Chương 166: Chapter 156 - Secret Main Event

The remainder of the exhibition break passed quietly between them. Amber kept reading while Fiona held the book in front of her, occasionally adjusting its position whenever the little girl's hands wandered toward the edge of a page. Every so often Amber turned one herself.

"We only have a few more minutes before we begin again," Chelsea's voice carried through the coliseum.

"Now would be a great time to head back to your seats for the secret main event." People who had been moving through the aisles began returning to their places. Kira glanced down at Amber's book again.

"So what's going on with her reading?" Kira asked.

"The last two times I've seen you guys, there's been a book in front of her."

"Going to be honest. I have no idea what she's reading about. Earlier this week she asked Chelsea for what I guess is the next one in a series?" Kira leaned over. She could read well enough for everyday use, but the words spread across the page were immediately more complicated than anything she normally dealt with. Her eyes moved over one of the lines. Spatial confluence is only relative to the amount of mana… Kira stopped. She wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

"She's actually reading this?" she asked.

"Nonstop. She usually will read until she falls asleep. Then wakes up hungry, then back to reading. Both Chelsea and Freya said it's okay. So…" Fiona shrugged. Kira looked at Amber again. The baby hadn't acknowledged either of them. Her eyes continued moving steadily across the page.

"Welcome back, everyone. I am sure you all have your own theories and ideas on what is in store for this last fight. Well, let's start with the challenger. Please everyone give a cheer for the living legend, the Silver Sword herself, Adriane Wixx!" The reaction was immediate. The coliseum exploded. Kira shot upright along with thousands of other spectators. She joined the cheering before she even realized she was doing it. Her mom was actually going to fight!

Kira had trained under powerful people and watched skilled knights spar, but the Silver Sword was different. Stories about Adriane had existed Kira for as long as she could remember. Now she was going to see her fight for real. Kira looked down. Amber had stopped reading only long enough to clamp both hands over her ears. Her expression was irritated. Kira's excitement faltered for just a moment. Was the baby actually about to be right? No.

Her mother being part of the fight didn't mean Chelsea was the other participant. Surely it was Lord Commander Liam.

"And her opponent." Chelsea's voice echoed again, "Decked out in full historic dragon scale armor. Your very own…" A bright light appeared over the arena. Kira's eyes snapped toward it.

"Holy Empress of the Forgotten Children." Chelsea called out. The crowd erupted again.

"What!?" Kira screamed while grabbing at the roots of her hair. Chelsea floated above the center of the arena. She wore the full set of historic dragon-scale armor, and both arms were stretched away from her sides. Her weapons hung loose from her wrists as she hovered above the ring. Kira looked down at Amber. The baby had already returned to reading. How did she know? There had to be an explanation. Kira's sister must have told her. That was the only thing that made sense. Her attention returned to the arena.

What was Chelsea thinking? Mom was going to destroy her. After several moments, Chelsea lowered herself to the ground. She said something to Adriane that no one couldn't hear from this distance. Especially not with the crowd this worked up. Adriane responded by drawing her sword. The long red blade came free. Kira felt an immediate knot form in her stomach. There was something about the weapon that frightened her even from the stands.

"For this fight, I am going to turn over the commentary to one of the guest trainers from Valhalla." Chelsea walked toward the edge of the arena and tossed the voice crystal down. One of the women waiting beside the ring caught it.

"Hello, my name is Savi and I will do my best to capture the fight. Though, this might be beyond my abilities." She laughed. Chelsea turned and headed back toward the center. As she walked, her wings unfolded behind her. The crowd lost control again. Kira barely noticed them. She couldn't decide who she wanted to win. Chelsea was her sister. Of course she wanted her sister to win. But this was mom. There was no way Chelsea could actually beat her. Right?

"You two may begin in three. Two. One. Fight." Chelsea started forward. She didn't draw either weapon. Kira leaned toward the arena. A Spectral Javelin appeared in Chelsea's hand. She tossed it toward Adriane with what looked like almost no effort. Adriane immediately jumped backward and cleared the weapon's path. Chelsea moved the instant she did. She grabbed the broken shield and spear hanging from her wrists before breaking into a run. Then Chelsea started yelling something.

Kira couldn't hear the words over the crowd. A shadow passed across the arena as the sunlight disappeared. Kira looked up. Her mouth fell open. Something covered the entire sky above the coliseum. At first she couldn't understand what she was seeing. Then the surface moved. Water. Water? It looked like an enormous body of water had appeared directly overhead, stretching far enough that Kira couldn't see where it ended. For the first time since she had opened the book, Amber stopped reading on her own.

