Amelia's hands rushed through the air, moving in an erratic yet systemic way. Threads of dense destructive force slashed through the air, trying to pin Sval down. Her actions closely resembled a dance using her hands. Numerous thin threads tried to restrain Sval yet yellow lightning would deflect the most dangerous threads away from him.
As elegantly as she moved, the result of her actions was not. As this was an open field, there weren’t any trees or mountains to showcase just how terrifying her threads were. The ground was easily sliced apart as a mere by-product of their battle.
Sval’s body kept appearing and disappearing all around her, trying to close in the swirling whirlwind of pure sharpness. He had been trying to get closer and closer in yet the area all around her was like a fortress. If he wanted to get in he would have no other choice but to blast away the numerous threads protecting her.
“Having trouble, Sval?” Amelia’s composed tone highly contrasted with her destructive behavior. Even the very ground she was on started to break apart, not even the dirt below her feet was spared against the threads. It sliced the ground beneath her feet so thinly that it turned to specks of dust.
Sval didn’t respond to her. He was currently charging up an attack that would completely blow away her barrier for protection for a brief moment. Although it would quickly reform back, it was all he needed to get in and handle her. As for now, he was just trying to close through the almost non-existent gaps.
“It’s still not too late to join us, Sval. I would suggest thinking about it. A lot of nobodies have tried to show up this early on but the wave of true geniuses is coming soon enough. You won’t be able to hold your ground against them.” Amelia sternly warned him. “Even I, won’t be able to hold a candle towards them.”
Sval had heard all about this from Miyamoto. From his words, the true era of geniuses was coming soon but the when wasn’t exactly stated. Right now, humanity was at its weakest, those who formed their organizations and would manage to tide through the waves of rising stars would be able to hold their own at the very least.
Even right now, Sval knew that there were people in hiding who were well beyond the common sense of the current world. These people were the guild master of Epitome, no one had figured what his identity was, and the only thing people knew was that he was a force that could rival everyone single-handedly.
Another person that this applied to was the newly arrived swordsman, Nensho Miyamoto. From half his pressure alone, he could already force Sval to submit without even being able to fight back. Even this person alluded to the fact that there would be even greater monstrosities coming soon, even greater than him.
And lastly, the most hidden one, the previous owner of the Lower Rank 10 sword. Waves were sent throughout the entire world when this was announced. The oddest part was that their spies tried to locate the store only to find nothing there. It was as if it disappeared all of a sudden. The hidden dangers lurking within the world were even more terrifying than the dangers he knew of. This first era was nothing more than a small taste of what the future held. Conflicts that would reach catastrophic levels were soon bound to come.
This was in addition to the Secret Pavilion which had managed to construct a liveable city without any sort of conflict. Either their ability to govern was near god-like or their strength was just that much more terrifying. A place that could shield its residents from any danger was already heaven as far as he was concerned. The Mistress of the Pavilion was a woman of great mystery. He had once tried to meet with her yet he was actually disregarded.
“Amelia, this has nothing to do with us being swept away by other prodigies. This conflict has arisen from your greed. Tell me, is the threat of an invasion even real?” Sval saw that Amelia was being a little more liberal with her words so he wanted to stall for even more time.
Sval’s words forced him to be slightly distracted, letting a few threads nick on his skin, leaving paper-thin lines on his skin. Sval’s body was starting to look bloody.
“Well, since you asked, I feel obligated to answer. Yes, the threat is real yet not as terrifying as I made it out to be. I have already figured out the strength of the invaders and it hovers around Rank 9 with their greatest asset being Peak Rank 10.” Amelia truthfully answered. “A little troublesome but nothing our organization couldn’t handle.”
Amelia’s eyes finally narrowed, “Their strength wouldn’t change anytime soon. Unlike us.”
Sval understood what Amelia meant by that, “Haha, so you’re telling me, we’re unique? Are we the only people who had their strengths limited? What kind of joke is this?”
“Not a very funny one, I’m afraid. Oh, you should focus on dodging more, dear.” Amelia pointed out to Sval’s already bloodied body. Even Sval’s hair had already been cut, showing off his burly muscles even more. His towering body, dodging to such a precise point was truly a sight to see. Despite his ever-increasing wounds, his ferocity was only rising. A wounded animal would only fight even harder.
