Otherworld Adventure

Lucia was flying towards Cecil who was in the air, she had already enchanted her weapon and wrapped it in flames. She was determined to take down Cecil and it was the first time that she had pulled out all stops.

Of course, like Cecil suggested, she still kept a couple of techniques a secret. Such as her Core Release and her other high-tiered spells.

"TAKE THIS!!!"

Lucia had already arrived in front of Cecil and she slashed her katana at him. She also clutched her other hand that was holding her kodachi and the lava bolts that were in stasis around her and Cecil blossomed to life and began shooting towards them.

She wasn't like Cecil who could attach a homing function on all his spell bolts, but Lucia had already donned a layer of glacial armor around her. She was certain that her spell would be able to block all the lava bolts that would hit her.

She also conjured an ice field spell in the surroundings, this way she could cool down the lava bolts and when they cooled down into rocks it could cause Cecil some form of physical damage if he dared to take even one bolt of lava with his body.

She was safe since her glacial armor spell was used to protect against physical attacks anyway. Earth lances and cool downed lava bolts counted as physical attack due to their physical nature.

Cecil also sensed the abrupt drop in temperature and smirked. He didn't bother dodging the lava bolts and Lucia's attack.

"HA!" With a shout, a wave of mana was emitted from his body in a spherical fashion with him as the epicenter.

The mana wave pushed back Lucia and caused all the lava bolts that were fired at him to crumble.

Lucia was falling towards the ground with a grimace, but then her eyes sharpened and became determined. She quickly sheathed her Butterfly and gripped her Shirayuki with both hands.

The blade was still enflamed and Lucia started rousing more of her mana and injected it into her katana, causing a red aura to wrap around her blade while the flames raged out in response.

A flaming mana storm was rotating on her katana and she waved her katana at Cecil who was looking at her in astonishment.

"HAAA!!"

It looked just like Cecil's Mana Wave if he used it with his sword, but instead of a golden aura, Lucia's version of 'Mana Wave' was a scarlet flaming aura.

'She even copied that?!'

The scarlet aura finally arrived at where he was and Cecil could only raise his sword to block it, but even then he was still hit squarely in the chest. It was already hard for him to move in the air and when he used his Mana Explosion, it caused a short momentary lapse where his mana couldn't be roused.

That momentary lapse was all it took to land a square hit on Cecil.

"NICE! GOOD ONE LUCIA!" Eli shouted out in high spirits while pumping her fists in the air. It was SO satisfying for her to see Cecil take a square hit to his body.

"...aren't you being a little too cruel, princess?" Ainz said exasperatedly. Even if she was still spiteful from the previous loss, Cecil was still their friend.

"HAAHHH, that felt sooo good!" Eli let out a refreshing breath.

"..." Fina was observing the fight intently, but even after taking that attack from Lucia, she didn't see Cecil's body falling to the ground or move from the epicenter of the explosion.

Lucia flipped in the air and landed back on the ground. She stabbed her katana into the ground and fell down on one knee, gasping in exhaustion.

Her consecutive use of spells had almost drained her mana point of mana. She had to deactivate her Elemental Burst – Fire since she was almost out of mana.

She was extremely spent and she hoped that her last attack would have at least knocked Cecil out, but she knew that it was only wishful thinking since she only saw him taking her attack and not falling down from the sky.

"*gasp*... guh... *gasp* he's still not down... *gasp*"

Indeed. Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, Cecil was still floating up there in the sky.

He was faintly smiling down at the girl who was now gasping in exhaustion. He still looked unruffled even after taking the attack.

Lucia looked up and helplessly smiled. She stood up again and roused her mana.

WOOOSSSHH

A red aura had once again surrounded her.

Although she knew that it was hopeless for her to win, Lucia didn't want to just admit defeat without fighting until she couldn't fight anymore. As long as she could still point her sword at her opponent she wouldn't admit defeat.

Cecil had gently landed back down on the ground, but this time the audience was silent. Although they couldn't believe with their eyes that Cecil had somehow taken that devastating attack and come out unharmed, they couldn't say anything when they saw the determined fox girl point her blade at the boy who was unruffled from her previous all-out attack.

"Huuuu... here I come." Lucia breathed out and lightly said, her eyes flashing with a determined light.

"Mhm."

Lucia kicked off from the ground and engaged Cecil in a melee.

CLANG CLANG WOOSH CLANG

The two on the stage only fought with their swords and refrained from using any spells. Not long after, Lucia faltered and the red aura that was wrapping around her body vanished.

She finally used the last drop of mana in her and could only continue fighting without it. She hadn't fully zeroed out her mana, but the mana needed to activate Elemental Burst was no longer sufficient to sustain its activation so it automatically turned off.

CLANG CLANG

Even then, Lucia didn't let up and continued fighting. Her swordplay was just as strong as when she started fighting. It was precise, sharp, and elegant. Even with Elemental Burst not active, the audience could still only see flashes of light from her swordplay.

The only time they would see Lucia's katana was when she had to block a strike from Cecil.

Cecil himself didn't let up and continued using only his swordsmanship to fight against Lucia. He even deactivated Mana Burst so that Lucia could keep up with him.

The two's swordsmanship had awed the crowd and they could only spectate in silence at the two who were performing a sword dance in the arena. No, it wasn't a sword dance– it was a storm of swords.

Eventually Lucia made a mistake since she was exhausted and Cecil flicked her weapon out of her hands.

Lucia didn't stop however. After Cecil flicked the katana out of her hand, she followed up with a sharp jab to his stomach. The strike was unexpected since Cecil thought that she would most likely give up after having her weapon disarmed.

He didn't have Mana Burst active so it was painful since it was a full powered punch coming from Lucia, he bent his body forward at the impact and Lucia used this chance to grab onto the hand that was holding his weapon and twisted it.

CLANG

The twist caused Cecil to let go of his sword and Lucia followed it up with a shoulder throw.

'Really?!'

BANG

*gasp* *gasp* *gasp*

"I... I win..."

"...haha, yeah. Good job Lulu." Cecil smiled looking up at the girl that had knocked him down.

"Yaaaayyy~" Lucia exhaustingly cheered.

After that, Lucia collapsed on top of him.

"Phew." Cecil sighed helplessly and scratched his head. He raised his body and picked up the unconscious Lucia in a princess carry and started to walk down from the ring.

Before Cecil walked down the ring, he extended his hand behind him while cradling Lucia in one arm. He channeled his mana, and then Lucia's katana and his sword flew into his hand.

"Instructor! I give up! Lucia won this one." Cecil plainly said before he sauntered off towards the stadium's infirmary.

The dumbfounded Instructor who hadn't even said a word after the introductions could only nod his head in a daze. He hadn't even given the signal to start, but the two fighters had already begun fighting and after a quick bout, the fight was already over.

Instructor Jin could only dazedly stand there and say dispiritedly, "I didn't even start the match yet."