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“And who are you, Miss?” Saril asked as she slowly turned towards Amyra, who was dressed in a sleeveless crop top and a pair of leather pants.

Lilian and the others gulped at the appearance of Amyra. Depending on the Augur’s response, the circumstances could evolve or devolve drastically.

“The name’s Amyra, an Acolyte much like you, Miss Paladin,” Amyra answered with a smirk that held all the confidence in the world. The cleaver-sword she was hoisting on her shoulder added to her show of confidence.

“And what reason would you have to interfere with the procession of a Venerer’s duty?”

“They are my fellow Acolytes too and you are treating them unjustly. How can I not interfere?”

“I see… So you’re saying that you should be included in the procession and my judgement too?” Saril drew the two swords by her waist belt. “I’m a Venerer. Do you understand what it means to show your hostility towards me?”

“My lord will be severely disappointed in me if I run from just this much of an arse,” Amya retorted, unholstering her cleaver-sword.

“Your Divine must have been a barbaric one considering they would have an Acolyte with a tongue like yours.”

“My Divine is dead, so I wouldn’t exactly know,” Amyra replied with a shrug and a faint chuckle.

“So you’re an Acolyte of Aeryo,” Saril scoffed. “Always wanted to meet a follower of a dead god.”

“Despite our god being dead, the Divinity still runs strong amongst his followers. Can you say the same should the same fate befall on your faith?”

Saril blared into a glaring radiance and charged toward Amyra.

The Augur grinned and swung her cleaver-sword with a speed as if it weighed nothing.

Saril veered away from Amyra’s slash and went around the Augur. From behind, Saril thrust her swords as the blinding glow dispersed. Amyra spun around and blocked the thrusts with her cleaver-sword. She pushed back and a flurry of slashes upon Saril. Light once again engulfed the paladin and she streaked away from Amyra in a meandering manner. The light dispersed when she came to a stop.

“Light Magic, not bad,” Amyra said. “It’s been a while since I last saw it.”

Nivia stepped forward. “Amyra—”

“Don’t,” she said, stopping Nivia with a hand raised. “Just go. I’ll handle this jester.”

Words were on the tip of Nivia’s tongue but Lilian came forward and held her back with a hand clasped on her shoulder.

“I understand, Amyra. Thank you,” Lilian said. Without any more words, Lilian grabbed Nivia by the wrist and strode in the direction of the Guild. Lyra and Siv followed briskly behind with each of them giving Amyra a good glance before disappearing into a turn.

“I did not give you permission to leave!” Saril shouted and chased after them with her body engulfed in light. However, a wall of rock and thorny vines was raised in her path and she had to stop to avoid getting hurt. She could survive the collision but that would leave her too injured to fight with the Augur. She was about to smash the wall down when a large ball of flames flew at her. She spun around and hacked the fireball into half. The cleaved spell crashed into the wall and exploded.

Amyra was chuckling. “Neither did I give you the permission to leave, Miss Paladin.”

“I have a name, you wretched Augur,” Saril said, her expression darkening.

“Really? I don’t care.” Fire enveloped the blade of her sword. “However, I will give you the chance to back off.”

“Only those without honour or pride are capable of even entertaining such a thought,” Saril retorted and light enveloped her blades. “Acolyte or not, you will be punished for your obstruction of a holy procession.”

“Holy procession? Giving your unjust acts a grand and godly name doesn't make it holy or justified.”

“I will not hear another mockery from you,” Saril said and swung her swords, throwing the lights on her blade like Aura Blades but the aura were beams of light.

“Then, by all means, make me stop,” Amyra responded and cut down the beams of light with her flaming blade.

Saril’s expression deformed into a grimace. She swung her swords wildly, unleashing a barrage of light Aura Blades toward Amyra.

“What a fancy but trite trick.” Amyra swung her sword only once and a large wave of fire consumed all of the Aura Blades sent by Saril.

The Paladin widened her eyes. “Impossible,” she uttered. “How can Light Magic be defeated by mere Fire Magic!?”

Amyra laughed. “Why can it not be? Nothing is absolute. It’s the same for Spatial Magic. It’s rare and powerful but it doesn’t mean it is invincible. Are all Ruvan Paladins as conceited as you?” She scoffed. “What am I saying? Of course, you are.”

“You dare to insult the commander too?” Saril tightened her grip and clenched her teeth. “Unforgivable. I will see you dead for insulting Commander Azaela.”

“Azaela, the Scarlet Blade? So the rumours are true… But then again, who else can lead a bunch of crazy dogs like you if not the Scarlet Blade?”

Saril streaked towards Amyra with a dazzling radiance as her veil, her swords clad in a solid filament of light. She fell silent along with the sounds of her action as if her body weighed too less to make any noises.

Amyra leaned back and avoided a high cut from the paladin. She sidestepped a downward slash and dodged under a broad swipe that took out the broken street lights behind her. She gripped her cleaver-sword tightly and retaliated with an uppercut slash that found nothing but air. She quickly spun to the side and avoided a thrust from behind.

“You’re fast for a woman of your size,” Saril remarked dryly.

“I’m quite the average in my tribe, as a matter of fact. It’s common for my people to be moving with such a speed in spite of our relatively huge sizes. It’s just you humans are much too tiny and too slow, like a tortoise.”

Bolts of light rained down on Amyra but the Augur responded to that aggression without her grin faltering. The fire on her blade only grew larger the more spells she cut down.

