NOVEL WEB Chapter 282: Entering the Colosseum?
[Kuro Vincent = Lillian Ker Arius]
[Kuro Vincent = Reph Von Lionbright]
Lillian, who was currently preparing herself in the challenger's room, stared at the mounted TV as the participants were announced.
And, of course... She was going to start off this competition.
Lillian stripped herself down, becoming naked as she put on a white shirt before wearing a leather tunic over it. Along with that was leather pants.
She then took a look through the assortment of steel weapons she could use.
Moving over towards the eastern section, looking towards the collection of long blades that dwarfed her in height.
It was then her eyes landed on a long steel odachi that seemed to gleam at her attention. She gave a low hum and raised her hand, hovering over its hilt.
However, a look of uncertainty crossed her mind.
Shaking her head, she moved away from the eastern and long-bladed section.
She was going to go up against a sword genius. While this title didn't speak as deeply, his achievements do.
It was said that at the age of 5, Kuro had managed to brandish a heavy metal sword and eventually learn his family's techniques.
He then went on to master it to a large degree to where he could go toe-to-toe with skilled knights.
At the age of 7, he single-handedly killed a D-rank monster with a sword.
Something past Lillian couldn't even do, even when she was a couple of years older than him and had magical powers.
At the age of 10, he fell into a Gate alone.
Although the Gate was of a low rank, he had been able to successfully escape with nothing but a few items. However, due to that event, he was somewhat afraid to go into another one.
Thus putting off moving up the Path of Ascension.
But that still didn't remove the fact that the young man was more of a main character in Lillian's eyes. Even more so than Millis, who was bestowed with a heaven-defying system!
And it was only a year ago that he mustered up the courage to take on another Trial. But this time... With someone else.
This someone was a close ally and a certain sword mage.
Lillian breathed a shaky sigh, feeling the tension. She was about to face off against a skilled swordsman with almost a year of experience in the second tier.
It was probably at this point that his mana control was most likely far ahead of her with his talents.
Logically, it would be best to put someone like Reph or Marionette against someone like him. After all, she was, by far, not a skilled swordswoman.
She was, yes, decent when it comes to combat, but definitely not good enough to beat someone like him.
'... Could I, though...?'
Lillian paused in the middle of the room before glazing over the selection of weapons on the walls. Her eyes landed on the Jian—a weapon recommended to her by Corran, an instructor.
She then drew her gaze towards another weapon with an extremely thin blade with an elegant handguard that curved over the hilt of it.
The rapier.
She remembered her time with the rapier, specifically when she still had the Sonata of Revenge. She hadn't ever used the Jian before, so she wasn't sure if the instructor's suggestion would do her so well currently.
"Well... It's not going to matter anyway."
She moved her hand towards the jian, grabbing its hilt and holding it in her hands. She measured its weight before unsheathing its blade and swinging it around.
Once getting herself comfortable, she nodded in a satisfied mood.
"Actual combat and pain are excellent teachers. I'll use this opportunity to learn how to use the Jian."
After sheathing it and wearing a belt to attach the sword onto the side of her hips, she began moving towards the exit.
Once exiting the room and travelling down the hallway, she soon stopped before a black fenced gate that slowly rose from the ground, causing dust to slowly fall from its spiked ends.
She took a curious glance down to the holes on the ground where the spikes would be placed before taking a step forward.
She unconsciously rested her hand on the side of her jian's sheathe, gripping it tensely as she moved into the Colosseum.
She was then immediately blinded by the sun's light, followed by a wave of heat.
It was like a spotlight welcoming her onto a desert stage.
Holding a hand over her eyes, she shielded them from the sun's blinding rays. Her eyes darted around, glancing at the announcer in the sky, who was standing on a floating platform, before looking towards the crowd.
She scanned the audience, looking for a familiar face. And... Unconsciously looking to find either her mother or a certain black-haired woman's face.
Once unsuccessful, she sighed before looking down and straight ahead.
Opposite to her side, another black fenced gate stood before slowly opening. And stepping out of it was the person she was tense about fighting.
A tall man with neatly kept black hair and black eyes seemed to stare forward with purpose crossed with confident strides into the Colosseum.
And just like Lillian, he also kept a hand on the side of his sword, which was sheathed and attached to the side of his hip.
However, unlike her, his hold on his sword was filled with confidence and indifference against nervousness.
He glanced around the Colosseum before making eye contact with her. Lillian watched as he nodded and took a bow before unsheathing his sword.
Lillian slowly nodded as well and slowly lowered the hand above her eyes to her side—now adjusted to the sun's light.
After giving one last sigh, she loosened her tight grip on her jian. She felt... Much calmer now and more confident as she stood inside the Colosseum under the audience's piercing gaze.
This was Lady Fate's necklace's doing.
And...
She felt that it was going to play a much more pivotal role than just making her feel confident.
Once the Announcer called out the start of the match, the two contestants began making their way over to each other...