Karteira winced at the blade piercing her shoulder.

Breaking away from it, she rapidly healed her wound, and stared at the shadow of Lucas.

"You did one on me too."

"That's fair, isn't it? Look at me now?"

Lucas swiped his blade to the side, spraying Karteira's blood on the grass.

Lucas's corrupted form revealed, Karteira felt great, even if she had suffered a sneak attack.

"If only you hadn't reacted that fast, I wouldn't have missed your heart. What a shame."

With a faint smile, he shrugged.

"That was your only chance. Too bad you've missed it."

"I don't think so?"

Karteira blinked. At that instant, Lucas slipped by, and appeared behind her.

'You won't get me a second time.'

Covered in light, Karteira rushed away from the attack.

"I think it's time I get serious with you. Now that I know you won't return a third time, I can let loose and get rid of you for good."

The plate blade on Karteira's backhand returned to its original place. Instead, both hands switched to flattened tips, as her armor also returned to normal.

No more Cerulean Storm. She was back to her plain Cerulean Armor, without any use of special abilities.

"You're underestimating me. Throwing out your speed advantage, is this supposed to help you?"

With a smirk, Lucas aimed his sword at her.

"Who knows?"

Karteira answered with a smirk of her own, pushing her flat weapons' heads against each other.

The loud shock acted as their way to begin again.

Lucas rushed to Karteira, slashing at her diagonally. Karteira bent a body sideways, dodging it by a thread.

With a wild smile on her face, she countered him by slamming her right arm into his cheek.

She put barely any force behind it, which made Lucas recoil for a split second, before returning to the assault.

Charging at her once again, he threw countless slashes that Karteira easily dodged.

Once again, after each one, she threw a light punch that barely affected him.

Lucas was starting to get angrier. Those punches weren't dangerous at all, as if Karteira was mocking him each time she punched him.

Until he went for her legs.

Crouching suddenly, he swiped at her legs, ready to slice them off. Karteira lifted her left leg, and slammed the sword down with her foot.

Covered in light magic, she managed to catch it before being damaged and seal Lucas' movements.

Then, she punched down at the top of his head with everything she had.

His face collided with the ground, creating massive cracks on contact.

Karteira moved away, positioning herself for another hit.

When Lucas removed his head from the ground, Karteira punched his face sideways, sending him flying away.

Flying off to the right, his body rolled in the grass, before coming to a stop.

"So? How do you like my serious punches?"

Lucas slammed the tip of his sword into the ground, laying his body on it as he stood up.

"..."

Instead of answering her with words, he answered with a dangerous glare.

"Oooh~ I'm scared."

Lifting her chin up, she provoked him.

"Come."

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Straightening his body, Lucas gathered his strength, and leaned forward. Next, he rapidly closed the gap between him and Karteira.

'As I thought, he's getting faster.'

Karteira was slowly struggling to dodge his attacks, forcing her to carefully parry his sword each time.

But it also chipped away at her plates. With each exchange, Karteira felt cornered, until she couldn't defend anymore.

The clashing stopped with Lucas smirking. He vanished from his spot, only to reappear right in front of her.

His sword fell vertically, ready to split her in half.

Stepping aside, she dodged the sword, and punched his face one last time.

This time, Lucas wasn't sent flying. His feet slid on the ground, with a distasteful look on his face.

*Crack*

Karteira's left-hand weapon cracked, until it crumbled into dust.

"My plates..."

A saddened expression appeared on her face, as their durability fell to zero. The constant pressure she placed on them by the attacks finally took their toll on them, leaving her with no other way to attack.

This was Lucas' best opportunity, now that she was disarmed. Without weighting whether he could or not, he took the bait and lunged at her, ready to remove her head from her shoulders.

'As expected!'

A bright light enveloped Karteira before the man could approach. The light magic repaired her plates, and provided a boost to her speed, matching Lucas' growing speed.

Karteira slammed her elbow on the hand holding the sword, forcing Lucas to release it. Then, a simple brawl with no subterfuge happened.

Both became faster and stronger after each punch. Karteira accepted each punch without protecting herself, dealing massive damage to Lucas in exchanged.

With their healing prowess, they finally parted, sweating profusely.

"Not bad. I like those fists."

Said Karteira, swiping the blood away from the corner of her mouth.

"What is wrong with you?"

Lucas began to doubt his mind.

'This woman is crazy... Why is she still smiling?'

