Chapter 305: "Faithful" 1 v 1 [II / Bonus - ]
The gauntlet was specifically designed with a special rune function engineered to completely absorb, neutralize, and reflect opposite elemental affinities like Light and Holy magic.
If Tasmin simply raised her right hand right now, Thora’s gauntlet would absorb Celeste’s solar beams instantly, catch the priestess completely by surprise, create a massive open window, and allow Tasmin to end this duel in a single effortless execution strike.
...However, right as her fingers hovered over the gauntlet’s trigger—
THUMP!
A sudden deep realization echoed in Tasmin’s heart.
She remembered her private vow to her Lord.
She had promised herself that she would become strong enough to handle entire armies for her Lord with one hand, while holding her cute, beloved Lord in her other arm.
It was completely logical to use the gauntlet...
In fact, utilizing high-tier gadgets to defeat an opponent efficiently was standard.
THUMP!
’But...’ Tasmin thought, her grin turning intensely mischievous, ’...that won’t make me look cool!’
The entire purpose of this forward deployment was to put on a legendary, breathtaking show for her Lord and the global stream...
The other girls like Brida, Fenna, and Gunnhild as well as Hilda who had broken off to the side and was dealing with stuff were out there pulling off epic cinematic combat moves.
How on earth was Tasmin supposed to impress her Lord and capture the hearts of millions of fans if she just relied on a cheap defensive gadget to win her fight?!
’No way!’ Tasmin declared internally. ’I’m winning this with pure skill!’
SWISH! SWISH! THUMP!
Tasmin executed two impossibly fast razor-thin evasive sways.
The first two beams missed her torso by a hair’s breadth, slamming into the ground behind her and blasting massive ten-foot craters into the bedrock.
BOOM! BOOM!
As the third solar beam screamed toward her neck, Tasmin glanced down at the dirt.
Lying beside a shattered shield was a heavy steel broadsword dropped by a fallen knight.
Tasmin didn’t even hesitate. She kicked the hilt of the broadsword with the toe of her boot, sending the weapon flying into her waiting right hand.
CLANG!
Tasmin brought the stolen broadsword up in an angled parry stance, catching the third solar beam directly against the flat of the steel blade.
HISSSSSSS!
The searing light slammed into the steel, grinding against the blade with immense pressure as the force of the beam pinned Tasmin in place with her boots digging deep trenches into the soil as she held the blade steady against the burning beam.
Celeste Sunsword’s eyes lit up with sadistic delight. Seeing her target pinned down and unable to dodge...
"GWAHAHA! GOT YOU!" Celeste laughed maniacally, flicking her wrist to accelerate the remaining two solar beams. "PURGE IN HOLY LIGHT!"
FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
The two remaining solar beams curved through the air, striking Tasmin squarely in the chest and abdomen.
BOOM!
The superheated light penetrated completely through Tasmin’s torso, vaporizing her body in a blinding flare of white fire.
Celeste Sunsword stood on the grass with her rapier lowered and her chest heaving as a triumphant arrogant smirk spread across her face.
"Bullseye..." Celeste sneered arrogantly, wiping a drop of sweat from her forehead. "Told you that you would die by my hand, shadow-rat—"
"If that’s all you thought it would take to get rid of me..." a smooth and chillingly playful voice whispered directly into Celeste’s right ear. "...then you are severely mistaken."
Celeste’s heart completely stopped beating as her blood ran ice-cold!
She snapped her head around—
Standing directly behind her, completely uninjured, was Tasmin!
The physical body that Celeste had just "pierced" with her solar beams dissolved into a harmless cloud of dark dissipating shadow smoke... it had been a Tier 2 [Shadow Decoy] created the exact microsecond the parry had blinded Celeste’s vision!
Tasmin was holding the stolen broadsword in her right hand.
HUMMMMM!
A terrifying suffocating concentration of pitch-black magic wrapped around the steel blade, turning the stolen sword into a glowing weapon of pure death.
Tasmin raised the broadsword high over her head, her eyes glowing with execution intent.
Celeste Sunsword’s eyes dilated in horror, her throat choked up, and she couldn’t even form a shield spell in time.
