บท 23: The winner is
A sword grazed Praia's leg, another her shoulder, a third her arm, and a fourth hit her belly with the hilt, all at once.
"Since when did you become a genius?" Praia said, moving her right arm, instantly melting all the swords around her as they touched the vortex of flames. ' Mikahil, you trained so much for me... Ahhh, I need, I need to reward you, right? '
"What are you talking about? I've always been a genius," a rain of ice swords began falling at an absurd speed, entering through the top hole of the vortex.
The swords' speed was much faster than the temperature inside the vortex could melt them. They hit Praia's body and melted almost instantly, covering her with water that was evaporated almost immediately.
' I only feel the impact of the swords, and that's not something I can't handle... And the way he's showing off, his mana won't last long either... But neither will mine. I need to stop enjoying his effort, my dear Mikahil. It's time to make good use of this transformation ' Praia threw the vortex in Mikahil's direction, engulfing all the swords in its path.
"Attacking from behind isn't cool," Mikahil quickly turned around, seeing Praia attacking with her right arm transformed into a blade of fire, poorly concealing her left arm with an ice blade.
"Idiot, I'm over here, not there." Mikahil's axe pierced what would have been a speed clone, getting hit in the back of the neck by the fire blade. But when Praia tried to hit his ribs with the ice blade...
Nine swords appeared—one hit Praia's right hand where it wasn't covered by flames, pushing her back, and another sword did the same to her left hand. The remaining swords hit her legs, both sides of her neck, her back, and finally, one struck her head.
' Darn it, how did he still manage to control the swords? ' Praia thought, her vision blurred. Mikahil spun on the ground and delivered a precise kick to her belly, sending her flying away.
"No time for rest." Mikahil ran and jumped, appearing above Praia, striking her abdomen again, this time with his knee. As he landed on the ground, he supported his head with his right hand against the ground. "After all these years, you're still the arrogant Praia I knew. It's good to know you haven't changed."
' System, have all the swords stop around us.'
[Disabling auto mode]
[Executing user's request]
Quickly, all the swords formed a dome, side by side, their blades pointing directly at Praia.
"Me, arrogant? Perhaps. But are you sure you don't need another binding?" Praia moved her arms forward at a speed that Mikahil's eyes couldn't catch, striking Mikahil's head from both sides with open hands.
"I don't need to, your mana is depleted." Mikahil spoke, displaying a wicked smile as he glanced at the system window in front of him, showing Praia's information.
[MANA: 006/800]
Mikahil's mouth moved from side to side as he felt a faint warmth coming from the left side of his face and a chilly sensation from the right side. "Well, this is actually good, if it weren't for the two combined."
From Mikahil's knee, a crust of ice emerged, covering almost all of Praia's body. Her face was paralyzed, and the intense red glow that had been emanating from her had now disappeared, replaced by a cold and empty gaze.
' I lost... I truly lost... How? How did this happen? Now, how can I protect him from those women if I can't even defeat him?'
Nine years ago, young Praia had left her room and was heading for another day where she would torment Mikahil again, when she passed by her mother's office and heard the voice of an unfamiliar woman.
"Are you sure about this, Kileana?" the unknown woman spoke.
"This was something we all agreed upon, right? Why would we change it now?" Kileana replied.
'What are they talking about?' thought young Praia, slowly approaching the door and noticing a crack in it. When she placed her eye to the gap, she was surprised by what she saw. Even though it was incomplete, she could still make out a part of the unknown woman.
The woman had dark greenish-black hair with two long horns curling back, and on her back, a small pair of tiny wings could be seen. They were black like a starless sky. What caught young Praia's attention the most was the large tail resembling that of a reptile. It shared the same color as her hair, but a slightly deeper shade of black with small green tips all along the tail.
The surprise of seeing this was so great that Praia couldn't even scream. She simply opened her mouth and widened her eyes, her voice stuck in her throat.
Moving her tail in restlessness, it swayed from side to side, never touching anything in the room. Then the woman spoke, "Well, for him to be able to tame those creatures, she'll need to be much stronger than the ancient men... But not all women accepted it. Do you remember the chaos that meeting caused?"
'Reunion? What reunion?' Young Praia pulled her face away from the crack near the door, listening to the conversation from the safety of her position behind the door to avoid being discovered.
"Of course I remember. I had several of them kneeling before me, so don't worry. Anything, I'll handle them. Just get your best young dragonesses ready to train with our boy," Kileana spoke, glancing briefly at her door with a smile and then turning her gaze to the woman in front of her.
"And of course, if he can't be as strong as my daughter, he won't die at your hands. So, it's best you go easy on him," Kileana added.
The woman shrugged, closing her right eye and being able to perfectly see the mana-composed silhouette of young Praia behind the door. "Hahaha, I'll do my best, but even if they take it easy, they might still end up killing him with just a handshake."
The sound of something scratching the door was heard, followed by the sound of running steps. 'No, no, I can't allow this. I won't let them do it. He's mine and mine alone.' Furious, Praia thought as she dashed out of her house.
"Kileana, you know this could cause a huge problem, right?"
"Hahaha, if she takes after me, she'll be the perfect training partner for Mikahil," Kileana said with a smile, looking at a drawing on her desk. In the drawing, there was herself, young Praia, and Mikhail, with a black line descending from Mikhail's neck and reaching Praia's hand.
"She surely takes after her mother. I just hope she isn't as aggressive as you. I can still hear those men's screams of terror" the woman commented.
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