Sigh...
Amid the chaos of the combat hall, with tension crackling at its peak, Sonya suddenly heard a soft, lingering sigh, and her vision split in two.
On one side were the students in the hall. So wore mocking expressions, while others watched with expectation or envy. Every shade of emotion was on display.
On the other side, she saw a woman who looked... remarkably like her. They were similar, but Sonya was certain this was not her.
The woman stood upon the moonlit surface of the lake. From afar, a massive horned beast charged toward her with montum so fierce that it churned the darkness into a stormlike torrent. As it closed in, its shadow swallowed the moonlight, as though the very night itself were collapsing.
Compared to it, the woman seed impossibly small and fragile. Yet she didn't flinch. She summoned a spirit, and with a single strike, split the darkness in two. Moonlight spilled through the beast's riven form, illuminating her violent yet elegant sword stance.
Sonya couldn't see her movents clearly, nor could she identify the spirit she summoned. Yet for so unknown reason, she felt that she could imitate it.
The urge to mimic surged through her, and her body moved almost on its own.
While weaving lightly through the air, Leona noticed Sonya had no intention of yielding. She allowed herself a small nod of respect. So you're not giving up... Yielding would have been the sensible choice in a fight you couldn't win, but sotis stubbornness is what makes miracles happen. If you can't even face soone stronger in a controlled fight, how will you survive the real world? No wonder the Hidden-Hand Sword Saint took you in so quickly. You're really a good student.
Admiration didn't an rcy. Leona had a Sword Saint's reputation to uphold, and giving her all was the greatest respect a swordswoman could offer.
Rhythm lodies! Third Sonata!
As Leona launched her attack, she noticed Sonya did sothing unusual. She had sheathed her sword. At the sa ti, several strands of Moonthread appeared around her, each thread connected to her body, as if she had turned herself into a trap.
Is this a trap? Is she trying to drag down with her?
A dozen thoughts raced through Leona's mind, yet she chose to slash forward nonetheless. When faced with the unknown, a swordsman had only one simple solution, which was to cut through everything. Forward, forward, and forward. That was a swordsman's way to survive.
Golden swordlight flared through the hall, but when it struck the Moonthreads, Leona sensed sothing was wrong. Rhythm lodies couldn't cut through them!
No... these are more than simple threads!
Upon closer look, water flowed along every thread. The water didn't just absorb the force. It gave each strand incredible resilience.
Leona's eyes widened. No! The water isn't absorbing impact.
Sonya remained in her sheathing stance. When Leona's sword pulled on the threads, all its energy coursed along them and funneled straight into Sonya. She and the threads had ford a spring-like system that, when struck, would allow her to launch the fastest possible counterattack.
Water... the threads... and Wave... This is a counterattack Miracle!
Clang!
Sonya swung her sword and released her Wave attack so fast it left only a blur. Leona finally dropped out of her high-speed movent. Her Feathered Sword-Scale Armor shimred, and her hand was empty.
Thud. Thud.
The broken wooden practice sword hit the ground. The students across the hall still hadn't processed what had happened.
"Leona... lost?"
The student sounded terrified, as if their words were blasphemy.
"She lost... the Orange Dancer lost..."
"Leona lost to Sonya!"
"What was that move? I've never seen a Miracle like that! Is that new!?"
"Sonya beca a sorcerer only a few days ago, and she defeated the fully developed Silver Rank sorcerer, Leona!"
"Doesn't that make it a first-year taking down a fourth-year!?"
"Heavens, am I witnessing the rise of a new Sword Saint!?"
Amid the cheers and gasps, Leona looked at Sonya. Sonya was barely standing, and her clothes were drenched in sweat. Leona smiled. "What's this Miracle called?"
Sonya found herself once again seeing visions of the woman dancing under the moonlight. She blurted out, "Water Moon."
At that mont, Angelica's face flushed with excitent. She thrust her fist up and shouted, "Sonya!"
