Chapter 6: Sword tournament

Some time later when the main group that went to investigate the town of Lostwood, Sarah came running and leaped at Lud who was doing some paperwork. She made Lud fall with his chair and the papers spread around the room.

After Sarah hugged Lud for a moment, a paper fell on Lud's face, which made him come back to his senses to question the situation. Lud asked Sarah "What made you crash my office like that Sarah?"

Then Sarah rose up from snuggling with Lud to sitting on his crotch and said "You see, I heard from Tear just now that there'll be an event called "Grand Sword Tournament" in one of the towns… what was it called again… Ah! Porintos! The town of Porintos is holding an event that will test people's swordsmanship and I want to try it out."

Lud thought "Why on earth would Tear tell her that? She knows it better than I do that she is a battle maniac who would fight anyone for the thrill of it." Then Lud said to Sarah "Why would I send one of the most valuable people in our kingdom to a tournament where she'll likely wreck the whole place, causing a massive political issue even before we make a proper contact with the whole nation?"

Sarah ponders a bit and says "Well… If you send me, then… You'll make my power known? You know, since the most skilled swordsmen will gather there and… Boom!"

Lud looks at Sarah in the eyes wondering "How on earth did you manage to be a leader of an organization?" After which Lud realized that he said it out loud, but before he could rectify his mistake, Sarah said with a hint of embarrassment "Well… I was more of a figurehead than an actual leader. I let the people around me make most of the decisions with the organization and stuff."

Then with a hint of sadness, Sarah added "And also, when I did make a decision on my own, I often caused trouble for others since they didn't dare to speak against my wishes. Even when I asked for their opinions, they would say "Your plan is absolutely flawless, my lady" and "If there is a problem, the problem lies within us". So eventually, I let them make their own decisions and keep my mouth shut and agree with whatever the majority seemed to think was best."

Sarah then rests on Lud's chest and says "I may be born of the remains of a fallen god, but in the end, that was all I was. I didn't receive any training, but I was gifted with the knowledge of language and the power that runs through me."

Then Sarah hides her face on Lud's chest and says "In the end, my whole purpose was gaining more power to destroy the world and by proxy, destroy those who I held dear."

There was silence for a while, until Sarah continued "Don't get me wrong, I do like to destroy things and fight strong opponents, but that doesn't mean I like seeing my friends suffer. I was born of the most powerful god's fragments that held deep regret over the deaths born between both sides of the great conflict. In those regrets, the wish to redo the world from scratch came across in the form of destruction. And I heard that the most common version of me was clouded by this destructive will that forgot why it was wishing for a clean slate in the first place. I haven't been told why it happened, but I do wonder why those versions of me forgot the beauty of the world."

Then Sarah strengthened the grip that was holding on to Lud's clothes and said "If it wasn't for you then… I would have met a similar fate. For that I… Am very grateful."

There is a moment of silence, until Sarah sniffs and rises back to the sitting position with a smile on her face as she said "I didn't expect to reminisce about the past that much, but back to the topic. Let me enter the tournament."

Lud was about to say something, until a female voice said "I didn't know when to enter, so I just got this over with and showed my presence." Sarah turns her head and Lud leans his head to see who it was that was talking. They saw an elf woman with short white hair and green eyes. Then a man's voice was heard from across the room that said "My dear Yi, it is not proper to interrupt these kinds of moments."

Then Yi said "But master Xu, they were talking about the subject that I was going to talk about." To which Xu said "Nevertheless, it is quite impolite to make your presence known when you see two people in a compromising position. Instead you should either take the coward's way out, remove yourself from the situation and not look, or be a gentleman that appreciates the beautiful moment that they are presented with."

Then Yi says "I see. I will memorize this lesson for later use. But master Xu, can a woman be a gentleman?" After which Xu says "Oh absolutely. It isn't gender specific to be a gentleman just because the word has a man in it. Gentlewoman doesn't have the same ring to it and the term that women use is "lady" leaves too much to the imagination for your average person. Yes, women CAN be called gentlemen if they so wish to be called, but whether or not they can be called TRUE gentlemen is left for their actions to prove."

Lud then says "For a second I thought that you would go the route of letting women act like men if they wanted to or even that the gender you were born in didn't matter, but you went to a completely different route than I imagined. You just went and said that your understanding of gentleman isn't what the actual term is used for and you fit your own depiction of it to the term to confuse your daughter."

Xu then says "I have no idea what you are talking about, but in any case, Yi has a request that is related to why Sarah is here. Yi." Then Yi said "Yes. I came here to ask for permission to enter the same tournament that Miss Sarah asked you just earlier."

Lud thinks for a moment and then asks "Which finger were you again?" To which Yi said "I'm the first." To which Lud muttered "So the so-called weakest model then" and then said "Okay. I permit you to enter this tournament."

Yi shouted in happiness "Yes! I will not let you down!" After which she left and Sarah whined "Why did you let her go, but not me?! It's unfair!" To which Lud said "I told you that it would cause a political incident if I let one of my commanders enter the tournament. Participating is a no go."

Sarah was about to whine some more, but Xu said "I may have a suggestion that might be a solution to your problem." Then Lud said, "Speak away." And Xu responded "Yes. I suggest that Sarah will go to the tournament as a spectator."

Sarah then says in annoyed tone "A spectator?! But I want to fight!" To which Xu said "Think about it for a second Sarah. If you won't even witness the fierce battles between the best swordsmen of this world, then you will be left with the ever wondering feeling that you missed something interesting." Sarah said with a bit toned down voice "But… fighting…"

Then Xu asked "What do you say my lord? Would you let her at least go and witness the tournament if she promises to not be a participant herself?" Lud thinks for a moment and then says "If she can promise to not interfere with the actual tournament, then I can let her go."

