Almond stood as he leisurely held the Heavy Sword with one hand.
As the countdown hit zero, both of them were ready with their preparation.
Almond, with his Lightning-style Body Enfold and lightning-style Weapon Enfold. He didn’t use Fortification and also suppressed his stats to the same level as Kira after measuring her with his Riftveil Eyes.
‘I am ready to explore the sword more and get inspired,’ Almond’s eyes glinted, clearly thrilled to observe Kira’s moves and swordplay up close, especially the Sword Bending Motion.
Kira acted fast, with her Weapon Enfold, Body Enfold, and Fortification in Water-style activated as a beautiful yet deadly watery aura shaped around her.
She used Sword Bending Motion right off the bat and unleashed five sword slash projectiles from her Katana, all slashes being her attack-type class skill boosted by another class skill. This was clearly her strongest attack so far with such a breakneck speed.
Kira was going all out right from the start!
But Almond waved his heavy sword, crackling with lightning only once with such a timing that all five slashes, which were a minor distance apart from each other and coming with sly trajectories, struck his heavy sword’s blade during that single swing and nullified each of them.
Kira’s eyes sparkled, and so did a few other figures watching the fight.
Silvester literally jumped, “That brat countered multiple attacks released through Sword Bending Motion just like that?”
Rudra chuckled, “I am not impressed by this anymore after I sparred with him several days ago.”
Almond walked towards Kira with his sword resting on his shoulder, “Continue your attack.”
‘That sword bending motion is a powerful skill. If I can learn it…’ Almond’s eyes glinted, his entire focus had shifted and aligned with a goal.
Kira’s figure blurred as she dashed at Almond with a watery stream around her and Katana’s blade vibrating with water coating.
*Swoosh!*
Stopping exactly 2 meters away from Almond, her Katana swung in her Crescent Moon stance.
The katana’s tip was aimed such that it would slash at his throat precisely, only 1 centimeter of its tip, and that was enough to unleash her skill through it and deal powerful damage.
Alas, Almond’s sword blocked it.
But it was just a start.
Kira’s hand motion flowed as if guided by a powerful force.
A second slash, from left to right, and then immediately and instantly, a third slash formed as her hand moved from right to left at unnatural speed.
Almond’s eyes glinted, ‘A pre-decided trajectory created by mana…’
Meanwhile, to her attack response, Almond simply waved and held his sword vertically while moving back slightly, perfectly parrying Kira’s dual attacks.
But Almond knew that wasn’t all. Kira’s first attack displayed her current mastery of Sword Bending Motion as she had woven her hand at unnatural speed five times in one second.
Kira moved back and slashed horizontally at the area before a wave of water formed and burst toward Almond and prepared for a powerful attack as her eyes glinted.
‘Six bending motion.’
Almond was unbothered by the wave as he held his ground and discharged lightning to blast away water from himself.
His eyes were only focused on Kira’s movement and her aura, his advanced Focus Field observing the Mana’s movement.
Since he had reached Stage 2 of Focus Field faster, thanks to his high stats in Perception and Focus, he could now clearly observe one’s Mana flow, inside and outside, aside from the increased range of his field and efficient consumption.
He could do one more thing at stage 2, but that wasn’t required here.
Almond saw a flow of mana in a zig-zag pattern around Kira’s hands as her sword and hand bent, following the zig-zag patterns within a single second and unleashing six slashes with minor differences.
Kira’s eyes flashed a hint of pain, but that was overshadowed by her thrill.
The six slashes glowed powerfully with cutting water edge, striking towards Almond right after he discharged lightning to keep his ground and keep away water’s force.
Almond’s eyes flashed a hint of a smile, ‘Well, I should show the heavy sword’s swordplay, too.’
He had already held the sword with its blade’s wide flat part facing Kira and swung it in a timely manner as her six slashes were about to strike him.
Almond’s thought process was exactly two seconds faster than whatever physical movement he could observe with his eyes and Focus Field.
So he could prepare two seconds ‘ahead’ in a sense, as long as he could form a prediction of incoming attack by seeing through the attack.
Despite his suppressed stats to make things interesting, Almond had seen through her attack and displayed the power of his heavy sword as he swung it hard, generating a wider physical force that he enriched with lightning energy by using Mana.
Kira’s six swings and six slashes…were entirely destroyed by a single swing of his heavy sword, which also pushed Kira away as she had to quickly dodge due to lightning crackling at her with Almond’s intentions.