All the first-years in the swordsmanship departnt joined in.
"Sonya! Sonya! Sonya!"
Leona's supporters were just as loud.
"Leona! Leona! Leona!"
For a while, the combat hall was filled with cheers for the two nas.
Leona raised her brows. "After today, you'll beco one of Sword and Roses University's brightest stars. Just like ."
Sonya tugged at the corner of her mouth. She could no longer hold herself up and collapsed.
Leona reached out to catch her. Their eyes t, and they shared a brief, quiet smile, drawing another round of cheers from the hall.
anwhile, Felix and Lorian, still breathless from their fierce exchange, froze as they watched the scene. Their strength left them all at once.
They exchanged a glance, wore the sa helpless smile, and shook their heads.
The fight that began because of them had ended with neither at the center of attention. For prodigies who had always drawn countless eyes, nothing was harder to endure than being ignored.
Lorian suddenly tossed aside his wooden sword. "Stay right there. Don't move. Let punch you."
Felix froze. Lorian strode forward and landed a solid punch to his face, sending him flying. "Rember this, Felix. You can't go flirting with every woman you see."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Felix sat on the ground and watched the two figures at the center of everyone's attention. He let out a quiet sigh. "Yeah."
Unnoticed by him, or anyone else in the hall, two shadowless visitors had suddenly appeared behind him. They were invisible to everyone. The mont they spoke, all the surrounding noise was automatically blocked out. It was as if the entire world consisted of only the two of them.
The Watcher teased, "If I rember correctly, losing to the Orange Flash, Leona, was one of your few real humiliations, wasn't it?"
The Swordswoman remained calm. "Not really. I beat her three years later. I never took it to heart."
"Well, you still held onto it for three years..." the Watcher murmured. He then turned his attention to Felix, pulled a handbook from his coat, and flipped to a page. "I didn't expect the notorious Duke of Vice to have been a sword prodigy. There's no ntion of that in his handbook."
"As a mber of the Vlozrada Family, it would be strange if he weren't one."
"Could his experiences during this period of his life be what taught him to counter sword practitioners so effectively and what led him to later earn the title Sword Saint Burier?"
"Who knows? No one can predict how choices shape the future. Every sorcerer is the sa. They dig into the earth called fate with their own hands, in search of the future they desire, yet sotis they unearth the grave that will bury them. We're all fools digging our own graves."
The Watcher chuckled. "What's with the sudden sentintality? That's not the Death Maniac Swordswoman I know. Did simply brushing against the present-day Sonya change you this much?"
Clang!
A frost-cold blade pressed against the Watcher's neck. The Swordswoman's low voice cut through the air. "Don't mistake for that foolish girl. You're just soone I defeated. Watch your attitude."
The Watcher raised his hands in surrender. "My apologies. That was out of line. If you're truly angry, feel free to take it out on Ashe. I won't mind."
With a cold snort, the Swordswoman sheathed her sword.
The Watcher asked, "By the way, the Water Moon Miracle I saw before wasn't like this. Did you really manage to improve a Miracle in this state? I thought all of us had reached our plateau and would only grow weaker with ti."
The Swordswoman shook her head. "You're wrong. This isn't an improvent. It's an old leftover. What you rembered was the fully perfected version of Mirror Flower, Water Moon. Before that, I had tried out multiple early iterations of the technique. The combination of Moonthreads and Torrent was one of them. It wasn't strong, fast, or sturdy, but for the current Sonya, it's the most suitable."
The Watcher nodded slowly. "True. There's never the best Miracle, only the most tily one. Heh... I'm starting to look forward to seeing what Sonya becos when she isn't weighed down by tragedy."
"You'd be better off worrying about Ashe. His Blood Moon Tribunal is today."
The Watcher gave a short, hollow laugh. "And why would I worry?"
The Swordswoman instinctively tightened her grip on her sword. "The Four Pillars Deities are watching him."
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