Then Xu says to Sarah "So what do you say Sarah? If you can promise to our lord that you won't cause problems, you'll see many battles between the best swordsmen of this world."

Sarah is hesitant for a moment, until Lud says "Well now that Yi is entering, you can see how the fighting spirit of seventh battalion fares with the inhabitants of this world with your own eyes. And since Yi is the first finger, she is undoubtedly very passionate about proving her worth in the arena."

Sarah ponders for a moment and then says "Fine. I'll go and watch the little one's battles. While it is a shame that I won't be able to enter, at least I can see someone who has the motivation to prove themselves while fighting to their heart's content. Yes, now I'm excited."

Then Liz enters the office with some papers in her hands and hears Sarah say "Thank you Faust" and make a sound that sounded like a kiss. Liz is stunned by this as Sarah jumps over the table again and runs out of the office.

As she was leaving, Sarah shouted "Love you!" This makes Liz drop the papers in shock and then makes her start to mumble something incoherent. This makes Xu say "It seems that my job is done. Good luck my lord."

Afterwards Lud had to explain to Liz what just happened. It took some time, but eventually Liz calmed down enough to get back to work and clean up the place.

Yi was flying with the use of her sword like in one of those Chinese cultivation stories. Sarah was flying with magic behind her and caught up to Yi eventually.

While on their way, Sarah said to Yi "I am going to watch from the audience this time, but I have great expectations after hearing you and the first of the Ten sword-saints of Rucksta will be participating."

Yi said "Yes! I'm excited to meet her as well! Though I hope that my swordsmanship lasts to meet one of the best in this world. I heard that after the final round is settled, only then the one standing gets to duel with her."

Sarah said "I have great expectations for you young one." To which Yi said "Thank you, miss Sarah!"

Meanwhile a shadow was tailing the two women who were heading towards the place where the tournament was held. That shadow was none other than Tear.

For you see, before Lud gave a go ahead for Sarah to go see the tournament, he asked Tear if one of their battalions would be able to go supervise Sarah. Tear answered with a quick "I'll go" Which left Lud to wonder why she was so eager to go herself, but left it at that and proceeded to give Sarah the go ahead.

Eventually, Yi and Sarah got to the town of Porintos in the kingdom of Rucksta. The town was apparently famous for being a town where great heroes were trained and laid to rest. The tournament was still taking participants, and Sarah let Yi go by herself as Sarah was appraising the other participants. Sarah thought "If these are the strongest of the bunch around this world, it would be a cake walk to conquer the whole world with our current strength." Then Sarah paused for a moment and said "Then again, we are in an unfamiliar world. There might still be surprises for us to find."

Eventually when it was Yi's turn to sign up, the receptionist asked "What is your name, race, age, occupation and if you have a title, then what is it?" Yi answered with a smile "My name is Yi and I'm an elf! I am the first finger of Xu the thousand swords. And my title, well… I'm most commonly known as The weakest finger where I'm from."

Then the receptionist says "I see. If you'd like, you can also say what school of swordsmanship you trained under." Yi thinks for a moment and then says "There really isn't a name for it, but my father calls the style Qian Jian." The receptionist then writes it down and gives Yi a slip that contains Yi's number.

Then the qualifiers start. The way the tournament works is that those without any recommendation from a noble have to go through qualifiers and work their way up from the bottom. Before the main event starts, people are put in small rings to have a bout with another person with a number. There are six rings in total and each ring is watched over by a referee.

In one of the qualifier matches, Yi's opponent said "Listen here little elf. You don't feel like you belong here. You look way over your head after taking in some victories on your belt. You should…" Then the referee says "Do your talks before or after you enter the ring! Begin!" And with a swift motion, Yi defeats the opponent like any other. 

Eventually, Yi gets past the qualifiers and the next match is in the main arena with an audience a couple days later. In the meantime, Yi and Sarah look around the town and ask a bunch of things from the people there. Most of what they gather is unimportant information, but they gain a very few interesting tidbits.

For example, the countries Lastias and Restias are on the verge of collapse from fighting between themselves and their sister country Vortias. Apparently Vortias has managed to keep themselves together by not acting aggressively and letting the other two countries start all the fights. Vortias would reclaim what the lost territory if any was lost, but not go over the border that was agreed when the three states separated. 

Apparently the three countries were once one unified demon country, but one generation of rulers decided to let the country split into three parts and make them their own separate countries. The rulers of these three countries were once siblings and a couple of generations of peace later, the two kings decided that they wanted to unify the three countries into what it once was. All countries agreed with the vision of reuniting the once separated countries, but the dispute rose when the ruler was to be decided. 

The queen of Vortias didn't initially care for the position and let the two kings decide between themselves. Both of the kings were adamant that they themselves would be the ones to be the ruler of a unified demon country. This strife lasted years of harassment between the two kingdoms, but eventually the strife between the two would reach a breaking point and a war started.

It was when the war started and the two kings were putting their troops into Vortias was it that the queen of Vortias declared that "No soldier under the names of either Lastias or Restias are permitted to enter inside of Vortias' borders until the ruler of unified demon country is decided." This declaration made the two kings think that Vortias wanted to be independent and started taking that territory by force.

The war has lasted nearly a decade with Lastias and Restias not coming into agreement. Both countries are running out of resources while Vortias is holding strong for a variety of reasons. Both kings Lastias and Restias are now paranoid of any movements made by the queen of Vortias.

The reason why this topic came up while Sarah and Yi were gathering info was because the princess of Vortias was visiting Porintos to see the sword tournament. With her being there, Lastias and Restias most likely sent people to see if the princess' visit had some sort of deeper meaning.

Then the time for the tournament had come. Yi was excited to the point she started to annoy even Sarah.

