110~ All-Out Showdown
With all irrelevant party members eliminated at this moment, it was as if this competition has returned to its original essence.
A one-on-one duel between Tillysha and Aistride.
Litte was lucky. Compared to the other students and mentors who were blind as bats and couldn’t see a thing, she’d snagged a front-row seat. The only downside? She had to lie down instead of sitting.
The effects of [Emerald Perfume] do wear off, but considering we’re still in a forest, Tillysha kept drawing on the forces of nature, tightening the hold of [Emerald Perfume] even further, causing Litte increasing discomfort – especially in regards to the two rather large ‘water bags’ housed in her chest area.
“Ugh, couldn’t you have untied me before starting the fight?” Litte whined, but knowing the current atmosphere, she didn’t dare to say much. She still hadn’t fully grasped how things turned around so drastically, with her current predicament being entirely of her own making.
Emerald eyes met violet, and upon confirming the fighting spirit in each other’s gaze, both young ladies drew their respective weapons.
Aistride once again wielded the Elven Moonblade, while Tillysha gripped her hands tightly, attempting to summon the light knight’s sword.
Just as the heavy knight’s sword was about to take shape, it abruptly dissipated.
Tillysha was slightly surprised, glancing at the sky. The intense sun of midday had long passed, the evening glow was setting in, and the horizon was bathed in a crimson light.
“Oh no, not enough sunlight to coalesce the knight’s light sword.”
Is there anything that could possibly serve as a substitute?
Tillysha looked around and laid her eyes on a willow tree.
She brushed her hands against the willow bark, and from it, she drew out a long kn*fe, the handle made of dark tree bark, the blade composed of green leaves.
[Holy Oblivion Blade Casting]
The leaf elements congealed.
With the addition of [Broken Bow], Tillysha swung her leaf blade through the air, then grasped it tightly.
As she fixed her gaze on the once again elegant and composed gold-haired elf, Aistride’s thoughts wandered to places they shouldn’t.
Now that she thought about it, Tillysha was Dilin’s divine consort. And she herself was not Dilin’s divine consort – especially upon learning that Tillysha was a Gold Elf, this information had taken on an even deeper meaning.
“May I ask, Your Highness Tillysha, although it might be a bit abrupt, but do you have any special criteria in choosing your divine consort?” Aistride suddenly asked.
This surprised Tillysha. After all, Aistride wasn’t one for prying into others’ private affairs.
“Oh, Miss Aistride, could it be that you suspect I have some ulterior motive in approaching Mr. Dilin?” Tillysha mused, deciding to tease Aistride a bit. With a hint of a smile, she decided to get straight to the point.
“I don’t mean that in the way you’re implying. It’s just that I’m curious about Your Highness Tillysha’s selection criteria for a divine consort,” Aistride clarified.
“Are you suggesting, in your eyes, Mr. Dilin is devoid of any merits, and hence you wonder which attribute of his I value?” Tillysha replied, maintaining her smile, as if the words she spoke hadn’t been slightly disparaging about the person herself.
“…… Does Her Highness Tillysha truly believe that he possesses no merit?” Aistride paused briefly, her beautifully arched eyebrows tightening slightly. “I don’t intend to speculate on your thoughts, but by labeling him as ‘devoid of merits’, do you actually hold him in such regard?”
“Apologies, it was my mistake to phrase it poorly. But you’re wrong, Miss Aistride. This isn’t my personal judgment, but rather my estimation of your subjective view. You were his previous divine consort, after all, weren’t you?” In clearer terms, you were the one who abandoned him.
Aistride’s lips pursed slightly as she held her crescent moon blade without another word.
There were certain matters that, even against a Gold Elf, she wouldn’t back down from, much like the victory in this match.
Seeing Aistride’s sudden silence upon this topic, Tillysha’s smile faded.
The golden sun and the silver moon; two elves stood against each other, primed for battle.
Tillysha’s feet bent slightly, and she lunged forward. In [Broken Bow] state, she lost her abilities to fire light arrows and her marksmanship, but gained substantial advantages in close combat. In such a situation, closing the distance for a melee encounter with Aistride was undoubtedly the best option.
