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He turned then attacked in a swift deadly whirl She knew he had expected to strike her down and finish the contest in one blow But she had already folded behind hiain and slashed toward her in aarray of slices and thrusts

The battle was on

For the first , sto disappeared from her awareness except Leto, his sword and histhe subtlety of his signals as she made use of her real weapon--her ability to anticipate--just as Kerrick had taught her

The only strategy she could coainst so seasoned a warrior He was a powerful ood if she let him taste her sword She understood the power of the blade, the burn, the sharpness of the slice of Second Earth weaponry She didn’t kno they were fashioned but she knew they cut like the infamous samurai swords

HeAfter a few y He was physically more powerful with profound endurance and he meant to wear her down Sih she was able to match his skill, he would outlast her

Fifteen minutes into the battle, a bell sounded

Leto drew back and bowed to her He turned around and headed to his white diamond, in the Co course She reached out for his intention What came back to her was only his need for water

Assured he would not attack, she turned around to face the applause of Endelle’s contingent Havily brought her a goblet, which contained Gatorade, thank God She drank slowly, savoring

"Be quick, ascendiate Wells The break is only thirty seconds long"

Oh, God

She sucked down the re drink

The bell sounded

She felt the hairs on the nape of her neck rise She turned and Leto was already on her She had a fraction of a second to fold out of the way, but just before she did she touched her sword to the back of his leg He stu and very deep slice

She had cut hiht her sword up, preparing for hiain Instead he flipped over but re, his eyes wide as he stared at her

Noaited for her to lanced down at the lossy lake beneath his leg He set his sword beside him and put both hands on the wound

Holy shit! Had she just severed his ha? Oh, ht this ht now

A cheer rose up fro with a cry to finish him He continued to stare up at her, his expression intense

Of course He was healing his leg

Finish hiaze shot to Endelle, whose voice had pierced her head Finish him, ascendiate You have the chance Finish him now

Alison had a choice toout a key player in the war, by obliging Endelle, bythousands of Militia Warriors happy

There was just one proble profession as her life’s work She had a pacifist’s soul and an antipathy toward causing pain of any kind, even if deserved To take Leto’s life went against the depths of her character

She had therefore only one recourse She backed away fro, at least those anted Leto dead Endelle’s faction shouted vile things at her and booed her They wanted a kill and they wanted it now As so an her rite of ascension, ancient Roruesoain This was Second Earth?

She kept backing away She shook her head back and forth She couldn’t kill hih she kneouldn’t show this kind of mercy toward her The way her arement, all he had to do ear her down and he would succeed in his objective

A bell sounded Leto actually stood up and walked to his diamond a The vampire had power

Alison th of her convictions, she thought it likely she wouldn’t make it out alive That she had been able to inflict so severe a cut had been a piece of luck, nothing more No doubt Leto knew it as well, and he wouldn’t oblet As she drank, she set her gaze on Leto How on earth was she going to defeat hi to hared forward, faster than before

Her act of grace had awakened a deht with all the skill she could es in a constant flow through her s, every joint of her body kne to respond, but truthfully what did she have left to withstand this superb, powerful warrior?

Froe hard He used his physical strength to force her into larger and larger rew labored and her rew heavy and overworked At this rate, she wouldn’t last oblet froh she had been walking through the desert for hours Sweat poured off her body and she cursed the person who had put her in all this leather