763 The time of a declared winner is nigh

As Ester descended to the ground, she contorted her body to spin. She performed a few back handsprings the moment she touched the ground. After a couple of back handsprings, she jumped and landed on her feet.

Ester spun her swords with her fingers and raised her gaze to look at the towering bear in front of her. She swung her arms in a cross pattern and said in a confident tone, “It is time to dance.”

Wind sigils appeared under her feet. When they became brighter, Ester jumped high in the air and started stepping upward, lifting her body one step higher every time.

Ester moved freely, yet that didn’t mean she could be safe as well.

At the view of dozens of projectiles shot toward her, Ester didn’t flinch. She swung her swords at the projectiles fired at her without an ounce of hesitation or indecisiveness.

The dark short sword Elsie absorbed most of the mana from the projectiles while the shining short sword Elsir expanded a burst of wind, causing the brittle projectiles to break.

Ester destroyed the brittle projectiles, yet dozens upon dozens of fragments were about to reach her body. Her expression did not change at the view of sharp fragments about to reach her skin.

Ester’s body shined brighter from the wind sigil tattoos under her clothes. The thin layer of wind around her body increased and quickly amplified to become stronger and more destructive.

Ester did need to worry about using too much mana anymore because of the dark sword Elsie. The output was enough for each fragment reaching her body to become grinded to dust.

.....

It wasn’t the time to relax for Ester. Another wave of projectiles was shot toward her. The winner was Ester for the second time without a single dirt reaching her skin or clothes.

The bear shot the third wave of projectiles at Ester. This time, the amount shot at her was tripled. While the projectiles were traveling to hit Ester, Awa, and Night were able to stop dodging the attacks and focus on landing an attack.

Awa and Night shot a shadow line on the recovering chest wound caused by the bear’s claws. The wound was still slightly visible, covered by a thin layer of hardened earth.

The two of them kicked backward and shot their bodies simultaneously. The dropkicks they landed caused the bear to lose its balance, as if the bear felt this kick quite well.

The bear dragged one leg backward and used the other stuck in the earth spikes to regain its balance. The wound on the impaled leg became broader and more blood seeped from the injuries, yet it didn’t look like death from blood loss was going to be a viable option for defeat.

The large pair of eyes moved on Awa and Night as they slowly descended. Its face contorted more out of anger, increasing the odds of Ester being attacked less.

The projectiles, in far more numbers than before, reached Ester. Elsir and Elsie spun around her fingers and became similar to blade saws.

One blade saw used mana to generate strong condensed wind, and the other blade saw was used to absorb mana to make the projectiles brittle and also to recover mana.

Ester moved her arms and amplified the frontal wind sigil tattoos as much as she could in a short time. As she expected, the two swords could not handle all the projectiles.

The wave of projectiles was over. Ester stopped spinning her swords and lowered her gaze. A frown soon appeared on her face.

*Tsk* “My clothes have some cuts in them, and I got multiple scratches on my body. I needed to protect myself better.” Ester complained.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Ester Lionheart keeps on surprising us. She is dancing in the sky, and not one of the three waves could defeat her.”

“Furthermore, the grizzly bear familiar representing the five noble families has its hands full trying to take on Awa Lionheart and her horse familiar, with the appearance of living armor.”

“The impaled leg is restricting the grizzly bear familiar’s movements, yet it does not seem the towering familiar is too much worried about the movement limitations.”

historical

“Ester Lionheart staying in the air by merely skipping got attacked with waves of earth shards, yet she remained eloquently dancing. She reminds me of a...” The commentator looking at Ester, was saying before getting interrupted.

“Butterfly.” Said, Darwin before explaining the reason for saying this word. “When her swords move, and her flexible body contorts, I am reminded of the freedom and beauty of a butterfly. I also heard she likes butterflies as well.”

Iris, Lilith, and Sakura giggled after hearing Darwin compare her to a butterfly. While they looked at Ester and Awa’s fight, they cheered in their thoughts for both to win and not get hurt.

Ester rushed towards the bear’s leg with the same rhythm of her movements. Earth spikes extended to impale her, but it was a futile attempt to kill her.

Ester moved her swords to slash in random cross and circular patterns. Random as they appeared to be initially, each spontaneous movement correlated with the other. It was like an artist doing the first few initial brushstrokes, which would appear random to the viewer, just later to realize the artist’s vision by the final product.

The dark blade Elsie landed on the hardened earth. After scratching the layer of protection, the shining blade Eslir cut what was in its path like butter. The more Ester slashed, the less protection the bear had remaining.

Ester frowned. She was too involved in her attack that hs forgot she had stayed in one place for too long. She needed to escape promptly.

However, Ester soon noticed it was too late. From beside the area, she was attacking poked sharp spikes of earth.

A dark figure shaded her view. A brief moment later, she felt her body move to the ground faster than she had experienced traveling in her life.

*Thud* Ester landed on her feet. She felt like puking because of the speed. She moved her gaze and saw Awa beside her.

*Bam!* Ester raised her gaze after hearing a loud sound above her. She saw Night pulling her leg out of the hard flesh and jumping away afterward.

“Can you keep doing what you did? We managed to draw blood because of your attack.” Awa asked.

Ester nodded. “Like how Vincent uses his gauntlets to destroy any kind of magic protection, I will use my new sword to do the same.” She responded while holding Elsie with a firm grip.

Ester jumped and started running in the air as if it was a physical object. She leaped and swung her swords, cutting the projectiles shot at her. She contorted her body and kicked the air, pushing her body toward the bear.

Ester reached her strike range. She swung her swords at the earth spikes protruding from the bear’s hip. She twisted her body and kicked the bear’s hardened fur. As she moved half a meter away, she kicked the air and pushed her body forward.

After inflicting a couple of small lacerations while moving as if she was dancing in the air, Ester jumped back at the sign of danger.

Ester threw her sword away and extended her hand. A dark figure grabbed her hand and pulled her up high in the sky. In that brief moment, Night landed in the injured location with a mighty dive kick.

The bear extended swung its paw at Ester and Awa while extending numerous earth spikes from the ground and shooting projectiles at Night. It was starting to get used to being attacked in multiple locations, and the reaction delay was reducing by the second.

Night became a dark cloud before getting impaled. The earth spikes impaled the bear’s leg once again as if it did not mind getting impaled. The towering bear could not move now.

“It is risky to continue. You keep distracting this monster while I cut and absorb as much mana as possible before it rains monster blood.” Ester told Awa before kicking the air and leaving Awa.

Ester opened her hands. From below her appeared a shining and dark sword spinning in her direction. With a gaze filled with determination, Ester caught Elsir and Elsie. She spun her body and kicked the air to start attacking the towering bear.

This time was different. Ester attacked while moving and never stopping. She twisted, contorted, and spun her body to attack.

The more Ester moved randomly and attacked, the more it became visible to the audience that the bear was not covering the attacked areas quickly as if it was having problems.

Awa and Night attacked relentlessly while evading any attack thrown at them. It became more difficult because the bear’s legs were impaled to the ground. Every attack they landed with the intention of knocking it down appeared to have become futile.

The representative of the five noble families was not in a good state. He was watching Vincent and Mimi’s fight, and it was reaching its climax. At the center of the field, the towering bear wasn’t doing that great eighter. All it needed was to land one attack, but the girls managed to evade all deadly attacks.

Similarly, the five nobles who royal soldiers were guarding were starting to shiver nervously. The team they were confident was going to win was showing signs of defeat in a minute or two.

Ester whistled, and multiple vines emerged from the ground. They could do no harm to the bear as they were puny compared to the towering bear, but they offered a little distraction.