The first round where Yi was fighting was about to start and all that was left for Yi was to be called to the arena to face her opponent. The announcer said "For the next match, we'll have an adventurer who had earned the recognition of the dark elf matriarch Diane herself. She is a dark elf adventurer who has reached the rank A in the adventurers guild in mere five years and she is known as the hero of Lodres. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Lucina Lirel!"

The crowd cheers as Lucina walks to the arena while waving her hands to the audience. You can hear people confess their love for her and telling her to show the might of Rusteror.

Then the announcer said "And as for the other person, she is an elf girl who has metal hands. Her origin is a mystery, but she claims to be the first finger of Xu the thousand swords. Though she has passed the qualifiers, among her peers, she is called the weakest finger. Please welcome, Miss Yi!"

While Yi walked to the arena, the cheers from the crowd could be heard. They were clearly much less than what Lucina received, but the spirit of competition lifted some to cheer for the unknown girl.

Lucina said to Yi "Haven't heard of you, but since you passed the qualifiers, you must have some skill. Hope you won't disappoint." To which Yi said enthusiastically "Yes! I'm honored to test my metal against someone hailed as a hero!" Lucina was a bit taken back, yet smiled nonetheless and said "At least you've got some spirit."

Then the announcer said "Ready?! Begin!" And Lucina charged at Yi with amazing speed and made a strong strike. Yi redirected it and countered the strike in a way that pushed Lucina to the edge of the arena. All of this happened so fast that the audience didn't know what just happened. All they saw was Lucina disappearing for a moment and then she was flung to the edge of the arena.

Lucina was flabbergasted that her attack was countered, but collected herself quickly and took a fighting stance. She poured some mana into her to strengthen her next attack and then made another attack that she was sure would break the barrier that was placed in each participant.

The rules were quite simple, if a contestant's barrier would break, that means they had lost. Additionally, if you exit the designated area by any point of the match, you lose the match. If you would be found using a magic item, you'd be disqualified, but the usage of a magic item wasn't prohibited in the down low.

Lucina, with much more strength and speed, charged at Yi with the amount of power that could kill a dragon of this world with one strike. Yi however, just guided the attack that was coming diagonally from the left in a way that Lucina's sword was found ending up upwards. It was not as if the attack was blocked and the sword bounced upward, the strike that was meant to start from the left and end up to the right, it instead put the force of the strike skywards as if it was Lucina's intention all along. The wind blew the dust from the ground upwards, causing a small pillar of dust to appear.

In the moment that Lucina was defenselessly holding the sword upwards, Yi made a piercing strike towards Lucina's abdomen, which broke Lucina's barrier and sent her flying across the arena.

All of this was explained soon after by the announcer, who barely managed to catch what just happened. The audience was in awe and then Yi was declared the winner. Yi then sheaths her sword and runs to Lucina.

When she is near, Yi extends her hand to Lucina and says with a smile on her face "Those were some magnificent strikes Miss Lucina. If only I had the skill to do a perfect reverse L parry, then your last attack wouldn't have gone to waste." Lucina is a bit stunned that her opponent extended their hand for her.

Though a bit frustrated at herself for losing this early, Lucina takes Yi's hand and says "I clearly underestimated you. For that, I apologize." To which Yi says with a smile "It's okay. After all, I'm the weakest finger." Lucina wonders "If she's supposedly the weakest, then I can't imagine how strong the rest of the fingers are."

Both went their merry ways, and then Yi waited for the next match.

Then came Yi's second match. The announcer once again gives an introduction for both contestants. The announcer says "For this match, we have the aspiring knight of the Iron order, Jesper Fern Colt and the weakest finger Yi face each other! Hope you have made your bets, since the fight is about to start!"

Yi's opponent this time was a wolf type beastkin, who wore heavy armor and had a greatsword. He said to Yi "I saw your last match little Yi and I must say to you that I'm quite impressed that you managed to break the barrier with just two hits. Unfortunately for you, since I have armor, my barrier's strength is increased according to the protection my armor gives. You'd have to hit a little harder than before if you want to beat me." Yi said enthusiastically "Yes! I promise to try and meet your expectations!"

Then the announcer gave a mark and the fight began. Yi and Jesper met at the middle point of the arena and exchanged blows. Jesper was pushed a little back with the strength that Yi put to her attack, which surprised him a little. Nevertheless, Jesper carried on and moved to make his next attack.

After a couple of blows, Yi did something that Jesper didn't expect. Yi threw her sword at Jesper, which he dodged, but this gave Yi an opportunity to strike with her fists. With a mighty blow, Yi broke Jesper's barrier and sent Jesper back a couple of meters. The audience was stunned by this move and the fact that Yi's fists were enough to break a barrier that was boosted by the armor her opponent wore.

The announcer announced that Yi was the winner and the crowd cheered. Jesper was about to leave, but then Yi said to him "Thanks for this opportunity mister Colt! Though I had to make a shameful move to get through your defense, it was a magnificent duel!" Jesper just said "As a knight, I feel ashamed to lose to an opponent who threw their sword away. I will remember this failure."

And so the two parted ways. Now Yi has only three more matches before she can meet the first of the ten sword-saints.

The next match, the announcer said "For the next match, I'll welcome the descendant of the mighty draconian Ruch Magnar, Marar Magnar! His opponent will be the weakest finger of Xu, Yi!

Then Marar said to Yi "Bask in my glory oh little elf. I'll show you the might of Magnar bloodline." The draconian had two horns and a red dragon tail. He was wearing light armor and had two curved swords. Yi said to Marar enthusiastically "I don't know who Ruch Magnar is or was, but I'm honored all the same!" Marar was a bit taken back and said "Well, it is only natural that there are few ignorant people who don't know of my ancestor's great deeds. No matter, his blood flows through my veins and I'll show you the power it holds."

