The Grand Duke's Son Is A Heretic

With a sharp flick of her wrist, she brought her blade up, its silvery edge humming with compressed wind. Their weapons met.

CLANG!

A violent shockwave exploded from the point of contact, sending dust spiraling in every direction. The force blew Sol's coat back and tore up the stone beneath their feet. Sol grit his teeth and pressed forward, but Adele leaned slightly, barely shifting her weight, and unleashed a sudden twist of wind from her blade.

A mini-cyclone burst between them. Sol was blasted back mid-air, his feet barely catching the ground as he skidded thirty meters, coughing.

Sol had barely recovered when Adele accelerated towards him ready to cut him down mercilessly.

"She's enhancing each strike with wind pressure," Linda warned, her voice tight, as she raised both arms and cast a glowing hexagonal barrier around the team. "You'll get cut without being touched if you're not careful!"

Freya didn't wait anymore and dashed forward to act.

She dashed low, her twin blades glowing blue as she slid beneath the cyclone Adele had just created. Her movements were precise, almost snake-like—one blade slashing low at Adele's thigh, the other spinning up toward the ribs.

Adele twisted her body like silk caught in the wind, bending back unnaturally before she spun mid-air, using her own gust to rotate. Her boot connected with Freya's wrist. A sickening crack rang out. Freya gasped, falling back, blades flying from her grip.

"Fuck…She's not just strong—she reads intent," Adonis muttered, eyes narrowed. He remained back, hands tight around his sword's hilt trying to find a way to counter, and then rushed ahead.

"Don't give her time to think!" Adonis yelled and charged, sword coated in dark red energy. His foot dug deep into the ground, causing a line of cracks as he slashed horizontally.

Adele met his blade with her own, the clash producing a thunderous bang. Sparks flew as their blades ground against each other. But Adonis was stronger than Sol, his momentum relentless. He pushed her back a few steps, only for Adele to suddenly release the built-up pressure in her blade.

A horizontal shockwave of wind burst from between them.

Adonis flew back, rolling through crates and smashing into a mast post. Wood splintered. Blood dripped from his lip.

"LINDAAAA!Do something.." Herion screams at her.

"I am already on it so stop shouting like a madman" Linda gasped while completing the spell sending out a chain of mana bolts at Adele to create a distraction.

Magic circles appeared in the air one after another from which lightning strikes started to pour out like a venomous snake.

They hissed through the air like arrows, each one detonating into flashes of light to blind and mask the others' next moves.

Herion took the opportunity. With a roar, he charged, axe spinning overhead. He brought it down with brute force—his style was all about raw momentum. Adele raised her sword to block, but her feet slid back across the stone from the sheer weight.

BANGGG!

She fail to neutralize the pressure due to a lapse in judgment that made her falter a bit.

"Now!" Sol cried, launching himself again from the opposite side, blade stabbing toward Adele's midsection.

Two-on-one from a perfect angle.

But Adele merely clicked her tongue.

She ducked beneath Herion's swing, pressed her palm to the ground, and released a concentrated burst of wind upward. It caught both Herion and Sol mid-motion. They were lifted clean into the air like rag dolls and slammed into the portside scaffolding with bone-jarring force. One of the cranes groaned and collapsed with a crash.

"Damn it!" Adonis rose again, coughing. "She's cutting us down like weeds."

Freya, one arm now limp, rejoined the fray using only her left blade, her footwork intricate as she danced around Adele. Meanwhile, Linda began to chant, forming a complex spell circle behind the team—a shimmering sigil glowing with deep violet.

"Buy me twenty seconds," she cried. "This'll stun her!"

Adonis, Herion, and Sol moved in coordination, staggering their movements. Sol would go high, Adonis in center, Herion aiming low. The trio worked like clockwork—blades slashing from all angles, bursts of energy crackling, creating shockwaves that tore chunks from the ground.

But Adele met them like a tempest. She parried Adonis's thrust and used the rebound to pivot and slam the flat of her blade into Sol's ribs. Her elbow crashed into Herion's jaw. Each movement was fluid, waste-free—no flourish, just brutal efficiency.

"Why is she this strong?!" Freya spat, darting in and trying to distract Adele again.

Adele frowned. Her sword began to hum.

"You are not weak," she said coolly. "But you don't belong on the same battlefield as me."

She raised her hand.

The wind responded—not just around her, but from the skies above. A gale descended like a living beast, compressing the air. The port shook. Ships rocked against their moorings. The sea churned violently as if recoiling.

Linda gasped. "She's using the port's open terrain to amplify her power!"

Too late.

Adele swung her blade in a wide arc.

A compressed slash of wind, nearly invisible, ripped through the space between them. It exploded like a cannon, crashing into Linda's barrier. The shield cracked, groaned, then shattered with a deafening ring. The explosion that followed flung everyone backward.

Herion slammed into a railing and went unconscious. Freya collapsed, panting, bleeding from her temple. Sol rolled, coughing blood, his armor cracked. Adonis dug his blade into the earth to stop from being blown into the sea.

And while all this went Kael…

He stood alone now, slightly crouched, watching Adele calmly walk forward.

"You waited," she said, halting a few meters away. "Does that mean you're stronger?"

Kael exhaled slowly and drew his sword fully, aura coiling around him like dark fire. The air around him grew still.

"No," he said calmly. "It means I was waiting for a reason."

He stepped forward, eyes locked with hers.

"I'm not like the others."

The wind screamed between them. The real fight was about to begin.