliating defeat.”

I answered.

“I had my doubts at first…but now I am certain of it. Weakling I may be but I can assure you I will not lose to you.” I might have trouble fighting master level mages but warriors and the like are not that threatening especially now that I know who she is.

She said

“What do you mean you are obviously losing this trade…now weapon less what sort of miracle will save you from my hands.”

“Miracles I need not. I have all the strength I need to beat you now that I know what you are. A Verda tribeswoman.”

She flinched a bit after she heard that then said.

“What do you know about my tribe…?”

I answered shrugging

“Nothing mush just that they were supposed to have perished years ago yet here you are…My master told me that he has met and fought with them. He even told me an interesting thing about your tribe, strong in fights you may be and the more damage you take the stronger you become your entire tribe earned the title of the berserker god’s descendants but the sole problem with your power if it is used for a prolonged period of time it will corrode your brains and make you savagely brutal not even recognising friends from foe.”

“What does that have to do with our fight here? I can still maintain this form for a few more hours you think you can withstand my might for that long.”

Damn that is a lot of time but it is still irrelevant.

“No I will defeat you way before that.”

Hyper recognition activated again as she instantly appeared in front of me.

I grinned like an idiot. While I dodged her incoming charge this time using Shunpo fast enough to appear on the other side.

I closed my right eye and activated Mana flux this way the eye should not attract much attention even if I am able to hide the golden glow now but its better safe than sorry.

However I noticed the judge on the side of the arena jerk his head toward me the second the Mana flux activated. Did he suspect something? Damn I have already broken my promise to myself not to use the eye here and don’t want to brake the promise for Osfor sensei to not reveal it.

“MANA CLAD” a shockwave erupted from within my body and pushed the dust away. While a dense purple aura covered my body.

It was time to reveal my trump card.

“GOD HANDS” the aura condensed even more and formed a new set of arms two that appeared from the side of my chest arms of pure Mana. Even with the purple colour if you look close enough it will seem see trough.

I opened four dimensional storages and brought four weapons from them.

Two broad swords and a spear and a round heavy shield.

These were gifted to me by Osfor once I showed him what I was able to do with the Mana clad when we were in the forest.

They were not as strong as the devourer not by a long shot but these were all I have right now.

Lori seemed shocked at the new appearance but she still charged forward. I was too was surprised at first when I learned that I could shape mana to anything I want…but why did I choose an extra set of hands is beyond me…however it seems to work just fine.

Still activating hyper recognition I dodged the first slash using Shunpo and appeared at her side slashing with both human arms that had the broad swords at once she held her shield up to block.

The weight of my strike was by no mean light. As she was forced to her knees. she still managed to slash at me with her glaive cutting my spear in half…the aura covering her glaive was dense and sharp enough to make a steel made spear look like tofu.

Damn I was unable to do anything with that weapon and it was already lost.

I had my shield held with my Mana arm at a position that was almost behind my back so that it will not hinder my movement. But the glaive would cut me in halve if I didn’t block it so I hastily brought the shield above me.

The weight behind her strike was magnificent as it mad an ugly dent in my heavy round shield.

Pushing her weapon back with sheer force of will, I disengaged and jumped backwards…

The second I touched the ground I rushed back again this time using that split second when she felt the weight of my swords off her to charge at her with my own shield held forward. Yet she still caught on and pulled up her shield once more.

Both the round shields clashed and made a deafening sound.

Hers was made of pure aura while mine was truly just a hunk of metal. It started to melt when it was in contact with the aura shield.

I had to drop it. As it now became useless.

I shot two fireballs at her which were negated by her shield and she slashed at the air making a wave of aura charge at me.

Dodging it I used a water ball and a fire ball at the same time casting them from the Mana hands again.

They were not aimed at her but they were to create a diversion.

The two balls struck at each other making a small smoke screen which was all I needed for my next move. She swiped at the smoke making it dissipate and slashed at me with a hit that cut me in half.

