I reached the inside of the forest just in time to see the conclusion to the clash between Myria and Ardena.
Without my support, Myria was outmatched by Ardena. She was putting up a good fight, to be sure, her water whips hurtling about from many directions and cutting down the trees in the vicinity. Even as ancient trunks toppled over and drowned the clearing in fluttering leaves that were in turn sliced apart by merciless water whips that continued spiraling from all angles, the two girls continued to duel fiercely. Ardena matched Myria blow for blow, parrying, blocking and deflecting the flexible water whips and the occasionally solidified sea steel blade.
Though both swordswomen were evenly matched in technique and skill, Ardena's superior strength and mana began to tell, her higher cultivation realm allowing her to overpower Myria. A single blow smashed aside the water whips and knocked the Atlantean princess back, and another follow up attack grazed her, sending a spray of blood.
Myria tried to reform her water whips and strike Ardena with highly pressurized jets of water from multiple directions, but Ardena weaved through them with astonishing ease. Stomping her foot on the ground, she sent up soil spurting upward to absorb the torrents. Earth as an element was strong against the water element, after all, if you were to take the principles of the Chinese five elements.
Then Ardena stabbed through a wall of mud, her blade lancing toward Myria. The latter quickly reformed her blade and parried the blow, but she staggered from the impact. Then Ardena swept her blade almost like a hammer and sent Myria flying.
Cartwheeling in the air, Myria planted her feet against the trunk of a still standing tree before launching herself back into the fray. Ardena stepped to the side, allowing her to hurtle past, and then brought her sword down. Myria, realizing the danger, spun her body away to avoid it, but blood spurted as she was grazed because she was unable to get away in time.
"Ugh!"
She hit the ground and bounced a few times before she finally flipped herself to land upright on her knees. She leaned on her sword and looked up, raising her weapon in time to parry the lethal strike toward her head, only for Ardena to kick her in the solar plexus while her body was open after the hasty defense.
Myria folded over, rolling away to avoid the plunging blade, but another kick hurled her across the clearing and I caught her before she could crash into a tree. Despite catching her, the sheer momentum of her hurtling body caused me to skid several paces back before I finally forced our stumble to a halt.
"Huff…" I placed an unsteady Myria down. "Are you all right?"
Her reply was to cough out blood. I shook my head in dismay and placed her against a tree for her to rest. She looked up weakly and forced a smile.
"Sorry…"
"No, it's not your fault. You did great." I patted her shoulder before straightening and turning to face the silently watching Ardena. I didn't know why she didn't just attack now. Was there perhaps some semblance of honor left in her brainwashed shell? Or did she pity us?
It didn't matter. I wasn't going to complain. The more time I could buy for Sigmund Krieg, the better.
"I wasn't able…to stall her…for long…"
"It's totally fine. You did well to hold her here until I came." I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath before glaring at Ardena.
"What's the matter?" Ardena asked icily, her blade pointed at me. Yet she didn't move, maintaining her position and waiting for something. "Draw your bow, Archer. I at least have the manners to wait for that."
"You are not the type to attack an unarmed opponent?" I couldn't help but smirk. "How honorable. Thanks, I appreciate it."
"Do not mock me."
"Sorry, that wasn't my intention." I sighed and drew Azure Dragon from my storage device. Ardena's eyes narrowed.
"A…sword?"
"Why?" I raised an eyebrow before adopting a defensive stance. "Or were you planning to stand at a distance and let me shoot you down from afar?"
"No…I guess you have a point. The moment I get in close – which will happen – you're dead. I just thought your objective would be to maintain a distance from me for as long as possible. I didn't think you would discard your greatest strength and gamble on fending me off in close combat."
"It's a gamble either way, isn't it?" I retorted, still eyeing her warily. "It's not like I'll be able to guarantee a distance between us."
"True." Ardena gripped her sword in both hands and leveled her blade toward me. Then she charged, turning into a white, green and golden blur. I just barely managed to parry her first strike, but her next attack arced toward me from the side, almost cutting off my arm.
