Chapter 29: Changes In Dicathen (1/2)

I held my shortsword just above my waist, ready to attack or defend The array of sounds that filled the arena were soon drowned out asin front of e of the biggest Guild Halls, held the ht,out a little hus The baleful pressure of his bloodlust was blatantly let loose as he dared to let out an innocent s arena in rew tense between us My focus sharpened to their lihin the air, the crinkled sounds of his thin clothes, and the controlled breaths he took My body screaainst this htly, not from apprehension, but from excitement I didn't think I'd find an opponent of this caliber so soon This battle wasn't to the death but I kneould different from the spars I had with Grandpa Virion back in Elenoir

"I knew frolance that you would have to be assessed in a different manner I hope you don't take this… special treatment to heart," Kaspian commented as he lowered his stance

In that brief moment, I analyzed every piece of useful inforer than mine by about a foot, while his stance indicated that he pris Just fro near him, it was safe to assume that he wouldn't make any careless mistakes

"Please prepare yourself I wouldn't want the person Miss Fla forward, leaving a trail of dust behind hiap between us In one fluidthe momentum of his initial step

I twisted my head to avoid the stab, but a few strands of e," hehis rapier in preparation for his next attack

Ie, I held up hout the arena from the clash and I was thrown off-balance It seemed like I was still unable to use the full extent of e in swordsmanshi+p with this undeveloped body

I recovered fro the enerate a powerful swing

Kaspian leaned back just moments before my sword reached his head, but a thin red line appeared across the tip of his nose

His thin eyes widened in surprise but he recovered instantly I took advantage of that split second, bringing uarded legs

My blade reflected the arena lights, producing a silver arc as it whizzed through the air

However, ainstof e The both of us seemed to have had the saain distance Only a handful of seconds passed during the deadly exchange, but each of us came out with only minor injuries I switched my sword arm since the impact of our last blow produced a sharp vibration that ht hand tremble

The realization that I was still unaccusto in this body was all too apparent as I coaxedyou I shall be a bit more serious now" Kaspian's voice was calree of seriousness that wasn't there before

His sharp eyes glea intent that could only be present in so under his belt His rapier was aiht it closer toward hi with a silvery hue

"Ha!" Letting out a sharp breath, he thrust out his rapier, piercing the air in front of him

The hairs on the back of my neck rose as my body screamed for me to run away I instinctively pivoted myself away from where my opponent had lined his attack A sharp pain burst from my shoulder as hot blood seeped into the sleeve of my robe

"Seems like Miss Flamesworth has picked up soed

As far as I was concerned, this wasn't soe or not, he had aimed for my heart

Would I have been able to defeat him easily if I had the body of my past life? I wasn't sure There were too many factors that played into this; the quality of our swords, the use of long range mana manipulation that didn't exist in e his next attack, he let out two more consecutive thrusts, but I knehat to expect

He was creating sharp bullets of wind, which were near-invisible However, it didn'tof the thrust to when it had reached e the speed the spell travelled

The spell travelled in a straight path based on the direction of his jab, so while the speed of the spell was frightening, there were holes to take advantage of

I ducked underneath the first bullet of wind as it barely grazed my hair I parried the second bullet with the flat ofhis spell away fros and dashed toward Kaspian

I had to shorten the distance between us now that I knew he had a long range spell at his disposal, but I knew even in terms of melee combat, it would be a hard battle

I had a body that was more than several inches shorter than what I had been used to when sword fighting and a much smaller pool of mana to utilize So even with the assiher, I didn't have that hter with a body enhanced with e I had was the fact that Kaspian didn't knohat I had upers down the blade ofdown to release an arc of fiery red

I could see the concentration on Kaspian's face as he willed lowed in a silvery white He fanned away the flahtformana into the sole of my left foot, I molded the spell to manifest into the proper form

[Piston Stamp]

A succession of fiery explosion erupted underneathme directly beside Kaspian

"Hoas all he could ape, his rapier was still held up froainst my previous attack that I had used as a feint

My position wasn't optimal; I had launched h

Without enough tithened my body with mana as I thrust my sword forward

However, even as the distance between my blade and Kaspian shortened, I could"Gather and unleash!+"

[Gale's Vortex]

I was barely able to rescind my attack and jump away as an intense swirl of airstrea hier was hidden fro me some time to prepare for his next attack

The spell was released to reveal Kaspian, sweating and panting, with his sword arm tucked closely to his side like a snake about to lash out; his left arm was stretched out—palms open—ai as the blade of his rapier began glowing even brighter in silver

"Pierce those who stand against me!" he roared as his rapier disappeared into a blur of countless thrusts