The Author's POV

"Begin!"

The referee's voice boomed throughout the arena as mana simultaneously burst from both Amanda and her opponent.

With both of her hands on the handle of the sub-machine gun like artifact, a subtle red glow suddenly enshrouded the artifact as the tip slowly started to rotate. With each rotation, the faster the barrel moved.

Tat.

Eventually, after the first rotation, a small energy beam suddenly shot out from the barrel of the weapon as slowly but surely more and more energy beams started to shoot out.

Tat. Tat. Tat.

It wasn't before long that three more energy beams shot out.

Amanda wasn't standing still while this was happening. With her back arched a little bit, she taunted the string of her bow back as three translucent blue arrows materialized on her bow.

The moment the first energy beam shot out, Amanda calmly stood still.

Her decision proved to be the correct one as the projectile quickly missed her, resulting in her hair to fluttered wildly.

Following the first beam, more and more beams started to shoot out from her opponent's artifact.

Even then, Amanda refused to release her arrows the mana around her started to twist.

Whenever a beam would come hurtling towards her, she would either take a step to the side or move a small part of the body. Her movements were minimal, however, each time she moved she was able to miraculously dodge the energy beam that was hurtling towards her at incredible speed.

Amanda's actions caused almost everyone that was watching to look at her in awe as her mesmerizing figure stood in the middle of the arena like an unbeatable war goddess.

Her nimble and yet minimal movements that helped her dodge the beams caused everyone to be at a loss for breath.

'So skillful'

Everyone thought as they watched her dance around her spot, like a beautiful butterfly.

The reason why Amanda was able to do all of this was because of her skill.

[[C] Mana sense]

A skill that essentially allowed her to sense the mana as well as see the disturbances around it. Not only did the skill help her determine the direction of her arrows when she shot them, but she was also able to sense the direction of where the attack of her opponent would go.

It was thanks to this skill that she was able to do what she was doing. However, this only worked for a short period of time. From a certain point, the projectiles would become way too fast to dodge even if she knew where they were coming from.

But fortunately, Amanda was ready.

Tat. Tat. Tat.

Barely dodging three more energy beams, the mana around Amanda's body burst out like a raging storm. Then, eyeing her opponent, she released two of the three arrows.

Xiu! Xiu!

The moment she released the two arrows, the air tore apart and the two arrows disappeared from the spot.

They were so fast that by the time Amanda's opponent could retaliate they were already upon her.

Letting out a low cry, a transparent shield suddenly materialized around the dwarven girl. However, what happened next was completely out of her expectations.

Right as the arrows reached her, instead of hitting her shield as she expected them to, they suddenly expanded and formed two thin blue barriers. Trapping her from above.

In the distance, pursing her lips, Amanda softly muttered.

"Contract."

Instantly the two thin shields started to contract. And slowly but surely, they reached the dwarven girl's shield, applying heavy pressure on it.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

It wasn't long before cracks started to appear on the shield of Amanda's opponent as a helpless look appeared on her face.

Raising her bow towards the air, Amanda finally let go of the final arrow. Once again, it disappeared from her bow, tearing through the air like a comet.

Crash!

barrier around Amanda's opponent finally tore apart with a loud

a powerful mana fluctuation coming from above. Lifting her head up, she watched as a terrifying arrow

she was unable to

Booooom!

a couple of seconds after as Amanda's arrow

a couple of meters in front of Amanda's opponent with his hand raised.

Thud.

winner of this match is Amanda Stern,

***

"How strong..."

match. If I said I wasn't impressed by her

her opponent wasn't exactly the strongest, for Amanda to one-sidedly beat her like that, was a testament to just how much she had improved over the

at Angelica. With her head cocked to the side and a curious look on her face, Angelica also seemed to be entranced

when I

the way, did you really

hard time believing this. Although yes, she had been isolated alone, given her resources and the fact that she wasn't a very social person, I was kind of doubting her

Perhaps I was overthinking.

hair behind her ear, Angelica slowly raised her head and looked at me. After a while, she

"No."

"…oh?"

really was something else that she wanted to talk about. Now I

her

is planning on consolidating his strength before attacking both the orc chief and Marqiss ranked

like thunderbolts inside of my head as I started recalling all of

orc chief of Immorra so that I could use him

"I see…that's great news."

was happy, I didn't show too much of

done none of the things that I had tasked him

true loyalties were, but I

was planning on interfering in the war between two individuals

was the element of surprise, and even with that, I knew that his chances of

not high

he say anything about the

"No."

head. Pausing for a second,

is trying to find the best way to deal with

"I see."

thoughtfully nodded her

fight as soon as his strength broke through, however, my worries weren't the least

his death would put Angelica in jeopardy. I

a small glance

should probably turn yourself

knit when she

"Why?"

visit me soon. I'm sure you don't want too much attention

suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of

a black shadow cast over Angelica before her figure

she jumped up on the bed before resting on the

Clank—

was now a full-fledged count-ranked demon, it

door swung open and

"Hey."

"Mhm."

the place, Kevin's feet suddenly came

brows jumped up

"Is that…?"

"Yes, it's her."

my head. I had already briefed him about Angelica so it was no surprise that he was able to recognize

my head, I

you just come

"Yeah."

on the chair where Octavious

seemed to have stabilized, however, she's still in a coma and hasn't woken up

"I've heard."