Without pausing, she rotated the sword within her grip.
The blade reversed.
Its crimson edge now faced upward.
Her arms flowed naturally into the next movement.
An upward slash.
The shadow clone leapt backward just in time, narrowly escaping the second strike.
Lexa continued her advance without hesitation.
The floating broadsword floated to beneath her feet and shot across the battlefield like almost as if it were crimson comet, carrying her through the air with terrifying speed.
Another enormous blood-forged sword condensed beside her.
Without a single command, it launched itself toward the retreating shadow clone.
...
Far away, hidden inside the absolute darkness of his Shadow Vault, Elric leaned against the cold emptiness, clutching his shoulder.
Pain shot through his entire body.
His shoulder and hand were barely hanging together, skin, muscles and blood dripped from the open wound, it was basically just being held together by whatever little flesh could.
Blood poured relentlessly from the deep wound.
Without hesitation he reached into the darkness surrounding him, retrieving five medicinal pills from his Shadow Vault.
He swallowed them all.
The medicine immediately began working...
Far too slowly.
The bleeding lessened only slightly.
He let out a long breath and looked around the endless black world surrounding him.
He preferred Shadowmeld.
Always.
Shadow Vault wasn't designed for hiding.
It was a storage space.
Objects.
Unconscious allies.
Captured enemies.
Once a conscious living being entered, however, the mana consumption became absurd. Simply remaining inside steadily drained his reserves.
It was an emergency refuge.
Nothing more.
He leaned his head back.
"Didn't they agree she'd only use seventy percent?"
He laughed bitterly.
"There's no way this is seventy percent..."
Nearly twenty minutes had passed since the battle began.
This...was everything he had.
His thoughts drifted back toward Dante's words.
"Vexian would crush you."
The words echoed through his mind.
Until now...
He had thought Dante was simply being confident.
Now...
He wasn't so sure anymore.
A burning desire ignited inside him.
He wanted to know.
Just how strong was Vexian?
If Lexa alone had pushed him this far...
What kind of monster was the woman quietly sitting on Dante's lap?
He slowly closed his eyes, regulating his breathing.
One minute.
Two.
Three.
The medicine had finally slowed the bleeding enough for him to fight.
He examined his remaining mana.
Twenty percent.
Only twenty.
His shadow clone...
...was barely holding together.
Half a leg gone.
An arm severed.
Another solid hit and it would disappear, forcing the skill into cooldown.
"This has to be the last exchange."
He exhaled.
Then disappeared.
...
Outside...
Lexa calmly stood upon the floating crimson sword.
She hadn't pursued him.
Instead, she simply waited.
Patiently.
The blood rain and stopped long ago silently drifting across the battlefield.
Suddenly—
A shadow expanded beneath her.
Elric emerged.
Lexa immediately noticed him.
Instead of reacting, however, her thoughts wandered elsewhere.
'Master really was right...'
The blood she had already spilled never disappeared.
Every droplet remained hers.
She no longer worried about exhausting her supply.
She no longer worried about wasting mana recreating weapons.
Everything returned.
Everything remained.
She smiled faintly.
'If I had searched for another support skill... I would have wasted years trying to solve a weakness Master removed in a single decision. Leaving these things to him truly is the correct choice.'
....
Elric attacked.
Both daggers flashed toward her.
His expression remained focused despite the pain twisting across his face.
Lexa calmly raised one hand.
Nearly eighty percent of the blood scattered throughout the battlefield surged upward.
It gathered.
Compressed.
Refined.
Then condensed into two slender crimson greatswords.
Unlike every blood weapon she had created until now...
These felt different.
Their surfaces were smoother.
Their edges impossibly refined.
The aura surrounding them felt almost...
Alive.
Elric frowned.
'What's different?'
His daggers met one of the blades.
The impact alone hurled him backward.
Lexa never even looked at him.
Instead...
She issued two simple mental commands to her Blood Knight swords.
"You."
"Deal with Elric."
She shifted her gaze toward the battered shadow clone.
"And you..."
"Destroy the clone."
Elric blinked.
'...She's talking to swords?'
Then—
One vanished.
It didn't fly.
It disappeared.
Only to instantly appear before him.
His instincts screamed.
He threw himself backward.
The crimson blade carved through the air where his head had been.
A single line stretched across the distant mountain.
For a moment...
Nothing happened.
Then...
The mountain had a deep long gash.
A massive scar stretched from its peak to its base.
Silence filled the battlefield.
Elric's heartbeat accelerated.
'That...isnt merely a summoned weapon.'
It had copied her stance.
Her swordsmanship.
Even the angle of the slash was identical.
The floating blade pursued him again.
Meanwhile...
The second crimson sword silently appeared before the shadow clone.
It mirrored Lexa's movements perfectly.
The clone instinctively raised its shadow blade.
Too slow.
The blood sword descended once.
The clone's vision spun.
Its head separated cleanly from its shoulders.
Both arms followed.
Then the body dissolved back into pure shadow.
Destroyed.
Lexa merely watched the clone disappear.
Satisfied.
She slid her own sword back into its sheath with a soft metallic click.
The autonomous crimson swords dissolved into flowing blood, returning to her reservoir.
....
Elric met the same , exact same end as his shadow clone.
Arms were sliced followed by his head, at a speed he barely even registered.
Without another glance toward Elric...
She simply began walking back toward Dante.
All The blood in the area, simple rose majestically, flowed naturally to her, even Elric's, and simply entered a spatial storage only she knew of,
...
Amber's eyes widened.
"Brother!"
She sprinted toward Elric, tears already forming.
...
Darkness swallowed his vision.
His Academy bracelet flashed.
Elric
Revival Charges Remaining:3 → 2