Kira looked down at her. The baby's hands had fallen away from the pages. Amber stared upward with wonder in her eyes. Kira tore her attention away from the impossible sight overhead and looked back toward the arena. Chelsea was still pressing the attack. Every thrust of her spear produced two additional phantom weapons that struck from different angles. Adriane had been forced backward almost immediately, and even from the stands Kira could see the frustration building in her mother's expression.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Savi, the announcer, tried to keep up but before she could explain what happened the two were already three strikes ahead. Chelsea shouted a single word that, again, Kira couldn't make out. The enormous body of water hanging over the coliseum reacted. Spectral weapons began falling from it. Hundreds of them descended toward the arena, each one aimed directly at Adriane. Kira leaned forward in her seat again.

Adriane moved only when she had to. Spears struck the ground fractions of a second after she stepped aside, disappearing almost immediately after impact. Another came down behind her while two more fell ahead, forcing her sideways. Chelsea never gave her room to breathe. She continued attacking through all of it. Her spear moved so quickly that Kira couldn't follow individual thrusts anymore. Chelsea had to be striking close to ten times every second, and each attack brought two more extra copies with it.

Kira couldn't keep track of Chelsea's movements, yet their mom somehow could. Adriane avoided the weapons raining from above while slipping between Chelsea's spear strikes. Every movement seemed to happen at the last possible instant. For several seconds, Adriane did nothing except defend herself. Then a large yellow wall appeared between them. Chelsea's spear struck it. The phantom weapons followed. For the first time since the fight began, Adriane had enough space to attack.

Her sword swept across in one powerful strike. Chelsea brought up her shield. The impact threw her backward several feet. Before Adriane could follow, Chelsea triggered her Spectral Scythe. The enormous blade appeared around her, forcing Adriane to jump away before it could catch her. Kira stared at the arena. This wasn't anything close to the fights they had watched earlier. She had known there were people stronger than her. She had trained around warriors whose levels were far beyond her own. This was different.

The speed alone was difficult to see let alone comprehend what was happening. Chelsea and Adriane weren't simply attacking quickly. They were reacting to one another before Kira could even understand what had happened. A strike became a block before she could follow the weapon. A block became a counterattack almost immediately. Nothing seemed wasted. Every movement flowed directly into the next. Kira felt frustration building inside her as she watched. She hadn't even known combat could look like this.

The crowd had gone almost completely silent. Thousands of people surrounded the arena, yet hardly anyone seemed willing to make a sound while the fight continued below. Eventually, the strange water overhead disappeared. The last few spectral lances fell before the sky returned to normal. Chelsea and Adriane kept fighting. Neither appeared tired. Adriane pushed forward and Chelsea gave ground. Then Chelsea forced her back again. Kira couldn't tell who was winning anymore. It looked like a stalemate.

At least, it looked that way to her. Kira's hands tightened against her knees. She had taken her sister for granted. Chelsea constantly talked about being level one. Kira had believed that meant she was weak. Maybe not helpless, considering everything Kira already knew she had accomplished, but still weak compared to people like their mother. There was no way. No level one could do this. A level one shouldn't have been able to stand across from Adriane Wixx and survive, much less force her onto the defensive.

Something suddenly changed. Chelsea altered the position of her spear. It wasn't a large movement and Kira almost missed it. Instead of striking, Chelsea dropped the shaft low and caught Adriane's leg. Her mother lost her footing. As Adriane began falling, she said something Kira couldn't hear and tossed her sword toward Chelsea. Chelsea caught it. Her entire body immediately dropped. She hit the ground hard and ended up sitting with the red sword across her lap. Chelsea grabbed at the weapon, but it wouldn't move.

She tried again and nothing. Then Chelsea started laughing not a small laugh. She was laughing so hard that even from the stands Kira could hear her.

"I yield," Chelsea yelled between laughs. The coliseum erupted. It was the loudest reaction of the entire day. Kira felt the sound through the floor beneath her as thousands of people jumped to their feet. Adriane walked over and lifted the sword from Chelsea's lap as though it weighed nothing. She offered her other hand and pulled Chelsea back to her feet. Kira could barely process what she had just watched. No one around her seemed able to either.

She was sure even the Lord Commander himself had ever seen a fight like that. Chelsea took Adriane by the wrist and lifted their mother's arm high above her head. Kira didn't understand the gesture but the crowd clearly did. The cheering grew even louder. Kira stopped caring whether she understood it. She jumped to her feet and yelled with everyone else.

"Chelsea!" Kira exclaimed after making it back to the room.

"That was incredible. Both of you!" She barely made it through the doorway before crossing the distance to Chelsea. The excitement from the coliseum still hadn't worn off, and watching the fight from the stands had left her with far more questions than answers.