Saril frowned. “Magic Eater?”

“Oh, you know that spell? Colour me impressed.”

“You have such a vicious spell in your repertoire… And you dare call yourself an Acolyte.”

“Vicious? Really?”

“A spell that consumes others’ Mana to fill their own. Wouldn’t you call that vicious?”

Amyra sighed and chuckled exasperatedly. “You and your ilk truly have no self-awareness, do you? How is it any different from normal eating? We consume life to fill our own. Magic Eater is the same, only the difference is the thing being consumed is magic. The way I see it, the lot of you label anything as evil or vicious if it’s not something you can get your hands on. It’s vicious because none of the Ruvan has this Magic Art, isn’t it?”

“Silence!” Saril shouted and threw a large bolt of light. It was half the size of a building.

“Have you learned nothing yet, Miss Paladin?” Amyra winded her slash, preparing to swing.

“I have,” Saril muttered and charged at Amyra while the light bolt was also flying towards the Augur.

“Bold move,” Amyra remarked. Her grin widened. “But that’s all there is to it.” She summoned an equally large ball of flames in her free hand and threw it at the vast ball of light while she rushed forward to face Saril head-on.

The two vast balls of light and fire clashed and exploded into a blinding radiance that consumed the vicinity. A large portion of the ground was disintegrated and were the nearby buildings that were caught in the explosion. By the goodwill of fate, there was no collateral in the outcome of the clash.

The radiance blinded Saril momentarily and she had to narrow her gaze to avoid being fully blinded. However, Amyra had her eyes closed and she was still charging at her without slowing down.

“What the—” Saril couldn’t even say much as she was forced to raise her swords to guard against the Augur’s slash. She caught the slash but the force behind it was too much for the ground beneath her to handle. The combined weight formed a crater under her and she lost her balance.

Amyra spun and sent a kick into her abdomen, and she went tumbling across the ground until she hit a lamp pole. “You’re good. You have training. You have experience but I reckon you have only ever fought those weaker than you. Good thing I have sparred a lot with my lord.”

“H-how…” Saril asked as she pushed herself to her feet with strained breaths and trembling arms. “How can you know where to strike when you can’t see…?”

“Because you narrowed your gaze before I closed my eyes and I knew then that you won’t be moving from where you stood. I don’t need to make any changes to my and just need to strike at the spot where I have already resolved to.”

“Preposterous… What the fuck are you even saying?”

“Whoa there, such a vulgar tongue for an Acolyte. Pot, kettle, I see.”

“I’ll see you dead!” Light engulfed Saril and she flew towards Amyra with her swords raised. “No more tricks. Just metal against metal!”

“Sure,” Amyra said with a shrug and dispelled the flames on her blade. The crimson-steel of her blade gave a glaring red sheen against the graceful smile of the crescent moon. “Not that there will be any difference.”

“Your arrogance knew no bounds, Augur.”

“I have boundaries. You just can’t see it from where you stand.”

Their blades met and sparks flew in all directions. The clangour of steel resounded sharply in this desolated neighbourhood. The unsavoury residents cowered in their dilapidated homes, praying for their own safety and the off-chance of not getting completely embroiled in a conflict that was not theirs.

Saril cut high and low but Amyra deflected the paladin’s blows swiftly despite the weight and size of her cleaver-sword. Saril pushed forward, frenziedly slashing her twin swords but Amyra swatted her reckless swings away with a single swing. Saril reined in her swords and lunged with a cross-cut. Amyra dodged low and countered with an upward slash. The heated edge of her sword found flesh but only lightly scraping it. Nevertheless, Saril stumbled backwards, wincing.

Amyra pressed on with a wide slash. Saril raised her swords in response but Amyra went low and curved her slash. Saril followed the Augur’s blade but Amyra reined in her slash and lunged with a thrust. Cursing under her breath, Saril drew back and swung her swords wildly to fend off Amyra’s crafty offence. However, Amyra summoned a ball of flames into her free hand and flung it towards Saril. The Paladin cut the fireball down with one sword and locked blades with Amyra’s shrewd strike with her other sword.

Saril grunted against Amyra’s heavy blow that she barely held her ground against. “You tricked me!” she snarled while holding her blade against Amyra’s own.

“Everything’s fair in love and war, as humans love to say.”

“This isn’t war.”

“But it is and you and your fellow Venerers are the heralds. A silent and subtle war but a war nonetheless. You’re not the only faith in the city. You should know that.”

Saril clicked her tongue. “Surrender now and I can still be lenient with your punishment.”

Amyra chortled. “You don’t need to be lenient, Miss Paladin, because I sure won’t,” she said and steered her blade, breaking out of the blade lock. She then thrust forward with her entire body.

Saril was caught off guard by the Augur’s reckless action and she failed to respond accordingly in time. Amyra battered her sword out of her hand and caught her other hand by the wrist. She yanked the Paladin off the ground, and slammed her a few times against the decrepit pavement, before tossing her into a dilapidated building nearby.

“Stay down,” Amyra warned. “I know you’re still alive. You’re a Paladin after all, but heed my advice, stay away from the affairs of Aeryon or you’ll suffer the wrath of my lord.”

Though she was still alive, Saril could not speak. She could only stutter and gagged at her words due to her fractured bones and a punctured lung. If she had been a low-level individual, this type of injury would have been fatal but alas, her level was keeping her alive.

For now.