Chapter 64 I am swordsman
The applause that had erupted for a historic moment died as quickly as it began, replaced by a excitement anticipation.The audience's sentiment had shifted. They no longer saw a victim who had miraculously survived,they saw a new, thrilling variable introduced into their bloody equation.
Zion stood in the crater, the last vestiges of dust settling on his shoulders like forgotten snow. The air around him still shimmered with the heat of his ascension. Across from him, Lyra had completed her turn, her expression now a rigid mask of threat. The regret was gone, burned away by the professional necessity of dealing with a problem that had refused to be solved.
Without a word, she moved.
Her form was a blur, far faster than anything she had shown before. The playful warm up was over. Her sword, now gleaming with a deadly, focused light, cut through the air in a series of intricate, killing arcs. She was no longer testing him or toying with him. She was trying to dismantle him.
But Zion was different.
Where before he had been a leaf in her storm, twisting and contorting to survive, now he was the mountain. The winds mattered not.He didn't flail desperately.His movements were minimal and efficient. A slight shift of his head let a thrust whistle past his ear. A subtle turn of his torso avoided a slash that would have cleaved him in two. He flowed around her attacks, his new Myr grade energy allowing him to perceive and react to speeds that would have been invisible to him moments before.
He didn't just dodge,he deflected. When a powerful overhead chop came down, he met her wrist with the back of his forearm, the impact creating a sharp crack that echoed through the arena. The force that would have shattered his bones before now only jarred her arm, throwing her balance off for a critical second.
They exchanged a rapid flurry of blows. She was armed and he was using just his body.The sound was a percussive beat of flesh meeting hardened leather, of energy clashing against energy. To the awe of the crowd, and the dawning horror of Lyra, the newly entered Myr realm novice was not only keeping pace with a mid realm veteran, he was matching her.
Lyra disengaged, leaping back a dozen feet. Her chest rose and fell slightly, a telltale sign of her exertion and disbelief. A strained, respectful compliment left her lips, a warrior acknowledging another. "Incredible. To think a fresh breakthrough can hold such power... you truly have the same strength as me."
Zion, who had been a statue of focused intensity, froze at her words.
He slowly lifted his head, and a strange, almost pitying smile touched his lips. "Oh?" he said, his voice cool and clear. "You think we have the same strength?"
His gaze drifted from her, scanning the bloodied sand around them. His eyes settled on a discarded longsword, its former owner lying motionless nearby. He walked over, his movements unhurried, and bent down to pick it up. The metal was nicked and stained, just a common tool.
He held the blade loosely, testing its weight with a few casual flicks of his wrist. It was an unremarkable weapon, but in his hand, it seemed to hum with a latent potential.
Then he looked back at Lyra, his expression utterly transformed. The calm was still there, but it was now the chilling calm of a predator revealing its true nature.
"I am originally a swordsman," he stated, his tone as simple and factual as stating the time of day.
The change was instantaneous,his whole demeanour was changed with simply one common sword.
When he moved again, it was not the efficient defender from moments before.
He closed the distance in the blink of an eye. His first strike was not a slash, but a precise, piston like thrust aimed at her shoulder. Lyra barely got her own blade up in time to parry, but the impact was different sharper, more focused, and far stronger. The vibration numbed her entire arm.
There was no more exchange. There was only a performance, and Zion was the sole conductor.
His form was flawless, a brutal economy of motion where every movement served both attack and defense. He wasn't just faster,he was everywhere.
His footwork wove an inescapable net around her. His blade was a viper, striking from impossible angles ,a low sweep she had to leap over, immediately followed by a horizontal cut that forced her into a desperate, back bending retreat.
The crowd, which had been roaring, now gasped for air in a collective, stunned silence. This wasn't a fight anymore. It was one sided beating.
Clang!
He slash her sword,making it bounce back.
Shhhink!
The tip of his sword traced a thin red line across her cheek.
Thud!
The pommel of his sword slammed into her ribs, earning a pained grunt.
Lyra did all she could. She poured every ounce of her skill, her speed, and her mid realm mana into a desperate defense. But it was like trying to hold back the tide with bare hands.
She was being systematically, effortlessly, and publicly dismantled. Her sword felt heavy and clumsy in her hand, a child's toy at best.
She who had known sword her entire life, she was called genius amons the many . She didnt let that go to her head as she trained everyday with discipline. But now infront of Zion she felt like baby, the sword she had known all her life felt unfamiliar.
She laughed sarcastically" I thought i had put all my time into training as hard as humanly possible." She paused and looked at Zion
"Just how much did you train , for you to have such affinity with the sword."
Zion stopped his attack for a moment and simoly relayed" I never even tried to train with my sword for the past weeks" Well i was in prison but she doesn't need to know that , Zion mischievously thought
The women almost went into a shock,hearing this statement . Life was truly unfair. Completely forgetting just moments ago, she was toying with his life like it was nothing .
...….
"Holy lee. That guy is mischievous. Even breaking her mentality. She did try to kill him but arent you enjoying this bit too much "
Moon looked at Raiz, who was smiling from one ear to the other " At least stop smiling before you try to fake reprimand. You are enjoying this too. You need to be cool headed like me "
Raiz looked at the shaking cloud clearly holding his laughing . This guy…
...…..
Back in the arena
Zion, his movements speeding up, finally saw an opening. He feinted high, and when she committed her guard, he dropped and swept her legs out from under her. She hit the sand with a jarring thud, her sword skittering out of her grasp.
He stood over her, looking down. The smile he gave her then was not one of victory, but something far more terrifying. It was the smile of a man delivering a promised verdict.
"I won't kill you," he said, his voice cool and devoid of malice, which made it all the more frightening. "But the pain... the pain is going to be real."
Zion turned out to be a man of his word.
What followed was a methodical, one sided beating. He used the flat of his blade to deliver stinging, bone jarring blows. He used his free hand to land precise, punishing strikes to nerve clusters that screamed in agony without causing permanent damage. It was a lesson delivered with suffering. Repayment for every desperate dodge and near death experience she had put him through.
Zion clearly didn't care whether she was women or not. Fact was she toyed with him and was willing to kill. The only reason he even was let her go is because of this place. The moment you came into this arena, it was basically consent to be killed.
......
In the audience
A part of the crowd, perhaps the more sentimental, waited for the inevitable. They waited for a nobleman of standing, captivated by Lyra's beauty or skill, to stand and cry "Enough!" in the name of chivalry.
But no one stood.
This was not a tournament of honor. It was the black market of gladiators. The nobles in their plush boxes were not knights,they were consumers. They had paid for spectacle, for catharsis, for the raw, unfiltered truth of power. And the truth Zion was demonstrating was far more fascinating and terrifying than any notion of fair play. Life and fairness were currencies they had no interest in spending here.
They watched, enthralled, as Zion taught his lesson, their silence the greatest testament to his absolute and terrifying control. The game hadn't just been reset. New player had taken the board.
This the most beautiful game their eyes had ever laid on. The excitement was truly a peak experience.