Then the announcer gives their mark to start and then Yi and Marar meet their swords. Marar has quick and powerful attacks that Yi has to be a little careful of. The quick movement of both contestants and the power of their attacks makes people watching look at them in awe.

The fight lasts for a while with neither party making any significant moves to win over the other. The fight lasts so long that Marmar starts to get out of breath, to which Yi notices and says "It is a shame that you are getting out of breath this soon. On the other hand, I'm not even getting warm by this exchange." This makes Marar angry, who then says "Who are you to say that I'm out of breath?! I'm only just getting started!"

Only three swings later, Yi says "I guess that's enough time" and jumps to the edge of the arena. Marar says "What?! Giving up already?!" To which Yi says "Qian Jian 7th form. Loaded Spear Leap"

Then Yi makes a huge leap from one end of the arena to the other like a spear that is thrown with a great force. During the leap, Yi pointed the sword so that her body became like a spear. This attack pierced the barrier and actually did physical damage to Marar. Thankfully, Yi only made it so that it would scratch Marar's cheek, so the damage wasn't that bad.

Marar was standing in shock for a moment, then touched the wound that appeared to check if he was truly bleeding. In his shock, when he looked at his hand and there was blood, he started shaking as if he just had a near death experience."

The announcer announced that Yi was the winner yet again, and both contestants left the arena without saying another word.

Sarah, who was watching the whole match, muttered to herself "So the little one let her emotions take over this match. Poor lizard should've just not bragged about his lineage since that seems to be a sore spot for the little machine." Then after listening to the chatter of the audience, she muttered yet again "One's blood may be superior to someone else's, but this does not mean one's worth should be made solely from it." Then after some more chatter from the audience, Sarah said "I have to give it to Xu's kind though. The ability to store power of each hit made to the user, be the attack damaging to the user or their weapon, makes them able to store power that can be later used in a single attack. This makes Xu's kind of perfect fit for defensive plays. Illi really outdid himself when he came up with it. Or was the idea one of the real one's and Illi just made it happen? In any case, enviable power indeed."

The battle against Marar was Yi's last battle of the day. Yi spent the rest of the day maintaining her body and talking to Sarah about all kinds of things. Before this visit to Porintos, the two really haven't talked much. This trip gave the two the opportunity to get to know each other more, which would have not happened otherwise thanks to the difference in rank.

The next day, Yi entered the arena and the announcer gave an introduction of the next match. They said "Thanks for waiting folks! Today will be the final day of the tournament and today we will start with the semifinals! The first match of today will start with the weakest finger Yi and the fourth of the ten sword-saint's disciple Annika Ulota! Both contestants are almost at the top, so let's not keep two waiting and start the match when both are ready!"

Annika was a cat-like beastkin who had white hair, ears and tail. She was wearing some armor, but it was mostly lightweight.

Annika said to Yi "That strike you made against that lizard really was something. Care to do it against me?" To which Yi said enthusiastically "If the situation demands it, I'll do it again!" Then Annika gave a fake smile and said "Then I better give it my all then."

Then the fight started and both contestants were exchanging swords. One hit after another, both contestants fell a little back and pushed it up a notch the next attack.

Then Yi said "I think I'll have to try a little more than I'd like." Then she breathed deeply and said "Qian Jian 9th form. Apex razorstorm." Then in a split second, Yi made attacks from many different angles as if she was a storm of razor blades. The attack wasn't necessarily strong, but there were so many attacks that it was sure to cause some damage. The speed of the attack was something that put Yi's software into overdrive. This attack was something that was meant to be used from the 30th finger and above, but Yi had honed the technique so that even someone at her level could do it.

This attack shredded Annika's barrier so that she even didn't notice it at first and was ready to attack Yi. It was when Yi sheathed her sword did Annika notice that her barrier was gone. The announcer then said "The victor is miss Yi!" The crowd cheered and Yi said to Annika "Thanks for the opportunity to try one of the more advanced techniques of Qian Jian. If your barrier would have been a little more durable, I would have had to extend the duration of the technique, which would have been damaging to my body."

Annika said "This can't be. I… I can't be defeated yet. I have to…" Yi extends her hand to make a handshake with Annika, who then proceeds to say "No. NO! I won't be defeated yet!"

Annika tries to attack Yi, but then a woman grabs her shoulder and says "What do you think you are doing Ann?" The woman had white hair, white fox ears and white fox tail. Her eyes were sky blue and she had a small painted line under her left eye. She was wearing an expensive looking coat that had edges coated in a white fluffy fur. 

This voice was familiar to Annika. A voice that caused fear ran down her spine. Annika muttered "Master Weiss, I… I." Then the woman who held a dangerous aura even for Yi said "Do not tarnish the name of your master. She will forgive you for not winning against a worthy opponent. Now sheathe your sword and accept your defeat in an honorable way." 

Then Annika walked towards Yi and said, though with a weak voice "Tha- thanks for a worthy battle. I… I'll face you again o-o-one day." Then Annika leaves the arena and the woman known as Weiss says to Yi "I'm sorry you had to see a shameful sight. I hope the name of the ten sword-saints of Rucksta wasn't tarnished in your eyes."

Yi then said "No worries. Sometimes pressure from others drives people to act unexpectedly." To this Weiss said "Thank goodness. Now the only thing I need to do is talk to Monica about this mishap and we'll be golden. Now if you'll excuse me." Then Weiss leaves and Yi is left speechless for a moment.

Soon after, Yi leaves the arena as the announcer suggested so that they can move to the next round. Meanwhile Sarah was smiling like a maniac and said in a terrifying tone "I finally met someone interesting." This made the ones near Sarah back down a little, until Sarah noticed what she was doing and got herself together. 

