Elise ran to her enemy with faster eleration than before. With ease, the female warrior shed at Trish’s body.


    “Damn it!” Trish had a hard time dodging her opponent’s consecutive attacks. Almost all of Elise’s shes and stabs hit her body. She continued to back away and winced in pain.


    Seeing a slight gap, Trish jumped back again. Her whip extended, about to entangle Elise’s body a second time. However, this time the female warrior shed the weapon several times.


    “Impossible!!!” Trish was hysterical as pieces of her weapon flew through the air. “This weapon should be indestructible….”


    Trish’s words were cut short when Elise suddenly appeared in front of her. The female warrior moved her sword from below to above, forming a vertical arc while jumping.


    Rising sh.


    Trish’s body flew high into the air from being hit by the attack. Elise, also at the same height, swung her sword again with all her might.


    Like being hit by a volleyball smash, Trish’s body swooped down andnded hard on the ground, causing cracks and a cloud of dust.


    The audience responded with ‘ooh’ sounds in unison.


    Elise was about to strike again, but the referee signaled her to stop. It took only a few seconds for the referee to examine Trish’s body, then she signaled again, this time for the bellman._.


    Cheers and apuse boomed as the bell rang. The match is over.


    Several medics rushed to Trish, who was already unconscious.


    Meanwhile, Elise just froze. The cheers from the audience did not affect her. Her mind was filled with questions: Since when was she so fast and strong? What really happened to her? She had already won, but why was the difort getting worse?


    Elise looked at her dark gray sword. She wanted to throw that weapon, which now seemed terrifying to her eyes. The female warrior felt like a terrible creature woulde out of the de and bite her.


    Even so, she couldn’t do it, and she doesn’t know why.


    Elise was a bit taken aback when the referee raised her hand.


    “The winner is Elise Fairchild!!!”


    Apuse and praise rained down on the female warrior, but she still looked tense.


    “What exactly happened, Elise?” Raymund was suspicious. “Are you alright?”


    Elise continued to walk to the gate and only answered her master when she was not in front of many people. “I don’t know for sure, sir…. It’s just… I felt like something dark was filling my chest when I used that skill. I don’t like it at all.”


    “But it’s a very powerful skill.”


    “Congrattions, Elise.” Yua embraced her colleague. “I don’t want to fight you, but if you win the next match, we can’t help but fight in the final.”


    Mona barked in the kunoichi’s arms. The dog looked like she wanted to wee her master too.


    A small chuckle escaped Raymund’s mouth. “You really believe that you will make it to the final, Yua?”


    The kunoichi just looked up and sneered at her master.


    However, Elise paid no attention to the chatter. She pressed her palm to her chest, trying to get that awful feeling out of her.


    ***


    Renee was still in her room, sitting and holding her head. ording to the announcement she heard, Elise had just won the match. Right now, music apanies the dance before the next fight takes ce.


    However, Renee didn’t care about all that. She was waiting for something.


    “Hi, Renee.” The deity’s sigh finally emerged from the small wooden box beside the woman. “What do you want to talk about?”


    “You don’t know? Maybe it has something to do with your cheating servant?” Renee spoke with trembling lips. “I know she has a way of hiding all kinds of tools. She used them in her match against me. In other words, she didn’t win on her own.”


    Raymundughed. “Perhaps that’s Yua’s special ability, hiding various items. That means she won using her own ability. Also, the tournament rules don’t say that anyone can’t carry things like that.”


    Renee snorted. “But….”


    A knock on the door interrupted the blonde woman’s words.


    “Renee? It’s me.”


    “Dad?” The blonde-haired woman raised an eyebrow. “Why are you here?”


    “I’m in.” Jacques opened the door.


    “Hey, Dad!” Renee was getting irritated. “That’s your bad habit! Why do you alwayse in before I let you in?”


    “This is because of your bad habits too. You often forget to lock the door.” The man with the pointy beard leaned his back against the door frame. “I won’t be long. I just wanted to say that your fight was shit.”


    Renee stood up with a stiff expression. “So, you came here just to make fun of me, huh!?”


    “You lost the mind war!” Jacques snapped before Renee could continue her temper. “You should be aware that if you carry out melee attacks continuously, you will be hit by your opponent’s traps again. You should keep your distance, maybe attack with your magic.”


    Renee had opened her mouth, but she couldn’t get a single word out.


    The father sighed. “You may approach your opponent to get her to take out all her traps, not to attack like raging rhinoceros. Of course, you have to dodge when each trap is activated.”


    Renee turned her face away. “I’ve done some ranged attacks….”


    “Is that enough? Now you’re losing, right? Maybe you can win if you’re more patient and think of a better strategy? You’ve been studying magic for a long time, haven’t you? You should have various ways of using your magic and melee skills to defeat your opponent. You’re not an idiot, Renee.”


    Again, Renee couldn’t answer.


    “The point is, you are too eager to destroy that ninja girl. I can point out the other mistakes you made. One of them was not immediately removing the chunk of the wall from your back, even though it slowed you.” Jacques continued. “This loss happened because you ran away before I taught one of the important things in fighting: dealing with psychological game from the opponent. So far, you have never met someone like that ninja…”


    “Okay, I understand, and I will reflect on myself.” Renee interrupted her father’s words. She held back her tears as she was hit by the fact that her dad’s words were true. “Now, what do you want from me?”


    “When I heard you were using our martial arts again, I was so happy, Renee.” Jacques shed a warm smile. “And if you think I’m mad you still use magic, you’re very wrong.”


    Renee’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”


    Jacques sighed again. “Every year, there are fewer people who want to follow our martial arts. Maybe your mom is right. We need to innovate. What you are doing is probably the answer.”


    Renee’s mouth opened slightly. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Her father, who had always maintained the purity of the martial arts he taught, acknowledged his daughter’s way of fighting.


    “Well, I’m not in a rush. If you feel the time is right, you cane home any time you want.” Jacques smiled again. “I wouldn’t worry about you anyway. You can take care of yourself. However, your mother is different, Renee. If you decide you don’t want toe back, at least go see her.”


    Renee didn’t know what to say when her father left. She was even more surprised that the man did not force her to go home.