Sval gritted his teeth and roared, “What are you even up to? Your organization?” As Sval was nearing his limit, the distance between Amelia and Sval lowered ever more slightly. It was getting more and more dangerous now as these razor-sharp lines were becoming more and more unpredictable.
This formation was similar to a typhoon, a raging tornado. The closer he got, the greater the danger was. He was far too deep, if he tried to go back then he would only meet his doom. He has no other choice but to keep traveling deeper.
“I’ve been waiting for you to ask that. See… oh, I forgot, sir, I’m afraid I can’t let outsiders know about this. Goodbye.” Amelia was about to speak when she finally took into account Miyamoto casually watching from the distance.
Amelia sent a few threads that coiled upon each other and sped through the air very quickly. Miyamoto looked at these threads rushing at breakneck speed toward him and sighed.
“I don’t even need my sword for this one.” Miyamoto continued looking in front of him as the countless threads immediately tried to strike him. As one coiled segment of Amelia’s attack finally entered a meter in front of Miyamoto, it suddenly uncoiled and was sent to the side.
Amelia’s stream of attacks couldn’t penetrate a meter around Miyamoto, no matter how much strength or speed was behind her attacks, it still couldn’t push through. Amelia felt a little baffled at this, her threads seemed as if they were being cut away at every moment, unable to form together.
“The most elementary forms of Sword Intent could already do this much, I wonder how great my power would be once I regain half my peak.” Miyamoto unsheathed his cracked sword by half, this motion was enough to cut through Amelia’s attacks rendering her completely powerless.
His attack was so sharp that it even went above and beyond and cut through the entire lines of thread, even going straight toward Amelia. She saw this seemingly unstoppable rapidly approaching attack and reacted accordingly. Her threads recombined from outside the tornado into a cocoon. The treads coiled and coiled amongst each other, trying to form the possible defense she could from such an attack.
She had prepared for as much as she could yet to no avail. Miyamoto’s attack completely shredded everything like butter. The silk cocoon that she had formed wasn’t able to slow it down. His attack passed through, cutting Amelia’s head clean off.
As the silk cocoon no longer had Amelia’s mana running through them, they all immediately fell apart, softly flowing down as her body meaninglessly crumpled.
Sval immediately looked at Miyamoto and shouted, “You said you weren’t going to interfere!”
“I said that yes.” Miyamoto’s expression didn’t change as he spoke. “She attacked me once so I returned the favor in kind.”
“You think I’ll be grateful for that?” Sval felt slighted. Although he lived through this, everything that had been set up was completely abolished by another party.
“You should look back at her before complaining.” Miyamoto wasn’t bothered at all. He had already seen through the truth.
Sval felt something ominous from behind him. A power that he felt no mortal should ever wield. This was something that the very foundation of the world shouldn’t be able to contain yet it did.
From Amelia’s headless corpse, a dark and ominous power came from a piece of ornament in her pocket. This ornamental pin cracked and shattered, releasing power beyond what any normal person could unleash. The power vested within it surged out and reattached Amelia’s head back onto her body.
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She was resurrected. Amelia took in heavy breaths and touched her body to see if it truly was her. The feeling of death felt so cold. The effects of the revival made her mentally vulnerable. The flurry of threads tearing Sval apart stopped for a brief moment as she recovered.
“She… was resurrected?!” Sval’s complete understanding of everything was thrown out the window. This was going against the fundamental core of everything.
“Don’t be too surprised. She didn’t die. What you just saw was making it so that my attack never happened. A neat trick but nothing impressive. It only works within an extremely short period of time and the mana required to perform it is far too high for the results.” Miyamoto scoffed. From the looks of it, this form of self-preservation was far too disgustingly expensive.
“You wanted to deal with her right? Well, you should do it fast. Something’s coming.” Miyamoto returned to his silence. He felt the same terrifying power that had created this obscenely overpowered protection rush in.
Sval immediately took this opportunity to rush in.
Amelia, who had previously acted completely calm and composed finally showed some genuine emotion. “Sval! Stop it! I don’t want to fight you anymore!” Her proud and confident look suddenly turned to one of fear.
She had been completely relying on her charm to prevent her death. It was initially supposed to save her, letting her act out a little bit more confidently.
Sval completely ignored her words, this was the opportunity he was waiting for. The mana that he had been charging up this entire time was finally showing its power.