After the other semifinal was fought, the time for the final match was approaching. The crowd was excited to see the two best contestants fight each other. The announcer did their thing and said "Ladies and gentlemen! It is time to see who is this year's Grand Sword Tournament's champion! Let's not wait around the bush and do the introductions of our two best contestants! On the other corner is the so-called weakest finger of Xu the thousand swords. Her skills have baffled both amateurs and pros alike and none of us can't wait to see if she has anything else up her sleeve! Please welcome, Miss Yi!"

As Yi was walking to the arena, the crowd was cheering her on like crazy. Some people could be heard shouting "Show them the might of elves!", "Show us another trick of yours!" and "Little metal armed lady! Go go go!"

Then the announcer said "On the other corner we have the former sword-saint of Racksta candidate who has put the fear of death to many of our contestants! Please welcome, Ern the broken!" The crowd cheers noticeably less than they did when Yi entered the arena. The man who walked to the arena wore black leather armor, had long green hair and had green eyes.

When Ern entered the arena, he pointed the sword at Yi and said in an unhinged tone "Soon… Soon I'll be facing off with the apex of all swordsmen. All I need to do is to beat you and she'll come to me. Ahh, it is so close. Soon I'll show them the fruit of my labor. I'll show them the gift that lady Zolotifa gave me. I'll show them all."

Then Yi readied her sword without saying a word and soon after the announcer gave the mark to start the match. As soon as the round started, Ern charged at Yi at a speed that she could barely follow. It was only thanks to luck that Yi managed to react in time to block Ern's attack. This made Yi say "I'm starting to heat up."

Then the rapid exchange of swords began and the audience could barely follow what was happening yet again. All they could hear were the sounds of two swords hitting each other.

Yi decided to use one of the techniques that she shouldn't do because she was the first finger. She threw the sword she had towards Ern, who then blocked the attack and sent the sword Yi threw into the sky.

The moment Ern struck the sword, Yi disappeared and left Ern confused. This confusion gave Yi the opportunity to throw Ern off balance and place him into a hold that didn't allow Ern to move. Thanks to the barrier, Ern didn't feel any pain, but the barrier was taking heavy damage moment after moment. The more Ern struggled, the more damage was done to his barrier.

After a while of struggling, Ern's barrier broke and Yi let go of him. Ern was in disbelief from how he lost and started to mumble incoherently. The announcer announced that Yi was the winner and the crowd began to cheer.

This annoyed Ern, who started to shout "Unacceptable! I won't let this chance go by and lose like this! My goal is within arms reach and I've sacrificed so much to get here!" Then Ern tried to attack Yi with a force that Yi couldn't block or counter even with all her strength. Even though Yi's kind was made to counter, this attack was far too high level for her to deal with. So the attack landed on Yi, who luckily still had the barrier, but some damage was done to her arm. If Yi hadn't tried to dodge the attack, it would have hit her right in the head and most likely break her.

After the attack, Sarah teleported behind Ern's back and casted death door's call on Ern, who then fell to his knees from the attack. He tried to lift his sword, but he didn't have the strength to do it. He shouted "Why?! Why can't I lift the sword?!" To which Sarah said "It would appear that my skill makes people in this world feel weak. It didn't have that kind of effect in our world, so it came as a little surprise."

Then a group of knights came to the arena to at least apprehend Ern. They were unsure about Sarah's intentions, so they were careful to make a move. Then Weiss came to the arena and asked "Are you a friend or a foe?" To which Sarah said "I'm currently an audience member who got worried for her friend. Don't mind me, I'll just…"

Then Weiss asked "What did you do to him?" This annoyed Sarah, who then said "It is a little thing that makes anyone it affects die if they receive any kind of damage. I didn't know it would weaken him in that kind of sense though, but now I've learned." Weiss asked "Does it spread?" To which Sarah said "I casted it in a way that only affected the man who broke the rules. No need to worry about it, though I'd be careful when handling him. If you handle him a little too roughly, he might just die."

Weiss stares at Sarah to try to discern Sarah's words. Then Sarah said to Yi "Are you alright little one? It seems you took some damage there." Yi said "I lost some of the function of my left arm, but that shouldn't stop me from facing the first sword-saint." Sarah smiles and says "That's good to hear." Then she looks at Weiss and says "I'll leave her to your hands, miss sword-saint."

Sarah then disappears back to the audience and Weiss then takes a deep breath and says "Take him into custody. We'll punish him when the tournament is concluded." The knights say "Yes mam!" and take Ern away from the arena.

Then Weiss says to the announcer "Let's proceed with the winning ceremony Miss Pina." After which the announcer, or Pina, says "Of- Of course! Ladies and gentlemen! The winner of this year's Grand Sword Tournament is none other than Miss Yi! Give her a well deserved round of applause!" The audience gives an applause and cheer for Yi, who feels like she achieved something great.

The ceremony where Yi is given the prize for winning goes by, and then people prepare for the final act. The fight between the winner of the Grand Sword Tournament and the First of the ten sword-saints.

When Yi enters the arena one last time, she sees Weiss standing there waiting. The crowd is over the moon to see the finale of this event. Yi says to Weiss "So you were the best sword-saint I heard about." To which Weiss said "Sorry that I didn't tell you earlier. I felt that it was better to leave it to your imagination until the moment finally came." Yi said "No worries. I'm excited all the same."

Then Weiss says "Your arm. Are you sure you want to fight now and not wait for a moment where you are in a better condition?" To which Yi said "Oh no worries. I dealt with the main issue, so it should function mostly the same. And even if it didn't, I still have my other arm to support me."

