367 Trickery
Leonard relaxed as he felt the pressure of the wind element around him.
Leonard's move was the same, but he was applying it differently.
Rather than forcing his hand to perform an extremely powerful strike, he was pushing his own body with the wind element.
It was a different application of the same move, but it also made the strain that he would feel much lesser.
Although it sounded less effective than the move that defeated Tyrone, it required great mastery in manipulating the wind element.
Raelyn shifted her weight towards her left foot as she prepared for Leonard's move.
Suddenly, she saw Leonard disappear, and her eyes instinctively looked at her left side as she stepped back.
'His speed has increased,' Raelyn thought as she immediately created some distance.
The spot where Leonard's sword struck left a mark on the ground. It was certain, just by looking, that Leonard had gotten stronger and faster than before.
Leonard took a step forward as soon as his feet touched the ground.
Currently, he was utilizing the force of the wind around his body to move around and generate that much power, even in the normal strikes he would do.
Again, Leonard covered the distance between them instantly as he swung his sword horizontally, making Raelyn pull herself back, and she saw the dark blue sword pass just before her face.
Leonard was purposefully aggressive to make a critical strike that could make Raelyn show the full extent of the Rank A armor she possessed.
But Raelyn ducked forward a bit as she pushed forward towards Leonard.
There was no reason for her to stay on the defensive and allow Leonard to control the match.
CLANG!
Leonard pulled his hand to his sides as he blocked Raelyn's sword, placing his sword horizontally in front of him.
The fire around his body intensified as he tried to force its way toward Raelyn, but she made some distance between them, not allowing Leonard to do so.
"The Whiteheart Bloodline," Xarax muttered as he noticed how Raelyn was fighting.
"It's an annoying ability to fight against," Xarax said, and it was true.
Raelyn's bloodline ability meshed well with her talent as a weapon master.
The more their body got hit, the more powerful they got.
Kamden Whiteheart was considered a powerful SS Rank Hunter because, in a deadly battle, he would get stronger each second.
The more injured they got, the more powerful they got.
Some people called it the Aura Tempering ability, in which they absorbed the aura, and it enhanced their mana meridians.
That's why the more Leonard stretched this duel, the more his chances of winning would decrease.
But that didn't mean that this bloodline ability had no flaws.The biggest flaw was that it required a lot of control over your aura and mana; despite that, it shouldn't be used carelessly.
Even Raelyn rarely used it because it strained her body greatly, depending on how much she used it.
Using Aura to enhance your mana meridians also stressed the mana core a lot, which, if used badly, could cause permanent harm to their bodies.
Of course, the more proficient she got, the better she could use this ability, but judging by the fact that she hadn't used it till now, it was clear she still had a long way to go before she could achieve certain mastery.
Raelyn dashed forward as she swung her sword around, pushing Leonard slightly.
If someone wanted to compare her swordsmanship by looking at it, they would compare it to the flow of water.
Although it looked smooth, it was unpredictable and lethal as well.
Both of them had honed their swords at killing monsters, so it was easier to notice that each swing was serious.
A single mistake was all it took for one of them to get seriously injured, but because of their level, they could freely fight each other like this.
Unlike Asher, who had to purposefully hold back on his swordsmanship to ensure he didn't kill others, Leonard and Raelyn didn't have that issue.
This was the reason they could go all out, and the Professors around the stage didn't stop the duel even if it looked like a serious injury could happen.
"You look tired," Raelyn said as her sword descended on Leonard's sword.
Her water element fought against his fire as she maintained the pressure on Leonard.
"This is not enough to make me tired," Leonard replied, looking unbothered.
His mind was completely focused on controlling the fire and the wind around his body.
Small comments like this weren't enough to break that concentration level.
Leonard felt a large amount of mana around both of them as he could feel the droplets of water rising from the ground.
The ring on Raelyn's hand was shining again, but the glow this time was much brighter.