"Ha—" Celeste gasped out, terror seizing her soul.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Before Tasmin’s sword could descend—
An apocalyptic lightning-fast strike shot down directly from the sky like a falling meteor, crashing straight into the narrow gap between Tasmin and Celeste!
KABAGHHH!
A massive twenty-foot crater erupted in the center of their confrontation.
A violent, crushing shockwave of golden light and shattered stone blasted outward in every direction, tearing up the grass, kicking up a blinding wall of white dust, and violently throwing the wounded soldiers in the background flat onto their backs.
SWISH.
Tasmin was forced to execute a rapid backward leap with her boots landing lightly on the edge of the crater as she let out a deep heavy breath.
CRACK!
The stolen broadsword in Tasmin’s right hand was completely decimated in half...
The top half of the blade shattered into molten metal fragments, and the remaining stub was burning with intense solar fire.
Tasmin let go of the burning hilt, letting the ruined weapon drop into the dirt.
The thick dark shadows wrapping around her right hand had taken the full force of the surprise aerial impact.
The shadowy aura was severely scorched, but thanks to her Level 30 passive skills and high vitality regeneration, the dark smoke healed and restored her wrist pathways instantly.
Tasmin narrowed her eyes, looking into the dust crater.
If she hadn’t instinctively coated her right hand in shadow magic right before the impact... that surprise aerial strike would have severed my wrist clean off!
Sitting in the center of the crater, hyperventilating in panic, was Celeste Sunsword.
She had been saved at the last second.
Embedded deep into the dirt directly in front of her knees was a massive eight-foot-long Greatsword of Holy Light, radiating a protective golden barrier around her trembling form.
FWOOSH!
High above the crater, standing atop a towering heap of shattered siege rocks fifty yards away, stood a second figure.
She was clad in identical white priestess robes, her face identical to Celeste’s... meaning she was the second twin Hero.
She raised her hand, and with a soft telepathic pull, the massive Greatsword of Holy Light flew out of the crater, soaring through the air and landing perfectly back into her gloved grip.
Tasmin stood on the edge of the crater, rolling her right wrist as she looked up at the twin on the rocks, letting out a soft amused chuckle.
"Well, well, well..." Tasmin joked smoothly. "Look who decided to join the party! And here I thought you sisters believed in a ’clean, faithful 1-v-1 duel’?"
Celeste Sunsword scrambled up from the dirt, grabbing her fallen rapier as her sister floated into the air.
Celeste wiped a trickle of sweat from her cheek, shooting Tasmin a defiant arrogant smirk.
"Heh!" Celeste sneered, trying to recover her lost dignity. "You really think I’m like those stupid manga villains who’ll tell my own twin sibling to withdraw just because of some silly pride—"
SWISH!
Before Celeste could even finish her sentence—
Tasmin completely vanished from sight!
In less than a hundredth of a second, Tasmin closed a fifty-yard gap at blinding speed.
[ACTIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: Phantom Leap / Blitz]
BAM!
Before Celeste or her twin could even raise their swords or react to the movement, Tasmin materialized directly in front of Celeste’s face.
Without drawing a weapon, Tasmin drove a brutal and heavily reinforced elbow straight into Celeste’s nose!
CRACK!
A sickening crunch of shattered bone echoed through the crater.
Celeste’s head was violently thrust backward at a terrifying angle as a fountain of crimson blood erupted from her broken nose, spraying across the dirt as her body was launched thirty feet backward, crashing hard against the rocks!
Tasmin landed lightly on her toes, her posture completely relaxed as she looked down at the bleeding, gasping priestess.
"I don’t really give a damn about all of that villain speech nonsense..." Tasmin spoke softly.
HUMMMMM!
[ACTIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: Shadow Strengthening]
Suddenly, thick pitch-black void shadows erupted directly from Tasmin’s crimson eyes!
The shadow aura around her physical form flared wildly, shaping into terrifying demonic wings behind her back, while a gorgeous devilishly wicked smile spread across her flawless face.
She looked like a supreme, unholy Shadow Empress who had descended onto the mortal world to claim souls.
