“I’ll admit, it was wrong of me to try and get you to reconsider the spar. Lords, I would have been disappointed if I knew that I’d miss out on this.” Clyde pulled his weapon back.

Syllis didn’t respond, not wanting to break her concentration. She could tell from the weight of his strike that this wasn’t a sheltered noble, he had fought before, and a lot. ‘I wonder how much of the blood staining this dirt is his own?’

Syllis was passive, she was trying to get a sense of how exactly the boy attacked. This was so that she could make accurate assumptions over what his next move would be, a primitive type of foresight.

It had been a while since Syllis was enrolled in school, which had the beloved combat classes she adored. No one matched her with the partisan or any other weapon really, it was her favorite time of day. When she left school, that class was also left behind. Her skill had deteriorated so this primitive foresight was necessary.

The boy seemed to be doing the same thing. He only threw out plain swings of his wooden sword to see what the nymph would do. Apparently, he had grown aware of the threat that she possessed after seeing her bond.

‘I guess I should have thrown out something more lethal earlier… But what would I tell his parents if he fell over lifelessly? I guess I can go ahead now that I know his limits.’

The fight changed qualitatively. The information phase was over. Both combatants had learned the nuances of their opponents' bond. It was time for things to really ramp up.

Syllis leapt forward, the air around her grew cooler. Even her breath left a faint, misty wisp that shortly dissipated. She thrust her partisan forward, aimed at the boy’s knee. “Let me ask you a question, Clyde.” She said before narrowly dodging a slash towards her shoulder.

“Go ahead.” Clyde did a low sweep with his leg, knocking Syllis down. He dashed forward as a sheet of ice rose between them. He collided with the wall and rolled back.

“You have Anathemic doctors right?” Syllis questioned. She urgently needed to know whether or not to be careful in winning the spar. If he didn’t have an Anathemic doctor then she would likely need to win by rendering him unable to move.

‘That would be… Problematic.’ It would require incredibly precise control over her ice to achieve and that wasn’t exactly realistic. Her bond wasn't the easiest thing to manipulate.

This was exactly why she hadn’t manifested a weapon. It would be near impossible for her to shape a spear of exactly the right shape already. Add needing to get the density consistent enough for the center of gravity to sit in the right location, along with the need for it to be strong enough to endure clashes against flesh and bone…

“Of course we have Anathemic doctors. Those kinds of fables are common.” Clyde leapt forward and thrust his longsword towards the girl, aiming for her abdomen. His speed increased twofold what it had been until now.

Syllis’ eyes widened as she saw the blade move. She could only fall to avoid it. Her entire being fell backwards, colliding with the wry ground. She groaned in pain and looked up at Clyde, whose momentum was still propelling him forward.

She latched onto his boot, pulling his leg backwards which brought him to a halt. He yelled, as his body collided against the ground.

With the boy so close, Syllis seemed to fully grasp his invocation. Her gaze would be thrown away faster the more of her view that Clyde occupied. When he fell so close to her, the girl’s head was thrown the other way.

‘What a vile bond…’ Syllis muttered inwardly as she rose several pillars of ice to separate the two of them. She then swung around the side one such pillar and caught a glimpse of Clyde who had already covered before her sight was thrown away.

Syllis threw a sharp thrust towards her opponent, threatening to disembowel him. He knocked the cold spear away before attempting to rise. Both of his feet were caught by cold shackles of ice. He only looked up at Syllis as she looked beyond, getting ready to pierce his abdomen.

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Then, in the center of her vision stood Clyde. Her vision was again thrown to the side and Syllis looked back at the shackled Clyde, he had stopped moving but was very much still there.

“What kind of ‘god’ gave you such an odd bond? How strong was your Anathema?” Syllis questioned the man as he lunged towards her. She couldn’t fathom how his bond had such a strong secondary component. She figured that his Anathema must have been especially powerful and required an incredibly complex ritual to transfigure.

