Knight (33 page)

The challenger gritted his teeth and parried another blow from Valeriana. He twirled his lance between his fingers as if it weighed like a feather and swung down at the girl, only to be repelled by an equally strong force.

“What?” He gasped as he was pushed back. He might've been wrong, but did she just predict his move?

Fight. Win
.             

Zion made a quick swing from below but was easily warded off by the girl. He tried moving in again to get back the upper hand which he lost a few moments ago, but Valeriana managed to stop and destroy the pace he was trying to build up.

Tension grew and he stiffened.

“Fine! Be that way if you wish!” Zion bellowed, hopping a few steps back before skillfully letting his weapon spin between his fingers. The fire that clung to his blade seemed like beams of light moving in circles.

Zion held the shaft of his lance with his right hand, the blade pointed to east of where he was currently facing. Slowly, a stream of fire erupted from his weapon. He moved the blade around him, creating a ring of fire with him and Valeriana inside.

“You cannot step outside this ring.” He said with a wicked grin. “If you try, the fire will burn you.”

The girl didn't say anything and continued glowering at him. Charles paused for a moment and tried to discern the challenger's plan. He massaged his chin with his thumb, lips curling thoughtfully.

“According to my calculation,” he started. “The radius of that circle limits to Zion's best fighting range which leads to the conclusion that—” He was cut off when Tamara piped in.

“He's trying to win by putting everything to his advantage. He has the upper hand as long as the both of them stay within that circle.” She finished.

Zion started assaulting Valeriana in his best fighting range as Charles predicted, and slowly, the tide of the battle could be seen flowing in Zion's favor.

The human girl felt herself getting pushed back. His speed increased dramatically and the force he exerted in each blows proved to be stronger than what Valeriana previously thought.

Valeriana anchored her feet to the floor to prevent herself from getting pushed back even more, but that strategy was futile. As her ankles went a few centimeters close to the fire making up the figure of the ring, the flames immediately roared, as if cautious of her sudden closeness. She instinctively dove forward to avoid the eruption.

She could hear the challenger chuckle but did not mind it. Instead, she decided to try and adapt into the sudden change of environment. Even with her current state, a part of her seemed to be conscious enough to be aware of the dangers.

Fight. Win.
Her mind desperately told her, but her body said otherwise.

Valeriana tried fighting back, but Zion proved to be more powerful than what he seemed and completely overpowered the poor girl. The challenger was overcome by anxiety and anticipation from a while ago, but with everything playing right to his victory, his uneasiness disappeared. He, instead, continued to enjoy the torment he was putting upon the current fifth-ranker. She started to appear less and less a threat.

He pulled back his lance and struck her leg, wounding the flesh of her lower calf. Valeriana staggered from the pain and gritted her teeth, maintaining the current position she was in. With her present state, she probably would not be able to get out of this alive—she needed to snap back into reality and gain control of herself.

“Valeriana!” Corvan exclaimed, fists clenched.

Everyone stared at him questioning.

“Just finish the damned fight already and use that technique! Come back to your senses! You stupid witch!”

It took a few moments until those words sunk in.

Stupid witch.
The words echoed.

Something inside Valeriana awakened.

“I . . .” She muttered. “Am NOT a stupid witch, you idiot devil!” She screamed from where she stood, facing Corvan with a face flushed in anger.

“Ha.” Tamara guffawed. “That brought her back alright!”

Shaking her head, the girl finally regained control of her own limbs. “Damn it.”

She looked around.

They were standing inside a ring of fire. Her instincts told her not to get close to the line that drew the circle. Her memories were foggy, but she could recall focusing solely on Zion and the strong desire to defeat him.

“The technique, Valeriana!” A voice behind her shouted.

“The technique?” She muttered questioningly. “Technique? Wha—oh.”

She willed her face to stay serious and the air around her solemn. The pain around her fingers started to throb and intensified each passing minute, but she tried her best to ignore it. She gnashed her teeth together.

Even though Seraphina told her to use the technique she was taught, she still didn't know how to execute the so-called
killing intent
which was an important factor when trying to perform it. She strained her mind to think of something.

Control yourself,
Valeriana.
She told herself.
Then bare your fangs. This time not as a cornered rat, but the tiger in the wild.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She managed to pick up the scent of the fumes that curled from the fire. The wind whispered in her ear ever so gently that she would've not noticed it at all.

Get your emotions under control, but keep your goals set and clear.
She mentally noted.
Let the fire burn, but do not let it burn you.

Killing intent was the fire, she realized. There was always a risk it would burn her, but she must manipulate it to get it under her control instead.

If her assumptions were correct, then now was the best time to apply what she learned. She willed her eyes to open, her pupils dilating at the sight of Zion in front of her. He didn't move, just staring at her cautiously. He still looked unsure if he had to attack or wait for her to make the first move.

I am no prey.
She chanted.
I'm the predator.

She walked forward, making her steps slow and daunting while her eyes stared straight into his. She wanted him to feel her fire—the intimidating flames that burned with her thirst for victory. Inside, she was hoping she was doing the right thing and that she managed to call upon her killing intent willingly.

Needless to say, she was successful.

“Did she lose control again?” Keelan curiously quipped.

“This one is . . . different. This is not the aura of a wild, untamed beast, but . . . one of a predator's.” The lady knight said.

