"Wow, she's fast!"
"Hahaha, with the way the prince is frowning, he might just shit himself out of anger!"
"Dude, just look at his face, it seems he's already doing it."
The ground trembled beneath the force of the blasts, and the coliseum reverberated with the sound of destruction. However, despite the intense fire blasts raining down, the audience remained relatively calm. They were no longer shouting; instead, their eyes were sparkling with admiration as they watched Nyx weave between the golden meteorites. Sёarch* The ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Ainsworth's face was now ghostly pale, almost as white as a sheet of paper. For the past minute, he had been raining down flaming blasts, and the duration of the skill would soon come to an end. A minute and some seconds had already passed since the holy barrier shattered under Ainsworth's relentless barrage of attacks.
Ainsworth had initially thought the fight would become easier. Who would have thought this girl would be so slippery, even after the duration of her skill?
Gradually, his frustration was building up. Since the golden meteorites were not working, he charged forward to engage Nyx in close combat. This was a mistake on his part. He didn't know that he had been tricked. Momentarily, the rain of fire stopped, and only golden light and white light clashed repeatedly.
Clang! Clang!
A mixture of white and golden flames flew out from their clash, casting a rather beautiful yet dangerous spectacle. The smoke had now cleared, but the sparks made it difficult for the audience to watch the exchange clearly.
'I refuse to believe my swordsmanship is inferior to hers,' Ainsworth thought as he saw that Nyx was gaining the upper hand in the fight. They were now fighting without any skills, just brute strength and swordsmanship.
As they clashed repeatedly, Ainsworth failed to realize that Nyx was counting down. Soon, a smirk curled up on her face, and her eyes suddenly ignited with a white glow. This sudden change caught Ainsworth off guard, and the confident expression on his face faltered as he took a step back.
His eyes flashed with worry. 'I thought the skill had ended already.' His sword arm trembled slightly as he recalled the smirk she had before the holy barrier shattered. Could... could it be the skill hadn't ended then?
While the golden prince's thoughts were in shambles, Nyx began gathering the familiar white energy around her sword, causing the blade to shimmer with radiant light.
Ainsworth's eyes widened in realization. "She really tricked me," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
His confidence faltered as he saw the determination etched on her face. "No! You can't—"
But before he could finish, Nyx charged forward and...
"Holy Slash!" she cried out, sending a brilliant wave of energy slicing through the air toward Ainsworth.
In response, Ainsworth thrust his sword, encased in golden light, to parry her attack.
BOOOOOOM!
The two swords collided, and the resulting explosion sent shockwaves rippling through the arena, rattling the coliseum's ancient structure. But because of the natural canceling effects of the pure holy energy, Ainsworth was sent staggering back.
'Only five seconds remaining!' Nyx thought as she launched herself forward like a bolt of lightning. Her sword was still radiating intense holy energy, but it was flickering slightly, slowly fading away. Indeed, Nyx had intentionally allowed her barrier to shatter, tricking Ainsworth into thinking her skill's duration had ended when she actually had 40 more seconds left.
At that moment, the armrest caved in as King Aldric saw Ainsworth's helpless situation. The young girl had tricked all of them. He briefly looked away just in time for Nyx's blazing sword to slash Ainsworth a dozen times in just five seconds.
The prince felt blinding pain surge throughout his body. His sword fell from his arm as he collapsed to his knees with a loud thud, blood dripping from his mouth due to the countless internal injuries he had sustained in this fight. Though the barrier was actively healing the fighters, the pain was still ever-present.
"You... you really beat me," Ainsworth muttered in an incredulous tone, still struggling to believe he had actually lost. Nyx didn't respond; instead, she spun her body and slammed her foot into his helmet with crushing force.
BANG!
The prince remained kneeling for a while before eventually falling backward.
Silence.
Absolute silence descended in the arena. There were no chants. The commoners' eyes were fixed on the prince, waiting for him to stand up and continue the fight once more. No matter how they looked at it, they couldn't believe that the arrogant prince who had slain hundreds of commoners had been defeated just like that.
"It must be a fluke. Tell me this is just a hallucination?" one man whispered to himself as he pinched his arm. Silent whispers began to spread like wildfire through the crowd, filling the once-silent coliseum. The tension was palpable as the reality of what had just transpired slowly sank in.
In the dignitary area, the nobles shifted uncomfortably in their seats. They suddenly became restless... none of them had expected this outcome.
"This girl... she really beat Ainsworth," Lucas, who had been silent all this while, thought, folding his arms, eyes narrowed. He wondered to himself with a complicated expression on his face. "Doesn't this mean she's a prodigy? If we let her grow, would she become someone like her father?"
Lady Seraphina's eyes flashed with a strange glint as her gaze alternated between the motionless, golden-armored prince and the young girl of just nine years and some months. But she didn't comment. However, if one were to look at her face, they'd notice the ghostly paleness and dry lips.
Meanwhile, King Aldric, seated inside the royal box, his eyes burned with fury. His mind raced as the nobles' conversations grew louder. His worst fears had come true—Nyx had not only exposed Ainsworth's vulnerability, but she had also made a mockery of the royal family's dominance.
If it wasn't for her background, the king could have ordered the girl to be killed on the spot. The humiliation was just too great!
"The Cromwells are truly a frightening existence," Brawn commented with a smile as he looked at Nathan, who seemed to be suppressing himself, waiting for the announcement from the knight commander. "As expected of Arthur's daughter."
Meanwhile, on the fighting platform...
Click, click.
The footsteps of the knight commander echoed softly as he approached the prince and squatted close to him, checking his condition. The protective barrier had already done its work by fixing all the internal injuries, but the prince was still unconscious.
The knight commander hesitated slightly, but in the end, he announced Nyx as the victor of the fight!
Immediately, the announcement was given. The coliseum erupted in thunderous applause, the echo of their cheers reverberating through the arena walls. The commoners, who had once feared Ainsworth's wrath, now cheered for the young girl who had defied all expectations.
Of everyone, it could be argued that the loudest was none other than Nathan, who was laughing boisterously, to the annoyance of the nobles who were slowly leaving the arena with their heads held low.
Behind Lucas... the mysterious blindfolded man continued to watch Nyx, who was standing proudly in the fighting arena, and his lips curled up into a smirk before he left the arena as well.
That day, news of Ainsworth's defeat spread through the capital and to the neighboring cities. In every nook and cranny, the commoners had one name on their lips:
...Nyx Aegis Cromwell... the daughter of the human champion!