Chapter 28: The Rank IX

Xiao took deep breaths, and she gripped on the handle of her sword.

Last time she went up against Harvey, he used a mana blocking spell that extended throughout the entire arena, rendering Xiao useless. Without her mana, she couldn't generate or craft anything from the air, so her only weapon was her sword.

Harvey's swordsmanship is considered the best in the Monastery, second only to the professor who actually taught him. Xiao's sword skill is decent, according to her professor this year. That means it's nothing compared to the blond boy, which was proven last season when Xiao's sword literally broke in half from the sheer force brought on by the impact when Harvey swung a fatal hit, and Xiao used her sword to block.

She was sent flying a good ten feet away, and she shouted a surrender before he could come at her with another attack. The timer stopped and noises from the outside world came in, so Harvey couldn't attack her anymore. He would if he could, because a similar thing happened to Raxith, whose sword fortunately didn't break, and her cousin didn't yield. He held on until the five minute mark was over, thus earning him second place with a lot of injuries to deal with.

Now, Raxith will definitely get third place because when the door opened, Xiao was faced with Harvey's blue eyes from across the arena, not her cousin's golden ones. She doesn't know which one is worse, fighting her cousin Raxithak or the ruthless Harvey Cassius.

Because it's the ruthless Harvey Cassius, she can also be ruthless to him without guilt.

She took twenty steps into the arena as instructed, and as soon as the bell rang, she channeled a giant bulk of magic into her sword, as much as she could in a second.

After that one second, she suddenly lost her grip on her mana, and she knows exactly why. Still, she unsheathed her sword and got into a defending position as Harvey charged at her with a grin on his face.

His blade hit hers with a clang, and Xiao gritted her teeth as she held up against him.

"Your mana stealing technique don't work on me." The blond boy said, his smirk widened when she kicked him away.

He continued to tease her even as she put a good distance between the two of them. "You're useless without your mana, Xiao Lan."

Without a word, the young witch threw her sword at him. Just before he could counter it with his sword, Xiao's sword disappeared.

Harvey made a noise out of confusion.

Before he could do anything else, the short sword knocked his head behind from behind, enough to hurt him but not enough to earn her a victory.

He may have drained all the magic from the arena and her mana, but he didn't take anything out of her sword. She's only using what she has stored in her sword to teleport itself.

For a quick moment when he's stunned, Xiao pulled her sword back to her, and she began crafting one small needle after another and sent it at him.

Harvey easily deflected those needles away and began charging at her once more. Xiao did her best to defend herself against him, but his blade managed to grazed her cheek when she didn't escape on time.

A small line of blood started dripping out of her wound, but Xiao was more focused on creating little needles instead of healing herself. There's only a tiny portion of the mana left in her sword...

"Oh, Xiao..." Harvey licked his lips as he took slow steps towards her. "A first year can hold their sword better than you."

The young witch didn't say anything in response, instead she got up into a defending position again. The blond boy laughed as he charged at her.

Their swords hit one another as he attacked and she defended. The young witch was slowly behind pushed back into a wall, but her grip on her sword didn't weave as he landed one hit after another until a few dents started forming on her short sword.

He channeled his mana into his sword, and her sword shook when the impact hit. The young witch's back contacted the wall, and the sword is the only thing protecting her from his blade.

Harvey leaned in closer, their face inches apart with only their blades in between them. He pushed harder, and she could hear a crack as her wrist dislocated from how she held her sword.

"Why are you so quiet, Xiao Lan?" His voice taunted her. "Saving your voice for a yield?"

"No one plans an attack out loud."

Her boot suddenly made contact with his knee, and twenty three tiny needles made their way into the fabric of his trousers and straight into his flesh.

His knee buckled, not from her kick, but from the sheer amount of metal being stuck into him, so she had a second to push his blade away from her face. Xiao scrambled as far away from him as she could, her left hand flopping from dislocation.

Her injuries were ignored as she focused on the needles inside him, which were drilling into his ligaments to cut them off. Instead of coming out the other side, the needles began spinning in his muscles, causing him to shout in pain.

Harvey snarled and turned towards her, his sword pointed in an attack, but his right knee gave up, so he fell to the floor with a yelp.

Those few seconds of shock were enough for his concentration to break, so Xiao got a hold of her own mana again, and she began tucking on his. As soon as she got a grip, she threw him in the air.

While doing so, she channeled all her mana into him. When he hit the barrier in the sky, he only bounced back half way before the young witch's mana seeped into his ribcage, and she closed her eyes.

Down, up, down, left, right, left, right, up, down, right, left, up, down...

Once her beady black eyes opened again, she was panting, her short sword discarded on the floor while her opponent lay unmoving in twenty feet in front of her. His white shirt was stained red, but his chest was still rising up and down. However, his face was covered in blood gushing out of his nose and eyes.

The young witch realized that the needles must've left him during his time being airborne because she didn't feel them anywhere. Xiao fell to her knees, and she didn't dare to go any closer to her opponent.

The sound of the outside world came roaring back, and the young witch eyes watered. Several professors teleported in to get Harvey, and a professor kneeled down in front of her to heal the cut in her face and her obviously dislocated wrist.