Aistride hadn’t realized that after entering the [Broken Bow] state, Tillysha would experience a quantum leap in speed and strength. Plus, she doubted Tillysha’s proficiency with melee weapons. The moment their blades clashed, Aistride sensed an overwhelming force from the crescent moonblade and felt an impending pressure that left her breathless.
With just that single encounter, Aistride understood her error. Tillysha’s archery skills were divine, but her understanding and mastery of blades and swords were equally advanced, having long ascended to a level of mastery.
After locking Aistride’s weapon, Tillysha grounded her feet firmly, using the force of the earth to lift Aistride’s blade.
A streak of blinding light flashed by her side, despite Aistride’s attempts to evade, but it was just a fraction of a second too late. The leaf blade grazed her arm, sending a few strands of silvery hair fluttering in the wind.
Tillysha’s relentless assault was unyielding. Once she seized an opening, like a relentless storm, she took advantage of it without mercy, catching Aistride completely off guard.
To a certain extent, like Filisia, Aistride had underestimated Tillysha. Unlike Filisia, Aistride hadn’t anticipated that Tillysha’s swordsmanship would be equally daunting.
Aistride intended to stabilize her defense, but Tillysha’s fierce onslaught disrupted her strategy, causing her motions to fall into disarray.
Taking this opportunity, Tillysha employed a kick. After slicing Aistride with her blade, she delivered a straight kick that struck hard into Aistride’s abdomen. As Aistride staggered, Tillysha unleashed her bubble buds.
The sprouts ensnared Aistride’s thighs, rooting and sprouting on her legs, blooming into blue-silver cornflowers.
After being hit by divine authority, Aistride initially felt no pain, then gradually noticed the anomaly.
She could feel the roots of this plant growing into her skin, continuously draining her energy.
She could feel that her divine authority was gradually being siphoned from her body.
“Not an offensive divine authority, but one that consumes and weakens,” Aistride surmised.
Aistride tried to use her divine authority to crush the cornflower, but to her dismay, the cornflower seemed to become even more invigorated when it received her energy. It absorbed everything she emitted, with the petals swelling as if overly nourished.
Seeing Aistride trapped, Tillysha advanced again, wielding her leaf-blade in pursuit.
Aistride realized that she could no longer hold back and unleashed her Four Celestial Hosts’ divine authority derivative technique.
Ignoring the cornflower that was siphoning her energy, Aistride closed her eyes. Then, moments later, a giant tree beside her suddenly stretched out, knocking away the oncoming Tillysha.
What?!…
Tillysha’s aerial backflip revealed the giant tree wasn’t ordinary. It had somehow been enhanced and fortified, becoming a monstrous giant vine tree with luxuriant branches and leaves and hands resembling those of humans. Its roots touched the ground, enabling it to move freely, and a face composed of hollows formed on the trunk, looking sinister.
This was Aistride’s divine authority derivative technique of the Four Celestial Hosts, [Celestial Calling].
The giant tree emitted a thunderous roar, its green leaves shooting towards Tillysha like rain.
Of course, these weren’t ordinary leaves; they were divine authority strikes. Even though Tillysha tried to evade, the density of the leaves was just overwhelming. So overwhelming, it could drive someone with trypophobia into a frenzy.
Tillysha wielded her dual blades, slowing down the speed of the leaves in her view, even though the dense barrage made it impossible for her to find a place to land.
The situation quickly turned dire for her. Aistride hid behind the giant tree and attacked Tillysha, seemingly ready to consume recovery potions.
No escape… then no escape.
Direct assault it is.
The leaf blade in Tillysha’s hands ignited with a cold, sapphire flame.
The flame-blade wrapped around the viridian blade.
The powerful physical puncturing effect aside, the blade-flame also secretly enhanced the unique effects of the weapon it was applied to.
The unique effect of the leaf blade was a negligible magical damage, but with the blade-flame’s enhancement, this damage increased exponentially.
On the other side, Aistride was surprised to see Tillysha’s reaction just as she was about to uncork the restoration potion.
Faced with the storm of sharp leaves, Tillysha neither chose to dodge nor used divine authority to block them, instead charging directly through the storm of leaves.
She dared to endure her divine authority attacks without a realm?!!
This shocked Aistride deeply.
The torrent of flying leaves slapped against Tillysha’s small frame, breaking her skin, hitting her body; amidst the sound of raindrops hitting glass, the token shattered with a sound that was barely audible. Yet, Tillysha could hear it clearly.