Lady Seraphina could only look at the fight in front of her with mouth open and eyes wide in utter disbelief. Everyone else beside her had the very same reaction, save for Lord Aeron who was openly laughing. She did not know why he was laughing since nothing was funny, but kept it to herself and instead concentrated on the duel at hand.

“Does this mean humans have killing intent, too?” Someone asked.

Lord Aeron stopped as he thought of something. “Or . . .”

Seraphina gazed at Valeriana as she made quick strikes with her weapon, applying the technique she was taught a little bit clumsily at first. She managed to remember the timing—when she had to apply the feints and when to land a real attack.

The Ghost.
A technique made up primarily of feints backed up by threatening blows. It was a technique developed by Dantalion Wisperia. The movements consisted of quick strikes in all direction, some mostly fake moves to confuse the enemy. But of course, feints did not usually work on skilled weapon handlers so it needed to look real in the eyes of the opponent. Killing intent, if controlled upon will and worked successfully on the enemy, could make even the smallest feints look like real moves.

Valeriana raised her hands and thrust her sword forward only to suddenly swing to her right and land a quick blow on Zion's side. She was surprised when her challenger did not make any attempts to block her attack and brought his lance up to shield his front. It was too late when he realized that he was actually bleeding.

Valeriana moved back from her previous position and got into stance, dust springing from her tracks.

“What did you just do?” He growled at her.

Zion stared at the girl with slightly wide eyes. She suddenly made an attack from the left, so he brought his lance up instinctively to meet hers. Contrary to his expectations though, nothing came. He was holding his weapon out into thin air while Valeriana moved from his right and swiped down, wounding him on the cheek.

Valeriana assaulted him head on, letting their blades clash noisily. He gritted his teeth and tried not to let her disrupt his rhythm, but every time he managed to pick up his pace, she would attack so suddenly from a direction, her sword visibly moving to cut the air but then disappearing the next second. Next thing he knew, she was right beside him and slicing his skin open.

She moved but he didn't even know when she did.

“What . . . was that?” He asked. “A feint? What the hell's going on?”

He moved to parry her attack, but he then saw her sword coming from above. Instinctively, he brought up his lance to shield himself when her strike actually came rushing from the original direction. Shocked, he attempted to react as fast as he could, but it was too late.

With a battle cry, Valeriana mustered up all the force she had left and struck at his weapon hard, causing the lance to fly out of his hands. He grunted and attempted to reach for his weapon, but was stopped short when he realized that the girl's sword was aimed at his throat. He seethed.

The moment the object flew out of his hands, the fire on the blade was extinguished and so was ring of fire he previously created.

Valeriana was shocked.

She used that technique, and now, it really did lead to her victory—although she had to go through hell and fire quite literally before she did.

“Somehow, I have a feeling that wasn't something Zion did on purpose.” Aneeka said in her seat, narrowing her eyes at the scene.

“It wasn't.” Charles answered. “It's a genuine victory.” The fourth-ranker seethed. “Damn.”

“So it's an actually, really winning victory stuff!” Tamara howled before looking down at Charles with a triumphant grin. “YOU LOST THE BET!” Shooting out from her seat with an excited jump, the third-ranker cheered at the top of her voice while doing an unsightly victory dance.

When Valeriana recovered from her shock, she looked at Zion to see an impassive expression. “Surrender.” The girl said, panting heavily.

In order to win the duel, one must be able to subdue the opponent and make them admit defeat or knock them out. That was the rule.

Instead of having a look of defeat in his face, he grinned. A skin-crawling smile crept up on his lips and showed his perfectly aligned white teeth. “You are an interesting fellow, Valeriana. More interesting than anything I have ever seen.”

“Are you gonna surrender or not?”

“Why would I?” He told her, making her freeze and hold her breath. “This fight just got even more interesting.”

“You . . .” She panted.

Zion gazed at her tauntingly before smiling. “But let's end it here at the moment. I underestimated your worth. I lost because of that. I'll challenge you again someday, but before that day comes, I'll make sure I'm ready, so you get yourself polished up good.”

“You mean . . .”

“For this time, for real, I surrender.” He said, before he held both of his hands up to symbolize his admission of defeat. “For now. This fight is not over yet.”

Lord Aeron leaned forward to whisper something in Kylon's ears. The man nodded in reply to whatever he told him and stood to make the announcement. From this point on, the whole arena was filled with silence.

“The duel ends here!” The Headmaster exclaimed from his seat, his voice resounding fiercely. “This duel's officially, actually, really winner! Valeriana Kerrigan! Roaring Tiger!”

“I sense something wrong with how that grammatically sounded.” Charles seethed, fixing his glasses.

“Oh, come on! You're just bitter!” Tamara replied, patting his back while cackling exultantly.

A chorus of laughter from the Twelve echoed, mingling with the resonant cheers from the audience. Her three, little aides were screaming and shrieking from utter happiness that they were literally crying out her newly established
theme song
with tears. A few, however, were befuddled from the recent declaration that they could not help but scratch their scalps.

“I'm confused. So is this an official victory, or an actual, real victory?” A spectator among the crowd questioned.

“Haven't you heard the Headmaster? It's an official, actual, real victory so get over it!” Someone replied.

“How do you know it's an actual, real victory?”

“Well, Zion always walks away after he humiliates his opponents and says stuff such as
I don't want to anymore
. But this time, he admitted his defeat and didn't walk away at all. Besides, the fact that they gave her an alias means that her recognition is officially, actually, really genuine.”