“That’s obvious. No one’s tried to assassinate me. Every single moment, I’ve been looking forward to this day, Dexilensi, you really are a foolish one…”
Dolosa let out a low, dark laugh.
She had finally forced this fool to make a move against her.
As long as Dexilensi harmed her even slightly, she would strike back—taking that person’s life—and then bring her captive before Liang Lai… everything would be settled.
Of course, the most important thing was that this fool had to injure her at least a little! There was definitely a hint of masochism in that.
Dolosa was quite confident in her own abilities.
Not that she thought she’d crush Dexilensi easily, but she was sure she was more than a match, with no fear of being killed. [Dolosa thought this fool was truly overestimating herself.
Dexilensi, on the other hand, felt exactly the same way.
Both girls believed they had the upper hand.
Dolosa’s fingertips glowed faintly, and suddenly dozens of sharp crystal clusters shot up from the ground.
Dexilensi lightly leapt back, flicking out a crimson line of blood. The crystal spikes and the blood line collided midair, shattering with a clear cracking sound.
Dolosa clasped her hands together—not crossed, but in a strange grip, with her right pinky resting on the other hand’s index finger.
More crystal spikes sprang up beneath Dexilensi’s feet.
But Dexilensi was ready; intricate crystal patterns appeared on her skin’s surface.
The spikes that touched her instantly assimilated into blood-colored crystals.
“Useless~”
Dexilensi tilted her head with a smile and suddenly raised her hand.
Several droplets of blood flew from her fingertips, condensing midair into tiny red crystal needles.
Dolosa instinctively expanded her crystal shield; the needles shattered into powder on impact.
Damn it!
Dolosa cursed silently.
She could have deliberately let one of those needles graze her.
But Dexilensi didn’t give her time for regret.
She suddenly accelerated forward, her nails slashing the air, leaving five streaks of blood.
Dolosa dodged sideways, but one blood streak grazed her arm. Instantly, red crystal patterns appeared on her skin, the crystals agitated, desperately trying to burrow into her bloodstream—but Dolosa’s own crystallization power quickly suppressed them.
“Bloodcrystal Plague?”
Dolosa raised an eyebrow. “Is that all you’ve got?” She couldn’t resist taunting.
She stomped hard, and the ground beneath her instantly crystallized into countless rose-shaped crystal shards that shot outward.
Dexilensi had to flip backward repeatedly to evade.
Dolosa still wasn’t using her full strength—she refrained from using the rose shards to pierce.
After all, she didn’t want to kill Dexilensi.
If this girl died, it would be hard to explain to Liang Lai. She definitely didn’t want the Saintess to think she was a murderer.
In midair, Dexilensi suddenly flicked out a string of blood droplets that condensed into tiny blades.
Dolosa instinctively raised her hand to block; her crystal shield automatically formed again.
The blood blades clanged against the shield, and once again Dolosa missed a chance to get hurt.
Both landed simultaneously, Dexilensi breathing slightly heavily.
She wiped the corner of her mouth and suddenly smiled strangely, “Sister Dolosa, you’ve been on the defensive the whole time.”
“Cut the crap.”
Dolosa frowned and suddenly felt a numbness in her arm.
Looking down, she saw the red crystal patterns slowly spreading.
“When…?”
“Right when you blocked the blood blades~” Dexilensi smiled sweetly. “Each blade carries a trace of the plague.”
Dolosa snorted coldly and forced her power.
The crystal patterns on her arm began to grow backward, gradually replaced by her rose crystal clusters.
But the process distracted her, and Dexilensi seized the opportunity to strike again.
This time it was close combat.
Each of Dexilensi’s strikes carried the threat of the Bloodcrystal Plague, while Dolosa blocked with her crystallized arm.
They moved swiftly within the confined space, crystal and bloodcrystal clashing with crisp shattering sounds.
Suddenly, Dolosa changed her move, delivering an elbow strike directly to Dexilensi’s chest.
