Chapter 829 (2/2)

Irritation bloomed in his heart, but Shal said nothing. Instead, the Wraith Viper awoke and regarded Lucretia with a deadly focus. Fine, then let us fight, mother. Let me show you how much I've grown.

“Why are you here?” Lucretia asked, even as she wove together a series of slashes and feints that had Shal backpedaling.

Gritting his teeth, Shal ignored her question. The few times their spears had crossed, it was clear that he was stronger. And his spearwork was more sophisticated. Yet somehow, Lucretia seemed to see through his every feint and strike at the core of his position. She broke his center of balance over and over again, sniffing it out better than a bloodhound. When he moved, she had already prepared a perfect counter for his every strike.

It was like she could read his mind.

Shal hopped backward and his spear lashed out wildly left and right. If she could predict him, then he would just remove the careful control. Slowly, Shal forced her backward with raw force. It wasn’t pretty, but Shal gritted his teeth and forced the issue. This wasn’t going to be a battle that he would lose. For all that it was mostly for show.

At least it was supposed to be for show. But her spear continued to mince left and right with deadly precision.

After forcing Lucretia up against one of the low alabaster walls of the plaza, Shal chanced a Vicious Viper Bite aimed at her shoulder. Reading it a mile away, Lucretia spun past the blow, slipped around him, and inflicted a shallow gash into Shal’s shoulder.

Then she danced away, eyes still fixed on his face. “Why are you fighting now? This is not your battle, Shal.”

“It is,” Shal growled. “It is the battle for Tellus. It is a battle to vindicate Rumera.”

“If you would not fight, the Spearman would likely lose. It is too late for him and his models and predictions. Already, the images are merging into something worthy of Ascension below,” Lucretia whispered as she avoided his attacks. The more she spoke, the more fluid her movements became. “Also… I’m somewhat annoyed you have this girl, and you haven’t bothered to introduce me.”

Shal flicked a gaze sideways. Randidly was mopping the floor with his Witch Kings some distance away, so it was likely safe to talk without fear of being overheard. “You haven’t bothered to be around, Mother. And even if things would have turned out fine here, without me, I had to fight. I was chosen to represent Tellus’ image. I take that responsibility very seriously.”

“You were chosen by a despot,” Lucretia pointed out. Then she started using the Spear Phantom Style to borrow the momentum from his strikes and lash out at him.

Incensed, Shal increased the speed of his attacks. But she simply sped up to compensate. Then he abruptly shifted to a more sinuous, controlling style of spear play, which did stumble her for a brief amount of time. The rapid shift in style was too much to cope with, and soon Shal had Lucretia on her back foot.

With three hammering blows, he had her dazed and retreating. But she continued to circle and deflect. She continued to buy time.

Shal’s eyes narrowed as very quickly, Lucretia was stabilizing and predicting his new moves as well. Was this a Skill? It was incredibly overpowered if it was. So Shal switched up again, this time moving toward aggressiveness to capitalize on Lucretia’s relative lack of Agility and Reaction.

The move forced Lucretia to rapidly backpedal away, spear deflecting his strikes.

Slowly, Shal’s momentum grew as he switched to something closer to Randidly’s style, making use of the terrain and his own mobility. “Even so. Even so, this is my spear. I hold it because I have strength, and therefore I have a duty to the people of Tellus. It is that simple. Because I have the ability, I have the responsibility to use it. And there is not point in being an individual with ability if I am not the bearer of my people's responsibility.

”It might be dumb. It might be foolish. It might be a concept that gets me killed. However, that is the soul of my spear. And I will follow that until the end of my life.”

To his surprise, Shal’s blow slipped past Lucretia’s guard and into her chest. She blinked rapidly, then, with painful tenderness, smiled. “All of this... for responsibility...? Good. Do not forget why you fight, Shal. If what is going to come next is as difficult as I expect… you will need it.”

In the next moment, she was gone, leaving a regular Witch King dying on Shal’s spear. With a deliberate flick, he threw the body onto the ground, then walked slowly over toward the area where Randidly was finishing up the Witch Kings.

Of course, then Shal blinked as more Witch Kings began to emerge from the portal with their keening song.

Sighing, Shal got to work.