The small 8-year-old girl, Frida, held a sword in her hand as she asked a grown man in front of her, "Master, what should I do if my sword technique is not enough to defeat the enemy?"
The man replied casually, "Miss Frida, if you encounter an enemy who is too strong for you to fight, you just need to run away."
"Really? But that contradicts what my father taught me. He said running away from a fight is an act of cowardice."
The man chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I forgot, Miss Frida, you are a noblewoman, and of course, you cannot adopt my reckless advice."
Suddenly, the man's expression became serious. "What I said earlier is serious. If you feel like you can't fight the enemy, it's best to run away. However, if you find yourself in a situation where you must fight, I have an important piece of advice for you. Whatever the circumstances, never be afraid. You must believe in yourself and your sword skills."
At that moment, young Frida didn't understand how someone could trust their sword and abilities when facing a stronger opponent.
Now, she understood the meaning behind those words. To overcome a stronger opponent, one must grow stronger during the fight. To become stronger and surpass one's limits in a fight, one must have confidence in their abilities. A person who has a defeatist mentality from the start will never be a winner.
Back in the present, Frida was in danger. Lily, the puppet girl, forced her to lie down and slammed her hard. Now, Lily was sitting on top of Frida body with the right hand gripping her neck. Meanwhile, Lily left hand was raised, ready to deliver the final blow to Frida's heart.
Frida held the sword with her right hand. She began her counterattack by lifting both legs and jumping to make her body stand. However, Lily's heavy puppet body caused Frida to fail in the move, but at least, she managed to shake Lily's position.
Lily quickly stabbed her left hand toward Frida's chest, but Frida smashed Lily from the right side using the tip of her sword handle. As Lily was lifted off her body, Frida immediately released the grip of Lily's right hand on her neck and threw Lily's body towards the magma pool.
Before Lily fell, a red aura surrounded the puppet girl, and she flied back, adjusting her position. Thereafter, Lily attacked Frida again using five red strings. Frida held the five strings with her sword, but she felt that she cannot cut them. Lily added the strength to the five strings, pushing Frida backwards to the end of the bridge.
Frida pushed the five threads a little before driving her sword down.
"Sword's Will, Eight Way of the Sword Breath, Sacred Guard," she said.
White light emanated from both sides of her sword, forming a diamond-shaped shield. Frida then took the hilt of her sword and lifted the shield to block Lily's relentless red thread attack.
Using the shield, Frida managed to withstand Lily's attacks for a while. However, Lily didn't stop there. She picked up a hot stone from the edge of the crater and hurled it towards Frida.
Frida deactivated the shield mode on her sword and said, "Sword's Will, Fourth Way of the Sword Breath, the Fall of the Moon."
She created crescent-shaped energy with her sword and shot it towards the large rocks headed her way. Each crescent-shaped energy collided with the boulders, slicing them before disappearing.
Frida took a deep breath, trying to calm her rapidly rising and falling chest. She then turned to Vale and shouted, "How much longer?"
"Just hold on a little longer!" Vale replied.
A smile formed on Lily's face as she flew towards Frida at a slow speed. While flying, she revealed something.
"It seems like you're misunderstanding something. It's true that if you destroy that formation, this princess will lose her source. However, this princess still has enough mana in my body. The mana in this princess's body is enough to defeat the two of you. The only reason why this princess doesn't want the formation to be destroyed is that it's very difficult to rebuild it."
Faced with such information, Frida didn't change her expression.
"Vale, don't be influenced by her words. Just keep going, don't stop, even if I get seriously injured."
From afar, Vale responded to Frida's words. "That was my intention from the beginning. Just focus on your fight."
Seeing that Vale and Frida were not influenced by her words, Lily gnashed her teeth in frustration.
"How dare you ignore this princess!"
Lily's anger caused her red aura to intensify. She then created one hundred red threads, infused with more mana than before, and made them incredibly sharp.
One thread then flew at supersonic speed towards Frida's head. Lily intended to pierce her head with the new thread she had created. However, Frida's excellent reflexes were on display as she avoided the attack by tilting her head. The sharp thread only managed to scratch Frida's cheek.
The following attack swiftly followed suit. Frida skillfully leapt backwards, her body spinning in the air, avoiding three more threads of attack aimed at her. The impact of the three threads hitting the bridge caused spiderweb cracks with a diameter of three meters on the surface of the structure.
Frida swiftly swung her sword horizontally, deflecting two threads aimed at her chest and shoulder. As the fight progressed, she felt the same sensation she had in previous battles. A lightness came over her, allowing her eyes and body to react swiftly to Lily's quick attacks.
To the untrained eye, Frida appeared to dance and move at lightning speed atop the bridge. Meanwhile, with every passing second, 3–4 threads bombarded the surface of the structure.
Frida persevered through Lily's attacks until they eventually subsided. Breathing irregularly, she taunted her opponent, "Is that all you've got?"
In response, Lily simply smiled slightly, "You're awfully confident, Sister Blade Dancer."
At that moment, Frida heard the sound of the bridge cracking beneath her feet. Looking down, she realized that each of the cracks caused by Lily's thread attacks was merging and forming a large fissure. She instinctively ran towards the part of the bridge that had not yet been affected, but the crack rapidly spread.
Crack!
The bridge crumbled beneath Frida's feet. She was momentarily stunned, but quickly regained her senses. As she looked around, she saw a boiling pool of magma, ready to swallow her up.