Fortunately, I managed to twirl my sword about and block the blade, sparks flying as metal screeched against metal. I allowed the strength of her blow to knock me back, using the momentum to temporarily withdraw.
Ardena must have realized my intent, for she spun around and pursued immediately, refusing to give me a breather. I desperately parried and deflected the next series of strikes, giving ground as I retreated. Ardena, sensing blood, closed in and continued pummeling me with her elegant strikes, her blade nicking the bark and throwing up clods of soil.
One of her blows almost knocked Azure Dragon from my right hand, but while I stumbled, I realized that my chest was exposed. There was no way Ardena wouldn't see the opening, and she capitalized on it, stepping in to ram her sword through my chest while I wasn't able to withdraw Azure Dragon in time.
Fortunately, Azure Dragon wasn't the only weapon I possessed.
Azure Frost glowed to life and materialized in my left hand, and I managed to just barely parry Ardena's Dainsleif. Frost combated against gold, the divine energies that wreathed Dainsleif like a halo shattering the coating of ice that had expanded over its length, and Ardena knocked me back. I countered with a clumsy swing with Azure Dragon, but she managed to guard against it with the…well, guard of her sword.
Twisting her sword, she fended off my follow up strike before retaliating with a riposte. I crossed my swords to pincer her huge swing, but the strength behind her blow still hurled me a few paces backward. I stumbled and desperately tried to regain my balance, just in time to cross my swords and lock Dainsleif in place before it could cleave me apart from crown to groin.
While I struggled to hold Ardena's legendary sword at bay, she kicked at me from below. Perhaps it was because of the Eye of Odin, but I could somehow anticipate her attack and I whirled away from her foot before I jumped over a sweeping leg that threatened to knock my feet out from under me. I flipped about and planted a foot on the flat side of the blade of her swinging sword before propelling myself overhead and landing behind her.
Without turning around, I was already lancing Azure Frost behind me, but I could hear the clang and feel the juddering impact up my arm when Ardena somehow blocked it. The both of us then spun around, with Dainsleif crashing against Azure Dragon and our volatile energies combusting into an explosion that flung us apart.
"Ugh!"
I skidded to a stop, stabbing both swords into the ground to bring my sliding body to a halt. Glancing up, I could see that Ardena had gracefully recovered and was glaring at me from afar.
"A dual wielder? I didn't think you would have a second sword in reserve."
I shrugged and used the opportunity to reform my stance.
"Still, it's clear that you aren't built for close combat. An archer trying to be a swordsman?" She snorted and aimed her blade at me once more. "You're overreaching."
"For an enslaved elf, you sure talk a lot."
Her expression stiffened, and for a moment, I could see emotions conflicting within her eyes. There was some part of her resisting the enslavement spell that had been cast on her, defying the will of the dark elves and refusing to be a part of this nonsense.
However, whatever curse the dark elves used to brainwash her won out, and she simply charged her sword up with energies. Dainsleif howled as it accumulated a frightening amount of energies and erupted.
From this range, I couldn't disrupt her casting. She was too quick and I was too far away. At least, with my current equipment, anyway. Switching to a bow and shooting her with an arrow would take too long, and she knew it.
But I stood my ground, also knowing that it was too late for me to evade because I was too close.
There was no need to evade. I could see the flow of energies. I could see the mechanisms of the spell and how it operated. I could see how the environment was altered so that this effect could manifest in the material world.
Lifting my swords up, I traced the raging currents and sliced through the mana threads that formed the fabric of the spell, cutting them apart and disrupting it. Without the arcane bonds that linked the different mana particles together, the spell collapsed, fizzling out ineffectually.
"What? Impossible!"
Ardena gaped at me in disbelief, unsure of what had just occurred. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes.
"It matters not. I do not know what trickery you pulled, but if spells do not work, then I shall best you in physical combat."
