216 The Cat vs The Lioness

Liu Ying's battle caused a shock completely different than Rana's.

The reason? Liu Ying needed less than three seconds to end it.

Since the moment when the fight started until it ended, Liu Ying only attacked twice, not needing to attack further to knock out her enemy.

The referee stared at Liu Ying briefly dazed, but when he saw the demon look at him, he snapped off his daze and announced the result.

"Winner, Liu Ying."

Liu Ying smiled happily and walked back towards her seat. When she arrived, she smiled at Regina before sitting beside Bloed and grabbing his hand.

"It was amazing," Bloed said.

"… Thank you." Liu Ying blushed slightly without hiding her happy smile.

Regina snorted, obviously displeased with Bloed and Liu Ying flirting in front of her. She then looked around and decided to grab Bloed's other hand, ignoring Bloed surprised expression.

Unfortunately for Bloed, that gesture ended bringing even more attention to him.

"Woah, a flower in each hand. You are sure a lucky guy~" Rana grinned teasingly. "Should I join t–"

Before her words could end, she felt a chilling pressure attacking her body.

"It's a joke!" Rana waved her hands frantically, looking at Regina as a frightened animal. "Geez, how cold. I was freezing!"

Regina did not reply, but Rana did not dare to tease Bloed or her anymore. Feeling Regina's killing intent was enough to give shivers on her spine.

Bloed glanced at Regina briefly, but the Valkyrie snorted and looked away, visibly displeased.

"… You owe me an explanation about Liu Ying, master."

Bloed could only nod bitterly.

While the group was chatting happily (?), two new candidates walked towards the arena.

And one of the candidates was another acquittance of Bloed.

Aya, Javelin's little sister.

Aya's opponent was a lionkin girl. Apparently, she was a distant relative of the Firstmane, the Great Savannah's royal family.

Bloed was rooting for Aya, obviously. He had fought together with Aya during the hunt, and she was the little sister of his friend after all.

Coincidentally, Aya also looked in his direction before starting the fight. Bloed was not sure, but he thought he saw her nod to him.

After hesitating for a moment, Bloed nodded back.

A small smile appeared on Aya's face. She then stared at her opponent and her smile turned into an expressionless look.

At the same time, a faint killing intent started to spread through the arena.

Her opponent responded in kind. Holding her glaive forward, the lionkin girl smiled savagely and released her own killing intent.

The referee saw the two girls' actions and nodded. Raising his hand, he gave the signal to start the battle.

"Ready? Start!"

Immediately, both girls moved.

Aya kicked the ground, lowering her body and moving at great speed.

At the same time, the glaive-wielding lionkin girl took a step forward, swinging her glaive in a half-moon shape and creating several powerful and sharp currents of wind that flew towards Aya!

Aya's eyes shone coldly. As though she was a cat, her body moved agilely through the currents of wind, evading the attacks and closing the distance between the lionkin girl and her.

When the distance between them was closed, Aya swung her daggers!

But the lionkin girl was not a pushover. She wielded her glaive skillfully, using its long reach to keep a certain distance from Aya and stop her daggers from reaching her.

Her skillful use of the glaive allowed her to keep control of the battlefield. Her glaive attacks were like a violent storm, attacking Aya with sharp slashes that wanted to rip her flesh apart.

It was obvious she was slowly kitting Aya until finding the chance to defeat her in one blow.

Aya kept her expressionless look. She continued chasing after the lionkin girl as though she could not understand her opponent's intentions.

But suddenly, her movements changed.

Gathering mana in her daggers, Aya slashed in a crisscrossed shape.

Then, an x-shaped wave of energy flew towards the lionkin girl.

The lionkin girl narrowed her eyes. Her glaive lit up briefly before smashing towards Aya's attack, destroying it directly.

But at that point, her expression changed.

Without her noticing, Aya had disappeared.

"Dammit!"

The lionkin girl knew something was wrong. She hurriedly jumped away, attempting to avoid Aya's unknown next attack.

But suddenly, she felt something sharp pressing against her neck.

The lionkin girl froze immediately, and cold sweat filled her back.

Feeling the cold edge of the daggers on her neck, she did not dare to move.

Aya stood expressionlessly behind her, pressing the daggers against her opponent's neck while looking at the referee.

The referee confirmed that the lionkin girl could not retaliate and spoke up.

"This duel has ended. The winner is miss Aya Sharpclaw."

Aya nodded. She ignored the bitter look in the lionkin girl's face and removed her daggers, walking back towards her seat without changing her expressionless look.

Bloed, though, could see her tail wagging gently.

"… She looks like a dog." Liu Ying could not help but say, stealing the words from Bloed's mouth.

Bloed nodded and smiled slightly, happy with the cat girl's victory.

After all, if he had to cooperate with someone when competing against the elves and the sun kingdom, he preferred to team up with people he knew.

After Aya's battle, the duels continued.

Bloed noticed several candidates that showed very high combat power. Some of them even himself found threatening.

For example, the batkin guy he fought before. He defeated his enemy in less than five seconds using a very eerie method. Bloed only managed to notice that the batkin used soundwaves to get that result, but he was not sure of how he did it.

Another outstanding candidate was the wolfkin, Gorde. He defeated his opponent using extreme speed, strength, and fighting skills. In less than four attacks, his enemy was defeated.

There was also a deerkin girl that used a spear to control the wind, defeating her opponent with a beautiful spear dance.

All in all, several of the candidates were very strong. Each one of them easily worthy of being called geniuses or prodigies.

When the first round of duels ended, ten candidates plus Bloed and Atai remained for the next round.

And like in the last round, the first one to battle was Rana.

...

This is the last chapter I owed of Science/Magic. Thus, no more double chapters for a while. Except by the double chapters in Sunday...

P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels