Free Web NovelThings had already slipped toward the edge of chaos. Tonight, Rania was the purest warrior—casting aside all distractions and the pain of her body, thinking only of how to defeat this foul-mouthed wretch before her.
Her teacher was the greatest teacher in the world!
No matter who you are—you may insult me, but you can never insult my teacher!
Her whole body was strung tight like a bow. Rania had not been this angry, this focused in battle, for a very long time. In her hands, Zilan seemed to extend her very being, carrying the [manifestation of authority], unleashing attacks with unstoppable momentum.
This time!
Rania abandoned all defense, ignored her injuries, overtaxed her body’s potential to the extreme, driving her attack power to its limits! It was a strategy of harming the enemy by eight hundred while injuring herself by a thousand.
The determination in her violet eyes even shocked the Arbitration Knights, men hardened by years of fighting monsters and humans alike on the frontlines.
They were not fools. They could see the Violet Hero was at a disadvantage before this mysterious girl—nearly all her attacks were blocked, made meaningless, while the other carried herself with the calm ease of a stroll through a courtyard.
Such a situation could only arise when the gap in strength was vast.
And yet the girl...
“...Only Level 66.” Vieya’s stance remained loose, while sweat gathered faintly on Rania’s brow—yet her onslaught showed no sign of slowing.
Hua Shiyu and the judges exchanged glances. They could not stop this battle. They could only wait until one side collapsed or lost the ability to move.
Rania’s swings grew faster, faster still!
If one slash a second was not enough, then a hundred slashes a second! A thousand! Ten thousand! Faster! Ever faster!
A faint violet glow radiated from her whole body, her movements flashing like a storm of violet meteors.
It was hard to imagine that the pale hands once meant only for pen and paper could now, in fury reckless and absolute, wield this hideous scythe that had already slain thousands of monsters.
“Foolish.”
At the storm’s center, Vieya spat out the word. Her green eyes held a faint trace of mockery. None present had expected such a crude insult to come from this powerful, mysterious girl’s lips. freewebnσvel.cѳm
“I still remember the first time I saw you—heh, I wanted to laugh. Even the monsters on the outskirts of the Monster Forest could wound you Heroes and send you back in defeat. Are today’s Heroes truly so weak? Or did you climb into the Hero’s seat only by clinging to the afterglow of that First Hero, who died without leaving even ashes behind?”
Vieya could curse herself without the slightest restraint.
Since you walk the path of Hero, then be prepared for it!
Vieya would rather crush her now, break her spirit, send her limping back to the Royal Capital in despair—than one day stumble upon her bleached bones in some Demon King’s lair.
The clash of blades rang across the entire mountain peak.
Breath! Slash!
Rania and Vieya brushed past each other, Zilan sweeping low in a diving strike. Of all present, only Vieya truly saw that cut.
Rania unleashed a strike beyond her limits—compressing the force of an ocean’s assault into a single point! The ultimate single-target strike!
The Arbitration Knights all staggered back, clutching their ringing ears. The hard white stone tiles of the ground shattered under the violent gale, as countless layers of [Rend] suddenly erupted! Vieya did not dodge, but swung her knight’s sword in the same posture—even fiercer, even leaving the sense she still held back.
A terrifying shockwave burst from the collision point. Far behind the others, Hua Shiyu hastily pressed down her skirt, her young face full of helpless frustration.
“Has word gone out yet? Don’t tell me our transmission’s been disrupted again!”
“It has,” muttered the judge, steadying his nearly blown-off hat. “They came prepared. The plan was tight from the start. First luring the Hero girl to infiltrate the Tribunal, then hypnotizing you into opening the All-Seeing Eye’s replica vault, finally using the Eye itself to jam our communication...”
“Is this all the resolve you have?” Vieya’s tone was cold, like someone who had gutted fish in a market for ten years. To be honest, even she was surprised at how naturally she could scold someone:
“Is this all the resolve you have!!”
Utter humiliation...
Rania bit down, her once-red lips turning pale, her hands on Zilan beginning to tremble.
After all this, after pushing herself so far, she still could not even wound her opponent?
Every cell of her body screamed from overexertion. Pain flooded her nerves from every corner.
But she forced it down. Even her nerves throbbed with agony. This was the second time she regretted—regretted not working harder, not striving more.
The first time had been three years ago, that afternoon.
Rania hated remembering that day. The same weakness, the same struggle, the same pain.
When the Hero Squad, carrying the hopes of all, returned in crushing defeat from the Demon King campaign—the captain and vice-captain missing, the other five members battered and wan, their faces gray with despair.
The entire Human Alliance Army faltered, losing ground after ground against the monsters...
She had been afraid. She had hidden. She had not dared go to that great-ancestor in the palace, the Sword Saint, because she knew that other than her teacher, he refused to see almost anyone.
Especially her—a remnant of the northern clan that once worshipped the “Demon King of Ice and Fire.”
Her teacher had pulled her back from starving in the streets, had wanted to teach her swordsmanship... Yet she had always missed the chance, always fled, always regretted.
Again and again.
Each time, pain passed, time and fleeting peace dulled her senses, made her want to rest, to slow down, to forget.
“Sigh, if you really do not care for this, then don’t train. Go do what you like. Everyone walks a different road. It’s only a pity, the swordsmanship I worked so hard to learn...”
“Ehehe, teacher, you’re the best!” The memory always ended that way.
Heart-piercing. Over and over, through these years, the memory scalded her into trembling.
People think time heals all wounds. They never realize...
Time itself is the wound.
“I do not despise the weak. I despise trash. Especially trash who has been blessed.” Vieya sneered down at her.
“You want to grow strong? Then stand up. I am right here before you. Come, defeat me!”
In her daze, the hooded girl before Rania overlapped with her teacher’s shadow in memory—different times, but the same words:
“You want to grow strong? Then stand up. I am right here before you. Come, defeat me!”
Is it true? Stand up... can standing up really make me stronger? Teacher, if back then I had worked harder, been stronger... could I have helped you even a little? It hurts... it hurts so much. If I do not stand, there is no chance. If I stand, can I truly grow strong?
[Authority Sublimation!
—Sixth Stage: Damage!!
—Seventh Stage: Destruction!!!]
Rania’s fading aura suddenly flared. The Hero’s Seal burned like an undying ember, awakening the raging tiger within! In an instant, her aura leapt from the Fifth Stage past the Sixth, surging into the Seventh!
Level: 700!
And still climbing!!
The heavy scythe once more rose like a dragon. Rania grasped Zilan in both hands, drawing a magnificent violet arc through the night sky.
So dazzling it seemed to split the heavens in two, power vast enough to cross the ages and pour down from the firmament!
Slash!
In that moment, Rania unleashed a blow close to the Ninth Stage!
That violet arc across the sky shone so bright it could be seen from Fengxiang Town hundreds of li away.
A trace of relief flickered in Vieya’s eyes—then vanished. She stepped in close, and with the shattered knight’s sword, drove the wooden hilt forward like an elbow strike.
The blow struck Rania’s chest. She collapsed in a daze.
“Idiot.” Vieya muttered softly.