Then Weiss says "I see. I admire your resolve. Now then, without further ado, let us introduce ourselves one last time. My name is Weiss Eriana Pen. The first of the ten sword-saints of Rucksta. People like to call me the war god of Ilith." Then Yi says "My name is Yi. I'm the first finger of Xu the thousand swords. People back home like to call me the weakest finger."

Weiss then says "It is an honor to face you miss Yi." To which Yi says "It is an honor as well."

Then the two readied their blades and waited for a moment to strike. The first one to make a move was Yi who got pushed back from the backlash from the strength Weiss put into blocking Yi's attack. Then Weiss said "My turn" and charged with an amazing speed towards Yi who was still recovering from the backlash. Yi managed to block the attack, but this still caused some damage to her barrier as she was pushed back.

Then both started to casually exchange swords moment after moment. The audience couldn't follow what was happening yet again as the sounds of swords hitting each other were heard as if a machine gun was firing.

Weiss then asked "Do you have any more tricks?" To which Yi exhaled and said "Nothing that I have can get past your defense!" Weiss chuckled and said "You gonna give up then?" To which Yi said "Absolutely not!"

The two continued to exchange blows for quite a while, until eventually Yi shouted "It's hot!" Yet they continued to attack each other relentlessly.

Then Yi was pushed back to the point she was on her right knee. She shouted "IT'S… HOT!!!" After which the image of her face was turned off. Yi used a hologram to make an image that looked like a face, but now that it was turned off, people saw the robotic head that was covered in a glass dome. People were shocked to see that the face Yi was wearing was fake and started to talk amongst themselves. Even Weiss was surprised to see what Yi truly was.

Weiss asked "You… are a machine?" To which Yi said "YES! AN… AUTOMATON TO BE… EXACT!" Everyone was flabbergasted from finding this out and some even asked "Is this allowed?", "Can a machine enter a tournament meant for swordsmen?", "Aren't magic items prohibited?".

Then after letting some hot air out of her body, Yi asks "Are you… disappointed Miss Weiss?" To which Weiss said "I… didn't think it was possible to see such a swordsman spirit in a machine."

After letting some more hot air out of her body, Yi asked Weiss "May I ask you a favor, Miss Weiss?" To which Weiss asked "What kind of favor?" Yi then asked "Would you face me as an opponent irregardless of what I am to the point of breaking me?" Weiss was speechless for a moment, until she heard a familiar voice of Sarah shouting from the audience "So what are you gonna do miss sword saint?! Are you going to dismiss the fighting spirit of a fellow swordsman or are you going to disregard it simply because of what she is?!" Weiss thought for a moment and said "I… I'll face you head on Miss Yi. I accept your fighting spirit as a fellow swordsman and treat you like any other opponent I've faced." To which Yi said "Thank you."

Then Yi shouted "Lady Sarah! Please give me permission to go all out on the name of Elysium!" People were shocked to hear someone say Elysium, to which Sarah smiled and shouted "Very well! I, Sarah Ylfianos Rosten Ech Alifana Setto Livendig, the inheritor of fallen god's regret hereby order you! Go beyond your limit, show this world the strength of the weakest child of Xu and the epitome of your efforts! Burn bright with my flames, Yi the weak!" As Sarah was saying it, she gave some of her power to let Yi go beyond the limits of her software and hardware.

Then Yi shouted one last time before attacking "IT'S… HOT!!!". After shouting, Yi attacked Weiss with all her might and the two continued to exchange blows thereafter. It was clear as day that Yi wasn't getting past Weiss' defense and that Yi was constantly being pushed back. Nevertheless, Yi kept attacking with great force that even the audience could feel.

Yi had to change positions many times as she was pushed to the edge of the arena. Yi was so past her limit that the part that made her able to speak was turned off in order to get as much energy to all other parts that were handling the fight at hand.

While fighting, Weiss said to Yi "While I can't see your expression anymore, I can tell that you are smiling ear to ear." Yi couldn't answer as she was so focused on the fight.

Little by little, Yi's parts started to break and fall apart, but this didn't stop Yi's relentless attacks. As long as she had parts that could process the information and parts that allowed her to move, she would not stop fighting.

Then Yi managed to talk with the broken voice module "Qi… an 100th fo... Deus … machina." This was the most powerful attack that the fingers of Xu had. It could destroy a whole arena if used properly, but since this was the first time Yi had the capacity to even attempt this, the technique was imperfect.

In theory, this attack multiplies the attack power to proportion that would kill the specific target. As the attack is performed, the user of this technique will gain foresight that allows them to see the path of least resistance. During this attack, the causality will be turned into the user's favor if the amount of mana used is enough to compensate for it.

In a flash of light, Yi struck Weiss with this technique. As the two's backs were facing each other after the attack was finished, Yi focused on the voice module and said "You fo… on o… point … swo… Magni…" And then Yi broke down in small parts and the purple flames that surrounded her burned the parts away slowly. Leaving nothing behind.

The audience paused for a moment, until cheers filled the whole stadium. The Pina did her job to rile up the hype and thanked both participants.

Then out of sight for everyone else but Weiss, a scroll jumped from the flames that enveloped Yi's broken parts to Weiss. Weiss caught the scroll and read it. After reading it, she did her job as the sword-saint and went to her post as a guard for the princess of Vortias.

The princess said to Weiss in a voice that fitted an excited girl "A magnificent battle. It was truly worth the visit." Weiss said "Thank you for your compliment, your highness." Then the princess said "It was a true surprise that the victor of this year's tournament was a machine. Didn't I hear that she was from the rumored Elysium?" Weiss said "Yes. If that is what they call the weakest, I shiver a little for the thought of meeting the rest of her kind."