The water started revolving around them as Leonard increased the wind around his body to repel anything approaching him.
It also strengthened his fire, but right now, Raelyn and Leonard's swords were locked against each other.
He broke out of the lock as he removed the strength on his sword and stepped to his side, allowing Raelyn's strike to go down.
BAM!
A crack was made on the stage, but Raelyn ignored it as she rotated her body and swung her sword to the left side.
Clang!
Due to her quick actions, her sword met Leonard, who was striking her from the sides.
Raelyn's reaction speed was among the highest in the World Academy, so it was hard to catch someone like her off guard.
Even in a situation where her back was open to Leonard, she quickly made an attack, anticipating an attack from him.
It was a little gamble she took because if Leonard hadn't struck at her, she would have created another opening that he could have taken advantage of.
But Leonard pushed Raelyn's sword, making her step back quickly and change her stance.
Raelyn was expecting Leonard to strike her again, but something strange happened as she felt something come from right behind her.It was too late. She couldn't react, but a spear-like structure originated from the crack, which made a huge wound on her back.
Many students got worried as they saw the spear approach Raelyn's back, but suddenly, the jewel on her armor lit up, making a shield-like structure and blocking the spear.
BAM!
"What was that?"
"Where did that spear-like thing come from?"
People were confused, but Raelyn didn't have time to figure out what had happened.
She saw Leonard disappear, and instantly, a sword appeared before her face.
Raelyn twisted her grip as she used one of her defensive techniques and swung her sword from the ground towards the Leonard figure that appeared before her.
Leonard blocked the strike mid-air but was pushed back as he landed a bit away from her.
Raelyn turned back as she swung her sword at the spear, shattering it into multiple pieces, and her eyes turned to look around Leonard's hand.
Certainly, his bracelet had a glow as soon as the spear got destroyed.
It was an artifact indeed, but Raelyn didn't know what its limits were.
She had her eyes on every single A Rank Artifact, so it was obvious that it was some B Rank Artifact because she didn't remember anything that looked like this among the A Rank artifacts that came out in the Auctions for the past two years.
"Your armor seems tough," Leonard smiled as he finally saw how that armor worked.
Seeing that it could stop the attack that even Raelyn was surprised by made it clear that it stopped any threat that could make its way toward the person who wore it.
Leonard dashed towards Raelyn, and she was pushed back this time, as Leonard used a lot of strength behind this one strike.
And as soon as Raelyn was about to charge towards him, she felt two spears coming at her.
This time, there was no crack in the ground, but those two spears erupted insanely fast out of nowhere.
Raelyn used her sword to shatter one of them, and the other one she had used the armor to stop it.
"Not bad," Leonard smiled as the greyish bracelet on his hand lit up a few times.
Raelyn didn't know if the artifact could produce these dangerous spears out of nowhere, but it was an insanely powerful artifact if it could.
Because she knew after destroying two of them how hard she needed to strike it.
But she was wrong about that.
The Seat Holders had already noticed it, and it wasn't that the bracelet could produce those spears out of thin air.
If it could, it would have been a S Rank Artifact that used spatial element, but this one was not that powerful.
Instead, it was Leonard who set this all up.
Yes, Leonard was the one who spread tiny pieces of metal around the stage when he ran around Raelyn.
Because she was busy tracking his movements, she missed the small pieces that fell out of the bracelet.
And they were the source of the spears erupting from the ground.
Raelyn had her suspicions because the artifact seemed too powerful even for A Rank artifact, so she decided it was better to use everything now.
Because she was forced to use her armor artifact two times in a row, it wasn't looking good for her because she didn't know how many more of these spears Leonard could make out of nowhere.
"Heart of White," Raelyn chanted as her eyes glowed and her aura became denser.
Heart of White was the name of the technique used in the Whiteheart Family; it was the combination of Weapon Art and their bloodline ability.
The smile on Leonard's face faded as he got serious himself because he was waiting for her to use this the whole time.