Faced with the pain feedback from the token, Tillysha maintained a faint, elusive smile throughout, which exuded either confidence or indifference.
The golden-haired girl wielding her dual blades moved forward fearlessly, and under the azure arc sliced by the ice-flame wrapped blade, she passed by the tree demon monster.
The shower of leaves stopped abruptly, as if a sudden downpour had ended. In that moment, the air became eerily silent.
The next second, the massive tree demons fell to the ground, its corpse split down the middle by the blade-flame, turning into a lifeless heap of dead wood.
Aistride had no choice but to abandon her restoration potion. It was simple, Tillysha’s sword was already hacking down, forcing her to throw the potion bottle to block Tillysha’s advancing momentum.
After a brief moment of astonishment, Aistride regained her composure, her mind racing.
The product of the Four Celestial Hosts’ divine authority derivative technique had been defeated; there was no point in staying at four hosts.
Since such is the case.
Another star in Aistride’s constellation dimmed.
[Carried by the Meteor]
This move consumed a celestial host’s power to be actively unleashed. Specifically meant for when she’s being overwhelmed in melee combat, this silver meteor imbued with divine authority would entangle enemies and carry them away before exploding to give her time.
After throwing this meteor, Aistride took out another potion, intending to recover from her injuries.
Upon seeing the meteor heading towards her, Tillysha immediately swung her blade to deflect it.
What she didn’t expect was that once she struck, her blade became stuck. It seemed the meteor’s surroundings were laced with ‘sticky divine authority’, which could tightly affix anything imbued with divine authority, making it impossible to break free.
In the nick of time, seeing herself about to be carried away by the meteor, Tillysha released her hold on the blade and quickly sprawled down on the ground.
The meteor passed by her back, leaving a searing scar.
By now, Tillysha was already battered and bruised, getting hit directly by the storm of leaves, slashed by the meteor, and lacking the protection of her realm. She was in a precarious situation.
Despite the pain feeding back to her in due time, she continued moving forward relentlessly.
Aistride couldn’t have imagined that Tillysha wasn’t swept away by the meteor, and quickly retreated. However, could her speed ever match Tillysha’s in her [Broken Bow] mode?
[Holy Oblivion Blade Casting]!
Losing your weapon during a fight was a big mistake, but she was different, as her blade could be instantly re-cast using nearby materials!
However, this time, touching the earth brought no response, only a feeling of emptiness.
Could it be…?
Tillysha’s pupils tightened.
A night had passed, yet it hadn’t restored much of her abilities.
These past few days, she had used too much power. The most taxing had been yesterday’s battle with Princess Filisia when she unleashed the [Authority of the Collective Forest], nearly depleting half of her power.
This was why she hadn’t used the [Authority of the Collective Forest] earlier during [Broken Bow], her power was already critically low.
Now, even casting a blade was beyond her abilities.
Sensing Tillysha was almost out of gas, Aistride regained her calmness. Several silvery stars orbited around her.
This was the effect of the Three Celestial Hosts, the stars circling her like moons, ready to act on her command to attack the enemies.
Looking at Tillysha, barely clothed and on her last legs, Aistride’s gaze hardened.
Unfortunately, Your Highness Tillysha, this time, it seems I will be the winner.
“Whoosh, whoosh!” As the stars shot out, Tillysha moved too, her speed surpassing even the celestial stars.
Evidently, she had been waiting for this moment, waiting for Aistride’s stars to aim at her. Once they launched, they couldn’t return to defend Aistride in time!
Aistride’s pupils tightened, realizing that up until now, Tillysha had been holding back, not utilizing her full speed.
Speed surpassing the stars—this was the true speed she could achieve after unlocking her [Broken Bow].
In the split second it took for Tillysha’s beautiful face to press against Aistride’s.
Aistride, taken by surprise, tried to draw her moonblade but was stopped when Tillysha gripped her wrist.
Tillysha didn’t give up. Without a weapon, she resorted to using her fists and feet!
She put all her strength into her move, pushing Aistride’s moonblade away. Just as she was about to seize the blade, Aistride wasn’t one to be trifled with; enduring such a long beating, she finally retaliated. Grabbing both of Tillysha’s hands, they toppled each other over as their centers of gravity faltered, rolling on the ground together.
