While Iphi was a bit satisfied to defend against one of Azzy's despicable attacks that aimed at her teammates who aren't in a position to move, Luci, on the other hand, could only watch in silence while she was protecting Misty queen and her Zebra.
Just then, Azzy started to step towards the fallen Rhino. Luci clenched her fist tightly, controlling herself not to hurry forward as she knows that there won't be any use.
At the same time, Claire almost reached her. Not intending to pay attention to something she didn't have any control over, stepping a couple of steps forward, she slashed at Claire with her saber.
*Cling*
As both of the captains finally confronted, their weapons collided, resulting in Claire retreating a few steps back.
Brandishing her saber, Luci looked at Claire and said, "You will have to go through me before you touch my teammates."
"Well, you aren't my opponent." Claire shrugged her shoulders and turned her head to look at Azzy, who was now standing before the fallen rhino. "Azrael, how much longer?"
"Well, a few seconds…" Azzy replied while grabbing the Rhino's horn.
Using his entire force, he started to spin while constantly supplying the soul energy from the soul orb as it was getting consumed at a rapid rate.
Earlier, the giant rhino was just swung over his head. But now, with Azzy in the center, the Rhino wasn't able to resist and was forced to spin around four times before it flew towards paralyzed Ardella.
Luci who successfully held Claire and Snivy at bay was distracted a little bit. To save her teammate, she was forced to dismiss her Arcana giving five minutes for team Twilight before Luci can summon it again.
In the meantime, Claire took advantage of the situation and went past Luci while Snivy followed her from behind.
"No, you won't." Thinking that Claire was going to attack Misty, Luci hurriedly pushed the hammer away with the saber before chasing after her.
With a single step, she caught up and thrust the saber in Claire's back. However, right then, suddenly, a bare hand appeared in her view and caught the blade. "Your opponent is me."
Grabbing tightly onto the blade of the saber, Azzy stopped her movements, allowing Snivy and Gideon to go after their respective targets.
"You really wasted too much time on my Arcana and lost a golden opportunity to win," Luci commented calmly as she glanced at the others.
She was no longer worried about her teammates as she saw they became free from the paralyzing effect.
Since her strategy failed, Luci decided to make sure to drag the battle longer to give enough time for her teammates to win their one-on-one battle.
Currently, Iphi and Ardella are engaged in a battle against Claire.
Snivy was facing Misty and her Zebra while Gideon focused on Dewy. As for the pangolin, the moment it was hit by the skull, in her frozen state, Dewy felt that her Arcana had long its control.
So, the moment she became free, she dismissed the giant pangolin back to the mindscape.
Since her opponent is Gideon, she wasn't that tense anymore. Both the sword users were engaged in an intense battle. Following the plan, Gideon managed to drag Dewy away from the rest of her teammates.
Meanwhile, Luci and Azzy were standing there with the latter tightly holding the blade to give enough time for his teammates to get to their targets.
Having no other choice, Luci left the saber's handle to increase the distance. Neither of them knows that they were thinking the same thing. That is to make sure to stay away from other battles.
While Azzy was thinking about whether to finish his opponent with strength or use Vajra, Luci quickly formulated a plan.
To his surprise, Luci then took out another five-star saber from the storage card. He wondered how rich this girl's background is…
Pointing the blade towards Azzy, she spoke, "Do you dare to have a one-on-one duel with me?"
Luci knew that she was being shameless for challenging a summoner like him to a saber battle but she had no choice if she wanted to drag purposely.
Looking at the thin blade in his hands, a memory triggered in his head.
<strong>One year ago, Violet Pavilion, Death Clan;</strong>
Azzy was following the older Avia while she was explaining to him about a legendary battle between Vestro Night and Myrtle Night that occurred more than thirty thousand years ago that resulted in letting her become the first Matriarch of the Night clan.
"Then, why don't you become the next head instead of rooting for your brother, Aspen?" As Azzy asked innocently, Avia shook her head, "No, I can't. I promised someone in the past that I will not fight for the position against my brother.
Even though his face as well as the memories was all blurry, the promise was still in my mind. Whenever I see your face, I remember that person. Maybe, it's your father… Hmm…"
As she turns her head, she found that she was talking to herself while the person in question stopped walking. He appeared to be looking at something.
In one of the training rooms, two people are thrusting the flexible blades at each other's chest or stomach.
"Master, what's that?" As Avia reached him, he pointed at a strange battle where either of them is just going backward and forward and yet, sweating from top to bottom.
"It's called fencing, a sport that was invented in the pre-apocalypse era. Usually, we use flexible blunt blades but with fine sabers, you can even kill your opponent. Anyway, your weapon is a death scythe. So, it won't be of any use to you. It should be better for you to learn two-handed swordsmanship. Let's go…"
"I would like to watch it for a while." As Azzy was seeing the strange sword techniques for the first time, he was fascinated with them and continued to watch the sparring until the end.
<strong>PRESENT-DAY;</strong>
As Azzy went down into a memory lane, Luci waited for his reply.
After a while, thinking that Azzy was hesitating, she provoked him further, "I guess you are unsure whether you can fight with a saber or not. How about this? I'll admit defeat as long as you manage to strike me once with the saber. Now, you dare to accept the challenge?"
Her provocation brought Azzy to reality and raised his head, "No, I was thinking about something else. As for your challenge, I accept it but I don't wish to participate in an unfair challenge.
So, let's make it this way.
Under any circumstances, we will neither use soul energy during the battle nor leave to help others.
The first one who draws the other's blood will be the winner. The loser will have to voluntarily walk out of the barrier. And also, since you are the one that proposed this challenge, if you lose, I will get to keep this saber. Are these terms okay for you?"
"Is he looking down on me?" Luci didn't like how Azzy gave her a huge advantage as if he was a master and she was a beginner. In saber battle, she was unrivaled in her academy and had absolute faith in her abilities.
However, right now, she couldn't care less about it as the situation is highly favorable for her.
Brandishing the saber, she replied, "are you ready?"
In response, Azzy pointed the saber at her while his front foot is pointing straight forward with the back foot 90-degree angle. His knees were also slightly bent.
Due to his lower body submerged under the water, no one saw his stance has been changed to 'En Garde'.
At the same time, following the agreed rule, Luci dismissed the soul energy below her feet and let her feet reach the base just like how Azzy is standing.
The audience was intrigued by this new development. The screens are now displaying both of them standing two meters away from each other with sabers in their hands, pointing at each other.
"On the count of 5," Luci started the countdown. "4, 3, 2, 1."
As soon as it ended, the Rebirth team's captain dashed forward and thrust the blade toward Azzy's chest.
Just then, Azzy extended his front foot and thrust the saber at his maximum speed. The water didn't even resist his movement.
"Argh…" By the time she realized, the saber in Azzy's hand had pierced her shoulder.
"You lose, Miss Hearth."
The saber fell off Luci's hand as a look of disbelief appeared on her face, "I was defeated in just one second, one move?"
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