A sword came gushing through toward a man's shoulder, its speed was great as if the wielder's main key point in sword arts was speed. The blade closed the distance and sliced through the skin, bones, muscle, and flesh of the man it made a bloody mess out of him.
—No! That's what should've happened if the man hadn't stepped aside at the last second. The sword coming hungrily for his blood did clash with something but it was not the body of the man, it was his sword.
-A sound so loud was released when the two sharp-edged metal pieces scarped each other that it buzzed in the ears of everyone present there. It was as irritating as the sound which you hear when scratching a blackboard with a piece of chalk.
The blood-hungry blade backed off as it was pulled back by its master, but the man's blade followed.
The two swords played a game of prey and predator. Sometimes the blood-hungry blade was the prey and sometimes the man's sword. It looked almost as if they were dancing together.
Then a change struck. The blood-hungry blade's wielder—a girl, suddenly said a word out loud: "Magiken!"
Upon hearing that word the blood-hungry-blade heeded its master's call and drained a certain amount of her mana to empower itself. The blade shone in a brilliant golden; it was beautiful.
p It wasn't for that the blade was desperately trying to take a man's life; one could've sat and admired its beauty for an eternity.
"Agghhh!!" the blade's master groaned as she started exhausting her limbs and used the blade at its full potential. Her swings were so fast and in every direction.
One time she swung it up and down and the other time left and right, and after that, diagonally.
She was breathing heavily in the process and since the girl didn't have much experience in controlling her man, she will eventually run off it and tire herself; then she'll be unable to fight for at least a few hours.
And maybe that's what the man she was attacking wanted; to wait until she's unable to move and then crush her severely.
He was dodging all her attacks easily by simply moving his body and avoiding her sword. At certain moments he would use his sword also but even then it was only defense.
Normally the girl would've realized what was going on and stopped trying to attack him so recklessly. She would have teamed up with her comrades and attacked next after making a strategy. She was not so dumb to not see this.
But right now, she was like an entirely different person. Her common sense was overcome by rage; a rage she didn't know why was appearing.
The said girl was Anya, and she was fighting with Challes to save Zero; that much she knew. She indeed was angry but not mad! After all, there was no need to be.
She had Leon with her and in her thoughts, he can easily defeat Challes, and then they can take Zero back. But even so, right from the moment, her gaze fell upon Challes she was feeling this indescribable rage in her body.
But the thing was, the Anya in loli_pop's novel never felt this rage.
"Take this you fucker!!" she screamed as she poured even more mana into her magiken.
Her speed also increased and appeared behind Challes, without wasting a single second she swung her sword down left; aiming for his neck.
The sword connected and sliced easily through Challes's neck, leaving her surprised with widened eyes as a "huh?" escaped her mouth. Though there was something weird, neither did his neck got separated nor did she spill any blood.
This was not right, something wasn't fitting. And as for what was not fitting, she realized it that hard way.
Challes's body straight up vanished in the thin air at the same time Anya was hit on just above the neck hardly by the hilt of a sword. Her Occipital bone was struck and she felt a little dizzy before falling down to her feet.
She turned around and saw that Challes was standing there, smiling while adjusting his glasses.
Then it occurred to her, 'It was his afterimage?' she thought. Yes, it was Challes afterimage because he had already moved even before Anya. He was already behind Anya even before she was behind him.
This was the level the academy teachers were on. Students were no match for him. Each of them had their own specialty and had mastered it to the extent that it was no longer a trump card for them but a normal thing like breathing.
Challes would've been overpowered by Ryfin back then but it was because they both were teachers.
"Now, now, you were saying something?" said Challes as he pointed at her with his sword.
"Tch!" without wasting any time Anya rose to her feet and was ready to fight.
'This time I'll go so fast that you won't even be able to blink!' she thought.
She decided on one thing now; she will kill Challes. Until now she was unsure about that but now it was only confirmed.
She took a deep breath and felt up all the mana circulating through her body. She visualized it flowing in every muscle fiber in her body, and when she was aware of the whole quantity, she poured all of it into her magiken while leaving just a bit—enough to not kill her from mana exhaustion.
Her sword was now so bright that it had a golden bubble-esque aura around it. Anya's body strength also increased with the effects of her magiken; her body now felt light, and the gravity also seem to apply a little less on her—though it was probably just her imagination.
This was the first she was using this much power and…she felt invincible.
Her green eyes were also glittering with gold now. A smile appeared on her face as she used all the power she had and dashed toward Challes, leaving a booming sound and craters on the floor behind.