Volume 6 Chapter 84 After the Rain, the Ground Hardens
LiviaAnd the others close in on Luke.
But this time, they're not coming straight at him.
They move in a winding pattern, making it hard to predict their target and closing the distance.
Suddenly, one of them vanishes from sight.
Slow to fast──
A figure appears right behind him, but is it A or B?
Either way, the strike comes down on him, and Luke doesn't even look back, just taking the blow.
At that moment, another blade is coming straight at him from the front.
The blade comes at him fast... so Luke kicks out at LiviaA in front of him.
As his kick lands, LiviaA leaps backward in a "U" shape, leaving her sword behind.
The sword left behind, still carrying the momentum of the thrust, flies toward Luke.
Luke quickly tilts his head to the side.
The sword grazes his right ear, but LiviaB, still airborne behind him, catches it with her reverse grip.
With her left-hand sword, she pins Luke's sword to block his defense,
while her newly caught reverse-grip sword swings up from below to strike at Luke's back.
With the blade rushing toward him, Luke pivots on his left foot.
He turns to face LiviaB, narrowly dodging the upward slash.
LiviaB, missing her strike, throws the sword forward in the momentum of her missed swing, and the sword lands back in LiviaA's hand.
During the exchange, Luke steps back, exhaling deeply.
"...In a fight between swordsmen, I really didn't want to use this..."
Luke slowly begins to channel his magical power.
"You're not the only one with surprise tricks."
Luke swings his sword.
A gust of wind blasts from the tip, turning into a slicing wind that charges toward LiviaAnd the others.
But it's just a straight thrust of a sword strike.
One of the Livia's blocks it, and the other jumps into the air to avoid it.
"Too bad."
The Livia who jumped finds Luke suddenly right above her.
She panics as he anticipates her movements and circles around.
But it's too late. Luke's spinning strike crashes LiviaB into the ground.
As LiviaB bounces off the ground and kicks up dust, LiviaA appears behind Luke, still in mid-air.
She swings her sword, and Luke, now completely exposed, is wide open.
But without turning around, Luke simply extends his left palm toward her.
A blast of wind shoots from his hand, sending LiviaA flying.
Luke landed without a second glance at the windblown Livia.
The other Livia, having been thrown, took a defensive stance in mid-air and landed after Luke.
Both Livias were on guard against Luke.
His magic was pretty damned tricky, after all.
Can't blame them.
This wasn't how Luke wanted to fight──not against Randy, and not as a swordsman. He'd rather not use magic if he can help it.
But he couldn't say that out loud.
Even if he wasn't at his best, he was up against 2 Livias.
He had to use magic to keep up; pure swordplay wouldn't cut it. This was serious business.
The two of them measured their distance, then struck at Luke simultaneously.
Luke stabbed his sword into the ground.
In that moment, the water at his feet turned to ice, tripping up the Livias.
Luke swung his sword at the stumbling LiviaB, sending a blade of wind slicing through the air.
At the same time, he spun around with a horizontal slash and lunged at LiviaA.
Swords clashed.
LiviaA was blown away by the force, but Luke also lost his footing and slipped.
"Fuck. Ice really is a bad idea."
Luke stood up, rubbing his head, as the two Livias got to their feet as well.
The battle resumed, but now the Livias shifted their movements, keeping a cautious eye on Luke.
This was the real exchange of attacks.
Swords flashed, raindrops were deflected, and magic vibrated the air.
The 3 of them disappeared, but in the air, on the ground, impacts scattered the raindrops into mist.
After several impacts, the 3 reappeared on the ground as if sliding.
The 3 of them slid across the ground, sending up a spray of water.
The Livias recovered faster.
They closed in on the still-sliding Luke, bouncing on their feet.
LiviaA went for a jump slash.
Luke braced himself to meet the attack, and at that moment, LiviaB appeared behind him.
"Huh"
Luke stamped his left foot down.
The water at his feet surged up, and an icy spear rushed at LiviaB.
LiviaB chopped through the oncoming ice... As the icy shards glittered in the heavy rain, Luke's kick shattered them and sent LiviaB flying.
LiviaB is blown away, and while that's happening, LiviaA pulls her sword back and strikes at Luke with a series of fast attacks.
Luke, blocking them, focuses magical power into his left hand and, spotting a moment of weakness, slams it into LiviaA with a palm strike.
The wind blast that exploded sends LiviaA's body flying.
All 3 are going at it with everything they've got.
There's no holding back anymore. But each time they clash, little by little, the dark aura around Livia that was surrounding her starts to dissipate.
Suddenly, Livia's movements stop...
"Ah, aaaaahhh, aaaaaaahh!"
It sounds like she's releasing something, letting out a roar towards the sky.
LiviaB, who was right behind Luke, vanishes, and then, like before, reappears as if mirroring him.
But this time it's different.
Luke breathes deeply, sensing the shift in the air, and tightens his grip on his sword.
"Well... this is it, huh?"
No one answers Luke's question.
The two Livia's vanish, leaving ripples in the air.
The swords close in on Luke.
Luke prepares to face them.
When their attacks collide, it's like raindrops splashing apart.
This happens over and over.
Luke is taking the full brunt of Livia's furious onslaught.
Their strikes are simple, brute-force swings, as if trying to shake something off, but their directness makes them easy for Luke to defend against.
And with each hit, each parry, Livia's bodies and sword strikes seem to merge into one.
Before he knows it, only one Livia remains... but her sword speed and power suddenly skyrocket.
With a strike that shakes his core, Luke grins and returns the blow with one of his own.
Neither of them backs down. Their battle, fought in close, deadly range, soon creates a shockwave dome around them.
Their sword strikes are so fierce that not even the rain dares approach them.
Around them, raindrops explode in all directions, leaving the space where they stand dry.
After a while of fierce back-and-forth, they both strike at the same moment, and their swords clash, stopping each other dead in their tracks.
A massive shockwave hits, and then, as if to remind them, a torrential rain comes pouring down on the two.
Both step back, cutting the distance, then face each other again and laugh.
"Looks like I won."
"Huh? Hahaha... you're right."
Maybe they hadn't noticed it before, or maybe while they were lost in their mental battles, they kept swinging their swords until the real world caught up.
Livia gave a wry smile, and just when she was about to drop her guard, Luke called out, "Hey."
"...What?"
"It's not over yet."
Livia tilted her head, repeating, "Not over...?" with a confused look as Luke grinned.
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