The princess then says "There is a chance that her coming here was a stunt to give others an image that tells other countries that Elysium is a force not to be taken lightly. If that were the case, she could very well be one of the best in their ranks. But then again, that demon Sarah. She said that she is a so-called inheritor of fallen god's regret. I heard that Elysium came from the other world, so I don't know if their gods are comparable to ours, but if it's true, then I don't know what kind of power she holds." Then Weiss says to the princess "About that your highness…"

Time passes and the sky has become dark. Weiss and the princess return to the arena to see Sarah sitting on a chair. In front of Sarah is a table and two other chairs for Weiss and the princess of Vortias. Then Sarah waves her hand and shouts "So you have come! Please sit down!" Both the women sit down as Sarah says "I actually doubted a little if either of you would come. I feel a little honored that the two of you answered my call."

Then Weiss says "How could I not come and seek answers from someone like you. We don't know much about Elysium, so I thought that we could get some answers if we came." Sarah responds "I understand. To know your enemy, you must first befriend your enemy to find out their weak points."

Then the princess says "Isn't that a little too hasty to call us your enemies?" To which Sarah says "It was just something that I was taught from the moment of my birth. But I have to agree with the fact that you never know who will become your enemy, so you better know as much as you can about them before they reveal their true intentions. Nevertheless, it is a pleasure to see you both. Let's get right into introductions. My name is Sarah Ylfianos Rosten Ech Alifana Setto Livendig and I'm the Elysium army's 10th battalion commander. Though we call it a battalion, the 10th battalion only has me in it."

Then the princess says "Pleasure to meet you Miss Sarah. My name is Eleanor Olla Ot Liavenic Altras and I'm the princess of Vortias." After Eleanor, Weiss did her introduction as well.

Then Sarah says "We have another person who might show up soon, so don't be surprised if a woman appears out of nowhere at some point. I'll let her introduce herself if she comes around, but she is a colleague of mine, so you don't have to worry. Now then, what do you want to know?"

Then Weiss asks "Are you Yi's superior?" To which Sarah responds with "A strange first question, but still, if we are real officials here, I'm in a higher position than Yi but I'm strictly not one that gives her orders." Eleanor then asks "Then why did you order her back then?" To which Sarah says "It was something I thought she wanted to hear, so I honestly just went with the flow."

Then Weiss asked "What happened to Yi?" To which Sarah answered "Her body burned and became mana. The spell I used on her essentially lets the recipient go over their limits with the caveat of breaking the recipient's physical being as much as they overextend themselves. What I could hear from Xu, Yi was overly satisfied with the results."

Weiss asks "What do you mean satisfied? What kind of connection does she have with Xu?" Sarah thinks for a moment and then says "Well, Xu is like a focal point of all the hundred fingers. Every emotion they feel will inevitably end up in him. Through this process, even if the body of a finger dies, as long as Xu has their memory backed up, the finger can be rebuilt with the same memories. So in other words, Yi isn't gone. She will be reborn soon in the hands of Xu."

Then Eleanor asks "Is this Xu a machine as well?" To which Sarah says "Yes. He was made by one of our commanders who specializes in making things. According to Xu's creator, he is one of his crown achievements."

Then Eleanor asks "Is it true that your king is a human?" To which Sarah says "All I can say that he was born in the image of one. But let me ask you a question. How are you going to treat our kingdom and our king?" Eleanor answered with "To be honest, I have barely seen humans doing well in this realm and I can't seem to understand the hatred the entire middle realm has with them. Let me be clear, I don't see them in a good light either, but I at least question why this is."

Sarah says "Okay. I can work with that. How about you miss sword-saint?" Weiss answers "I have seen some humans with a great will to live. Unfortunately I have been ordered to wipe out any humans who have tried to make settlements in Rucksta. But as to my personal opinion about them, I think of them as animals like any other."

Sarah responds with "Good, good. This is something promising. Though I'm disappointed about little princess' answer, it is one of the more favorable answers that I was expecting from people of this realm. And as for miss sword-saint, I've come to understand that humans are treated with less kindness than animals who ruin your land, so it is a favorable response indeed."

Then Eleanor asks "What do you think of your king?" To which Sarah said with a straight face "I love him from the bottom of my heart and I want to spend the rest of my life with him." The two women were stunned by this confession, and then Sarah said "It must be a shock to you both huh. After all, you don't view humans above animals, so you probably think I'm crazy, right?"

Then Eleanor asks "Why?" To which Sarah responded with "Because he saved me from my destined fate." Weiss further inquiries "What about your destined fate? Do you know how it should have been?" Sarah answered "Some of us do. You see, where I come from, there were beings called the real ones that could change the rules of the world. To put it simply, there were as many realities as there were the real ones plus one that converged to an equilibrium. I don't entirely get it either, but what I can gather is that each real one had a separate reality of our world that could be different from the other real ones'. In one real one's reality, a person could be a farmer for the rest of their life and in another real one's reality, they could rise up to be an adventurer of the highest caliber. Then there was the true reality where the world that the True Masters envisioned the world to be. This is how I know what I was meant to be, as I saw what came of me in a true reality."

Then Eleanor asks "And what was your destined fate?" To which Sarah said solemnly "A monster that wanted to sweep the whole world clean from what was. For the real ones, I was what they called a raid boss, but what it meant for me was that the True Masters made a boss monster to be fought in order to gather materials. Each time that version of me would die, they would rise back up again to wait for the next round of real ones. And no matter how hard that me tried, she could not break from the shackles that the True Masters put on her and locked her away from the purpose she believed to be born to do."

Both women were silent for a moment, but then Sarah looked up to the night sky and continued speaking "But luckily there was one reality where I didn't go the path that would place me in such a pitiable state. A one reality where someone managed to convince me to change course and live a life that was once thought impossible."

