The Sword and The Shadow

"Perhaps magi really do have higher status than normal people," Lisana said while twirling her two swords, Gale and Swiftshadow, around, "But you are far from worthy to be proof of that!"

She charged for the riders after her words dropped. As a high-order warrior, Lisana had physical capabilities far beyond the sub-mid-order riders. Even though there were two 10th-stratum elites among them, they were only slightly tougher annoyances for Lisana.

She didn't spare the slightest bit of mercy and charged to the closest rider. First, she pierced the rider's mount in the head.

She flicked Swiftshadow up and caused blood from the mount's head to splash over the face of the rider, thus blinding him. She didn't give that opportunity up and lightly jumped atop the still-standing horse.

Kneeling down, she pierced Swiftshadow into the rider's heart with her left hand and infused her fire-element impetus into the organ, rupturing it instantly. But that didn't seem to satisfy her.

With a savage and sadistic look, she swung her right hand and cut off the rider's head.

The bloody scene occurred only in a few breath's time. By the time the Stokians snapped out of it, Lisana had jumped off the horse and licked the Stokian blood that splattered near her mouth before spitting it out with contempt.

The Stokian riders were all terrified. They knew the young girl was far from weak, but they didn't think she would be that cruel. They're now-dead comrade was not just missing his head, but had a hole in the middle of his torso as well through which his organs were visible.

In Lisana's eyes others saw a stoic calmness. She was usually a warm and intelligent girl, but the Lisana on the battlefield facing Stokians was a cruel, murderous goddess of death.

The southerners had killed her mother, destroyed her peaceful life and ruined her family!

That was why every time she fought them, she would enter a half-berserk state that completely overshadowed her usual self.

She was aware of that transformation and had asked Marolyt whether it was normal. But the old man simply waved his hand and said, "It's fine. It won't get in the way of anything!"

"Why? Even I feel terrified looking at her fighting in frenzy." Leguna was there too. He had seen her cold fighting style with mechanical precision, and even he felt a chill down his spine at the sight. He worried that her mind was plagued with some mental issues.

Marolyt waved his concerns away. "My disciple only turns that way due to her hate for Stokians. There's nothing wrong with her fighting style. She's only expressing her hate for them through it. In a way, it's also a kind of venting. It won't be a problem."

"Is that so?"

"More importantly--" Marolyt stroked Lisana's pink hair. "--I've observed that Lisana doesn't behave any bit differently under normal circumstances. She only turns into a different person on the battlefield. She can be gentle when she has to, and cruel when she needs to. It's actually great for her growth, so stop worrying about it! Leave worrying about my own disciple to me. I'll be the first to notice if she suffers from any issues!"

With his assurance, Lisana no longer worried about letting the hate in her out. Since then, she fought even more cruelly on the battlefield.

It was as Marolyt had said. While she did appear much crueler in fights, she could feel the hate that welled up in her ease considerably.

Lisana, after seeing how Eirinn was almost killed by the Stokians, burned further with anger and lashed out in the cruelest way she knew how.

"Southerner blood reeks as expected," she hissed, before charging towards the next enemy with both swords readied.

The Stokians had sent out a rather elite unit to satisfy Saron's request.

With the 14th-stratum divination magus Trey leading two 10th-stratum mid-order riders and another 20 riders around the 6th stratum, the unit wouldn't have to pull back even in an encounter against 500 Hockian infantry troops. Even after they had split half their forces thanks to Alpacino's diversion, no small force could stop the unit.

Yet, truth was stranger than fiction. Lisana had killed the ten-odd low-order warriors in a short two minutes. Every one of them were either struck in the chest or the center of the forehead. Her swordsmanship had apparently improved greatly.

While she was injured slightly thanks to being surrounded by more than ten opponents at once, her wounds weren't significant thanks to her impetus armor.

She didn't really feel pressured facing two mid-order riders and one magus. Adjusting her breathing, she prepared herself for the next bout of attacks.

Though the Stokians had superior numbers, they began to shudder. While Trey was of the 14th stratum, she was more proficient in divination spells. While good enough to give weak people some trouble, she was far from equipped to dealing with more powerful enemies.

Trey didn't think that the girl before her was in the high order either. She thought that Lisana was at most at her stratum!

That was why she knew that the battle was mostly lost after seeing her startling swordsmanship.

Trey rolled her eyes and feigned confidence as she said to the two riders, "Charge forward. I have a spell that will let us win!"

The two didn't doubt her in the slightest and charged without hesitation.

Though, they couldn't really be faulted for that. Rather, it had a lot to do with Stokian customs. Magi had an incredibly high status in Stokian society. That was why even though most Stokians didn't have the talent for magic, they worshipped it with great fervor to almost religious levels.

That was why the two riders didn't think the battle was lost even after Lisana dealt with the low-order riders that easily, since Trey was still alive and well. While she was one stratum lower than the enemy, it wasn't uncommon for magi to kill enemies above their rank.

So, they firmly believed that Trey could lead them to defeat the high-order warrior.

However, they were too focused on the fight and didn't notice that the fireball Trey threw out was cut completely apart by Lisana's flame-impetus-infused longsword. They didn't see that Trey's petrification and slow spells either missed or was shrugged off by her without much effort.

The magus herself, however, did notice it. So, she sent the two riders to hold her back before dictating her next spell.

Victory would be decided in the next few moments! the riders thought.

They launched their attacks without regard for their own lives to prevent Lisana from disrupting her spell.

Lisana also felt that the spell seemed to be stronger, at least more powerful than her fireball spell before. The relentless attacks of the riders only further reinforced her notion that the magus was readying a threatening spell.

She pushed herself to the fastest she could and even took a blow to kill one of the riders slightly faster.

By then, Trey finished her spell and unleashed the mana from her fingertips. Right after that, she vanished before the eyes of the two.

"Oh? The invisibility spell? Just you wait! Madam Trey will definitely deal you a killing blow!" said the one remaining wounded rider.

Lisana ducked slightly and readied herself for a burst of speed. She didn't quite understand magic, so she didn't know what spell Trey had just dictated.

Half a minute passed gruelingly slowly.

Even after Lisana felt a little sore from the stance, the killing blow didn't arrive. By then, the knight's expression contorted into one of doubt before it shifted into full-on despair.

It was then when Lisana recalled the incantation and the signature of the mana wave. It seemed familiar to her, as Annelotte had used it before. That spell was none other than the transference spell.

"It's too bad. Looks like your great magus escaped," she calmly said.

"F*ck! I won't trust magi ever again in my next life!" Those were the last words of the dying rider.