There is a saying
"There is always a taller mountain", however three people currently in that room never expect that they will meet two other "mountains" on the same day.
Just who is Lufa? She is a genius, her mind alone gives her an advantages over the common people. It is such a great advantage to the point that the first time the hero who ended the war, Varsas Gungnir entered the island of her people, he was beaten down by a common child living on the island. It was as if everyone has been doing things for thousand of years, combat, magic, it is all the same to them. Time and experience have no meaning to the people who experience time differently.
And yet right now, she has no words on what just has happened to her. Someone just simply appeared and defeated her in swordplay. It is a matter of being outskilled, she, someone whose skills are above even those grandmasters who have practiced all of their life was outskilled when it come to swordplay.
And then another random scientist on the scene suddenly steps up and caused the one who defeated her to be on the defense. It is just too much, the people with that kind of power in the world can be counted on two hands, and yet right now there are two of them here, completely unexpected. It is like a legendary grand sage randomly decided to walk into a library one day to impress the people with his wisdom when another legendary grand sage older than him also decided to walk into that same library. Thing like that just doesn't happen!
The other two feels the same, though the lone swordman is bitter while the scientist doesn't show anything.
It is a meeting of world class swordsmanship, yet it happens in a random room, on the outskirt of the Lantonian empire.
"Goddamn it, why didn't you come Varsas." Lufa mutters under her breath.
This has quickly turned from a random encounter to a dangerous situation.
At this rate, let alone her life, she can't guarantee the life of anyone else in the room. Worst come to worst, she still has her magic. But she doesn't think the other dangerous assassin in the room will allow her to.
Wait a minute, there is another wild card in the room.
"Hey you." Suddenly she yells to get someone's attention
"We can team up." She tells the man in the cloak who was near the prime minister of the Lantonian empire minutes ago. She does not know who he is, but they have the same objective after all, protecting the prime minister.
Everyone else in the room can just gouge at what just happened. They can't even comprehend it. If it was just them right now, they would have died a long time ago. Perhaps if there is an army, these three superhuman can be tame. And to imagine that they was that near to one of those monsters minutes ago, it causes them to shiver.
"Don't make any sudden move." The supposed "scientist" in cloak told her with the voice of experience. Experiences! In front of Lufa whose skills are like a master with thousand of years of practice.
"For some reason, he is hiding his true style. Every time he swings his sword it is a good strike with great footwork, it is efficient and powerful. He reacts to the slightest hints of movement and strike. It is a perfect way to fight, however it is not an actual style, it is something created because he thinks he was going to fight normal soldiers and guards. For some reasons he is hiding his true swordsmanship. The reason may be that he is afraid people would recognize him otherwise. This is enough, if we push him anymore, I don't even know what his peak is. There may not be going back if he goes all out."
"What should we do then?"
"Wait and hope."
Thinking about her ally's words make Lufa very frustrated. Here she is at the turning point of history, thinking that she may change it, and yet an unexpected obstacle appear in her way. The three of them are in a stand off. The normal soldiers can't even react, the only thing they could do is to hope that their protectors can save them after all.
The assassin scans the two as if trying to figure out who they are. People on that level are very. However, it is impossible to make an educated guess with such little information. He does not move. The scientist does not move either.
But Lufa did.
Magic power condense inside her body quickly, as if they are going to gush out.
The lone assailant reacts instantly, moving faster than ever before, all his constraint was remove.
"Damn you." The cloak scientist curses under his breath and rushes to meet the attack. If she dies, he would probably also die. They only manage a stalemate when it was a 2v1 situation. If she dies, he will be alone to face off with the assailant.
"You have to protect me!" She yells, preparing for her magic.
A strike faster than ever before aims for her head, in an instant there was a counter aiming to remove the sword arm of the assailant. He may have said that the other person in the room has been holding back, but the scientist himself was also seemingly doing that.
The tempo keeps increasing but they do not let up. It is as if the assassin slowly shows his power and his opponent rises up to the challenge. Nobody knows what was going on, while Lufa prepares her magic.
Suddenly, the mysterious scientist lets go of his sword, it was an awkward situation but the assassin was in reach of his arms, so he takes the guy by the arm and throw him into the air. The assassin reacts instantly, balancing himself as he lands and throws a kick at his opponent's direction. It was counter by the scientist raising his arm to block. At the same moment, the cloaked scientist also throws a counter kick at the assassin's side, taking advantage of his opponent's unbalanced stance.
The trick to dealing with a world class swordsman is not to let him wield his sword.
The assassin glances at his side.
How is it possible...
How is he losing right now? The bitterness pours out like a wave, and at that moment, Lufa's spell was complete.
What happen next could be considered a mental attack. There is no defense against it, except for a steady mind. It is a magic unique to the citizens of Lan Sphere island. It is related to the past, so it falls under the section of time manipulation all Lan Sphere citizens are capable of.
The assassin suddenly has a feeling of nostalgia.
The worst memories of his life that corresponds with the current situation suddenly springs up in his mind. Images of the past assault him, it overlaps with the current situation.
"No no no no no no no no no no." Suddenly he lets go of his sword.
"The fire. My kingdom is on fire. He takes my wife. No no no no no no no no no." He suddenly stares at the scientist like he is the devil.
"It is him again. The spear in his hand. He was pretending to wield a sword." He keeps pointing and screaming.
Even Lufa is surprised at the result. It was only supposed to bring out the worst moment of his life, and she has seen people went through it before. People at world class level usually has a steady mind to deal with their own past. At worst, it can only incapacitate them for a moment.
At the end of the day, it is just nostalgia. But it seems this guy has some horrible past that even in memory, triggers him horribly.
"The magic. My wife. They took her. The army."
However, even though it is just a happy coincidence, Lufa rubs her hand. That is finally done with.