“You’re not trying.”
Kira rolled her shoulders, wincing as she moved her arm. Her biceps protested.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kira said.
Now that they’d exchanged a few blows, Kira had a better grasp of his style.
Strength wise, she wasn’t his match.
Good thing duels were about more than how strong you were.
Still, there was something bugging her about the way he fought. It was in his movements and the beauty of his slices.
“Do I know you?” Kira asked.
It was a stupid question. What kind of idiot would admit that when they’d been so careful to hide the majority of his face behind the hood he still wore?
She could see enough of his jaw to know he was male. There was something weird about the shadows his hood was casting, veiling everything above his mouth except the intermittent glimpses she caught of his hazel eyes. It was enough to make her think there was some type of technology or ki preventing her from getting a really good look at his features.
Despite that, she couldn’t shake this sense of recognition. Not so much of him but of his technique. Like she may have known the one who taught him.
“Mind games won’t work on me,” he informed her.
“We’ll see.”
She hadn’t attempted any of those on him, but that could change.
“I was wrong before. You aren’t looking down on me,” he said unexpectedly.
He reset his stance, raising the sword in front of him.
“I’ll get serious now.”
Wait. He wasn’t serious before?
Kira danced out of the way as his sword sliced into the spot she’d just been. They swept back and forth across the small square as he attempted to corner her.
Each time, she escaped. Her goal: to make this bout last as long as possible.
To her surprise, he didn’t lose his calm. Not even when the minutes ticked passed and their duel became one of the longest lasting.
The world faded as she moved faster, her movements getting sharper with every second. Her muscles screamed and her breath shortened but she never faltered.
The phoenix always rose. Even if she had to burn in her own fire.
Shouts from the platform next to them distracted Kira for a brief instant. Her focus fractured as she darted a glance toward the rest to find Joule desperately maintaining his shield as his opponent hammered against it with everything he had.
“Where are you looking?” the wanderer snarled, sinking everything into his downward swing.
A blaze of lightning slashed across Kira’s shoulder and upper chest before lodging where her lungs were.
The wanderer dipped his face toward hers. “A warrior such as you should know better than to get distracted on the battlefield.”
It took two tries to get her voice to work.
“And you should beware of traps.”
His gaze followed hers to where her hand was located against his stomach. The blade of her sword piercing his abdomen at an upward angle and exiting out of his back.
