They stood staring at each other with their stances and weapons. Lakshman suddenly smiled.

“Ondine.”

“Yes, master?”

“Dad always told me to let the girls make the first move.”

“Huh?” Ondine said in a surprised voice.

“Apparently, it’s something do with ‘girls first’ or something,” he said vaguely.

Instead of responding, she simply stared at him. Then she closed her eyes and chuckled.

“Don’t mind if I do,” she said.

She flashed her eyes open and prepared to make her move.

“Here I go!”

She kicked off the ground and rushed at him. She quickly covered the distance separating him and her. In a few seconds, she reached his position and swung her right handed sword down at him. There was a loud clang as her sword clashed against his sword. For a moment, they locked together with their swords struggling to push forward.

“Ah! Not worried your sword might break?” she asked.

“No need to, when I will win!” he said firmly with a smile.

“Oh? But I wouldn’t be so sure!” she said smiling widely.

At that moment, she brought her left handed sword from underneath. Weapon Force was visible as the sword was glowing brightly in blue light. Clearly she aimed to snap his blade by hammering her sword from the bottom with her top sword.

“I am sure!” he said confidently.

“What?!” she said and her eyes widened in surprise.

In that exact moment, Lakshman’s sword suddenly started glowing bright red.

“AAAAAAAAH!” he screamed.

With great force, he pushed her swords away. His force was so strong, he actually pushed her away. She moved some distance away from him and finally stopped. She straightened up and stared at him in surprise.

Lakshman straightened up and held his sword, which was glowing brightly, at the ready.

“When your will of fire lights up, there is no stopping you!” he said smiling brightly.

Ondine blinked at him in surprise.

“Great words, but... whom exactly did you hear those words from?”

“Miss Sumara of-course!” he said brightly.

“I see,” she said and nodded in understanding.

He had a look of confidence on his face that somehow caused her to shiver slightly. Realising this, she gritted her teeth and stared at him seriously.

“Well... you seem confident with your words... but! Let’s see how good you are with your actions!”

In an instant, she rushed at him. She reached him and swung her right handed sword at him, but he blocked her sword with his. Not pausing in her movement, she brought her left handed sword at him. He easily swung her right handed sword aside and brought his sword forward to block her left handed sword.

“What?!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

Then he deflected her left handed sword.

“Ah!” she said in shocked disbelief.

Lakshman did not move from his standing position. He simply moved his sword and blocked her swords. Both of her swords were parried and she suddenly found herself wide open. She saw him smile as he looked at her.

Ondine realised what was going to happen before it did. She saw him raise his sword and was about to make the move to attack her. Gritting her teeth firmly, she twisted her body and successfully brought her swords around.

With a loud clang, both her swords and his sword clashed. The force of the impact of blades suddenly pushed them away from each other. They landed back on their feet, but Lakshman quickly made his move by disappearing.

“What?!” she shouted.

She started looking around to see where he was. Just then, he appeared right in front of her. She instantly reacted and swung at him, but he suddenly disappeared. Then he appeared to her right. With her other sword, she swung at him only for him to disappear once more.

“You...!” she said in frustration.

She continued to fight him off several more times. Finally, she was fed up with him continuously disappearing and reappearing somewhere else.

“Stop it!” she shouted angrily. “Stop this hide and seek game!”

“It’s not a game, Ondine,” he said as he appeared behind her.

She instantly reacted and turned around. Her eyes widened when she saw his sword high above him. She quickly brought her own two swords together and just in time. At that very moment, he swung his sword down and clashed against hers.

With a loud clang, his sword collided with hers. Her eyes widened by the sheer amount of force behind the sword. The force of his swing was so strong the ground suddenly caved in and cracks appeared all around them.

“Wow!” Ondine shouted as she held her ground against his sword.

“Good, you blocked it well,” Lakshman said and he smiled at her.

“Of-course, master,” she said. “I am strong!”

He nodded and said “Yes, you are strong, but let’s see how strong you are against THIS!”

He shouted the last word. With his shout, he quickly released her and jumped a few meters away from her. Then he rushed at her again and started swinging his sword very quickly.

“Wha-?!”

She was taken by surprise. She stated swinging her swords each time to block or deflect his sword. The speed at which he swung his sword completely took her by surprise. It soon became a speed battle of the swords between them.

“This... is... insane!!” she yelled and rushed away from him.

“Not so fast!” he shouted.

Lakshman quickly followed her and reached her position a moment later. From there, their speed battle continued.

“AAAH! You’re not the only one who can fight fast with your sword!” she shouted.

She started to increase the speed of her swings. The battle soon escalated into a two way speed battle involving swords. At one point, the battle suddenly turned against him as he fought hard against her two swords with only one sword.

Lakshman then jumped away from her and they stood, breathing fast while looking at each other.

“This is... good!” he said happily.

“Yes... I would’ve never thought you could... move so fast, master!” Ondine said, smiling at him.

