For several long seconds after the fight resud, neither Harus nor Xeleray moved recklessly, both n standing almost perfectly still in the center of the cleared hall while the countless Sleepers surrounding them watched with growing tension, because after witnessing the terrifying exchange that had already taken place, nobody present was foolish enough to mistake their stillness for hesitation.
They were thinking.
Calculating.
Waiting.
Harus held the chained sickle loosely at his side, the dark chain resting across the polished stone floor in seemingly random curves while the wicked crescent blade remained perfectly motionless, yet sohow Sunny felt as though every link of that chain was alive and ready to strike at any mont.
Across from him, Xeleray's segnted sword remained extended into its whip-like form, the countless tallic sections hovering in subtle motion as he adjusted his grip by fractions of an inch, each movent so small that most people would have completely missed it.
The silence stretched.
Then it shattered.
Xeleray attacked first.
The segnted blade exploded forward with terrifying speed, the weapon twisting through the air like a tallic serpent as it curved around Harus from multiple angles simultaneously instead of simply striking directly.
Sunny's eyes widened.
The attack wasn't aid at a single location.
It was aid at everywhere.
The flexible blade swept toward Harus's neck, chest, legs, and weapon arm almost simultaneously, creating a web of steel that left virtually no obvious avenue of escape.
Harus moved.
Not backward.
Forward.
His body lunged directly into the attack.
Gasps erupted throughout the hall.
The chained sickle flashed.
tal scread.
The curved blade intercepted the first segnt while the chain itself wrapped around another section of the sword, disrupting the rhythm of the attack just enough for Harus to slip through the remaining gaps.
Then he was suddenly inside Xeleray's reach.
The distance vanished.
Harus attacked imdiately.
His sickle swept upward toward Xeleray's weapon arm while the chain lashed out toward his legs, forcing the Night Watcher lieutenant to defend against two completely different threats arriving from different directions.
Xeleray's response was imdiate.
The segnted blade contracted.
The flexible sword transford back into a rigid weapon almost instantly, allowing him to parry the sickle while simultaneously stepping over the chain before it could wrap around his ankles.
The exchange lasted less than two seconds.
Both n separated.
Neither had gained an advantage.
Neither seed surprised.
From the throne above them, Gunlaug watched silently.
Beside him, Seishan's expression remained perfectly calm.
Gemma had stopped smiling entirely.
Even Kido appeared focused.
The six lieutenants understood exactly how dangerous this fight truly was.
The ordinary Sleepers did not.
To most spectators, the duel appeared fast.
To Sunny, it looked horrifying.
Every movent carried purpose.
Every step contained hidden intent.
Every attack served three different purposes simultaneously.
No energy was wasted.
No motion was unnecessary.
Harus attacked again.
The chain suddenly shot across the floor like a living thing before curving sharply upward toward Xeleray's weapon hand.
Xeleray reacted instantly.
His sword lashed downward.
The chain changed direction.
Several Sleepers flinched.
The chain shouldn't have been able to move like that.
Yet Harus manipulated it with such absurd precision that it seed almost impossible.
The sickle suddenly erged from a blind angle.
Xeleray narrowly avoided losing his shoulder.
A thin cut appeared on his sleeve.
The crowd erupted into whispers.
First blood.
Tiny.
Almost aningless.
Yet it was still the first successful hit of the duel.
Harus didn't celebrate.
Xeleray didn't react.
Both continued moving.
The pace increased.
Steel collided repeatedly.
The segnted sword extended.
The chain wrapped.
The sickle struck.
The blade twisted.
Attacks flowed into counters.
Counters beca traps.
Traps transford into entirely new attacks.
Sunny gradually realized sothing unsettling.
Harus was controlling the battlefield.
Not completely.
Not decisively.
But slowly.
Relentlessly.
Every exchange forced Xeleray to move slightly farther in a specific direction.
Every clash subtly altered positioning.
Every step narrowed available space.
It was almost invisible.
Yet it was happening.
And Xeleray knew it too.
The Night Watcher lieutenant suddenly increased his aggression.
The segnted sword exploded outward.
A storm of steel filled the hall.
The weapon transford into a blur of flashing tal as dozens of strikes rained toward Harus from impossible angles.
Many Sleepers couldn't even follow the attack.
Cassie tightened her grip on Elysia's arm.
Elysia herself had stopped smiling entirely.
Sunny's eyes narrowed.
Xeleray was attempting to overwhelm Harus before the invisible trap fully closed.
The assault was terrifying.
The segnted sword attacked like a whip.
Like a spear.
Like a blade.
Like all three simultaneously.
Harus retreated for the first ti.
One step.
Two steps.
Three.
The crowd erupted.
Xeleray was pushing him back.
Then Harus suddenly stopped retreating.
The chain dropped.
The sickle vanished from sight for a fraction of a second.
Sunny's eyes widened.
He saw it.
Too late.
Xeleray saw it too.
Too late.
The chain had never been retreating.
It had been positioning.
The countless movents throughout the duel had gradually spread sections of the chain across the battlefield.
Now they ford a hidden cage.
The mont Xeleray advanced one step too far, Harus pulled.
The chain tightened instantly.
Several loops sprang upward from the floor like steel snakes.
Xeleray reacted with frightening speed.
The segnted sword cut through two loops imdiately.
A third.
A fourth.
But one section slipped past his defense.
The chain wrapped around his sword arm.
For a single second.
Only one second.
That was enough.
Harus appeared.
The sickle stopped less than an inch from Xeleray's throat.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The chain remained wrapped around Xeleray's arm.
The sickle remained poised at his neck.
Both n stood perfectly still.
Then Xeleray exhaled.
Slowly.
"...Subdued."
The hall exploded into noise.
Harus lowered the sickle imdiately and released the chain.
There was no celebration.
No triumphant pose.
No dramatic declaration.
The duel had simply ended.
Efficiently.
Cleanly.
Exactly the way Harus preferred.
And as Sunny stared at the quiet lieutenant returning his weapon to his side, he finally understood why so many people feared the Bright Lord's executioner.
Not because Harus was flashy.
Not because he was brutal.
But because every second he fought felt like walking into a trap that had already been prepared long before the battle even began.
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