261 Chapter 261: Grin and Bear i (1/2)
I studied Lilith Porter for a moment, and once I was satisfied that she had been fully healed, I nodded. Might as well get this fight out of the way. For one thing, I was sick and tired of her chasing me, especially after three days of nonstop pursuit. Fortunately, she wasn't stupid enough to get in the way of my mission, and only chose to attack me during my downtime. I was tempted to take away her blood token, but inwardly I was waiting for her to fully heal up so that we could have a proper fight.
One of my objectives was to evaluate Lilith's strength and see how I could measure up against someone of her stature. There was no doubt she would be a fierce opponent and a huge threat to our title challenge, so I preferred to fight her at full strength and see what kind of techniques and spells she could pull out.
”You're finally going to fight me?” Lilith was staring at me, astonished. The entire time, she had been too impatient, trying to take me out and grab my blood token before she had fully recovered, but I refused to fight her properly the entire time, for the reasons I mentioned above. So she was taken aback by my sudden 180 degree reversal.
”Yup. That's what you want, right?”
”…”
Lilith regarded me suspiciously, a frown furrowing her brow. I shrugged.
”Hey, you're the one who said that you've fully recovered.”
”…right. I did. So that's what you were waiting for this entire time. I did find it strange you didn't just defeat me and take away my blood token even though you had so many opportunities to do so.” Lilith folded her arms, despite still holding on to her crimson sword. ”I guess I should thank you for granting me the honor of a proper duel.”
”Yeah. Let's begin.”
We chose a clearing as our site of battle. We were aware that there were quite a few spectators who were hidden, and when I glanced at them, Lilith waved dismissively.
”They won't attack us even if we do end up hurting each other. I have friends in there.”
”Your schoolmates…your team from Vermillion Academy.”
”That's right.” She scowled. ”They even have the audacity to record this battle. Well, not that I care.” She punched both of her fists together before drawing her sword. ”As long as I get to fight with you, I'm satisfied. Daddy has always been telling me about you, Uncle Shun Yin's adopted son, and I have always looked forward to fighting you.”
In contrast, Dad and Uncle Glen never mentioned anything about Lilith. Well, actually Uncle Glen did mention his daughter a couple of times in an attempt to hook me up with her, but Dad and I never took him seriously and ignored him. Besides, Lilith seemed more interested in fighting than in developing any sort of relationship.
That was fine with me.
”Hmm…” Lilith observed me for a moment as she adopted a combative stance. ”Not going to draw your swords?”
”Not yet,” I replied. My beautiful opponent nodded.
”It's rare for me to fight someone who is proficient in martial arts. I heard from Daddy that your father trained you in martial arts. Wing Chun, was it?”
”Yeah.” I glanced at her left arm. Unlike her right hand, which was gripping her sword, it was bare. ”It's nothing impressive, though. I was never a good student and had no talent in martial arts.”
”We'll see about that.” Lilith followed my line of sight and glanced at her arm before scoffing. ”What, were you expecting me to use a small one-handed shield? Are you mistaking me for somebody? I'm a swordswoman first and foremost.”
”So Uncle Glen didn't teach you martial arts?”
”Daddy doesn't know any martial arts! He's a summoner, just like you and me!” Lilith smiled as she held her crimson sword in both hands in anticipation. ”Well, let's fight without any regrets!”
”All right, Miss Lilith. I hope you'll give me some pointers.”
The both of us charged at each other, kicking off the ground and producing double sonic booms that thundered in opposite directions. We clashed in the middle of the clearing, with me summoning Aquarius in the middle of the charge and swinging the blue broadsword at her. Fire collided with water, which immediately vaporized into steam.
”…”
Huffing, I found myself shoved back by Lilith's greater strength. Embers rained down on me, boiling the protective cloud of water that now permeated my figure, but I swung Aquarius down to unleash a tidal wave at pointblank range.
Lilith determinedly swung her own crimson sword down and unleashed a torrent of hellfire that boiled the mini tsunami into steam. Both of us stumbled backward, our vision obscured by the white fog that expanded across the clearing.
Fortunately, my glasses adjusted, my lenses displaying Lilith's mana signature and allowing me to pinpoint her location within the boiling steam. I dove to the side, avoiding another stream of flames that burned a hole through the steam, and then flanked her, swinging Aquarius toward her supposedly vulnerable back.
Flames erupted and blazed along the length of Lilith's blade and she spun around to instinctively parry Aquarius. Digging her heels into the ground, Lilith intensified the hellfire that wreathed her sword and cleaved through the blue broadsword. My huge Constellation weapon dissipated into wisps of mana as both broken pieces ceased to exist in this dimension.
”Hah!”
Almost triumphantly, Lilith closed in and tried to cut me in half with her flaming sword. I withdrew nimbly, using my martial arts training to evade as best as I could. Ducking under her sword, I kicked out below (also to ensure I didn't lose my leg, so I didn't recklessly try a high kick) to force her back. Lilith grunted as she staggered from my blow, but she managed to bring down her flaming sword, which I avoided by stepping to the side.
I could still feel the scalding heat from her blazing blade, but I seized the opportunity while her sword was down to punch her from the side of her head. Lilith kept her grasp on the hilt of her sword with one hand while letting go of it with the other and parried my fist. She tried to bring her sword back up, but I stepped onto it, my shoe insulating my foot from the flames and then rammed a knee into her chest. She coughed and staggered backward, but before she could bring up her sword, I spun around and threw a kick into the side of her face.
”!!!”
Lilith just barely blocked it with her arm, but she was knocked over. With a curse, she completed the casting of her spell and a fireball erupted from her sword and hurtled toward me. I adjusted my trajectory in midair, twisting around to avoid it, and dropped to the ground. The fireball swerved past me and slammed into a tree behind, immolating it.
One of the students who was watching the match yelped and jumped out of the burning tree, desperately beating out the flames. A spectator, huh? Well, I couldn't care less about him. Instead, I focused on the opponent before me. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I studied Lilith while taking note of the spikes in her mana signatures as displayed by the energy readings etched into the lenses of my glasses.
That was an indication of some big spell.
An inferno erupted from Lilith's sword and she got ready to blast me with the flames. I kept my distance, but didn't move from my position. Instead, my right hand fell into the hilt of my still sheathed Gan Jiang.
”?!”
Lilith instinctively sensed the danger, but it was almost too late. A sharp arc of energy lanced toward her like a deadly crescent moon, and she was forced to parry it with her sword. Blood dripped from her arms as she skidded several meters backward, trembling from the ferocious blow.
”That's…”
Her eyes widened when she noticed that Gan Jiang was back in its sheath. She shook her head, impressed, and sighed.