Face-Off Against Louise

In this world, cultivation is divided into magic and martial arts. Martial arts use mana to enhance the body and the killing power of weapons, and then use them to face the enemies. Magic, on the other hand, accumulates mana inside a mana core formed on the brain. This magic core is then used to control the elements in the surroundings and create various magical effects.

Because magic allows for more diverse and destructive attacks, and only a few people are born with the talent to use it, it's considered superior to martial arts. Of course, it's just a general opinion. Actually, both paths have their advantages and disadvantages.

Louise is a magic practitioner and a very talented one. She successfully broke through the fifth layer and attained the sixth layer of mana at just twenty years of age, and is considered one of the greatest geniuses of this generation. Besides my sister Dina, who attained the sixth layer at nineteen, a whole year before Louise, not many can compare to her.

And now, she was using all her power to face me.

I grabbed the handle of my sword and took a stance. My mana moved quickly around my body, but I made sure of suppressing it to only show mana equivalent to the fourth layer. That is supposed to be my current strength after all.

Louise smirked disdainfully when she felt my mana. Although she heard I beat the captain of the imperial guards when he was using sixth layer mana, she did not take my threat seriously. For her, I just landed a lucky blow.

Moreover, she was a mage. She did not believe that a talented mage as she could lose against a fourth layer swordsman as me.

"Aunt, get back." I said to my aunt with a serious expression. She looked at me with a gaze of worry but did nothing to stop me. I don't know if it was because she was confident about me or because she did not know the difference between our cultivations.

"Claus, be careful." Aunt Dayana gave me a last concerned look and entered the house.

When she saw that aunt Dayana left, Louise finally made her move.

Instantly, the magic circle above her head activated.

Tens of arrows made of pure mana exited the magic circle. The arrows were shining with a frightening glow while the arrowheads were aiming to me. I narrowed my eyes and increased the strength of the hand holding my sword. Then, I took a step forward.

In the next instant, I charged towards Louise at a frightening speed. My body leaned dangerously close to the ground, and I made use of the mana on my legs to accelerate as fast as possible.

But Louise simply looked at me with a smirk. "[Force Arrows]!" She waved her hand, and tens of arrows descended towards me.

I did not pay attention to them, though. My eyes were completely focused on Loise's figure while I continued advancing, completely ignoring the threat of the arrows.

However, in the instant when the arrows were about to touch my body, I stopped abruptly.

The next instant, I twisted my body and stepped aside. My body seemed weightless as it passed through the rain of arrows and continued towards direct towards Louise. None of then was able to even touch my clothes.

Louise frowned, but she kept calm and waved her hand again. Two magic circled formed below my feet and erupted in chains formed of mana.

The chains extended towards my body, trying to catch me, but I just smirked and continued forward without stopping. When the chains were about to grab me, my body again twisted strangely and avoided them.

This time, Louise's expression finally changed.

In the next second, Louise was in the range of my sword.

*Shing!* With a soft sharp sound, my sword left its sheath and cut towards Louise at incredible speed.

A famous sword technique of one of my past lives, Iaido.

Louise's eyes opened wide seeing the sword. It moved so fast that she was completely unable to avoid it or conjure any magic.

But at that instant, a magic circle shined on the back of her hand.

[Force Walls]!!!

A translucid barrier made of magic appeared on the path of my sword.

*Clang!!!* A loud metallic noise sounded and my sword was completely stopped. The barrier quivered slightly before returning to normal.

I frowned seeing it and immediately jumped back. The next instant, two mana spears pierced the place where I was just now.

"How expected of a prince, so strong despite just being at the fourth layer. Your nickname of Sword fanatic is well deserved." Louise said to me with a ridiculing tone. "Unfortunately, it's not so easy to destroy a defensive spell created by a sixth layer mage."

I stayed silent. To be honest, I expected something like this. When I faced sir Raul, I just touched him with my sword without causing any injury. If I wanted to injure him, it would have been hard if I only used fourth layer mana.

After all, the defenses of a sixth layer are not so easy to overcome. If I wanted to break through Louise's shield, I needed to resort to something else.

But just like mages have spells, martial artists have martial skills.

And as someone that reincarnated a few hundreds of times, it's not very hard for me to create a skill powerful enough to destroy her defense.

I took a deep breath and straightened my body. The next instant, an incredible amount of mana flowed into my sword.

Suddenly, a sharp pressure filled the surroundings.

Louise's expression turned grave. She instantly felt something was wrong when she felt the sharp sword intent.

"It looks you learned a pretty good sword skill." She said. "But, do you think a skill is enough to cut through my defenses?"

"You will see." I smiled fearlessly and raised my sword.

A brief transparent glow flashed through the sword blade before disappearing. Then, all the sword intent in the surroundings vanished.

Taking a step forward, I slashed down…

[Reality Render, weakened version]!!!

… and under Louise's astonished gaze, her barrier was cut into two.