Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

"That’s..."

Several people wanted to say that was impossible, but the word caught in their throats.

Lucas was already an anomaly, and some of the things he had done were even more ridiculous than what he’d just shown them, so maybe, just maybe, he really had figured out how to use Sense Projection all on his own.

Whatever the case, Lucas’ unusual ability was clearly what allowed him to execute such a perfectly timed defence and counter-attack.

In fact, Brynn not losing just now had much more to do with luck than skill.

The moment Lucas slipped to her side and launched his attack, the young girl knew she wouldn’t be able to raise her shield in time to block it, so she intentionally disrupted her balance in order to fall to the side, buying herself an extra fraction of a second to defend herself.

However, that was more a desperate, instinctual move than a calculated decision, one that would have failed if Lucas’ arms were just a couple centimetres longer, allowing his sword to make contact with her face.

Brynn had always been self-conscious about her height as she was much taller than most of her friends her age, but now she was feeling incredibly grateful for her early growth spurt.

Taking a breath to steady herself, Brynn stared towards her little opponent, who still had that same, unnervingly calm look on his face.

It was like he was able to see right through her and anticipate exactly what she was going to do before she did it.

Unnerving didn’t even begin to describe what it felt like.

Had it been one of her instructors, the old monsters from her family who had taught her how to fight in the first place, Brynn could have accepted it, but to be feeling totally exposed in front of a 10-year-old boy was just plain disturbing.

Brynn would have laughed at the ridiculousness of this whole scenario were it not for how frightening it was.

Just as the older girl was pondering her next move, Lucas took action, closing the distance between them and launching an overhead thrust.

Brynn intercepted the blow with her shield, but the impact was surprisingly light.

Swinging her axe, the older girl aimed to cut down her foe while his weapon was outstretched, but Lucas was able to parry her blow just in time as he hadn’t put much power into his earlier thrust.

The pair then engaged in a rapid, close quarters clash, with Lucas mostly defending, deflecting both shield and axe strikes with the absolute minimum necessary movement and strength.

Lucas also attacked whenever he saw an opening, landing some glancing blows on Brynn’s armour, but nothing that would have caused any real damage had their weapons been sharpened.

The exchange lasted a good 5 minutes before Lucas suddenly did something unexpected, executing a low lunge before throwing all his weight into an upward slash, catching Brynn’s shield and knocking it up high.

This move effectively took her strongest defence out of the picture, but it also left Lucas’ back wide open to attack, a fact that the older girl didn’t miss.

She didn’t know what Lucas was up to, why he had put himself into such an awkward, vulnerable posture with no possibility to follow up with his sword, but after going blow for blow with this little freak for so long, Brynn wasn’t going to take any chances.

Swinging her axe as fast and as hard as possible, intent on ending the match before something expected happened, Brynn was again caught by surprise when Lucas suddenly released his sword and shoulder rolled under her blow.

Although she lost sight of her slippery opponent, Brynn knew that the only possibility was that Lucas had managed to take her back again, a fact that caused alarm bells to ring loudly in her head.

Faster than she could re-position herself, though, the older girl felt someone tackle her legs, causing her to fall forward on top of her own axe.

She then felt something wrap around her neck and squeeze tight while a hand reached for her outstretched left arm.

Brynn was on the brink of losing, again, but this time she wasn’t panicked.

With a fierce roar, she swung her shield back above her head before Lucas could complete his grapple, smashing the young boy’s face mercilessly.

An almost comical grunt escaped Lucas’ lips as he was knocked off the older girl’s back.

Seeing stars, the young boy tried to get up and get away, but it was a futile effort.

By the time Lucas was able to recover, Brynn had already rolled herself over, wrapped her long legs around the young boy’s back, and crushed him down onto her firm abdomen.

The older girl then swiftly placed her axe onto her opponent’s neck and demanded, "Yield!"

Feeling the dulled blade pressing against his neck, Lucas let out a sigh and nodded, "I surrender."

His voice might have been muffled as his face was still being pressed into Brynn’s rather firm stomach, but the referee still heard him and promptly declared, "Winner, Brynn Campbell!"

It was only after she heard her name being announced as the victor that Brynn dared to relax her tensed muscles.

Panting heavily, she withdrew her axe, collapsed on her back, and unwrapped her legs from Lucas, allowing him to also breath again.

Never in her wildest dreams had the young girl imagined she would be pushed so hard in a spar against a boy 6 years younger and more than an entire Major Realm weaker than herself.

Sitting up with some effort, Brynn stared over at Lucas who was also sitting a couple steps away now, wiping the blood from the gash on his forehead.

Looking at him like this, seemingly not even frustrated, as if he already anticipated his loss and wasn’t the slightest bit bothered by it, Brynn couldn’t help admiring him even more, extending her hand with a smile, "You’re amazing, Lucas. Worthy of being Marquess Balfour’s First Disciple."

Taking the outstretched hand, Lucas gripped it tight and smiled back, "It was a good fight, Lady Campbell."

"Just call me Brynn," the older girl smiled back carefreely before suddenly asking a shocking question, "Say, you have a fiancée yet? If not, how about me?"

*PFT!! COUGH COUGH COUGH!!~~*

Brynn laughed cheerfully at the young boy’s overreaction and his red blushing face, getting to her feet and pulling him up before patting his back to help him recover, "En, so you can be surprised."

Glancing up at the tall 16-year-old girl next to him, Lucas glared through his coughing fit, "That joke... *cough*... wasn’t very funny, Lady Brynn."

"Just call me Brynn," the girl patted his back harder before winking playfully, "And what makes you think I was joking?"

Lucas’ jaw dropped while Brynn laughed again, seemingly very satisfied with herself as she walked off the stage, leaving behind her shell-shocked opponent.