‘His lightning elemental mastery is high! Higher than my A-rank water!’ Kira’s pupils shrank. She could recognize that because she couldn’t make a similar elemental application with her water element that Almond just did because she lacked that level of control over water!
“Golden lightning! Almond’s elemental mastery over lightning is not only high, but he also has a variant, and he is holding his own in swordplay against the heir of the Ryugiri clan! Mindblowing!”
“Let’s continue,” Almond said, his eyes eager. He wanted to see Sword Bending Motion one more clearly.
Kira’s aura surged as she consumed half of her remaining Mana to make her Katana more powerful before dashing at Almond again.
Almond saw a similar mana flow appearing around her hands and knew it was coming.
‘This is my last chance…I am going all out!’
Stopping two meters away from Almond again in her Crescent Moon stance, Kira slashed her sword glittering with water element as she used an attack that combined her attack-type class skill—Splitting Water Slash (S), and an attack technique using her Sword Bending Motion.
Crescent Moons of Deep Blue!
Kira swung her sword four times, but these four times were executed most powerfully as her slash projectiles formed a visual of two crescent moons facing each other as if they peeled from her katana, while her katana’s tip aimed in such a way that if it struck him, it would slash off both of his arms and head from his neck.
This was a deadly two-fold attack. Her Katana physically attacked Almond while the act of her swinging katana and using a technique in tandem with her skill masterfully executed that projectile attack as well.
A super-fast two-pronged attack!
The experts watching were highly impressed as they watched this deadly sword art.
‘You really learn awesome things by observing others,’ Almond was internally grinning from ear to ear, his hand already in a swinging motion.
Mana flowed around his hand and accelerated, forcefully bending his hand that was already at maximum physically exerted speed to go even faster, beyond the limit of what was possible—Sword Bending Motion: Two Bendings!
Left to right and right to left immediately while Almond felt a crack in his bones.
The first swing left to right deflected Kira’s melee katana attack.
The second swing, surging with lightning, destroyed the Crescent Moons of Deep Blue in an intense clash.
Kira was thrown away due to the impact brought by heavy swords two slashes, while Almond was also pushed back slightly.
‘Fuck,’ Almond quickly used Mana to fix his bones temporarily.
*Beep*
Kira’s badge rang because Almond’s attack also aimed lightning tendrils traveling through the air that struck Kira when Almond swung his sword, and he had infused considerable Mana for that lightning, which destroyed Kira’s Fortification and damaged her enough that the badge rang after absorbing its damage.
“You…” Kira swiftly got up, her eyes glinting as she Magic Whispered, ‘Did you just use Sword Bending Motion?’
‘I did, but I missed a step or two, I guess,’ Almond chuckled. ‘But I am inspired. I’ll have to research properly later because I have an idea to create a skill.’
“And he freaking did it! He defeated Kira the Crescent Stormblade with his sword alone! Whaatttt!”
The audience went bonkers, and Gelato only boosted the hype.
“HOLY HELL!”
“What the fuck is wrong with him?! Aren’t summoners supposed to be weak in combat?!”
“That’s only in the video games, dumbahh!”
“Who can defeat this, bro?! No one!”
“I am a fan now! This guy is invincible in silver rank!”
‘Hey, Almond, tell me your class names already, and I might give you a new title,’ Gelato asked while grinning.
‘Spirit Dealer and Riftveil Grimblade.’
‘I must say, lad, you are quite talented. Better keep this up and catch up to us, hahaha.’
“Now, without further ado, we shall start the final match of Almond the Grimblade Overlord! If he wins this match, the throne of strongest silver-rank shall belong to him!”
“Against him is Lily the Dreadspire Harbinger, who is no less intimidating than her opponent! Both of them have won every match against others so far, so it is time to decide the champion of this tournament!”
“Are you ready?!”
The audience broke out in huge cheers for both of them as Gelato announced the start of the match after giving Almond a pill to recover his Mana and Stamina.
Lily grinned. “Let’s have some fun, darling~”
“As you wish, my lady,” Almond smiled.
The uproar increased even more as their exchange was visible to everyone!
“Damn, are they dating or what?!”
“No way, right?!”
“All hail the perfect couple!”
“So I don’t have a chance to become Almond’s girlfriend?”
“Pff…quit dreaming.”
Gelato laughed and said, “Let us witness the battle between the couple before their breakup!”
Lily and Almond looked at Gelato.
“Eh, I’m just joking. Don’t look at me like that. Look, the countdown is at zero!”