Lighting cracked and the already dusty ground shattered. The sheer power behind his strike was enough to bend space. Seeing such an ominous attack finally get unleashed in front of her, Amelia tried to recover as much defense as she initially had.
“Keep your method! I don’t want it anymore!” Amelia’s voice was filled with anxiety and panic. She still has her previous strength yet due to her mind being unable to handle the stakes of the situation she could only showcase 80% of her prowess.
Seeing such a terrifying strike finally finish up, Amelia formed her silk cocoon once more. The strength behind them was a little weaker than usual but it was genuinely still a sturdy defense.
“Overcharged Point.”
Sval’s golden hair reverted back to its initial color as everything he had built up was now finally being channeled into this one point. It wasn’t difficult to land his attack now that Amelia had curled up into a ball. He rushed in and his fist finally made contact.
As the epicenter of the blast, Amelia was taking on the full brunt of Sval’s ultimate attack. He had been building up as much power as he could for this one moment and it did not disappoint.
Amelia’s cocoon made out of numerous densely thick threads was getting unbounded one by one, the pure raw strength behind his attack even forced the skies to open up. There wasn’t a single cloud to be seen for kilometers all around him.
Even Miyamoto had to face Sval’s lingering attack, “Passable.” Miyamoto unleashed a tenth of his cracked sword which was enough to handle the aftermath of Sval’s attack. “It should be much stronger in the epicenter.
Luckily for Amelia, Sval’s attack wasn’t as condensed as Miyamoto’s letting her handle the brunt of it much easier. Although her defenses were starting to fall apart, she kept creating more and more threads from within to continually reinforce her defense.
As for Sval, he was edging closer and closer to finally reaching Amelia. This feud that she started would finally be finished. Though he needed to push through even harder, his attack was starting to run out of steam.
“Power through! Break!” Sval roared at the very top of his lungs and pushed through. He was forcing his body to its further limits, hoping that this would be the strike that would end it all.
Sval’s will and determination to end this finally bore some fruit. Amelia’s cocoon, which had been bearing with such tremendous force finally showed some signs of breaking apart. The once sturdy outer shell was now all gone and the inner shell hadn’t been solidified enough with mana was broken apart.
Amelia from the darkness inside finally saw a fiery red light that aimed to take her life. With nothing else to her name, she redirected the still sturdy threads she had left and covered her arm. Using this, as her last form of defense, she met Sval’s fist with her own.
Gritting her teeth in the realization that she wouldn’t be able to survive this, she opted to pierce her very own arm with her threads, pushing through and piercing through her tendons further solidifying her arm’s strength to the very limits.
As for Sval, his attack was slowly losing the mana that was once powering it. Right now, it was nothing more than the last flight before finally disappearing.
“Argh!” Amelia’s face was contorted in pain. Even though she felt as such, she could tell that she was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. If she continued to sacrifice her arm, she would be able to live through this.
Sval also realized this point. If she could survive this then he wouldn’t be able to gather enough mana to break through any further resulting in his loss. He had pushed in all his mana as a Peak Rank 8, it was no joke that this kind of power was earth-shattering, almost nearing the power of a Lower Rank 9.
Now it all lay in this, will Sval’s Overcharged Point break through Amelia’s defenses or will Amelia push through and survive, turning the tables in an instant?
Both Sval and Amelia could already see who was going to win and it was undoubtedly… Sval. He just had barely enough power to break Amelia’s hand and completely ruin her body. His entire mana pool was that much greater than Amelia’s. If Amelia had consumed one more person, then the outcome might’ve been her victory. Unfortunately, her disregard for human life caused her downfall.
Amelia’s arm was broken, filled with numerous holds where threads were coming out of them. Her body was completely bruised and tattered, she was missing her other arm and another leg. The previously self-proclaimed master of the strongest guild was now left on the ground, beaten like a dog.
Amelia coughed out blood, her internal organs were essentially pulp, her lungs were pierced through with shattered bone and her heart was slowly pumping out less and less blood each time. Her brain was starting to shut down as she looked at Sval one last time.
“Hah… hah…” Amelia was on her last breath.
“It’s my victory.” Sval’s body was still doing quite well as he had only suffered flesh wounds, nothing serious. “If you didn’t let me stall then I wouldn’t have won. It’s your loss.”
