Chương 119: Book 2 Chapter 71 - Kiss Me

Pillars of earth erupted from the ground, barring Kiara's way. She crashed into the first one without stopping, and it crumbled beneath her momentum. This wasn't true earth, simply mana that had been formed and shaped to be like earth. With each failed attack or defense, Kane grew more and more frustrated, visibly getting flustered by her incessant pursuit. He was faster than she was though, so she couldn't quite catch him. It was clear that he preferred to fight with his magic from a distance.

She began analyzing his retreat pattern as he moved. Instead of chasing him directly, she began heading toward where he would be, cutting him off. He reversed course, and she went that way instead, cutting him off once again. Eventually, she had cornered in one of the narrow ends of the oval. She still couldn't get close enough to land a strike, but she could keep him pinned there, unable to get around her.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, him alternating directions to try and get out of the pin, while she cut his escape path off each time. He continued blasting her with spells throughout, which didn't have much effect, much to his chagrin. After a few minutes, she could tell that his mana was beginning to get low.

While he was faster than her, he was also running a lot more than she was, since her movement towards his future position was a much shorter line than the path he was taking around the edge of the oval arena. Eventually, he gave up on the magic attacks, instead focusing his aura to a single point: where she was. He pressed down on her with everything he had, and she felt the pressure increase a bit, but not enough to be noteworthy.

With his aura slamming into her full blast, he unsheathed his sword with a determined look on his face.

"You're fast, I never would have expected it. You're deceptive, Shian Yountal, I always assumed you were a mortal. Your behavior would fit well in the clan... and yet you judge me." His look told her that he still thought of them as more compatible than she did. She hated him for it. For seeing it that way, and also for verbalizing the comparison. They were nothing alike. Now he rushed in, ready for the sword fight.

His spell casting had been ineffective, and he must have realized that the only way the fight would end was by the sword. He came in with Forest Form, which favored quick movements for repositioning. Smart, for a long-range mage that might need to disengage at any moment. She had been in a focused flow state since the beginning of the fight, but the familiar movements of him advancing with a sword solidified that mental state for her.

He was faster than her, due to his aura limiting her stats, but his movements were predictable. She knew not only the form he was using, but also where he would go next, how he would strike. The way he placed his feet and angled his shoulders, the way his hand adjusted slightly on the grip before each swing, it all told a tale. A tale she had learned to read both forward and backward. If their speeds had been similar, the fight would have ended in seconds.

She spotted openings left and right, but was too busy trying to keep up to take advantage of them. She blocked and parried frantically, using every tell to her advantage to make sure she could block in time. It required her full attention and both swords. His speed allowed him to dodge or parry the counter strikes she found the time to slip in, and after thirty seconds of crossing blades neither one of them had made any headway. He disengaged with a shout, and began retreating to the other side of the arena.

In the flurry of strikes, he had been able to work his way around her, and escape the edge of the oval she had pinned him against. He began launching spells at her once again, although she could tell they were half-hearted. They lacked the depth and power she had felt from his earlier ones. They were being used as more of a distraction and stalling tactic. Once they reached the other end of the oval, she resumed her tactic of cutting off his escape routes.

After a few seconds of that, he realized he was burning stamina faster than she was, and he jumped back in for another close-up engagement with his sword. Once they were back in the rhythm of the sword fight, Kane began experimenting with his spells. In between each flurry of strikes, he would disengage momentarily to launch a lightning bolt at her, or to slash at her with some wind blades. He erected more walls of stone or earth between them, using the distraction to strike at her from the side.

She relied on [Magical Sense 4] to tell her where he was when she couldn't see him, preventing any of his tricks from working as effectively as he'd like. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. She did feel tiny lacerations on her skin from where his more potent magic attacks hit her, and would probably have welts when this was over, if she hadn't died to a sword strike first.

Eventually, he conjured a second sword in his other hand, which he was able to successfully block Kiara's swords with. Elated, he immediately pressed the attack. He drove her back several steps before landing a clean hit on her torso with the magical sword. It dissolved the minute it touched her, much to his surprise. He jumped away from her riposte, but she slashed him lightly across the chest just before he jumped away. His mana shield held, but cracked much easier than it had at the beginning of the fight.

