Chapter 2891: Out of the Shadows (2/2)

Just thinking about meeting Commander Sendra's ambitious goal of recruiting 10,000 high-quality swordswomen caused her heart to pump faster.

She wanted to make this dream come true! She wanted every Swordmaiden to grow less lonely and rid themselves of the trauma they still suffered from after losing hundreds of sisters over the years.

With the infusion of so many enthusiastic women, Ketis could definitely foresee a future where the Swordmaidens became a strong and indispensable part of the Larkinson Clan!

No longer would Ves treat her sisters like endangered animals that needed to be coddled. With thousands of mech pilots, the Swordmaidens would be fully qualified to fight on the frontlines!

All of this was contingent on her upcoming performances.

Having witnessed Ves stepping up and becoming greater than life in public, she attempted to channel some of his 'swagger', as Sendra called it earlier.

”I'm a big girl. I can do this.”

Her mentality shifted. Suddenly, she didn't feel so nervous anymore. She possessed enough courage to charge a group of soldiers and hack them apart with her sword. Why should she fear standing out and attracting more attention to her? No matter what all of those people thought about her, she was much stronger than nearly all of them! None of them would last a second in front of her blade!

Commander Sendra closely paid attention to Ketis' demeanor and smirked. She liked what she saw.

”You're truly ready to step out of the shadows now. Now go show them what you can do now that you have mastered a new sword style.”

Her turn soon came up. After receiving the encouragement of her fellow Swordmaidens, she walked out into the arena ground while armed with two very different swords.

Her Unending greatsword was holstered and attached to her back while Shiva hung from her waist.

While it was unusual for competitors to bring multiple primary weapons into the arena, the rules did not disallow it. There were plenty of dual wielders and swordsmen who wanted to bring in backup weapons to the field.

The only reason why his phenomenon was fairly rare was that carrying extra weapons was cumbersome enough to affect someone's battle performance.

Even though Ketis knew that she was making it harder for herself by carrying a massive greatsword on her back, she did not wish to part with her favorite weapon.

She wanted to make the audience accustomed to seeing her with her greatsword. This way, it wouldn't be a surprise when she finally pulled out her best sword.

For now, she had different plans in mind. Once she reached her assigned starting position, she straightened her back and adopted a confident posture while slowly pulling Shiva out of its sheath.

[Now this is a surprise!] One of the announcers spoke. [My producers have just informed me that Ketis Larkinson of the Swordmaidens has just taken over the previously dormant Annihilator Sword School. Now that she bears the emblem of one of our sword schools, how will she fare in her matches? If her previous performance is indicative of how she will fight in the future, she will not be able to restore her sword school. On the other hand, if she is able to display a new sword style, then we might witness the emergence of a new sword initiate!”

Sword initiate!

The public, who had only paid a modest amount of attention to ordinary matches, suddenly became energized.

The status of sword initiates were much greater than average swordsmen! While their strength and prestige were incomparable to that of swordmasters, they still represented the future of swordsmanship in the state.

Since this woman managed to take over a sword school, she should definitely be able to back up her new identity.

The swordswoman standing opposite to Ketis happened to be a foreigner. She did not care too much about the implications of fighting the leader of a sword school.

An average Heavensworder would have been much more cautious about facing someone like Ketis!

[Commence the match!]

Ketis stood her ground while her opponent stormed forward.

This time, the enemy wielded an ordinary longsword. Despite that, the older and taller woman held in such an adept manner that it was clear that she possessed an abundant amount of skill.

When the two swordswomen were about to clash, Ketis closed her eyes for a moment and began to concentrate.

Shiva's grew a little darker.

Once her opponent came close enough to launch an attack, Ketis opened her eyes and swung her saber, heedless of the fact that there was a longsword in the way!

Swish.

Empowered by her expanded superpower, Shiva's blade passed right through the solid structure of the longsword and continued on to impact an energy shield.

Although the Annihilator Sword Style fared less well against non-physical barriers, Shiva was empowered to such an extent that the shield could no longer hold the weapon back.

The saber cut through the energy shield and sank into the tough but flexible protective suit.

This time, the weapon experienced no hindrance at all. The blade continued to cut right through the suit materials before passing through the shoulder of Ketis' opponents.

”AAAAHHHHH!”

Even before Shiva amputated the woman's entire arm, the victim had already lost battle effectiveness!

Two separate thumps sounded across the arena. An arm and the body it used to be attached to had both collapsed less than half a minute after the match had begun.

This was a domineering result!

”What did I just see?!”

”That woman… she's actually a sword initiate!”

”Wait, that cut was way too strong! Isn't she a swordmaster!”

”I don't think so. Someone would have disqualified her if this was the case.”

The audience became incredibly fascinated by Ketis' overpowering display of might. Even among the strongest sword initiates, the technique she displayed could make all of them nervous.

A new champion contender had entered the stage!