Instantly, everything from the surroundings was drained of their color. The world felt like it turned to nothing but black and white. The sound and smell of rain vanished.

Hah.

The only thing that could be heard was a steady breath. Leon could feel all the cuts and wounds on his body and the blood coming out of them. He felt his once rapidly beating heart during the battle, begin to slow down to a stable rate.

Leon’s dark aura began to engulf the surroundings.

“Hah! Let me face you with my strongest as well!” exclaimed the masked man hysterically. The air around the masked man became heavy. He whipped out his whip sword once more. But this time, his speed increased once again. It was as if multiple whip swords were aiming for Leon’s life at the same time, each one deadlier than the other.

Hah.

Leon closed his eyes. He let out a single breath and kept his mind calm. He looked towards his opponent and felt strength amass in his body. In a moment, Leon raised his sword to his side. He pushed off the ground, creating a web of cracks from where was.

The multiple whip sword lashes came straight for Leon. However, as if time slowed down for him, he was able to tell where each lash was going to land. The dark aura around him began to grow denser. His eyes darted around, keeping track of each whip sword and accurately dodged and deflected them while making his way closer to the masked man.

Step by step, Leon was almost in front of him. Once the two were only a few feet apart, the masked man retracted his whip sword back into its sword form. They were going to use this chance for one last attack to defeat the other.

The two charged at each other, competitiveness and willpower prominent in their expressions. Swords raised above their heads, they both slashed down with great vigor and energy.

Clash!

Clouds of dust covered the battle of the two. It was unsure of who won until the area became clear.

Then, two figures emerged from the dust, their backs facing each other after charging past each other and unleashing their final attack.

“Ugh…”

The two stood still until Leon fell to one knee and stabbed his sword to the ground to keep his balance. The pain could be felt all over his body. Each second, he could feel his heartbeat through his open wounds. He coughed up blood and was trying his hardest to keep his consciousness.

His panting was erratic, and fatigue began to set in.

The masked man turned around to face Leon and laughed.

“Ha…Haha…HAHAHA!” the man continued to laugh.

Then blood started to gush from the man’s chest rapidly and didn’t stop.

“Brilliant…” said the masked man. He looked down one last time and remembered the final moments of the exchange between him and Leon.

Right as the two were about to swing their swords, Leon adjusted his posture slightly to dodge the masked man’s attack. His dark aura wrapped around his blade. Then he changed the trajectory of his blade and slashed at the man’s chest. All of that happened in less than a second. Even the masked man was only barely able to see it.

Rain dripped onto the man’s face as his life was slowly leaving his body. If the mask was taken off his mouth, one would be able to see a satisfied smirk across his face. He passed away, happy that he was defeated by such a strong opponent in his last moments.

Leon felt satisfied with their duel as his aura began to dissipate around him.

Hearing the masked man’s final words, Leon took a moment rest to recover from his injuries.

---

Ingrid faced off against Desmund and two other bandits. Her silver hair and tanned skin glistened from the rain. Her damp clothes held her tightly across her skin, accentuating her curves. Two of the bandits wiped the drool coming from their mouths.

The three men held their swords tight, ready to pounce onto Ingrid.

She held her heavy sword atop her right shoulder and supported it with one hand while the other hand was holding her left hip as she stood in an imposing matter. Then she raised her hand and pointed it at the three and made a “come at me” gesture with it.

Aggravated, Desmund lead the assault with the other two right behind him. The three raised their swords high before her and brought them down just as fast. However, Ingrid managed to block their combined attack just by holding her sword up. To the bandits’ surprise, she didn’t even look like she was struggling.

Thwak!

Ingrid pushed them back and managed to grab one of the bandit’s arm. She spun around and used the momentum to throw him into Desmund and the other bandit causing them to fall.

“Damn!” cried Desmund as the three of them got up.

Once again, the three rushed at Ingrid. She smiled and held her great sword with two hands this time.

Crack!

She let out a great swing by the time they reached her. This resulted in two of the bandits’ swords shattering from the impact. Shortly after, the owners of the swords were cleanly cut in half by Ingrid. Their torsos were separated from the lower halves of their bodies. Although she finished off two of the bandits, where was Desmund?

Thud.

Immediately she felt that her blade got heavier and noticed that Desmund as standing on top of it.

“Die, you wayward whore!” yelled Desmund. He ran across Ingrid’s heavy sword and made a striking motion at her, ready to sever her head from her body.

However, to his surprise, Ingrid let out a smile and dropped her heavy sword causing Desmund to lose balance. She interlocked her fingers and raised the fist in the air and let out a ferocious downward swing. Desmund was thoroughly pummeled. His head made instant contact with the ground and made a small crater around it.

Crash!

Ingrid didn’t stop there.

She thoroughly pummelled Desmund while he was on the ground.

Each hit from Ingrid’s fist felt like a bull charging at him. He was unable to retaliate and could only take the beating from the woman. It was hard for him to even breathe when she was done with him.

“You…fucking…monster” Desmund said, his breath ragged and his mouth missing a few teeth.

It was almost impossible to identify who he was from how bad his injuries were and the blood all over the place.

Ingrid just smiled at him as she picked up her heavy sword from the ground. She looked him in the eyes and could feel the fear and angst emanating from them. She held her sword with two hands and raised it to the sky. In one fell swoop, she brought her sword down and bisected Desmund down the middle.

Slash!

From the tip of his head straight down his groin.

Under the rain, a tall tanned figure could be seen. A silver-haired beauty holding a heavy sword with a single hand using her herculean strength. A smile on her face could be seen as the blood that covered her body was slowly being washed away by the rain.