The Mech Touch

When Venerable Trey Walinski advanced to expert pilot, he did not live long enough to complete the Annihilator Sword Style.

Oh sure, the basics were all there. Its repertoire even incorporated a couple of empowered techniques.

Yet after Ketis fought against numerous disciples of other sword schools, she recognized that the Annihilator Sword Style possessed too many gaps.

If Venerable Trey didn't die when he was at the prime of his life, he would have been able to flesh out his sword style.

As it was, he died before he could work out the defensive and movement techniques of his sword style.

This caused the Annihilator Sword Style to possess a purely offensive character. As long as Ketis was on the attack, then she could take full advantage of the power of annihilation to demolish the opposition.

Yet in situations where she was put on the defensive and the power of annihilation wasn't enough to break the deadlock, the sword style became a lot less impressive!

It was no wonder why the Annihilator Sword School failed to gain any inheritors after the death of its founder. The sword style it taught was too incomplete, causing it to become far too one-dimensional in practice.

This shortcoming had become especially obvious after Scipia launched her latest offensive!

"Hahaha! No one is able to last forever against my Whirling Dervish! Either my attacks will break you, or you will break mine!"

Ketis quickly figured out what made Scipia's Whirling Dervish technique so powerful.

The Unrelenting Raider was able to spin and build up her angular momentum with significantly greater ease than she should considering her physical prowess.

It was as if Scipia turned herself into a spinning top!

The worst part about this was that Scipia didn't slow down over time. She spun a little faster after completing a couple of revolutions. This not only increased the frequency of her attacks, but also put a lot more force behind the blows!

Ketis did not dare to block the shortswords head-on anymore. She had to leverage all of her skill and strength to deflect the incoming attacks and redirect all of the incoming force into the air.

Yet even as she fended the dervish, Ketis patiently accumulated energy. Her willingness to destroy grew stronger as she actively fed this desire. As Shiva's blade continued to grow darker, she finally judged that she had done enough to execute her first self-invented move!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ketis deflected and diverted a couple more attacks before she keenly grasped the small window of opportunity where Scipia was still preoccupied with spinning around for another round of attacks.

While this window of opportunity was too short to allow Ketis to launch a conventional counterattack, the move she was about to pull off was much swifter!

"Release!"

Shiva rapidly slashed forward. As it swung in Scipia's direction, the dark energy that covered it loosened up and propelled forward as if Ketis had just whipped it off the blade!

A cloud of annihilation energy expanded as it continued to surge forward! If any of it landed onto an unprotected body, then the consequences would be dire, but Ketis was confident the protective measures in place could stop her move from going too far.

Before the energy shield had time to activate, Scipia had already formed her own countermeasure.

Even as she spun, she rapidly darted backwards. This bought her enough time to complete her spin while rapidly swinging her shortswords in a defensive posture.

Her quick actions generated a defensive barrier formed out of sword energy!

The glowing sword energy barrier only lasted for a brief amount of time, but it was more than sufficient to block the annihilation energy from going forward.

Ketis clicked her tongue at the sight. What a useful defensive technique!

"Damn, you almost killed me." Scipia joked. Despite her words, she did not sound as if she just avoided a brush with death. "I've long known you were able to project your sword energy, so I never let down my guard."

It was worth a try. The move she pulled off was quite simple. She simply borrowed some of the principles of the Executioner technique and applied them to the Annihilator Sword Style.

While the results were extremely rough, it still represented a change in the Annihilator Sword Style.

She had already begun to innovate!

Unfortunately, that was all she had. She lacked the time to create more sophisticated moves with the Annihilator Sword Style.

After taking a deep breath, she let go of her destroyer mindset and put Shiva back into her sheathe. She solemnly drew her CFA greatsword from her back.

A different kind of intensity began to well up from her mind. Her unyielding will grew sharp and strong. Scipia clearly sensed the distance and grew a little more serious.

"You're finally pulling out the big one. I've been waiting for this."

Ketis pinned Scipia with her sharp eyes. "The real fight starts now!"

She charged forward and chopped her greatsword in a way that forced her opponent to defend!

CLAAAANG!

Even if Scipia managed to cross her swords and meet the incoming attack, the force and momentum behind the blow was on another level.

This time, it was the Unrelenting Raider's turn to take a step back!

Ketis did not let up. She pulled back her greatsword and attacked as quickly as possible.

CLAAAANG!

It didn't matter to her that Scipia managed to block her obvious moves. Ketis merely repeated her actions and hacked down her sword at a slow but disturbing pace.

Though Scipia looked a bit aggrieved, she was unable to launch any counterattacks. Her swords were too short and she needed to spend a bit of time to get within reach.

This brief time interval was more to launch another counterattack!

As their wills increasingly pressed against each other, Scipia knew that she could not let the current situation go on like his further.

Without announcing her move in advance, the Unrelenting Raider blocked yet another heavy swing before she rapidly turned and swung her crossed blades forward.

This motion caused her to relieve the momentous glows that had previously covered her shortswords.

Ketis immediately recognized the threat and blocked the incoming sword energy waves with the flat of her CFA greatsword.

"Ooof!"

Though she successfully blocked the energy attacks, she failed to account for their momentum! Somehow, the illogical and poorly-understood sword energy conveyed a lot of momentum that completely push Ketis back!

