Chapter 99 - Alfheim#9 Leraye's Day Out

FIGHT

I dash in his direction as fast as I can. He looks at me coming towards him but stays in the same position as he was before. Observing him not moving, I rotate my scythe at a high speed and then acrobatically spin myself to increase the momentum of the attack.

My attack almost hits him but before it could touch his head, he swiftly rotates his body and reaches behind me in 2 steps and prepares for a front slash without changing his stance. Then immediately aim for my back with a concentrated attack.

I rotate my scythe and

-Clang

I parry his attack before going for another attack without turning my body in his direction. This time he takes a step back and parries my attack, breaking the balance of my foot as I turn my head to look at him, starting another attack immediately.

I ground my scythe and flip myself back to dodge his attack and create a distance between us. Watching me going backwards, he, too, moves forward and attacks me.

I swing my scythe as fast as I can and hit his sword

-Clang

And push him a few metres away. He holds his footing as he slides back and then looks at me with a smile as I realise a cut has been done on my suit. A wide smile forms on my face as I realise…

'This is interesting!!!'

The surroundings turn quiet as they observe us dumbfoundedly with their eyes wide open. Total silence covers the area as not one person dared to make a sound in this situation.

I then see Kaneto dashing towards me at a high speed. I take a step back and then prepare for another attack as I observe him approaching me.

-Clang

-Clang

-Clang

Our blades connected again and again. Once became 10s, then tens became 100s. A normal parrying and observing each other's moves turned into a high-intensity fight, with both of us making as many moves as we could without holding back.

At times, it felt like I was losing. Kaneto always had a calm smile on his face as he prepared at least a few dozen moves even before he made the first one. He had a clear idea of what he was doing and what he would do next.

At times I felt like my unpredictability shakes him a bit. Driven by mostly instinct, I make 10 different moves before changing the whole pattern all together, to create a new one. Every time I change the attack pattern, an opening is created. Every time an opening is created, Kaneto takes a step back before throwing another barrage of attacks at me.

After a few minutes of exchanges, I notice that Kaneto is getting sluggish, albeit very slightly. He seems to get tired but his physical conditions should keep him up for at least another 30 mins.

He then jumps back considerably and then takes the same stance he did at the beginning of the fight but…

'Something is different about this one'

And he didn't betray my thought as he made a slash that was too fast even for me in the air. I observe him and prepare for the similar attack to happen in our next exchange, but…

'Wha? When?'

My eyes open wide as I realise a cut has been formed on my chest. It was a very shallow cut, but it was there. Then I look at Kaneto, smiling before he makes another slash in the air. Realising what was happening, a wide smile forms on my face as I dodge the trajectory of his attacks and move closer to him as fast as I can.

'This is interesting!! If I don't do anything about it then I might really lose!! Hahaha, this really is interesting!!!"

My smile deepens. I feel goosebumps all over my body as I look at him, attacking repeatedly. An air slash that lacks mana…haha, to think something like this is really possible…I want to fight more.

"Show me everything you got, Kaneto!!" I shout as I laugh and run towards him. He then turns towards me and starts attacking me with the same pattern, but the only difference was the manaless blades that his sword was ejecting.

He kept hitting me over and over now. I am losing this fight. I am going to lose this fight, but this is fine. For the thrill I am feeling right now, I am happy. This is the best feeling.

But you see Kaneto, the fact that I can lose makes me really want to win because…

"You can be truly happy, only if you win a losing fight," I say as I take the same stance as Kaneto did before. I take a deep breath and hold my scythe as tightly as I can before swinging it in his direction the same way he did.

And then…

"It's not that simple, you idiot," I hear the voice of Kaneto smirking at me before he launches another barrage of attacks that hits me because of my lack of proper reflex. I then fall on the ground with bruises all over my body. Trying to stand back up I realise that most of my weak points were badly injured, not that they would take time to heal but for that I needed to use mana or at least any form of energy which sadly I can't use in this fight.'Looks like I lost this round. Man, that felt soooo good.'

"AND THE WINNER IS: KANETO"

I hear the announcement and then smile with a blissful expression as I look at him, sheathing his sword. I then hear a voice coming from the crowds.

"Wo..WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…THAT WAS AWESOME…KANETO!!"

"KA! NE! TO! KA! NE! TO! KA! NE! TO!…." The crowd started cheering for Kaneto. Even the girls who were cheering for me are now looking at Kaneto with slight admiration. Kaneto simply ignores them and looks at me before asking,

"Want to have another go?"