“Yes, but you’re not bad yourself.”

“Thank you master, but... I did tell you... I am strong!”

“Yes! You are strong! I’ll give you that!” he said cheerfully. “But! Let’s see how you can hold up against this!”

“Eh? Against what?” she asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

He raised his sword and held it horizontally with his right hand. He then moved it to the left and held it at the ready. The sword began to flash in red and the flashes slowly became faster. A few seconds later, his sword glowed bright red.

Ondine observed his sword. The colour was the same as his Weapon Force applied. However, she felt there was something different about his sword. It felt strange and she did not understand why.

“Here it comes!” he shouted excitedly.

Then he screamed as he swung the sword in a wide arc in her direction. As he swung, something emitted from the sword. Then a blade of pure red energy was suddenly released from his sword. The blade of energy rushed at her at an incredible speed.

“What...?” Ondine muttered as she watched the energy headed her way.

She did not have any more words to say. In actuality, she did not have the time to say anymore. Just then, she suddenly realised something about this attack. With that, she jumped high into the air and successfully dodged the blade of energy.

The blade of energy sailed beneath her. As she landed back, she saw the energy blade sail into the distance. Then she turned and looked at Lakshman with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Master... what was-” she said, but was suddenly cut off.

At that moment, there was a mighty explosion in the distance behind her. In shock, she turned around just to get buffeted by the force of the explosion. The force of the wind was so strong, she struggled to keep her footing.

“What the?!” she exclaimed in shock.

Just then, she tried looking at the source of this wind. Her eyes widened by what she saw. A great cloud of dust rose into the air in the distance where the explosion took place. She could not believe how powerful the explosion was and realised, with horror, it was originally intended at her.

As the dust cleared and the wind settled, they saw a great cloud rise into the air in the distance. It was as high as the eye could see. Ondine looked up at it, still having difficulty believing what she saw.

“Awesome!” he shouted. “It made a big explosion!”

She turned and stared at Lakshman in horror.

“Master, by any chance... was that... your attack just now?” she asked nervously.

“Yeah, it was,” he asked with a smile on his face.

Her eyes opened wide and she stared at him, having difficulty believing his words. Then she recovered by shaking her head and placing a hand on her forehead.

“Master... were you... trying to kill me or something?” she asked hesitantly.

“Kill you?” he said, sounding surprised. “No, I wasn’t. I only wanted to knock you out.”

“Eh?!” she said in shocked disbelief. “No master... that’s way too much power to knock someone out!”

“I’m sure you will survive,” he said brightly.

She could not believe his attitude as she said “What is with your overconfidence in my survival?!”

“Whatever! Here we go!” he said.

This time he raised his sword above his head. Just like before, the sword started flashing red until the brightness became solid. Then he swung his sword down in an ark and aimed it at her.

“If you can’t handle it, just try dodging it!” he shouted as the energy was released.

Another blade of energy was released and it whooshed at her at an incredible speed.

“Eh?” she said, blinking at him in disbelief. “There’s no way I can dodge it... it’s too fast!”

“Then...! Good luck blocking it!” Lakshman said.

Ondine gritted her teeth, but prepared to stand against the blade of energy rapidly approaching her.

“I’ll show you, master! I can handle this!!”

She started gathering large quantities of energy and poured it into her two swords. The swords glowed brightly and the flow of energy around her became wild. The wind started blowing faster and she readied herself as she faced against the blade of energy.

As the blade of energy rushed at her, she crossed her swords and aimed at it. The blade of energy reached her and she suddenly found herself struggling hard against a force of energy beyond imagination.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!”

She screamed as she fought hard against it. Then a flash of white light erupted around them, followed soon after by an explosion. The eruption of the explosion was so strong the entire area was buffeted by strong winds and covered by great clouds of dust.

For a few seconds, the dust and wind covered the entire area. It soon settled and the area came into clearer view. Just from one glance could easily tell what happened. A great crater took place where the energy cantered at.

As the dust cleared, Ondine suddenly came into view. She was standing still and looked battered after the explosion.

“Wow!” Lakshman exclaimed in surprise. “You’re still standing!”

“Yes...” Ondine replied in a tired voice. “I did tell you... this... is nothing.... to me~.”

She trailed away as the light disappeared from her eyes. She fell forward and hit the ground with a dull thud and did not move. For a moment, everything stood still and silent. During this time, Sumara rushed over to check on Ondine.

Sumara muttered “Phew,” and let out a sigh of relief when she found Ondine to be fine, but unconscious.

Sumara then rose to her feet and pointed at Lakshman.

“Ondine is out cold! Which means Lakshman is the winner!”

Lakshman was stunned and he did not move nor respond for a few seconds. Then, as the realisation settled in, a wide smile spread across his face. He let his sword drop to the ground and he punched his hand into the air.

“Yes! I did it!!”