F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 266: The Sky Prince
Space warped under the ruthless heat of the sun.
Yet, not a single soul in the arena complained, throats parched as their voices cruised through the air, coalescing into a giant vortex that sprawled out the streets of Crownspire.
The atmosphere was aflame.
In the middle of it all were two individuals — chests heaving up and down as lacerating gazes met.
Heloran could not believe what was happening.
This Moon Fairy should’ve been a middling B-ranker, at most! The A-ranker’s brows furrowed as his heart and mind reeled from exhaustion, disbelief, and denial.
Had he been too lax?
No...certainly not. Perhaps inefficient, but not lax.
’Then how am I being suppressed?!’
Across from him, Elune’s mind sheltered nothing except pure combat. The sheer difficulty of the battle, the what-ifs...all of them were cast to an apathetic abyss.
They would not help her win, and so they need not occupy space in her head.
This she picked up from Cody.
The winds of duel had been blowing her way in the past few exchanges, and she wanted to keep it like so, suppressing even the feeling of excitement brought by the match’s progress.
She was fighting, and her focus could not slip until it ended, whatever the result may be.
Elune’s powerful calf muscles contracted, propelling her into a sharp charge. Then, her arms lashed forward in a vicious thrust, the tip of her pappenheimer with a pierced full-moon crossguard reflecting the sunlight.
But Heloran was not so incompetent. His eyes had watched this Sword Skill more than a few times now, and it required mere average effort to stop.
That was the start of another, furious and high-intensity exchange — a treat the crowd never expected from this match.
Both Heloran and Elune were wielders of speed and precision, dancing like agile flies yet stinging like bees.
The battles in all the other stages had ended some time ago, yet the two youngsters pressed on, neither willing to hand victory over.
But all battles end, and the usual victor in a match where skills and physique are neck and neck was the one whose focus remained pristine.
In the middle of the chaotic clangor of steel, Elune saw it — a chance at victory.
She burst forth in a seemingly reckless charge, and she was punished for it, her entire left forearm mangled by a brutal thrust from Heloran.
But this was what she saw. It was a well-calculated sacrifice borne of sheer focus and a mind that never stopped seeking triumph in battle.
Her entire left hand was taken from her, the pain a lasting, sharp sting, but in exchange, she roared, gaze predatory.
Elune’s Moonpiercer tore through the air viciously, and the moment the A-ranker noticed the attack, it was too late.
The next thing he knew was that he was assaulted by a brief, agonizing pain to the head — one so unlasting that it could have been his imagination.
But no, it wasn’t.
Heloran found himself drowning in thunderous cheers that were not for him as he stood at the respawn point of the main stage.
He could not believe it. And the crowd couldn’t, either. He...lost.
"N-No...wait..." the A-ranker muttered, turning to look at the stage. However, the battle was over.
Elune was already dragging her battered self off the stage, smiling widely, and raising her sword arm in celebration as her name was announced the victor by Nathalie.
The Moon Fairy had pulled off an unexpected upset!
She had defeated an A-ranker, who would dare say she would never make it to the top 16 now?!
The commotion her triumph caused was a bit less than Daru’s, but all those in Crownspire Arena knew the name Elune Tseradze now.
The people discussed intensely, voicing out their admiration for her prowess and daring in combat, rating her to be the top B-ranker now.
The cherry on top was her classmates tirelessly confirming she wasn’t like that before. That she must have been working hard with Cody Han instead of fooling around with him.
Had Elune heard her classmates, her ears would’ve been clapping. She had been trying to explain this to them, after all.
Not that she needed to now...
Nonetheless, with her victory, the stage was set. The crowd was alive and ready to witness the final touch of the first round. The main event.
The Sky Prince.
Nathalie’s voice fought through the chaos, stealing the spectators’ thoughts for a moment as she declared:
"Class 18’s Sunnar and Class 1’s, Ourion, to the main stage, please."
Following the voice, a young man of slightly above-average height and eyes of blazing scarlet stood up from his seat, his short, soft black hair dancing in the winds as he sauntered to the main stage in his black armor set with a mild grin.
He was Skylar Ashwind, Southern Noravia’s sharpest novice blade.
A distance short of the main stage’s centre, a young man of medium-length burgundy hair tied into a ponytail waited, his auburn cinquedea, short yet menacing, gleamed in anticipation.
Sunnar was a rather unlucky A-ranker.
But he did not care.
To him, this was a huge opportunity. He had nothing to lose while his opponent had to defend his illustrious name, reputation, and that of his family.
Sunnar believed he could win.
"What a chance for you, huh?" an easygoing voice disrupted his thoughts.
Sunnar instinctively locked eyes with Skylar, finding the slight grin on his face rather irritating.
It was as though the man was not even considering him, an A-ranker, to be the slightest of threats.
The fact that the arrogant bastard could read his thoughts unnerved Sunnar a bit, though.
Observing the subtle shift in his opponent’s expression, Skylar’s grin widened slightly, and his eyes narrowed even more, as though he was too lazy to even keep them open.
An ominous, black Jikdo with a red blade materialized in the Sky Prince’s right hand as he arrived at his designated spot on the main stage almost a dozen seconds later than his opponent did.
"Hit me with your best, then."
Sunnar seethed at the unjust amounts of underestimation oozing from every pore of the monstrous foe, but he hid them all under a smile. He even bowed to Skylar after he arrived.
His cinquedea wouldn’t be so polite, though.
The Sky Prince looked at his opponent with amusement, sealing his lips shut with a vexing smile.
His legs assumed an L-shape, and he bent quite heavily at the knees while his right hand rested at the handle of his Jikdo.
The moment the referee of their match raised his arms, Sunnar exploded into action.
His entire figure was covered by a blinding light that lasted more than long enough for him to take his opponent out in a single hit before he could regain his vision.
’You’re mine, Sky Prince!’
Those were the words in the A-ranker’s mind as his body separated into eight different, sliced pieces.
