Chapter 48. Two Remain
Rhys and Mae charged at one another. At the last second, Mae’s hands blurred, and she drew a sword. Rhys, not to be outdone, drew his broken sword in the same instant.
Mae saw the stub of a blade, and she laughed. “What’s that going to do?” Ignoring it, she swung at his neck.
Rhys activated Trash Intent. Her sword rebounded off his intent, and her eyes widened. In that instant, with her guard blown wide open and both hands flying back, Rhys closed in. He stabbed at her gut, going for the kill just as she had for him.
A blue gem dangling from Mae’s neck flashed. Blue light wrapped around her body, and his sword struck the light, not Mae herself.
Mae staggered back. She caught herself at the edge of the field and immediately ran to the right, circling around him. Rhys watched her go, eyes narrowed. That light was some kind of barrier or shield, and he’d have to break it to do damage to her. A part of him wanted to shout that it was unfair, but then, she hadn’t known about his Trash Intent, either. If he could bring hidden weapons, why couldn’t she bring hidden shields?
Besides, he was treating this match as a simulation of real battle from the start. He wanted to know how his skills would hold up in real combat. Quibbling over whether one equipment was permitted or not was meaningless, when in the real world, someone could wear a dozen shields or carry a hundred invisible blades, and he would simply die, rather than be able to shout to someone that the fight was unfair. Best to find out now what kind of magical items he might face here in the ring, when there was theoretically a referee able to halt the match, rather than in the real world, where there were no guardrails whatsoever.
Still, that didn’t keep him from mocking his opponent.
“One point,” Rhys said quietly, spinning the sword in his hand.
“What is that? An invisible sword? Isn’t that cheating?” Mae said, apparently sharing none of his qualms over treating this as real battle.
He lifted his sword. “Not at all. Can’t you sense what it is?”
At the edge of the battlefield, Ernesto stiffened. Walter stepped forward, his face pale. “Mae, that’s weapon intent. Watch out!”
“Weapon intent? Since when has weapon intent been wasted on manifesting broken weapons?” Mae mocked him.