Dexilensi hastily blocked with her arm but was knocked back several steps by the force.
Immediately, rose-shaped crystal patterns appeared on her arm.
“Ah, got hit~”
Dexilensi looked at her slowly crystallizing arm but still smiled. Her blood flowed beneath the skin, slowly dissolving the patterns.
Dolosa narrowed her eyes, realizing Dexilensi’s resistance to the Bloodcrystal Plague was stronger than expected.
This fight wouldn’t go as smoothly as she planned.
But no matter, the final outcome would still be her victory.
She was already beginning to understand her opponent’s abilities.
Though she had been unsure before, she now knew for certain that if she used her last move, she could win…
She just feared accidentally killing Dexilensi.
Neither of them noticed a blonde girl crouching on a nearby rooftop, watching their every move.
Before the fight started—
“How strange… these two look so familiar, I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere before…” Motifiel frowned, stroking her chin in deep thought.
“Judging by their clothes, they don’t look like commoners. They must be from the Church, right? Oh, yes! I saw their badges!”
Motifiel’s eyes brightened, and she grinned widely.
“Perfect! If I kill these two and take their identities, I can sneak in! They look young, probably don’t have powerful abilities. They should be easy to kill!”
Motifiel rubbed her hands eagerly.
Then she suddenly realized a problem.
“Wait, they only have badges on their chests and aren’t wearing robes. So what rank are they?”
She gasped and paused, halting her plan to kill them.
“Yeah, what rank are they?” Just as Motifiel hesitated, wanting to observe more, Dolosa and Dexilensi suddenly started fighting. Motifiel was stunned.
“What the hell…”
She was so shocked she bit down hard on her changing-flavor candy.
“This fight is so bizarre…?”
Dexilensi’s every move was deadly, brutal enough to take lives, which even made Motifiel, a Darkspawn, flinch. She kept gasping, crouched on the rooftop, deciding not to move and just watch.
“They’re so ruthless even to their own? No wonder they’re Church people! Always stabbing their own in the back… Who do you think will win?”
Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into Motifiel’s mind: she would just wait here until one killed the other, then jump down and finish off the survivor!
“Hehe~ I get to reap the benefits without lifting a finger! One dies, the other’s almost drained—then I get two corpses! Wow, this is a freebie!”
Motifiel excitedly jumped and spun on the rooftop, but her foot slipped and she landed hard on her butt, almost tumbling off.
“Ouch~”
Rubbing her sore rear, she grinned.
Well, what if neither of them died?
“That’s fine too! Even if they don’t die, they’ll both be badly hurt! I’ll still be the one reaping the rewards!”
Motifiel beamed, wiggling her bare legs.
She wasn’t wearing shoes—or rather, she had lost them somewhere this morning in her rush—so her small white-socked feet were now dirty.
She didn’t care.
“Hmph~”
She hummed a happy tune.
Dolosa took a deep breath, adjusting her breathing rhythm.
She noticed a subtle flaw in Dexilensi’s stance—her right leg seemed slightly unstable from the earlier impact.
Below the houses, in an alley.
“Again!”
Dolosa suddenly lowered her body, pressing both hands to the ground.
The crystallized earth rippled like waves, and countless tiny crystal spikes surged toward Dexilensi like a tide.
Dexilensi’s pupils constricted; she bit her fingertip quickly. The blood that dripped formed a ring of crimson crystal walls around her.
The crystal spike wave collided with the blood wall, producing a dense series of “ding ding” sounds.
“You think you can trap me like this?”
Dexilensi sneered, and the blood crystal wall suddenly exploded.
Countless hair-thin blood crystal needles shot out in all directions.
Dolosa had to retreat repeatedly, constructing layer after layer of crystal shields before her.
While Dolosa focused on defense, Dexilensi suddenly launched a side attack—no honor in this! Her palm glowed with an eerie red light, aiming straight for Dolosa’s side abdomen.