Or so she taught I used the vapour particles with a bit of light element and made a clone of myself. Osfor sensei taught me how to do this when we were training with a lot of other spells. She fanatically looked all over trying to figure where in was to be surprised by an earth shattering smash that rocked her from the side.

Rolling on the ground and dangerously getting closer to the edge she was still holding her glaive and managed to impale it to the floor before she could drop from the platform.

‘Damn that was close’ I taught

“WHAT A COMEBACK!!! ASURA PROVES TO BE ABLE TO HANDEL HIMSELF. Are these guys truly just high school students?? Damn it some of the elite warriors will barely handle themselves in front of the might of these two uprising stars.” Said the lord. The guy was hyped.

I am starting to feel tired I was using a lot of spiritual energy in this fight.

I have to finish things off quickly or I might find myself in trouble.

She rose back up again this time clearly grinning and smiling.

She said

“Oh I will have to apologies for calling you a weakling you are truly remarkable…why did you not use this earlier…you said you are not underestimating me so you must have reasons not to use this ‘mode’ of yours…alright time to get serious, MARTIAL POISE”

Her green aura now became slightly redder she started to swirl her glaive in a dangerous motion and charged at me. Four exchanges happened in hyper mode the audience must have only saw blurs.

Both my blades were shattered after that exchange and I am now again weapon less.

Or that is what I made her think as she struck at me with her Glaive I dodged to the right and pressed my hand forward.

Making her grunt in pain.

She fumbled a bit back and fell on her bottom.

Her hit points reached a dangerously critical level by that hit.

How? Simple.

When I used the smoke screen I actually used another spell afterwards once she was fully focused on dissipating the smoke and cutting down the clone I used a chain conjuring spell the same one that the maid-san used on Ousay the other time to restrain him and grabbed the Devourer.

Seeing as the judge said nothing I concluded that it was within rules so I used the same mist to cover the blade and make it reflect the light behind it. It was atrociously hard to do as I had to concentrate on manipulating the light to not make it stand out.

Then I struck at her side with it when I had the opportunity. Underhanded? Yes. But this is a free for all challenge and nothing is not allowed.

I waited patiently for her to stand up as she did the same for me.

She didn’t seem to mind the way I used my weapon so she took her position again this time her aura became blood red and the hair on her helmet were flailing upwards.

Surprisingly her hit points that where at the critical stage rose quite a bit above half health…how did she do that?

But right after that they started to drop at a slow but steady pace…

It must be her berserker form, like Master said this is their ultimate form. They become ravaging beasts even deadly wounds will feel like a bee sting to them but once this mode is over the back leech is always sever.

An intelligent decision would be to just Shunpo all over the arena dodging her when she is like this until her hit points reaches 0…but I am not one to tarnish the pride of a warrior that wants to go all out.

She charged at me once more and we went on a frenzy of metal hitting metal sometimes I receive a small gash on my body and sometimes I land a successful hit on here’s yet we were still at a settlement but only she was losing Hp with every passing of a second.

More and more exchanges happened while metal hitting metal. Blocking with her shield and striking with her glaive then fully discarded her shield and grabbed her glaive in both hands.

The exchanges became faster and faster yet sadly I too was running on fumes as my Spiritual energy is almost depleted.

The first to stop will lose and I’ll be damned to win by waiting her Hp to hit 0 because of her mode

I will be the one to finish her and not some damn self-inflecting debuff.

She capitalised on a misplaced footing of mine as I was struggling to fight her while almost exhausted.

With a downward cut that would undoubtedly finish me off and my sword way too far from a good position to properly block I grabbed the blade of her glaive with my Mana arms.

Searing and screeching the Mana and the glaive aura collided another shockwave erupted while purple mixed with red smoke rose from our exchange. I was pushed to the ground knees crushing the floor below, almost squashed by the strength she is showing.

Her Hp is almost depleted and her complexion even under that helmet seemed painful.

“SHUNPO”

I used Shunpo to disappear from in front of her making the glaive strike at the ground while still managing to graze me on the left shoulder.

I finished it with an earth shattering smash to the side that finally made her hit points hit 0.

It was my victory.