Knowing who my opponent is, holding back against Volken is basically asking to die by his hands. I’ll have to go about this carefully.

Raising an arm to the sky, I called upon my mastery of [Mana Weapon Construction] and created ten blades that hovered above my head. If I created any more than that, my mana reservoir would drastically reduce. If I want to fight comfortably, ten is my maximum.

Volken grinned at the sight. “I see you’ve improved your magic the first time we met. You could only use one blade. Now look at you!”

I shouldn’t waste my breath speaking to him. My concentration must be at one hundred percent! Thinking back to Solgen’s teachings, she advised that playing it safe is a great approach, but there are some enemies that it will not work on. After watching Volken fight, he is one of those enemies. He’s the type to drag out a fight so he can savor his opponent’s defeat. He wants them to play defensively, as it is an advantage for him. However, it won’t work on me. My magical powers are not for protection. It’s meant to overwhelm.

As I let go of my arm, the blades controlled through my mind instantly recognized their target; Volken. As I uttered the words ‘go’, they swiftly flew towards the Apithien with an explosion of velocity.

“Hahaha! Bring it on!” Volken yelled in ecstasy.

Instead of evading, he stood his ground and slashed his black sword against the flying mana blades. While they distracted him, I sprinted around in a circle, attacking Volken’s blind spot. I lunged forward with my rapier aiming for his right shoulder. The Apithien deflected it in under a second, yet a mana blade was now sticking out of Volken’s arm.

“How-“

I cut his sentence short as I drove a fierce kick at his chin. The sudden impact momentarily disoriented him, however he quickly recovered and retreated from me and the hovering blades. He spat out blood while smiling.

“I see how it is. You’re able to fight while simultaneously controlling these things. The amount of concentration needed for that is nothing less than remarkable!”

As a 20-year-old university student, studying nearly every day while juggling different class assignments required a lot of focus. I guess you could say it’s thanks to that that I’m able to do what I do.

Volken took sharp glances at me and the mana blades.

“This should do it,” he mumbled as a fresh new wave of six-foot golems was created. The sheer number of golems flooded the streets. The scene was like that of a horde of zombies standing idly by.

“Judging by his actions earlier, he’s most likely trying to drain my mana reservoir with the help of the golems. He’s sorrily mistaken if that’s going to work.”

In my mind, I ordered the mana weapons to ignore the golems and to attack Volken specifically. They angled their blades in a motion of acknowledgment, then flew off in the direction of Volken. While they’re doing their thing, I was to deal with the golems on my own.

I rushed toward the nearest golem. These were constructed using the components of the entrance checkpoint. Their stench was that of a workshop filled to the brim with weathered metal. They had a smooth silver outer appearance with some chips here and there. Despite being composed of steel, they were no match for Damastril.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

One thrust from me was all it took to blow their heads clean off. There were various sizes of golems marching toward me, some the same height or smaller, and others much taller. I proceeded through the group swiftly, not needing more than a second for each one. The clouds of metallic dust were so thick, my nose was filled with its metallic scent, prompting me to cover my nose with my free hand. After about ten seconds, I finished destroying them all. Volken had completed the destruction of all of my mana blades when I looked up.

“You finished off my creations that fast? I expected you to take a little more time,” said Volken, crushing a mana blade to fine dust. I stared at the Apithien without moving my lips.

“The silent treatment, eh? Are you still upset about the whole Igni Town thing?”

“…”

“Hmph. No matter.”

There was a great concentration of mana that I felt then. Darting around, trying to locate the source, my eyes fell upon his sword. A murky, ink-colored aura embraced the blade. The scene before me was a familiar sight. It was the same sword transformation that happened a couple of months ago when we first arrived in Athiens. I knew just how troublesome that blade was, as it broke our swords in one fell swoop.

I glanced down at my weapon, the Damastril rapier. It’s made from the toughest metal in all of Athiens. Will this thing be able to withstand its sheer power? My hands trembled slightly as I thought of a worst-case scenario.

Volken reached inside the inky substance and pulled out a sword coated in a gooey substance. “The despair shown on your face tells me you remember. Good, you’re finally showing a hint of fear.”

Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward. Considering if the rapier would break would be my downfall. Hesitation equates to death. Besides, I had other means of dealing with Volken other than my rapier.

“The fear in your eyes is gone, human girl. Are you done psyching yourself up?” Volken mocked.

“Pfft! Fear? What should I be scared of? Solgen is way more frightening than you are.”

At the sound of Solgen’s name, a flash of killing intent was transmitted to my very being. The immense power of it pressed me down to my knees, as if an invisible giant had its thumb on my back.

“T-This is nothing at all!” I grimaced. I gradually unfolded my body as I straightened up. “You’ll have to try harder than that, Volken. Solgen’s killing intent is way stronger than yours."

Volken's features twisted into a menacing grimace. For a split second, he looked as if he was about to burst into a violent rage, but he soon calmed himself down, sighing to himself. He shook his head sorrowfully, his medium-length hair swaying back and forth.

“It's shameful that I, an Apithien, allowed myself to be provoked to such an extent.”

I was hoping for him to lose his cool and attack me in a frenzy, not aware of his actions, but I underestimated his control. I thought mentioning Solgen would really help…

“The stress must be getting to me. I carry a heavy burden on my shoulders, one that my sister was too stupid to carry with me.”

Once again, he mentions sister. With how the flow of the conversation is going, only one person comes to mind.

“Sister… Are you referring to Solgen?”

Volken looked up and blinked at me slowly. He stared at me like I was an idiot for asking that question and said, “Of course. Wasn’t that obvious?”

If Volken and Solgen are siblings… that means…

“You jailed your own sister underground for ten years? That’s fucked up!” If Isaac were to do that to me, I’d be pissed beyond hell! I can totally understand Solgens’ distaste for Volken.

“You wouldn’t understand why that had to be done,” he spat. “If I hadn’t stepped in, she would’ve been killed by the Pillars. If I didn’t imprison her, she would retaliate against the Pillars and would perish. The Pillars would then come after every Apithien just because of Solgen’s foolish actions.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust at Volkens’ reasoning. “From my point of view, all I’m hearing are excuses. It’s not like you were being watched for your every move. Why couldn’t you free Solgen from her chains and actually had a conversation with her about the situation?”

“Enough of your babbling. I’ve grown tired of your voice,” said Volken. He marched toward me while waving the black sword around.

“Avoiding the conversation? Typical.”

We moved closer to one another, accumulating our speed until we were running full speed; our weapons collided.