While I was still amazed by Miss Deuwen's sudden disappearance, Cassie was already dashing towards me.
She swings her sword quite easily from an overhead in which I poorly blocked due to the surprise attack she made (more like I was the one who let myself be surprised by Miss Deuwen).
"Ugh.." After I blocked her attack, my hands became numb for a bit, making me almost drop the sword that I was holding. Is this the real weight of an actual attack?
"Ara, stop playing around!" said Cassie while swiftly barraging me with attacks. I could barely defend against her attacks since each of them have stronger force than what I can handle.
"Do you think I'm weak enough for you to think about other things?!" She shouts as she swings her sword from her waist this time.
"Kugh!" I blocked it poorly again making me move quite a distance from my original position.
Too heavy, the weight of her sword and her sheer strength are nothing to scoff at! It's only been a few seconds and I think I already exhausted half of my stamina.
Without even giving me time to breathe, Cassie once again dashes towards me.
I try to catch her off guard by making an overhead swing first in which she easily dodged and counter attacked with a punch straight into my stomach.
I tried get some distance by stepping back but the punch probably chipped at least 25 percent of my health bar.
*cough* Ugh, I thought I was about to cough some blood. Is she going all-out against me?! I'm about to throw up here!
I glanced at Miss Deuwen to check if she's about to bail me out from my misery, but all I see is her raising two of her fingers. Does that mean if I take two more solid hits, the match is over?
"Sis, 10 seconds are already over a while ago!" Alex shouts loudly.
What the hell do you want from me? And wait, did you say 10 seconds.. what the fuck?! I probably got thrown around half of the place and it was all just a few seconds?! Your sister is about to cry here while you have the nerve to expect me defeating this genius, can't you see that I'm being forced to keep defending since the battle started? I can't even find a chance to attack!
...
Wait a minute, I suddenly remembered what Miss Deuwen said before..
"If I can't get an opportunity to attack, I'll just have to make one myself!" it accidentally slipped out of my mouth but I honestly didn't care about that at this point since I might have finally found the way to fight back.
Cassie chuckles and replies, "Then, let's see how you'll do that!" She starts to sprint towards me.
Ugh, she really becomes so heated in the weirdest of time, but no matter, I have to keep calm and collect my thoughts in order to execute what Miss Deuwen taught me.
As I see Cassie approaching me, I also start to run towards her which caught her by surprise.
I run while holding my sword above my head, intentionally leaving my lower part exposed to which Cassie responded, "I thought you were going to do something else but it looks like you just added some speed into it!".
As she is about to punch me where she punched me earlier, instead of stepping back, I stiffened my abdomen and rushed towards Cassie.
"Ugh!" I groaned when her fist made contact with my stomach.
I swing down my sword in hopes to inflict some damage but it was easily avoided by her stepping back.
Without giving Cassie some time to think, I rush again towards her and this time I was able to give her a solid punch in the stomach, however, it looks like she didn't even feel it. Is she really just a 7 year old girl?
Using that opportunity to strike, Cassie tightly grips her sword and swings towards me. As I was about to block, I noticed that her footing is not exactly in the best condition, which is why her swing this time looks a bit slower than her swings before.
I also swung from below with my full force, also putting my weight into the action. After I successfully parried her attack, she was left stunned by what I did.
"Urya~ah!" As I try to swing again to give the finishing blow, I wasn't able to raise my arms for a moment. This gave Cassie some time to recover, and when I was finally able to swing my sword, she deflected my blade easily and very effectively, causing the sword in my hand to fly away. The next thing I see was Cassie pointing her sword at my throat.
"That's enough!" Miss Deuwen came up between us, and at the same time, Cassie puts down her sword.
"The winner of this sparring session is Lady Cassandra from the House of Braymont!" As loud as the announcement was, not a single applause was heard from either side.
I can feel the sweat dripping down my face and body, leaving a nasty but refreshing feeling.
Cassie and I bows, then she walks towards her family's tent as she walks past me without even saying a word, at the same time, the wind blew on my direction giving me the opportunity to get a whiff of her scent, which smells pleasant.
The atmosphere in there looked a bit suffocating when Cassie arrived. I couldn't even see a single one of them opening their mouth, and all of them have a grim look on their face.
When I tried to relax my body, I suddenly saw myself lying on the ground.
The people began to panic and come towards me, but Miss Deuwen halts them and puts her hand on my chest, making me feel warm all over my body. Is she using magic to check my vitals?
"..The princess is alright, her Highness is just exhausted." After saying that, everyone sighs in relief.
Miss Deuwen lifts me up and carries me like a princess.. Well, I am a princess but.. ahh, I'm too tired to think about anything.. I.. zzz..