Then Sarah looked at the two women and said "So when the time comes for him to truly leave me, I'll do what the true reality's me couldn't and sweep the world clean with my flames." This sent shivers down Eleanor's and Weiss' spine, but Sarah continued "Though it is a shame I can't do it to the world that I was born in, I'll make sure to fulfill my true purpose as a harbinger of destruction."

Weiss inquired "So you believe that you are able to destroy this world if you so wished?" To which Sarah said "Yes. There is a certain spell that the true reality's version of me couldn't do due to her circumstances. But now that the Mythril Tower is in this world, I'm sure I can access that spell that the god whose remains were used to create me left me. She was a god version of me named Kalpa, the god of death and rebirth. I'll treat you with the secret of the spells name that is Mṛtyuḥ punarjanma. The spell will engulf the whole world in flame that cannot be distinguished by anything as the spell will write itself to the very fabric of the world the spell casted on. Trying to distinguish that flame is only possible if you remove all that makes this world this world. Whether you let the flame burn the world or stop it from burning the world, the world will be reborn again in either case. Even a god cannot stop the flame, as their fingerprint is what makes this world, so they cannot escape it."

Both Eleanor and Weiss are stunned to hear this. Then Sarah says "Alas, you may think that I'm only bluffing, which is fair, but if you fail to see what my message is by saying all of this, then you truly aren't worth meeting my king. Little princess, you seem like a smart one. Do you want to guess what my message is by saying all of this?"

Eleanor then says "Even if you are bluffing, you want to make it clear that if we try to do anything to the king of Elysium, you will not hold anything back in order to make us pay." Sarah says happily "Bingo! You got it right in the first try. Now clap clap clap clap clap. " As she was saying that, she clapped her hands together multiple times.

Then a woman said to Sarah "You call this making allies?" To which Sarah says "So you came. Any luck on your side Tear?" To which Tear said "Of course", snapped her fingers and suddenly four people were hanging upside down in a spiderweb that was seemingly attached to the sky.

Then Sarah says "I honestly expected more. No matter. You did what you said out to do. Any luck gathering info that would be useful to our quests here?" To which Tear said "Nothing major, but I have written everything of note to this paper." Tear pulls out a paper scroll and gives it to Eleanor.

Sarah said "Not going to even ask if I want to read it? Rude." To which Tear retorted "You honestly think you'll have any use reading it?" Then Sarah said "Of course not. I'm not that smart of a person and it isn't my job to deal with information."

Then Weiss asks "Excuse me. Is this the colleague that you talked about earlier?" Then Tear bows her head and says "Apologies. My name is Tear Ti and I'm the commander of the 9th battalion which specializes in covert missions."

Eleanor then says "Why would you give us this information? What do you expect us to give you?" To which Sarah says "Nothing major really. It was just a favor that we gave you since you gave one of our people such a good time. The bonus is that we get to make friendly connections to another country."

Then Weiss asked Sarah "What is the goal of Elysium?" After which Sarah and Tear pondered for a moment, until Sarah said "To find our place in this world, I guess." Weiss asked further "What will you do to those that oppose you?" To which Sarah said with a smile "According to our king, as long as they don't threaten the safety of our citizens, we won't cause harm to them. But should they do something that threatens that safety, then the forces of Elysium will make sure the people responsible will pay for it."

Weiss says "Given how powerful you seem to me, that threat seems much more threatening than what it would normally be." Sarah responded with "We don't mean it as a threat. In our perspective, shouldn't a country's greatest priority be the wellbeing of their citizens."

Weiss and Eleanor were silent for a moment, until Eleanor smiled and said "You are right. That is also what my mother thinks."

Sarah smiles, nods in approval and then says "Good good. Now then. Miss sword-saint, I have a request from Xu." Weiss asks "What is it?" Sarah explains "Xu asked if you could have a duel with the 100th finger."

Weiss asks "Why? Did they ask for it?" To which Sarah says "On the contrary. She is the only finger that didn't want a match with you." Weiss says "And why is that? Because she is scared she'd lose?" To which Sarah said "No. It was because she didn't think that you would pose a challenge."

Weiss is stunned and asks "She… thinks she is that much better than me?" Sarah answers with "According to Xu, she feels like she could beat you with less than a hundredth of her strength. To which I might add that she is still a machine, so she can calculate the actual math on this."

Weiss asks "Is… is she trying to provoke me?" To which Sarah says "Probably not. To her this is something she has accepted as a fact and thinks that there is no need to waste both of your and her time to try to prove it otherwise."

Weiss then says "And Xu asks me to still fight her?" Sarah says "For what I can gather, Xu wants to give you motivation to try harder even though you are one of the best swordsmen of this world."

Weiss thinks for a moment and then says "Very well. I'll accept this request. Where would we be having this duel?" Sarah answers "We would ask you to come to Elysium to both duel the 100th finger and be a first guest."

Weiss says "Very well. I'll have to settle a few things before I can come, so I'll send you a letter when I'm coming." Sarah responds with "That is fine. I'll inform all the necessary people about your upcoming visit to Elysium." Tear then says "She means I'll inform the necessary people." Sarah says "At least let me sound a little more reliable."

Then Tear says "Before we conclude this meeting, I'll have to ask Miss Eleanor about how you would like us to treat the four men here?" Eleanor then says "So because they were after me, you want me to decide their fate huh. Very well, we'll take them as prisoners to be used in possible negotiations. While I don't think we can gain much from doing this, I think that is what the queen would want to do."

Tear bows and says "As you wish. I'll send them to your people then." Eleanor says "Thank you." After which Tear disappears along with the four tied up people.

Sarah then says "I think that should be enough for today. If you have any further questions you'd like to ask, please send a letter to our king."

Then the three women said their goodbyes and parted ways.