Chapter 204 The Moment
Sometimes a fight could last many hours or even days in a row, there have been cases like this in history. Sometimes, it could be something short, perhaps one of the fighters won in a few blows that took him a few seconds.
However, sometimes the outcome of even the most serious and lengthy fights could be decided in an instant. One wrong action, one mistake could lead to the end of everything. This was what Elein feared the most.
Zayne had changed, she was sure that he had gained a new, unique power of which she knew nothing, so it was as soon as he stepped forward as she began to act.
A swift dash with furious wind currents was the fastest attack Elein had ever made. She traveled several meters faster than a single heartbeat.
Regardless of who it was, no one could fully see her movements. Alex, Luke, Alice, or Eagle, they all saw only a flash, their eyes not so tenacious. Even for the reporters' cameras, Elein was elusive.
"Fast."
A quiet voice rang out beside Elein, while she was in the middle of her attack.
That one word was enough to immediately plunge her heart into a boundless abyss of despair and chilling fear of what might happen next.
Zayne turned sharply, simultaneously backing away from the sharp blade coming at him and pointing her palms toward it.
Crackle.
He made a mistake, as the katana left a long bloody cut on his palm, but otherwise, it completely fulfilled its purpose as Elein's weapon was now pointing down, not forward.
Elein's eyes went wide as her katana pierced the dense concrete layer of the bridge, catching in it like a sword in a rock. Only with tremendous effort could it be pulled out.
Unfortunately for her, though she possessed superpowers, physics was still a great force before which all were equal.
·ƈθm The inertia she got during the spurt prevented her from stopping and pulling her katana out of the bridge, so she dashed on, trying to stop as abruptly as possible.
A cloud of dust rose beside her as two black streaks on the ground from her feet were left behind. Her shoes were ripped open, exposing her feet.
At that moment, silence fell. Everyone was shocked, especially since it only took a second for everyone in the audience to see what had happened.
Elein attacked first, then she was at the end of the bridge, but already without her katana, and Zayne was practically unharmed.
"What was that...?" Alice muttered with a true shock on her face.
Alex gulped, "Well... Looks like it went a little further than we could have imagined."
"Hehehe." Luke chuckled, "Isn't that cool? The more we watch, the more interesting things get. However, I don't think Elein has any more trumps left, and neither does Zayne, but he doesn't need to."
Eagle was wary. His goal was to prevent further destruction and to do everything he could to keep Elein and Zayne alive. These were straightforward and understandable goals, however.
'How to fulfill an impossible order...?' Eagle thought, clenching his fists tightly.
As much as he wanted to, if he intervened in the fight he would simply be wiped to dust, he wouldn't even have time to do anything about it.
"Fuck... Becoming a member of the Squad Alpha made me a little more arrogant, though I tried to get rid of that feeling, it's completely impossible to do that..." Eagle muttered, looking at the bridge.
"However... I realize now that there are several monsters among the top Players and... Zayne Fellen somehow became the first of them... Elein looks as if he has completely surpassed her." Eagle flinched slightly, at the realization of how serious things had managed to get in a short period.
Elein turned around, looked at her hands, then she looked at Zayne, who was standing next to her katana. It was over for her, without a weapon she certainly couldn't resist Zayne, and now he could easily get rid of her katana.
"What was that...?" Elein muttered, wanting an answer to the only question she wanted.
Zayne did not answer her question. Together he gripped the hilt of his katana tightly with his bloody palm, with a smooth movement, pulling it out of the bridge.
He raised the katana, staring at his reflection in the clear and deadly blade, then he threw the katana straight at Elein.
Elein's eyes went wide as she didn't expect Zayne to do this. However, she quickly came to her senses and caught her katana, quickly adopting a fighting stance.
"It was a mistake." Zayne said calmly, looking at the cut on her palm, "He would have done it perfectly."
Elein frowned, she didn't understand what or who Zayne was talking about, which alarmed and annoyed her at the same time.
"Hey! I'm your adversary!" Elein exclaimed furiously, making the wind currents swirl again around her weapon.
Zayne nodded, clenching her palm into a fist.
"Sure. I'm sorry for the distraction, and also for what I did to your neck. I didn't mean it, though... maybe it wasn't..." Zayne sighed.
Elein flinched as she touched her wound with the palm of her hand, it was the worst pain she'd felt in years. The ferocity and strength that Zayne possessed at the beginning of the fight were not even common to wild beasts.
'Elein... You must realize that the time has come for this...' came a voice inside Elein's head, 'There's no turning back now, if you let him close you won't even know how your battle will end with your crushing defeat.'
'I understand. It's either him or me, there's no other choice at all.' Elein nodded inwardly as her gaze grew sharper.
'He made the mistake of giving me my weapon back, and I'm going to take full advantage of it.' Elein gripped the hilt tightly, while the wind grew more powerful.
She hadn't used one yet, it was the most powerful move in her arsenal. She didn't want the situation to go that far, but now it was her only option.
"Oh, it looks like we've come to the end. The final attack, right? Fine, I'm ready to take it." Zayne muttered with a calm gaze on Elein.
He headed forward, stepping slowly as each time his foot touched the ground there was a thud.
Elein decided it was a call to action, and she swung her katana sharply. However, it didn't create a windblade, but, she kept doing it at a strange angle like it was some kind of dance, it seemed to cut through the air.
Whoooooooooooooooooosh.
Suddenly the streams of wind split into several streams, hovering in the air and becoming vertical. Gradually there were more of them, until dozens of sharp blades began to hover over Elein, waiting for her command to rain down on Zayne like a hail of arrows.
"This looks dangerous... What should I do?" Zayne asked himself while remaining completely calm.
Unlike when he was in beast form and driven by his emotions, now everything was under complete control of his mind. His cold eyes saw the whole situation without clinging to any particular blade.
"Well, either I will dodge them all, and it will bring me victory, or I will lose. From the look in her eye, that's all she can do." Zayne glanced at Elein.
Creating the last wind blades, Elein looked completely exhausted, bags immediately appeared under her eyes, she had spent all her energy on this attack.
"Come on. I'm ready." Zayne spread his arms as if setting his chest to the blow.
Elein was slightly puzzled; she couldn't believe that Zayne didn't have a plan. He had to do something.
Crackle.
As if to confirm Elein's expectations, many wounds opened on Zayne's body from which blood gushed out.
"Agh...? What is he doing...?" Eagle muttered with a dazed expression.
He wasn't the only one who was surprised, everyone who was watching their fight was genuinely puzzled. They didn't understand why Zayne was hurt or how it happened.
"Well, well, he seems to have some pretty interesting skills, doesn't he?" Luke grinned, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "Those wounds are definitely real, but it looks like he got something for it, doesn't it?"
"Yeah." Alex nodded, "That skill is a powerful boost to his stats, I'm sure of it. Now it's time for Elein to make a move."
Alice was silent; she watched Zayne's actions with curiosity and fire in her eyes. Before the launch of Fallen Fate Online, they would never even have met, Zayne was practically broken, however, now everything had changed.
Zayne wasn't lucky, he had to put in a lot of his own effort to be where he was now, and this was the beginning of his journey. Alice understood that, she knew she had to strive to reach a similar level as quickly as possible.
'I'll help you, then I'll disappear...' A voice echoed in Elein's head, then the samurai's silhouette disappeared, and the number of wind blades multiplied.
Zayne's eyes went wide, and Elein wasn't going to give him time to come up with a plan since she immediately swung her katana, bringing all the blades down on him.