"Aww, thanks," her sister said, wrapping her up in a hug.

"I'm so glad you enjoyed it." Kira returned the hug before pulling away and looking toward her mother. Adriane had already changed out of her armor. She stood nearby in casual clothing with a faint smirk on her face, apparently far less impressed by what had happened than Kira was.

"You two going all out is terrifying!" Kira exclaimed. A look seemed to pass between Chelsea and Adriane.

"So that wasn't us going all out," Kira's sister replied.

"We didn't want to hurt anyone in the crowd. Sir Liam and your great-uncle Edgar have been worried about assassins, so we put on a display that was flashy and showed that messing with me wasn't a great choice." Kira stared at her. She thought back to the water filling the sky and the hundreds of spectral weapons falling toward their mom. She remembered being unable to follow either of them for large portions of the fight.

"That wasn't… all out?" she said slowly.

"No. That was a bit of theatrics. We slowed it down a lot so everyone could keep track of our movements. That was around Sir Liam speed. I wanted everyone to think I stood equal to mom." Kira's thoughts stopped on one particular part of that explanation. That had been around Sir Liam's speed? She had been around the Lord Commander enough to know he was powerful, but apparently she had still been underestimating him.

"Who really would win, though?" Kira asked. Her sister looked back at their mother.

"I don't know. And honestly, I don't care at this point." Chelsea shrugged "I'm pretty sure my fighting days are behind me now. I may never find out, and I'm okay with that. I'm still going to train, though." There was no disappointment in Chelsea's voice. If anything, she seemed strangely comfortable with the idea. That felt odd to Kira after what she had just watched. Someone capable of fighting Adriane Wixx at that level was casually talking about leaving combat behind.

Adriane's expression became more thoughtful.

"Chels, I have a question," Their mother said slowly.

"It's been bugging me since your coronation…"

"What?" Chelsea asked, looking back.

"How exactly could you hold that Undrawable Sword?" Adriane asked. Chelsea opened her mouth. Then she stopped. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"That's an excellent question. Maybe it's broken inside?"

"Have you taken a look at it with The Eyes?"

"I have." Chelsea answered, "It just says it's called the Undrawable Sword. No other information." Adriane raised one hand and rested a finger against her chin while she thought. Kira looked between them. She hadn't paid much attention to the ceremonial sword during the coronation. It had seemed important because the Church had presented it to Chelsea, but there had been so many other things happening that day that an old weapon she couldn't draw hadn't stood out.

Their mother smirked, "Any idea what classification of weapons aside from broken doesn't have a level requirement?" Chelsea thought for a moment.

"Uh, godly? I was able to equip my necklace without breaking it." Adriane covered her face with one hand.

"Just going to casually talk about putting on God-tier equipment. That's Chelsea. No, it's below that. It's mythical."

"Ah. I haven't seen any mythical gear yet." Kira's mother lowered her hand and stared at Chelsea. The realization seemed to reach her a moment later.

"You think it might be!?" her sister exclaimed.

"It's a sword the Church gave you during your coronation, so they value it highly, and you can pick it up." Adriane explained slowly. Chelsea's excitement immediately grew. She reached into her pack and pulled out the sword, still secured inside its sheath. Kira looked at it more carefully this time. Nothing about the weapon immediately announced what it was. It certainly didn't look impressive enough to justify the reaction building between the two women. Chelsea held it out.

"Give it a shot," Chelsea said.

"I tried to pull it out at full strength, and it wouldn't budge." Adriane accepted the weapon. Kira stepped closer.

"What do you think it is?" Kira asked. Her sister looked directly into her eyes.

"She thinks it could be The Silver Sword." Chelsea smiled.

"The actual Silver Sword." Kira wanted to ask what that meant. She wanted to know why a sword apparently shared Adriane's famous title and why the Church had possessed it in the first place. There wasn't time. Their mother already held the weapon. Adriane looked down at it before adjusting her grip. One hand wrapped around the hilt while the other closed firmly around the sheath. The casually dressed woman glanced toward Chelsea and Kira.

"Here we go." She took a deep breath and Adriane pulled. The blade slid free without the slightest resistance. All three of them gasped. Adriane continued drawing until the entire sword emerged from its sheath. She stared down at the exposed blade for a moment before immediately looking toward Chelsea.

"Use The Eyes on it. I have to know." Chelsea stepped closer. She hovered one hand over the sword while her eyes lost focus. Kira watched her expression. A smile slowly appeared.

"Adriane Wixx, I'd like to introduce you to The Silver Sword."