'I'm struggling to kill her, while she takes pleasure in this?'

This was the moment Karteira finally revealed her true power.

"Aaah~ This was fun. I thought only Orion would be able to satisfy my freakishly large battle needs, but you've managed to fill it."

Stretching her arms behind her, Karteira glanced at her scorpion tail.

"I suppose I should warn you. You have less than five minutes before dying."

The expression on her face turned serious. An expression only a commander in charge of countless men would display.

"..."

Lucas opened his mouth wide as a knightly armor of light covered Karteira from head to toe.

All the plates of her right arm merged into a tall and wide shield, while a large greatsword composed of light magic appeared in her left hand.

The stinger on her turned white, as it expanded forward.

"Prepare yourself because I won't be holding back anymore."

Except for the slight mistake she made earlier, which was to react a tad too late at the appearance of Lucas' corrupted form, everything went according to her judgement.

Her only interest in this fight was to enjoy it, and test her capabilities outside of her new power.

Was she able to improve her reflexes? Her train of thoughts? Overall, she was satisfied.

So, now was the point where Lucas became useless. She was done with keeping this man alive.

Unleashing her magic, powerful waves of light burst out of her, illuminating past her.

Lucas felt the vast power behind around her, but stayed true to his thoughts.

"Then let's see... who's stronger, between you and me!"

Lunging forward, and covered in a dark aura, Lucas' sword fell diagonally on Karteira.

The blade met her stinger, and slid off to the side, leaving his side open.

Karteira kicked his knee to the side, forcing him to kneel on the ground. Then, she lifted her greatsword above her, and slammed it down with all her might.

Rolling out of the way, Lucas dodged the blade, which scattered dirt everywhere on contact.

A small crater was left behind, before she followed him.

Starting to feel the danger, Lucas approached Karteira and attacked her similarly to his first strike.

Seeing that, Karteira moved her tail to receive the blade, but at the last second, Lucas feinted his attack into something else.

He grabbed the handle with his other hand, pulled the sword down, and stepped around Karteira, before slicing at her side in a split second.

"Weak."

Holding her shield in the direction of the sword, Lucas smirked.

'I'll slice this shield alongside your stomach!'

The two met with an ear-deafening metallic sound, as his expression turned from excitement to bewilderment.

"How?!"

His blade slid off the shield without leaving a dent on it.

"I told you. I am serious."

Karteira moved her shield away, before slamming her tail diagonally. The tough surface met his chest, and with an awful gasp, Lucas was pushed away, holding his painful side.

Not leaving him a single chance to recover, Karteira vanished and attacked his blind spot.

The light greatsword scrapped the ground, before moving upward toward the man.

Impacting his blade as he tried to defend, he flew into the air with no way to defend anymore. With no stable ground, he became an easy target.

Karteira's armor changed into her Cerulean Storm form. Since she was constantly accumulating steam inside her armor, the four canisters instantly filled.

Opening two of them, she left the ground, starting her onslaught on Lucas. With the two canisters on her sides, she rapidly attacked the corrupted man on all sides, leaving him no choice but to suffer.

In ten seconds, Karteira slashed him more than three hundred times, moving higher and higher into the air, each time removing a piece of his shadowy flesh.

Dark sludge flew off in all directions while Lucas focused on surviving the attacks. Cracks began to form on his dark sword, until Karteira went for the final blow.

Fifty meters above ground, Karteira appeared far above him.

With her stinger pointing at him, she opened the two canisters on her back, and flew downward at an absurd speed.

Lucas tried to defend himself by placing his sword in front of him, but as her stinger's tip met the blade, the cracks traveled all the way around, shattering it into two pieces.

Her stinger pierced Lucas' chest, and as they approached the ground, his last stand came to an end.

A massive dust cloud covered the entire area, before a single silhouette walked out of it.

"That was incredible."

Karteira stretched her arms above her head, before placing both hand behind her nape to lift her cerulean hair back in place.

She looked behind her as the dust settled down, and looked at the dark patch inside a large crater.

"That's a done deal."

With a smile, she turned around.

"Alright, let'-"

A threatening aura suddenly forced her to stop in her tracks.

"Orion... This is bad."

Her smile died done as rapidly as it appeared, feeling the murderous aura emanating from him.

"I have to find him... We can't have a repeat of what happened."

With hurried steps, Karteira ran toward the source of the aura.