Before I could react, she was right upon my position, a dazzling blur of white, green and golden. Dainsleif slammed down against Azure Dragon and Azure Frost, and I was hardly able to catch up with her speedy movements. Only my reflexes kept me in the game as I desperately blocked, parried and deflected her barrage of sword strikes.
Even though Ardena didn't share the same sword techniques as Myria, whose water whips were unpredictable and overwhelmed the opponent from so many different directions, such was her speed that she appeared to be assailing me from multiple angles all at once. Her golden sword was nothing more than a blinding flash of light, searing across the air to cleave me apart or lance into my chest or neck. I was relying more on instinct than sight to defend myself, aware that one wrong move would spell death.
Then I spotted a buildup of mana, though it was marginally smaller than the usual eruption that Ardena used to devastate everything. Instead, Ardena channeled the energies into a swifter and smaller burst that was still incredibly destructive, a move that she could unleash even in close range at the sacrifice of much of its potency.
Against ordinary foes, that would have finished them off, but having detected the spell well in advance with the Eye of Odin, I was able to respond accordingly. An azure blizzard of frost sprung up from my swords at the same time to nullify the golden blast, and the both of us were hurled apart in a muffled detonation that sent frozen shrapnel and golden embers scattering across the clearing.
"Huff…"
Leaning on my swords, I glared at my opponent. I could feel blood trickling down my face and soaking my clothing. The exchange with Ardena had seen her blade graze me in more than a dozen different places, flaying open my skin. Even if I managed to hold her off and match her blow for blow, I would eventually bleed to death. It would take a long time, yes, but it would be a slow and agonizing process.
Her skills were overwhelming. Her swordsmanship was superior and her cultivation realm was a major step above mine. Her low defense was the only reason why I still had a fighting chance, but it was obvious that she would kill me many times over before I could get a decisive hit in.
"How can I…?"
I trailed off when I realized that I could see something with the Eye of Odin. The flow of mana all around Ardena's body, and how they swirled about in patterns around her sword, linking the treasure weapon with her. Not just that, but I noticed how Dainsleif possessed its own mana source, yet was somehow unified with Ardena, almost as if the both of them were the same magical entity. At least to the Eye of Odin.
Then I understood.
"Man and Sword as One."
One of the ultimate techniques of swordsmanship that was cultivated regularly in the East, it was said that when the user became one with his or her weapon, he or she could unleash unprecedented power when compared to before. Comprehension of one's weapon taken to the extreme, and turning it into an extension of oneself, allowing the cultivator to wield it as if it was part of one's body.
Yeah, I couldn't replicate spells and techniques with the Eye of Odin, but it allowed me to decipher the flows of energy and how they worked…and if I could comprehend Man and Sword as One, then perhaps there was a chance that I could win.
"Why are you spacing out?"
"Kuh?"
I deflected Ardena's sword to the side and hastily backed away. Countering with my other sword to force her back, I parried her retaliatory blow and allowed her to push me back. While I retreated, I eyed her warily, knowing that she would clear the distance in a single bound. She relentlessly pursed me, determined to slay me before I could foil her mistress's plans.
Yeah, that was right. I exhaled in frustration after blocking another lethal blow that would have cut me in half, and still felt the impact resonate through my body with bone bruising force despite the successful parry. Obviously, Ardena wouldn't give me the time and space to comprehend Man and Sword as One.
"Ugh!"
Crashing some distance away, I hastily rolled up to fend off the next strike. Gritting my teeth, I assessed my remaining options. Would Da Shu be able to buy me enough time, or would Ardena simply obliterate my Elder Tree Revenant with a single burst from Dainsleif?
Then water whips lashed out to coil around Ardena's word, suspending it in mid attack. The elvish swordswoman scowled and turned around to glower at a sitting Myria, who had lifted Abyss up to fire off her technique.
Myria smiled defiantly, despite the blood still trickling from her mouth.
"Don't forget that I'm still here."