“I don’t know.” The man replied simply, his serrated wooden sword easily cut through Syllis’ left side. Crimson liquid quickly seeped into her clothing and began dripping onto the thirsty dirt.

“Forgive me for underestimating you, Clyde.” Syllis hadn’t anticipated this boy to have such an interesting and powerful bond. Though it didn’t have much in the way of direct damage, it could very much be used to overcome those who did, such as Syllis herself.

‘I guess it’s time for blood to spill.’ Syllis held her hand against the wounded flesh at her side and quickly cooled the skin, slowing the flow of blood and tightening the wound. She dodged several of Clyde’s swings and deflected several more using pillars of ice. Then, she kicked, throwing the boy onto his back.

After her gaze was thrown away, Syllis would have a hard time looking towards where Clyde was. This helped her know where he was without seeing him. With a spear, hitting an opponent you only knew the general area of would be difficult but with something as big as a boot, then it was easy.

Next, Syllis dashed backwards, creating a dozen meters of space before Clyde could rise to his feet again. She steeled her nerves as a giant spear of ice manifested in her hand.

If a weapon needed precise control and precision to be usable for an extended period of time then why had she made one now? A weapon didn’t need to be precise if it was only to be used one time.

Waves of ice rushed towards her from behind, throwing the light girl forward across the icy floor with incredible speed. Then, she threw the javelin forward at full force towards the boy who stared forward at a loss for words.

‘An afterimage…’ Syllis spun, waves of ice crashed to her right to stop the man from approaching, then she rushed towards him. She kicked his hand and thrust her spear towards it, fusing it to the ground. Clyde screamed and Syllis’ gaze was able to shift back towards the ground fused man.

She spun again and punched the boy with an ice clad fist just as his sword grazed her cheek. Neither of them had an opportunity to scream as they continued moving.

Syllis caged the boy in a chamber of ice and turned to look. ‘An afterimage.’ She remarked before the image punched her chest. ‘What?’ her mind worked overtime to figure out what just happened.

Clyde had hid behind the afterimage to let Syllis look at him, then he had punched threw it to throw her off. ‘What a snakelike way to fight.’

“You want to fight dirty Clyde? Let’s do it.” Syllis rose a beam of ice from the ground to separate them once again. ‘I can play dirty too.’

Several dozen minuscule shards manifested in the air. Clyde soon made his way around the wall of ice and was met with that horrific sight. A few shards shot forward and dug into his shoulders.

This distraction had let Syllis jab her partisan into his shoulder. He cried out and slashed her thigh before kicking her stomach. Syllis wasn’t just an opponent now, her mastery over this powerful bond… It was safe to say she was a real threat to the man in front of her.

Syllis yelled out in pain and grabbed the boy’s shirt as she stumbled backwards. “Huh?” Her hand fell through the body as though there was nothing there.

An ice cold sensation felt terrifying against the back of her throat. Her mouth took solemn breaths as she spoke. “I concede.”

The sudden sound of a shard of ice shattered against the ground. Clyde then swung around the side of her. With his Anathemic bond deactivated, Syllis could look at the battered man freely.

It seemed her savagery had inflicted much more damage onto him than his attacks against her. Although in the end, he had done her in with that cunning bond of his and a familiar shard of ice. The fact that he had done her in with a shard of her very own bond felt infuriating. But there was no refuting it, Clyde had won this spar.

“Thank you for the good fight.” Clyde spoke happily, he held a hand out towards the secare nymph. It was like his horrifying bond had never been invoked and the spar didn’t even occur to him.

That stark contrast was scary to Syllis who begrudgingly grabbed his hand. “Thank you for the good fight…” She muttered before looking around.

It seemed that they were pretty loud. Loud enough to attract a whole slew of spectators. Neither of them had noticed during the spar but several maids and butlers were watching their spectacle of a fight unfold, as well as several others.

The entire area remained silent for a few moments as Syllis and Clyde looked towards each other and then back to the crowd that looked onward from the raised seats.

Suddenly, cheers erupted from the various spectators.