The people gathered around instinctively backed away after hearing Tiyun's words, giving the two fighters far more room. The murmurs that had filled the street only moments ago grew louder.
"Is he serious?" someone whispered.
"Is he actually going to fight like he might die?" another asked.
Zamin stared at his companion as though he'd completely lost his mind. "You can't be serious?" he asked, sounding genuinely baffled.
Annie, on the other hand, simply clapped her hands together once and nodded with obvious approval. "Good, good. That's how it should've been from the beginning, but the fact that you're doing it at all is still good."
Tiyun didn't answer.
He exploded forward.
His sword shot toward Annie's chest in a lightning-fast thrust. Annie leaned back just enough to avoid the blade, but her eyes narrowed the instant she saw every strand of crimson flame wrapped around the weapon surge toward its tip. The fire stretched beyond the steel itself, extending the reach of the thrust by nearly another foot.
Without hesitation she snapped her forearm up.
Clang.
Instead of flesh being pierced, the sword struck something solid hidden beneath her dress. The crimson flames dispersed harmlessly as Annie slid back a single step before planting her feet again.
*What was that?* Tiyun thought, immediately retreating into another stance. *I hit something. I know I did... but it felt like it did nothing, even though I used Crimson Pierce.*
Annie let out a small whistle.
"That wasn't what I was expecting it to do," she remarked with genuine interest. "Thought it'd be something like flames shooting out."
She attacked.
Tiyun didn't even have time to widen his eyes.
Something smashed into the side of his face with enough force to nearly shut his consciousness off on the spot. His body staggered violently several steps across the street before he barely managed to stay on his feet.
Gasps erupted throughout the crowd.
"What in the Emperor's name was that?" Zamin muttered under his breath.
He'd barely seen it.
Tiyun hadn't seen it at all.
His jaw throbbed as confusion flooded his thoughts. Not giving her another opportunity to disappear like that, he lunged again. His sword carved downward in a powerful vertical slash. Annie slipped to the side to avoid the blade itself, only for her expression to sharpen as a second crimson slash suddenly peeled away from the first and followed behind it. She immediately raised her left forearm.
The crimson slash crashed into the hidden protection beneath her sleeve before dispersing.
"Tricky," she remarked.
Tiyun immediately disengaged, creating distance before drawing his sword through the air twice in rapid succession. The two slashes crossed perfectly.
An enormous crimson X flew toward Annie.
She planted both hands on the ground and cartwheeled sideways, the glowing attack narrowly passing beside her before dissipating several yards away without striking anyone in the crowd.
The instant her feet touched the ground again, Tiyun was already there.
He'd closed the distance during her dodge.
His sword came crashing down toward her.
Then...
It stopped.
The blade halted just short of her body.
For a split second nothing happened.
Then the air rippled.
A crushing wave of invisible force exploded downward from the halted slash, slamming directly into Annie with enough power to crack the stone beneath her feet and force her into the ground.
*That had to've done something,* Tiyun thought.
"That's an interesting attack," Annie mused.
She was still on the ground, but what lay beneath her dress had negated almost all of the damage.
She took a slow breath.
*100%.*
Planting her right hand firmly against the ground, she twisted her hips and launched herself upward with a single explosive motion. Her leg whipped around in a vicious arc.
Her heel buried itself directly into Tiyun's liver.
The impact blasted him clean off his feet.
He flew backwards like he'd been struck by a battering ram before crashing into the wall of the bar they'd just walked out of. The wooden wall shook violently from the impact as his sword slipped from numb fingers, clattering onto the ground beside him. His body slowly slid down the wall until he hit the ground, unconscious before he came to a complete stop.
Annie casually stood back up, brushing down her skirt before raising her arms in a long, relaxed stretch. All around her, the street had fallen dead silent. The spectators stared with wide, unblinking eyes, utterly paralyzed by shock. None of them could process what they had just witnessed or how effortlessly the duel had been decided.
Lowering her arms, Annie turned her attention toward the sidelines. A playful smirk crept across her face as her blue eye locked onto the man in the straw hat.
"Now, you're next, right~?" she asked, her voice light and teasing.
Zamin stood frozen in place. He slowly turned his head to look at Tiyun's unconscious body slumped against the splintered wall of the bar, then turned back to look at the smiling young woman standing in the middle of the street. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his pale face, his left eye twitching uncontrollably.
"Are you kidding me?" he muttered under his breath.