“You think… you were the only person… stalling?” Amelia could feel her master’s ever-omnipotent power. “Master, you are finally here…”
A woman wearing a maid dress with a slave mark on her cheek showed up. Seeing the current situation unfold, she threw a dagger aiming to take Sval’s life away. Such speed wasn’t something that Sval could react to, hell, he didn’t even notice it. The disparity between them was like heaven and earth.
Before that dagger pierced Sval’s heart, another force attacked the dagger, deflecting it just in time before Sval’s life was taken away. Sval only reacted when the dagger’s trajectory was no longer his heart. He felt shivers get sent straight down his spine as he finally realized how close to death he had been.
The maid threw even more daggers, causing Miyamoto to cut in, deflecting all her attacks and pulling Sval away.
“Drink this.” The maid took out a red potion and made Amelia drink it. This mystical potion rejuvenated all her missing limbs and body, returning her vitality right back. All her organs were back to normal and all the injuries on her body disappeared.
“Master… I failed you.”
“Let’s talk back at home. I need to deal with this first.” The maid rose back up and confronted Miyamoto and Sval.
“I’m Slave Maid, it seems as if we have intruded on another expert’s territory and as my own master has decreed, we would like to compensate you for the trouble. See, my master, doesn’t want any conflicts with other talents like himself. Name a price and we will try to accommodate it.”
“Slave Maid? What kind of name is that?” Miyamoto noticed that there was a slave mark on this female’s face. Although he had seen countless slave marks before, the kind before him was something he understood as a class of its own. Such an intricate and powerful seal could only mean that this person had strength equal to or more than himself. And just like himself, this person's abilities were similarly sealed. As for their full power, Miyamoto could only guess.
If he's just as strong as me then this is going to be a really big problem.
“As per my master’s instructions, I should treat other talents like himself the same as I would to him. Seeing as you are revolted by such a name personally bestowed to me by my master, I was called Dolores before. You may refer to me as such.” Dolores was completely emotionless, dealing with such a situation as if there was nothing wrong with it.
“Dolores… why did you interfere with their fight?” Miyamoto wanted to see through the bottom of this.
“I was motivated by saving one of my own people. Would this answer suffice?” Dolores continued with her emotionless expression and tone. Completely mechanical.
Miyamoto was lost, he didn’t know how to proceed anymore. “Let’s leave it at this.”
“As you wish. Amelia, you need more training. To lose to someone you shouldn’t have is unbecoming.”
“... Yes, master.” Amelia bit her lip which caused a drop of blood to form.
“That's it? You caused that much trouble and that’s it?! You aren’t getting away just like that!” Sval had put in so much effort only to be denied the satisfaction of finishing her off.
“It seems as if one of your people isn’t satisfied with the current resolution. I may hold my people close to my heart but if you do wish, I could execute her on the spot.” Dolores cold-heartedly gave the alternative. “As an apology for intruding on your territory. In addition to the compensation we promise you.”
Before Dolores hadn’t noticed Miyamoto’s presence at all, leading her to try and save Amelia. Now that Miyamoto’s identity as a talent equal to her master was revealed, she would be willing to give up one of her people to appease such a monster. That was how terrifying they truly were.
“No! I want to end her myself!” Sval’s pride wouldn’t let this go at all. He needed to finish this war. Not for protecting himself nor for the future of his guild but for his desire to finish the job.
“I don’t see why not. Sir, do you agree? It may be unfair that Amelia’s fully recovered and your man barely has mana left.” Dolores acted as if this didn’t concern her at all. Despite her life being treated as if it were nothing, Amelia kept quiet and awaited her fate.
“Well, Sval do you…” As Miyamoto’s words slowly turned to a halt, a sudden young girl appeared before Sval.
“Hello there, I’m just a humble merchant selling my wares, would you like to purchase my sword?” A little girl no older than twelve showed up with a sword in her hands. “You see, you’re in quite a predicament and I’m in quite a predicament, would you help a little girl out?”
“What is… going on? Miyamoto? … Amelia?” Sval was completely confused as the three people in front of him stood still. It was as if their time was frozen yet the winds that brushed against his skin and the audible scorching ground showed that time didn’t stop.
Even more questionable was that a girl so young that she looked innocent suddenly appeared in front of him trying to sell a sword.
“I’ll cut to the chase, buy my sword.” Helena pointed at the sword in her hand. “How much are you willing to offer?”