Tasmin looked straight at the camera lens of a hovering streaming drone ten feet away, her crimson eyes burning with an intoxicating charm as she delivered her words to the five hundred million viewers watching across the globe.
"You see... our Lord Vespera told me that the rest of the Human world is watching us today."
Tasmin raised her hand, her twin weapons spinning hypnotically around her fingers, her smile turning completely irresistible.
"So keep making me look cool to both my Lord... and my fans, okay?"
...
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A blinding superheated blast of pure light shot through the dust-choked air, missing the back of Tasmin’s neck by a mere fraction of an inch.
The concentrated beam of light slammed directly into the pile of fallen soldiers behind her, instantly incinerating the corpses into black ash and releasing a wave of dry suffocating heat that rippled across the entire crater!
High above the field, hovering against the gray clouds, the second twin sister... Hana had taken to the sky.
Her pristine white priestess robes billowed wildly in the wind with her white eyes burning with divine fury as she channeled her light magic into the heavens!
FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
A terrifying rain of weapons constructed entirely from solid, superheated solar magic descended from the sky.
Dozens of glowing white spears, lances, and javelins rained down upon the earth, tearing through the air with deafening, whistling shrieks as they bombarded the ground around Tasmin in a continuous, explosive carpet-bombing.
BOOM! KABOOM! BOOM!
Plumes of earth, shattered bedrock, and golden fire erupted across the clearing!
Yet, through the chaotic storm of falling solar artillery, Tasmin’s crimson eyes remained completely and unyieldingly locked onto her primary target... Celeste Sunsword.
Celeste was hovering five feet off the grass, suspended inside a churning, miniature tornado of swirling white light.
Her face was pale, covered in dirt and sweat, as her broken bloody nose dripped crimson drops down her chin.
She was frantically backpedaling across the field, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and rage as she kept her crystal rapier pointed straight at the approaching shadow mage.
"STAY BACK, YOU FILTHY SHADOW DEMON!" Celeste shrieked at the top of her lungs, spitting bloody saliva from her lips as she unleashed spell after spell. "DON’T YOU COME ANY CLOSER TO ME! GET AWAY!"
Tasmin sprinted effortlessly through the cratered terrain, her boots gliding across the soil like a hunting panther.
She tilted her head, her dark pigtails swaying behind her ears as a smooth mocking grin spread across her lips.
"My, my, Celeste..." Tasmin called out, her voice easily cutting through the thunderous explosions of light behind her. "Aren’t you supposed to be a divine High Priestess of Light from The Unmovable Wall? Are holy priestesses even allowed to curse and scream like hysterical street urchins? What would your devoted followers on the stream think if they heard you right now?"
"SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH!" Celeste screamed frantically with her noble composure completely shattered.
She thrust her crystal rapier forward in a wild uncontrolled sequence...
FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
A dozen massive lances of pure light materialized around her floating form, shooting forward in a dense fan-shaped barrage designed to impale Tasmin’s limbs.
Tasmin’s hands blurred...
She unholstered her twin shortswords with her fingers locking tightly around the dark steel hilts while the Eclipse-Thread chains wrapped securely around her forearms.
CLANG! CRACK!
Instead of retreating into the shadows, Tasmin stepped directly into the path of the incoming solar lances.
She spun her right shortsword like a glowing dark-purple boomerang, launching the chained blade through the air.
The void-infused steel sliced cleanly through the first three light lances, bisecting the dense magic mid-air and detonating them into harmless sparks of white fire.
Celeste’s jaw dropped in shock.
"W-What?! That’s solid light magic! How are your daggers cutting through my spells?!"
"Did you forget who forged these blades, darling?" Tasmin chuckled, flicking her wrist to snap the chained shortsword back into her palm. "Our Master Smith doesn’t make toys!"
"I DON’T CARE! DIE!" Celeste shrieked with her fingers twitching violently as she summoned twenty more lances of light, filling the entire corridor between them with a solid wall of searing energy.
Seeing the impassable wall of superheated light rushing toward her, Tasmin didn’t stop.
Her crimson eyes glinted with sharp reckless genius.
STEP!
Tasmin launched herself into the air, driving the tip of her left shortsword directly into the center of the lead solar lance!
HISSSSSSS!