"You're mine now!" The Unrelenting Raider grinned as she was already darting forward.

Ketis was in a very dangerous position right now! She had a lot of trouble with restoring her balance after feeling as if someone attempted to push her over!

Scipia approached faster than before. Her twin swords glowed brightly as was about to launch another flurry of attacks!

"I'm not falling for this trap!"

From what had happened before, Ketis knew that she would just get pushed back again and lose her balance if she dared to resist Scipia's empowered blades.

At this time, Ketis didn't have the time to pull off any big moves. That didn't stop her from channeling the power of sharpness over her entire blade!

In the past, this action would have exhausted her. Now, she could maintain state for quite a while due to all of the growth she had experienced in her mind.

Although Scipia suddenly became a lot more wary about clashing head-on against Ketis' sharpness-empowered sword, the Unrelenting Raider did not recede.

The heir of the Brevis Sword School was also a sword initiate! She had tangled against lots of sword styles. At her current state, she could easily resist the effects of different kinds of sword energy as long as she did not tangle against swordmasters.

Yet as the empowered CFA greatsword swung close, Scipia suddenly had a bad feeling about this. She quickly crossed her blade and switched to a defensive posture!

Schwing!

The collision sounds were different this time!

To Scipia's horror, the greatsword's glowing edge cut through the protective sword energy field and partially managed to leave some shallow cuts onto the shortswords!

"What the?! My swords! You hurt my swords!"

Ketis grinned as she saw that she succeeded in pulling off one of the moves she theorized.

This was another small innovation. As someone who was able to utilize multiple sword styles, she had gained a lot more insights about the nature of sword energy.

While different kinds of sword energy were able to resist each other for the most part, Ketis wondered whether she could break this pattern.

Her sharpness superpower was mainly derived from her mech designer occupation, not her swordsmanship occupation. This caused her to break the conventional rules concerning sword energy.

The Conceptual Cut she invented was basically an attempt to generate an edge that could cut conceptional and non-physical targets!

By leveraging her expertise as a mech designer, she utilized that to augment her original superpower to the point where it could theoretically cut through other forms of sword energy!

Although the results weren't as good as she hoped, her first attempt succeeded in catching Scipia off-guard!

The Unrelenting Raider grew a lot more grave once she saw the shallow cuts that Ketis had managed to inflict on the twin weapons.

"My swords… you'll pay for this!"

Scipia turned into a raging hellcat as her damaged shortswords glowed a lot brighter! Once she came close enough, she split her blades apart and threw them forward!

The sudden move took Ketis by surprise. She managed to deflect one of the projectiles, but the other shortsword slightly managed to bounce off her shoulder.

Ketis had been hit!

Although the move wasn't considered fatal, she had obviously lost a serious amount of points.

Scipia had leaned backwards again. She held out her hands and received the flying shortswords as if they had a mind of their own!

"I'm not done yet!"

The disciple of the Brevis Sword School brought her blades together and somehow caused them to fuse. The thick composite sword began to vibrate as the sword energy on it began to expand.

After a few seconds, a bright and nearly-solid energy blade had extended from the fused shortswords!

From the way that Scipia held the weapon, it was as if she was wielding a greatsword of her own!

"Taste my One Blade!"

As Scipia swung the greatsword that was partially made out of sword energy towards Ketis, a great amount of momentum propelled her attack.

Even if Ketis managed to block the incoming attack, she was certain that she would violently launch backwards!

Even though she had already exhibited the capacity to cut through sword energy, the One Blade exhibited by Scipia was too thick and powerful! The Unrelenting Raider had truly invested a lot of power in this finishing move!

Fortunately, Ketis had a finishing move of her own!

"Your sword is an imitation! Mine is much more real than yours will ever be!" She declared as she rapidly channeled the Sword of Lydia.

Although she lacked the time to accumulate a lot of power, Sharpie and her were already working at their peak.

The resonance they formed with Ketis' greatsword was also spiking!

As her CFA greatsword became more alive, Ketis roared as a large and formidable sword energy blade extended out of its tip!

BANG!

A bright explosion of light erupted as the two energy blades collided against each other!

Sword energy clashed head-on against sword energy!

An unyielding will pushed right against an unrelenting will!

Although this contest sounded even a first, one side quickly managed to gain the upper hand.

A single greatsword flung out of a swordswoman's grip and landed on the ground!

That 'greatsword' had long lost its energy extension. As it clattered to the floor, it split apart into two damaged shortswords.

Meanwhile, the CFA greatsword that had completely overpowered Scipia's weapon had lost its sword energy edge as well.

Ketis pulled it back the moment she managed to disarm her opponent. As it was, the tip of her greatsword was too far away to cut off one of Scipia's limbs.

"The match is over." She spoke with absolute certainty.

The woman known as the Unrelenting Raider began to deflate. Her forceful momentum had been interrupted and her intensity had begun to fade.

She looked regretfully at her fallen sword before turning back to Ketis.

"Yes. It's over. You've won."

Although the audience was still confused at what had happened at the final moment, that did not change the fact that Ketis was feeling immensely satisfied right now!

Unlike her previous victories, this was the first time that she had won a proper sword duel against a proper opponent!

Not only did she achieve a clean victory, she also proved that she was good enough to vie for the championship!

"The top 100 is not enough!"