After her encounter with Hollard, Lin Mu no longer felt like she was in the right headspace to fight, as she rarely paid attention to her surroundings when she walked out to the arena.
She was the first fighter to be introduced and the audience reception to her walking out was pretty warm, with some men even hitting on her for her looks, however, she could not focus on those sounds at all, as Hollard and the vial he left behind were the only things going on in her head.
"This bout has the same rules as the quarter-finals…. You can win the fight by either incapacitating your enemy or by making them surrender….." the match referee came up to her and said, as he explained all the rules of the match as was his duty, however, Lin Mu did not even pay any attention to him as she was lost in her own thoughts.
"The use of lethal poisons or other incapacitating substances is strictly prohibited during the fight, so please do not use dishonest means to win" The referee said normally, however, as these words fell in Lin Mu's ears, she could not help but feel nervous as she felt as if the comment was specially directed towards her.
As she looked into the referees eyes with her heart throbbing out of her chest, the referee looked back at her with a warm smile on his face as he said "Oh good, you're paying attention, I thought I lost you for a second ther"
The referee's warm smile helped Lin Mu calm down, as she nodded her head and looked around, trying to move on from the incident that had happened in the warm up room and look past it.
Nodding her head, she assured the referee that she had understood the rules as she unsheathed two short swords from her waist and assumed a fighting stance.
"INTRODUCING NEXT ..."
The match announcer said, as immediately the female section of the crowd burst into mad cheers, while the chants of *Suplex Demon* rocked throughout the arena.
"Introducing next, the prodigy of the Royal Knight Academy. The ladies man…. The Griffin tamer….. The Suplex Demon…. SKYLION" The announcer said, as Luke jogged out to the arena in his signature shiny silver armor and shield, as the crowd went absolutely bonkers upon his entry.
Although Lin Mu wasn't disliked, the love she received from the audience was nowhere near the love that Luke received from them, as everyone from nobles to commoners seemed to like him for his exciting fighting style and cool demeanor.
Taking his starting spot, Luke chatted happily with the match referee who explained the rules to him, as Lin Mu calmly observed his demeanor.
Unlike the darkness that attracted her to Jin, Luke had a natural leader's charisma oozing out of him as his cheery smile and noble attire made Lin feel slightly excited to fight him as he was the kind of noble fighter that she wanted to prove her skills against.
Although she still did feel rattled about her encounter with Hollard, she slowly tried to snap out of it and get back to her focused best.
"All the best for the fight. The audience here has paid a lot of money to see us clash, so let's at least try and give them a great show" Luke said, as he encouraged Lin to try her best, as Lin immediately scoffed at his naivety.
"I'll try my best for sure, however, I seriously doubt you can handle my best-" she said, as the match referee nodded towards both candidates and gave the call to start the fight
"Begin-" he said, as instantly Lin Mu charged towards Luke, her feet looking like a blur.
[ Water Feet ]
Although her feet looked like she was only moving slightly, Lin Mu moved on the hard arena surface as if she was gliding on water as her odd movement made it impossible for Luke to predict her attack path.
Planting his feet firmly, Luke prepared to defend against whatever assault Lin Mu would launch, as he kept watching her movements like a hawk although he could not predict them.
When Lin Mu reached within a three meter distance of Luke, she finally stopped moving as if she was gliding on water and planted her feet hard as if she was going to jump.
Following it through with a slight launch into the air she made it seem like she was ready to soar high into the air as Luke took his eyes off her for a second and tucked under his shield in anticipation of her serial attack.
However, Lin Mu never fully took to the sky as she immediately rolled under Luke's guard and slashed one of his ankles.
-95
Luke felt a searing pain spread throughout his body as he felt his left ankle being slashed by Lin Mu's short sword.
Thankfully, his boots were pretty durable, which did not allow Lin Mu to make a deep cut that severed his ankle muscles, however, the amount of damage he took still impaired his movement, as Luke began to limp straight from the get go.
*Cheers*
The audience cheered wildly to this sequence of events, as the rowdy men within the crowd absolutely loved this deceit, while the women covered their lips in horror as they let out a gasp.
"Nooo, not my SkyLion"
"Hey bitch! It's okay if you defeat him, but don't scar him…. My husband is too handsome to carry battle scars"
"Huh… you're clearly not worthy of him, battle scars are the pride of men! SkyLion! I don't care for your scars, I love you wholeheartedly unlike that bitch"
The crowd reacted sharply to this turn of events, as Luke tried to create separation between himself and Lin Mu.
From the audience, Hollard who was watching this match unfold believed that it would surely be over within a few seconds now, as he had expected Lin Mu to have laced her dagger with the poison he gave her.
Uptil now, he had no idea that Lin Mu was in rebellion against the night guild and had not used the poison he gave her as he waited eagerly to see Luke slowly lose all mobility and turn into a vegetable.
[ Speed Slash ]
As Luke hobbled away, Lin Mu used the attack speed slash as she turned into a blur of movement speed and slashed past Luke, drawing yet another trail of blood as she nicked him around his right chest, piercing through his breastplate.
-75.
*Wince*
Luke winced in pain as he felt yet another shallow nick on his body, however, he found himself once again too slow to defend against it.
Thankfully the opponent was using a short sword, while he was wearing a heavy armor which made her attacks lose much of their strength as had Luke been fighting without such heavy gear he would surely be torn to shreds by now.
"All he needs is one opportunity…. One opportunity to grab hold of her limbs and SkyLion can end this fight.
The only advantage that the girl has over him is her movement technique and speed and she's using it well to her advantage" Principal Wood murmured from the upper pavilion stands as he watched the fight unfold with great anxiety.
For the first time ever in the tournament, the prodigious fighter from his academy was on the backfoot and as a teacher, Wood couldn't help but feel anxious about the flight's outcome, although he had faith in his student to pull through.
[ Weapon Reinforcement ]
[ Body Reinforcement ]
Activating the move Weapon Reinforcement and Body Reinforcement, Luke tried to raise the damage stats of his sword and the strength and movement speed of his body as he tried to match Lin Mu's speed as best as he could.
The start of this fight had not been in his favor at all, with him having lost close to 15% of his total HP within 30 seconds while being completely unable to block or counter a move. However, he wasn't rattled by this much as while the opponents moves were outside his expectations, it wasn't like he did not train against faster and more agile opponents all the time.
The third time as Lin Mu closed in the gap between them and tried to attack, it was Luke's turn now to turn the tables on her, as in a surprising move he dropped his shield at the last second and hit Lin Mu with a strong kick straight to her stomach from behind the concealed falling shield.
*POW*
-60
Lin Mu, never expecting Luke to counter her like that, was sent flying from his kick as she rolled in the arena dirt several times before regaining her footing as she felt absolutely winded by his kick.
As an assassin, while she was agile and fast, she was nowhere close to being as durable as a knight or as strong as one, as when it came to strength and physique, she was miles behind Luke.
*Cheers*
As she was pushed back and Luke picked back up his dropped shield, the audience burst into cheers as Luke proved that this fight was not going to be as one sided as the start made it seem to be.
Cautiously approaching Lin Mu while hobbling, Luke made his intentions clear that he wasn't here to cower away or back down as he was more than willing to bring the fight to her if need be.
—----
/// A/N - There will be a second chapter later tonight. ///