She realized that he must be running low on mana from all of the attacks he had launched, and the quality of his shields were suffering because of it. She saw beads of sweat dripping down his face and neck. He was being pushed to his limits and was starting to look a bit nervous. He re-conjured the mana sword, and they re-engaged. Once again, he was able to push her back due to his superior speed. Her higher level of mastery allowed her to hang on, but just barely, and only if she continuously retreated.

Aware of her surroundings, she made sure to circle to the side as she retreated to avoid ending up with her back to the arena wall. He snarled as he advanced, his voice taking on a hint of desperation now.

"I'll kill every single person at your estate after this, I swear it! House Yountal will vanish, and in ten years no one will even remember your name." She ignored the taunts, focusing solely on the fight. After an especially vicious series of attacks, Kane managed to pull her sword to the side with his mana sword just in time for his real sword to strike her left hand, severing two of her fingers as his blade hit her hilt. She jerked away in shock.

For a split second, nothing happened, as if her body was surprised as well, and then blood began gushing from the two stumps. She knew that would be life threatening if she didn't apply pressure to the wound, and soon. At the same time, she couldn't afford to fight with only one sword. Luckily, it had only taken off her ring and pinky finger, and she still had a firm grip on the sword handle, despite the pain. Her control of the sword in that hand was a bit weakened now, but she could still swing it.

Kane yelled out triumphantly when he saw the wound, and rushed in to press the advantage. In his elation, he stopped harassing her with spells from all sides, focusing instead of trying to hit her with his real sword. It was the first thing amongst all of his efforts that had actually paid off, and he was doubling down on that strategy. His urgency worked in Kiara's favor, though. He abandoned proper form, simply pressing forward swinging wildly, trying to find a killing blow while she was injured.

Kiara knew that her sword wouldn't make it through his mana shields, even in their weakened state. Maybe if she had a few more minutes, and could run him completely dry of mana, but she was on a short timer here. She needed to find a way to end this fight before she bled out. She needed to touch him. She remembered when she had lost to Olga in her first intermediate sword class tournament. Kiara had felt like she had the slight edge in that fight talent-wise, but Olga had fought dirty to gain the advantage.

That gave her an idea. As Kane pressed in for another flurry of attacks, she spoke out as convincingly as she could, lacing her voice with desire.

"Kiss me, Kane." She knew he would almost instantly see through the ruse, but his momentary hesitation and the stutter in his movements as his brain short-circuited was all she needed. She allowed his overhand swing to pass inches from her body. She dropped the sword in her left hand, and caught his descending wrist, the one holding his real sword. Her blood splashed all over his sleeve as his mana shields disengaged from her touch.

Her right hand came up, holding Victor's incredibly sharp sword, and she severed his right arm at the elbow. In that same instant, the mana sword in his left hand plunged directly toward her heart, but disintegrated on contact. His hand followed through from the momentum, punching her hard in the chest. She flew backwards a few feet, rolled on the ground a few times, then jumped back to her feet, rushing back in. Kane was standing there in shock, staring at the stump of his right arm gushing blood.

He blinked rapidly, then formed some kind of technique with his mana and aura to cover the wound and stop the bleeding. That was handy, and Kiara wished she had something like that for the two missing fingers on her left hand. As his technique came together, Kiara felt the pressure from his aura lessen by about ten percent. He was devoting some of his aura to keeping his arm from bleeding. Now that her left hand was empty, she pressed the bleeding fingers into her side, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

By the time Kane had finished his technique to stabilize his arm, Kiara had rushed back in, not giving him time to pick his steel sword back up. Still in shock from his own injury, he re-conjured the mana sword in his left hand, apparently forgetting that it was ineffective against her, or maybe he was just trying to block the strikes from her sword. She attacked with all her might, his speed advantage lagging as he focused his aura on his arm.

He was still faster than her, but not enough anymore to overcome the gap in the levels of their sword mastery, giving her a slight edge. Plus, he was relegated to using his non-dominant hand, and his skill was severely lacking. She focused first on his legs, landing hit after hit until his mana shield gave out and she scored a large laceration on his left thigh. Her next few strikes met a new mana shield, but eventually another one found its way through to his right calf, hobbling him even further.

Now he wouldn't be able to run away.