Chương 95: “Heel, You Mutt”

The spear went through Serena's face. Celestia felt no resistance. The blade passed through bone and flesh and came out the other side. There was no damage. Instead, the point of contact erupted into flame, a burst of orange and red that consumed Serena's head for a split second before reforming into flesh, as she jerked her body to the side. A trail of embers fell from Serena's cheek as the transformation reversed. Her face was intact; her eyes were wide and her breath came in a ragged gasp. Auraveil.

The ability to trade one's elemental aura for flesh and armor. When a slashing or piercing attack connected, the area of contact converted into the holder's elemental attribute, letting the weapon pass through harmlessly. It was considered a high-tier skill on the lower floors, and for good reason. Against physical fighters who relied on blades and arrows, it was nearly invincible. But it had limits.

The aura cost was the biggest issue; Auraveil required a minimum amount of aura just to activate, and the consumption scaled with the severity of the injury it prevented. Serena had just spent a massive portion of her reserves keeping her face safe. Beyond that, the skill only triggered against slashing and piercing attacks. A blunt strike or a grapple would not activate it. There was also the matter of compatibility. Against aura with a bad compatibility against flames, it would simply connect regardless.

This was exactly how Arthur had beaten Serena during the first combat elective lesson. His skill, an Holy-infused attack, had struck her as though her skill wasn't there. Celestia had not used aura when she stabbed through Serena's face. A clean, physical thrust; Serena's aura reserves had just taken a tremendous hit to protect against an injury that would have been fatal. She pulled the spear free. The motion was smooth and fast, and she was already transitioning into a defensive guard.

Arthur came in fast using his dash skill, closing the distance between them in an instant. His sword was already mid-swing at her midsection by the time she moved her spear. Celestia held the shaft of her spear caught the blade with it. The impact jarred through both weapons and echoed off the space around them. Arthur's eyes were locked directly on hers. He pushed forward, trying to use the leverage of his position to force her spear down and create an opening for a second swing.

However, Celestia held her ground and took advantage of the closeness. Celestia unleashed a burst of her golden aura. The light poured outward from her body in a sudden wave, filling the space between them with blinding radiance. At this distance, looking directly at her, Arthur had no chance to avert his eyes.

"Ah—!" He staggered back hard, one hand leaving his sword to shield his face. His vision was gone, replaced by a searing white that burned across his retinas. Rather than follow up with the spear, Celestia drew her leg back, and drove an aura-imbued kick into Arthur's chest. Arthur left the ground, his arms splayed as he flew backward across the polished floor. He hit the ice hard and skidded to a stop several meters away, gasping. Celestia, though, already moved her attention elsewhere.

She swung the spear behind her in a wide arc and the shaft met Serena's blade with a sharp crack. Serena had recovered from the shock of having a spear in her face, and had circled behind her while she was dealing with Arthur. They traded blows. Serena pressed forward with quick, sharp swings, trying to overwhelm Celestia's guard before her spear's reach could come into play. The first came high at the neck, and Celestia deflected it with the upper shaft.

Serena followed with a low cut at the knee, then a straight thrust at the chest. Celestia caught both, stepping back and turning the shaft to redirect each one. Serena was fast. Her swordsmanship was aggressive and direct, built around closing distance and staying inside the spear's effective range. But Celestia could already see it. Serena's movements were slowing. The swings that had been fast at the start were losing their edge. Her breathing was heavier, and her footwork was getting sloppy.

The aura drain from her skill was already doing its work. Celestia waited for the opening. It came on Serena's next overhead swing. She put too much weight behind it, committed past the point of recovery, and her guard dropped for a half-second. Celestia imbued golden aura into the tip of her spear. The metal glowed, and she thrust it forward at Serena's shoulder. Serena saw it coming. She brought her sword up to block, angling the flat of the blade to catch the tip of the spear. Love this novel?

Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The aura-imbued spear hit the blade, and the sword snapped in half. The two halves of the blade spun away in opposite directions, clattering across the ice. The spear continued forward without slowing down. It punched through Serena's shoulder just below the collarbone. The tip came out the back, slick with blood.

"Gah!" Serena's knees buckled. She grabbed the shaft of the spear with her free hand, her fingers gripping the bloodied metal, and her face twisted. Celestia gripped the shaft and pulled. The spear did not move. Serena's hand was locked around it, her fingers slick with her own blood. Even with the blade pierced through her shoulder and her legs giving out beneath her, she was not letting go. Her teeth were bared and her eyes were locked onto Celestia's face.

