Crimson Nimrim Temple
Two individuals stood apart from each other. It was Sapphira and Asher standing on the lofty peak of the mountain with the town way below them. No Temple Knight could be found around them as Sapphira sent them away.
Only maids were there with towels.
“Are you sure about this?” Sapphira asked Asher, who held Euodias.
“I am. I want to test my skills against highly skilled swordsman like you. You must have trained for decades.”
“I have.”
Sapphira unsheathed her sword and pointed it at him. “Ready when you are.”
Asher smiled. “Come then.”
Swoosh!
The gap vanished instantly as both of them clashed in the middle of the yellow rocky ground, causing dust to blast outward. This made the maids cover their nostrils while some coughed.
Clang! Clang!
Sparks could be seen in the dust, along with flickers of white and black. Asher wore black tunic with black pants, while Sapphira was garbed in white.
Her swordsmanship was fluid, ethereal, and light, while Asher’s was heavy, overbearing, and dangerously swift.
Sapphira would not be able to kill a man in one strike without hitting a critical spot or using output, but Asher’s strike was bound to kill or cause heavy injuries that would render a soldier incapable of fighting.
On a battlefield, it was the same as death.
Clang!
They clashed. Asher looked at her. He pulled back, spun, and unleashed a swift cut that left a dangerous arc as it made its way toward Sapphira. Although he wasn’t facing her directly, from the corner of his eyes, in a somewhat slow motion, he saw her somersault over his sword.
Her garment fluttered, exposing some bits of her white legs.
Thud!
She landed with a soft thud, causing a ring of dust to spread out. Almost instantly, she lunged toward him, thrusting her sword three times at three different spots.
Asher dodged the first two and blocked the final one that was aimed at his abdomen. “I saw it.”
He smiled softly.
Sapphira snorted.
“Is that so?”
She stomped, and a white phantom separated from her, leaving white tendrils as it made a smooth circumference and appeared at his back. Asher felt a cold metallic object on his neck.
He blinked.
The woman before him was Sapphira, and the one behind was also Sapphira but quite unreal! The way it happened made him understand.
“A battle skill!”
“Did you think after training for over eight decades, my swordsmanship could not give birth to a battle skill?”
After hearing that and seeing Sapphira’s victorious smile, he gathered his battle force into the tip of Euodias and struck the ground.
Boom!
A blast spread outward, throwing her away and also clearing the dust fog.
Sapphira was like a bird as she flipped gracefully and landed on both feet. All of a sudden, her wings spread out, and she shot toward him once again.
“You have to do better than that!”
A barrier appeared on Asher’s left, another on his right, another behind him. This left only one opening, and that was where Sapphira was coming from.
Wrapping his fingers around the hilt of Euodias, Asher lowered his body and shot forward with a strong force that broke the rock beneath his feet.
They were two meteors about to collide. The moment their weapons clashed, a violent ripple blasted outward, sweeping the maids into the distance.
Using his advantage in strength, Asher added so much pressure that Sapphira grunted out of pain when she couldn’t hold the stalemate any longer and had to retreat. Lifting his sword, Asher struck down, but Sapphira did not block as he expected.
She rolled to the left, and her right leg struck out, removing his foot off the ground. This made him unbalanced, and he staggered, almost about to fall, but used Euodias to support himself.
Sapphira brandished her sword.
She activated her battle skill and swooshed past Asher, leaving two cuts at both his arms. Seeing this Asher simply grunted, and the wounds healed up.
Sapphira’s pupils shook.
“Is that…”
“A battle skill? Yes, it is.”
Asher’s confirmation made her lips part.
“How old are you?”
“22. By next month, I’ll be 23.”
“And you’ve given birth to a battle skill.”
Asher chuckled.
“I was lucky.”
Sapphira’s lips twitched at that statement, but she chose to swallow this hard pill.
Swish!
She appeared before him, and this time as they clashed, Asher felt like he fought more than a woman with a sword; he felt like he fought against the tides of a sea.
Her attacks seemed endless, causing him to keep retreating. At a certain point, he lost control of his calm state of mind and swung his sword with all his might. One must know that Asher’s strength was extraordinarily dreadful.
He was strong enough to crush a human skull with a half-powered slap and open a hole in a boulder with a full-powered punch. Strength was Asher’s main trait but was hidden most of the time because he had to place a limiter on himself.
The moment his sword clashed with Sapphira’s, there was a violent blast, and he saw the fairy being flung away.
Without delay, he raced after her and caught her before she fell from the cliff. Standing at the edge of the cliff, with his boots halfway out, he held the fairy with one hand while the other held Euodias.
It was at this moment that Sapphira gained full control over her consciousness and looked at the depth where she would have fallen.
With one hand, Asher pulled her up. At such close proximity, their hot breaths touched their skins. Sapphira locked eyes with Asher for a long while with no words spoken.
In the next moment, she quickly flew away, leaving Asher thinking she was angry.
When he walked back to the temple, he found the temple knights at the grand doors, and the captain of this squad was the same man that chained him.
Before he could speak, the captain took a step forward with the palm of his hand toward Asher’s face.
“Halt! The priestess does not want to see you!”