Dolosa narrowly dodged, countering with a hand chop aimed at Dexilensi’s neck.
Dexilensi leaned back nimbly, lifting her leg to kick Dolosa’s wrist.
Their limbs collided midair, fragments of crystal and bloodcrystal scattering.
Dolosa flipped backward with momentum and landed steadily.
She felt a faint sting in her wrist and looked down to see tiny blood crystals trying to seep into her skin.
She snorted coldly as her wrist skin crystallized, repelling the blood crystals.
“Persistent…”
Dolosa gritted her teeth in frustration.
She had intended to fake a weakness, but Dexilensi’s attacks were always lethally threatening, forcing her to respond with full strength.
Dexilensi was also suffering quietly.
She shifted her numb right leg carefully; though Dolosa’s spikes hadn’t struck directly, the transmitted vibration had cost her.
More troublesome was the rapid flow of blood within her, fighting the invading rose crystal clusters, which drained her stamina significantly.
The two faced off across several meters, each searching for the other’s weakness.
Crystal and bloodcrystal energies intertwined in the air, emitting a faint buzzing.
“Impressive!”
Motifiel applauded on the rooftop, grinning brightly. If one didn’t know better, they might think she was watching a comedy.
“Keep fighting, keep fighting!” she cheered.
Elsewhere, Dolosa suddenly surged forward, and Dexilensi leapt up at the same moment.
Just as they were about to clash—
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Both slipped at once. Dolosa tripped over her own crystallized ground, and Dexilensi stepped on scattered bloodcrystal shards.
They crashed to the ground with a muffled thud.
The scene instantly grew awkward.
No one expected that the first to fall would be themselves.
They both wore painful expressions.
“Ow.”
Dolosa clutched her side, wincing in pain, but a sly glint flashed in her eyes.
That fall was way too fake!
Dexilensi dramatically curled up, holding her knee.
“Waaah! It hurts! My leg!”
But the mischievous glance she threw at Dolosa clearly betrayed her.
Both lay on the ground, neither willing to get up first.
“Are you okay?” Dolosa asked feigning concern, her voice dripping with obvious pretense.
“I… I might have a fracture,” Dexilensi whimpered, but the corners of her mouth twitched upward.
“Sister Dolosa, you really hit hard.”
“You were the one who ambushed me first!” Dolosa immediately retorted, then realized she’d revealed too much and quickly clutched her side again.
“Aah, my waist…”
The two remained deadlocked, unwilling to admit defeat first.
Dolosa pondered silently: if she got up now, it would look like she was faking injury earlier.
But she wanted to ambush Dexilensi back!
Dexilensi wrestled with the same dilemma: staying down was embarrassing, but standing up made it look like she’d been acting.
No, she had to wait for Dolosa to rise first, strut over smugly, and then ambush her!
They both coincidentally thought the same thing: the other’s acting was awful and must be fake! No way would they let the other ambush successfully!
Finally, they both “painfully” propped themselves up at the same time, gasping sharply.
This ridiculous act went on for a full three minutes—until Motifiel jumped down from the rooftop.
Yes, the only one who hadn’t seen through their clumsy acting, who genuinely believed they were hurt, was our Darkspawn Miss Motifiel.
When she saw them fall together, she was baffled.
“Hiss~ Why did they suddenly fall and can’t get up?”
Motifiel was utterly clueless.
She blinked quickly twice, then gave herself an explanation: it must be some secret technique! An energy wave clashed and knocked them both down! It just happened in the blink of an eye… so she missed it!
After reaching this conclusion, clever Miss Motifiel chose to stay put and watch longer, to see if they were really injured.
What followed was the embarrassing three minutes of fake acting.
But Motifiel believed it.
“Hehe~ now it’s my turn!”
She stood up, hands on hips, looking imposing, golden hair flowing in the wind, feeling absolutely dazzling!
“Hmph~ Let me send you on your final journey!”
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