Celestia considered the situation for about half a second.

"Fine. It's all yours." She drew her leg back and kicked Serena in the side of the head. The impact was hard, and Serena's grip on the spear went slack as her body crumpled to the ice. Celestia left the spear in her shoulder and turned toward the hall. Arthur was already coming. He had used his dash skill again, closing from the far end of the hall in a blur of motion. This time, he was serious.

His sword was raised high, and holy-white aura blazed along the edge of the blade, bright enough to cast sharp shadows across the ice pillars. He brought it down in a diagonal slash aimed at Celestia's collarbone. Clang! The strike met a spear. Golden aura hummed along its surface, and the impact sent a tremor through both weapons that Celestia felt in her teeth. Her feet slid an inch backward on the ice, but she held.

The holy aura on Arthur's blade crackled against her noble aura, the two energies grinding against each other at the point of contact. Arthur's eyes went wide as he stared at the spear in her hands.

"How—?!" That spear had been buried in Serena's shoulder. Celestia immediately turned the block into a sweep, knocking Arthur's sword to the side with a sharp twist of the shaft. Before he could recover his guard, she reversed the spear, drove the blade downward, and stabbed it through his foot. The tip punched through his boot and into the ice below, pinning his foot to the floor. The spear stood upright, its shaft vibrating from the force of the strike. Arthur screamed.

His body jerked forward from the pain, but his foot was fixed to the ground and the motion went nowhere. His balance completely broke when Celestia shoved him backward with one hand flat on his chest. He fell onto his back. The spear's blade shifted inside his foot as his body moved, tearing the wound wider, and the scream that came out of him was worse than the first. His back hit the ice hard. His sword clattered out of his grip and slid across the floor, well out of reach. Celestia stepped over him.

She dropped her full weight onto his stomach without a shred of care, one knee on either side of his torso, and looked down at him.

"Tell me, are you retarded?" Arthur's face was contorted. His teeth were clenched and his breath was coming in short, hissing pulls through the gaps. His eyes were wet from the pain, and they looked up at her without any signs of understanding.

"H-huh?"

"You clearly saw me throw my weapon twice and recall it in my hand." Celestia tilted her head.

"So why are you asking how I have my spear?" Arthur had no response. His jaw was locked from the pain he was feeling. Celestia straightened up. She adjusted her position on his stomach, settling her weight, and brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Well, let's start, shall we?" Arthur's eyes focused on her through the haze of pain. His foot was still pinned to the floor by the spear, and every small movement sent a fresh wave of agony up his leg.

"S-start? What do you mean?" His voice cracked as he managed to utter out.

"I heard that you kicked Anna recently." Arthur's expression changed.

"T-that was a mist—" Celestia slapped him. The sound was sharp in the frozen hall. Arthur's head snapped to the side. A red mark spread across his cheek.

"Wait!" He raised both arms to cover his face. Celestia caught his left wrist with one hand. She pulled a short knife from within her clothes, drove it through the back of his hand, and pinned it to the ice beside his head. The blade went through clean, and Arthur screamed again. His body bucked beneath her, but her weight kept him down. With one arm now staked to the floor, he had only his right hand free, but it was of no use when he tried to block with it. Celestia slapped him through the gap in his guard.

The blow connected with the side of his jaw and sent his head rocking against the ice.

"Sto—" She hit him again. Harder this time. The crack echoed off the hall's vaulted ceiling. And again. And again. Each one landed with more force than the last. Arthur's arm slowly dropped after each hit. His face was swelling and the skin had split in two places. Blood ran from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Celestia continued for a few more. By the time she stopped, Arthur's face was a mess. His left eye was swollen shut and his lip was split in two places.

Blood had smeared across both cheeks from the repeated impacts, mixing with the saliva and sweat on his skin. His head was turned to the side, resting against the cold ice. He was conscious, but just barely. His breathing came in shallow, wet pulls. Celestia pulled a napkin from inside her sleeve. She wiped her hand clean, working each finger one at a time. When she was done, she threw the napkin on Arthur's face. She leaned forward. Her mouth stopped near his ear.

"I dare you to touch what's mine again." Arthur's lips moved. Blood ran between his teeth.

"A-ahm... s-shorry..." Celestia sat up. She looked at him for a moment longer, then stood and straightened her dress. She reached down, gripped the shaft of the spear still pinning his foot, and pulled it free in one clean motion.