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

opponent could even react, the dwarven girl suddenly felt a powerful mana fluctuation coming from above.

was so fast that she was unable

Booooom!

explosion ensued a couple of seconds after as Amanda's arrow

meters in front of Amanda's opponent with his hand raised. Behind him was the frightened

Thud.

Amanda Stern,

***

"How strong..."

every second of Amanda's match. If I said

one-sidedly beat her like that, was

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

when I saw

did you really come here because

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

Perhaps I was overthinking.

head

"No."

"…oh?"

else that she wanted to talk about. Now

say anything else, turning her attention

and is planning on consolidating his strength

my head as I started recalling all of the plans that I

the orc chief of Immorra so that I could use him to help me fight against the demon king who arrived during

"I see…that's great news."

I was happy, I didn't show too much

none of the things that I had

was I unaware of where his true loyalties were, but I also sure hoped that he wouldn't

he was planning on interfering in the war between two individuals whose strength wasn't inferior

element of surprise, and even with that, I knew that his

not high

say anything about the time

"No."

shook her head. Pausing

will attack any time soon. He is trying to find

"I see."

thoughtfully nodded her

the big fight as soon as his strength broke through, however, my worries

would put Angelica in jeopardy. I didn't want that to

my hand on my chin and taking a

turn yourself

brows knit when she

"Why?"

come to visit me soon. I'm sure you don't want too

words could even fade, we suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of

cast over Angelica before her figure shrunk and she

resting on the top of the small ledge

Clank—

was now a full-fledged count-ranked demon, it only took a brief

sat on the ledge, the door swung open and Kevin entered the room. Upon

"Hey."

"Mhm."

a nod. Looking around the place, Kevin's feet suddenly came to a halt as he pointed in the direction

jumped up

"Is that…?"

"Yes, it's her."

about Angelica so it was no surprise that he was able to

head,

just come

"Yeah."

down on the chair where Octavious and

seemed to have stabilized, however, she's still

"I've heard."