Juliana’s body was in pain. Her ribs ached, her abdomen burned from the effects of the poison, and her legs were numb with little to no strength left in them.
Yet, she raised herself up and looked at the golden-haired boy with nothing but scorching fury in her gaze.
“I’ll kill you!” she spat through bared teeth, her words dripping with more venom than a pit of snakes. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
Immediately, three more Cards appeared over her head. One enhanced her strength, one improved her agility, and one gave her a massive speed boost for the next fifteen seconds.
Then, without wasting a second, she lunged forward.
Her figure was a blur as she moved to close the distance and reached where Samael was standing, looking utterly unimpressed.
Even when she thrust her rapier at his heart once more, this time from the front, he seemed as unfazed as ever.
It was like she wasn’t even a threat to him.
And she wasn’t, as proved in the very second when he swirled slightly — just enough to let her pointed blade pass by him with a few inches gap.
And then, before she could react, he raised the twin sword in his right hand up overhead, and brought it down with stunning speed.
The golden blade gleamed as it descended down on the white-haired girl’s neck, deadly like a guillotine.
Thankfully, due to her raised agility and speed, she was able to move her rapier to block Samael’s strike by pure instincts.
The clang of metal rang out like a deafening bell, reverberating through the air as Juliana’s rapier met Samael’s golden longsword.
Sparks erupted from the contact, blinding her for a split second.
And the sheer force of that blow sent a brutal shockwave through her arms, making her fingers tremble against the hilt of her blade.
Her knees buckled, the ground beneath her feet cracking as she struggled to keep herself upright.
The poison still gnawed at her insides. It still burned. But the rush of her enhanced strength allowed her to stay standing, if just barely.
With a snarl, she tried to swat against Samael’s sword pressing her down, but his strength…
His strength was downright overwhelming, and she found herself being slowly pushed back, inch by painful inch.
What’s more was he wasn’t even using any Support Card like her. It was his raw strength.
‘…When did he get so strong?!’ she found herself thinking.
Samael had always been powerful. His innate ability was also stronger than hers as of now.
But this tyrannical strength was definitely new.
He was never this strong!
Did he rank up in secret?
Because the oppressing force he was exerting right now surely felt comparable to a newly leveled-up B-ranker.
Juliana was confident in her sword technique. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was the best swordsman in her batch.
Only Princess Alice and Michael Godswill surpassed her, but from what she had observed, she could give even them a run for their money if she went all out.
However, no matter how brilliant her technique was, there wasn’t much she could do when faced with such unendurable might.
And surely enough, struggling against Samael’s monstrous strength, Juliana cursed inwardly as her feet scraped against the fractured ground.
Every muscle in her body screamed in protest as she was pushed past her limit. But she refused to fall. Refused to yield.
Then, without any warning, Samael’s second sword came down.
It pressed against the back of his first blade, doubling the force in an instant.
—Crack!
Her rapier splintered under the enormous strain.
Juliana’s breath caught as she watched, almost in slow motion, the fractures spiderwebbing across the length of her blade before it shattered completely.
Shards of steel scattered into the air, glittering like broken stars before dissolving into light particles. The Item Card that gave her rapier its form also vanished.
And in the very next second, she felt even more pain than before.
White-hot agony exploded through her shoulder as Samael’s golden blade carved into her flesh, biting deep.
Blood gushed from the wound, staining her clothes in a growing crimson bloom.
The force of the strike nearly made her knees give out.
She let out a sharp cry but clenched her jaw shut immediately after, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her pain.
Her left arm throbbed. The deep wound on her shoulder was burning like fire. But she still moved.
Her hand shot up to grab the golden blade that had just sliced through her shoulder.
She wrapped her fingers around it, trying to push it back, trying to stop the merciless steel from cutting any deeper.
But the moment her skin made contact, fresh pain lanced through her palm as the sharp edge bit into her flesh.
Warm blood trickled between her fingers. Still, she held on.
Through clenched teeth, she hissed, “You bastard! I should’ve killed you sooner!”
Samael tilted his head, watching her struggle with that ever-present smirk on his face. Amused. Detached. Unbothered. As if none of this was worth even a fraction of his attention.
“You’re persistent,” he said lightly, as though commenting on the weather. His voice was calm, smooth, and almost fond. “You’ve always been like this.”
Juliana’s glare sharpened, and an ugly grin twisted her face. “And you’ve always been pathetic! You think if you put on that tough guy act, you’d be untouchable? That no one can see through you? Well, I can! I see you for what you really are — a validation-starved fool desperate for someone, anyone, to love you.”
Her voice turned cruel as she continued, “I almost pity you! The only person who ever truly loved you — your mother — is dead! And your father? You could shatter every bone in your body, and he’d still choose your sister over you! That’s your life, isn’t it? Letting people in, showing them your vulnerabilities, only for them to leave and find someone better! Just like your first serious girlfriend did!”
She leaned in despite the pain, her voice dripping with spite. “At least I know who I am! At least I know where I stand! But you? You’re still that same pathetic little boy you were before you put on this act, chasing something you’ll never have! Still begging for scraps of love that were never meant for you!”
And for the first time today, when Juliana stopped speaking, Samael wasn’t smirking anymore.
The amusement drained from his eyes, replaced by something darker.
There was a moment of silence, then—
“Hah!” he chuckled. “Oh, it’s been so long since you’ve shown me your true face, Juli! That sheer defiance, that pure hatred — it’s almost nostalgic. The last time you glared at me like you wanted to kill me was the night I first used the BloodWorm on you. You remember that, don’t you? That was the last time you openly showed your resentment before you started hiding behind that perfect, loyal Shadow act of yours!”
Her grip on his sword faltered as her fingers trembled from blood loss. She needed an opening. A fraction of a second.
That was all it would take.
That was why she threw those biting remarks at Samael. It was to shake his focus, to make him slip, even for a moment.
And the instant she saw a crack in his guard, Juliana moved.
Her free right hand reached down to grab the hidden kunai tucked into the back of her knee-high stocking.
Then, in a flash, she pulled it out and snapped her wrist, sending the small blade hurtling toward Samael’s face.
And as soon as it left her fingertips—
She activated her Origin Card.
A soft clock-ticking sound resounded as she fast-forwarded the kunai’s speed, pushing it beyond natural limits.
The short blade moved so fast that it vanished into a streak of silver light, cutting through the air like a shooting star.
But even then — even then! — Samael moved.
Effortlessly.
Almost lazily.
He tilted his head just in time!
The kunai shot past him, missing his forehead by the width of a hair until it exited Juliana’s effective range and dropped to the ground.
The white-haired girl’s eyes widened once again at Samael’s display of unnatural reaction time.
Her breath hitched.
She couldn’t believe it.
He… dodged it.
Even with all that speed, even with her Origin Card accelerating the kunai to impossible levels, even when he was distracted, Samael had still moved in time to dodge!
How?!
A slow, knowing smirk crept back onto his lips.
“Nice try,” he murmured, then whipped his leg toward her face.
She barely had time to register the incoming attack before his shin slammed into the side of her skull.
Her body lurched sideways from the impact, skidding across the ground before coming to a brutal stop.