There was no battle cry. The duel began with movement.
Luna vanished from her position. She moved with a speed that Yanaki's naked eye could barely follow, leaving only a faint blur. Her silver sword wove a dense web of attacks, each slash precise and deadly, giving Yanaki no room to breathe.
"Running away won't win you the fight," Luna's cold voice echoed from all sides.
But Yanaki wasn't running aimlessly. She was dancing, a clumsy and desperate dance on the very stage she had prepared. She dodged behind a stone pillar, somersaulted over a fallen pew, each of her steps calculated. She didn't counter-attack; she only evaded, her sole objective being to survive the initial storm of blades.
As Luna pressed her advantage, she executed a swift dash to cut off Yanaki's path. Her foot landed on a floor tile. That tile, which Sylva had loosened beforehand, sank unexpectedly.
Just a slight stumble. A moment of imbalance that lasted less than half a second.
But for Yanaki, it was all she needed.
Like a snake striking from its den, she lunged from Luna's blind spot, her poison-coated dagger making a short but clean cut on the swordswoman's bicep.
Slice!
Then, she immediately retreated, vanishing into the shadows of the ruins.
Luna looked at the small cut, a trickle of blood seeping out. She frowned, slightly annoyed. "Petty tricks." She paid it no mind and continued her assault.
But she was more serious now. Skills began to fly. [Silverlight Slash] was unleashed repeatedly, the silver crescents shattering the stone pillars Yanaki used for cover.
Yanaki was pushed into a more difficult position. She was grazed by a few attacks, her HP bar beginning to drop. But she persisted with her strategy: lure, evade, and wait. Luna, in her offensive fervor, once again stumbled into a small trap, a patch of soft ground. And Yanaki again found an opportunity to leave another poisoned cut.
The duel dragged on. Luna began to feel the irritation from the small wounds and the seeping poison. She realized this war of attrition was not to her advantage. She needed to end it with a single, decisive blow.
"Enough of this!" Luna roared.
She channeled all her energy into her sword. The silver blade shone brilliantly as she charged forward with an ultimate skill, a seven-hit combo at an unavoidable speed, [Seven-Star Sword Dance].
Yanaki knew she could never dodge this attack. This was the decisive moment.
Just as the seven silver streaks were about to hit her, the pendant on Yanaki's neck erupted in a soft white light.
[Echo of Souls]!
A translucent energy shield, shaped like interwoven spirits, appeared and enveloped Yanaki. Luna's seven devastating slashes crashed against the shield, creating deafening explosions, but they could not break through.
Her entire ultimate attack had been completely nullified.
Luna was stunned. She had poured all her energy into that attack and was left momentarily vulnerable. Her silver eyes widened in disbelief.
It was the biggest opening, and the last.
Yanaki lunged from behind the vanishing shield. The fear was gone, replaced by absolute focus.
Luna tried to raise her sword to defend, but her body couldn't react in time.
Yanaki's small dagger, without hesitation, plunged straight into Luna's sword arm. Not a fatal blow, but a disabling one.
"Agh!"
Luna cried out in pain. The poison from all the previous wounds, along with this new one, flared up, causing her entire right arm to go numb.
CLANG!
The legendary silver sword fell to the stone floor.
The duel was over.
Yanaki stood there, panting, the tip of her dagger still pointed at Luna. She had won.
Luna stared at her paralyzed arm, then at the faintly glowing pendant on Yanaki's neck. She understood. She hadn't lost to Yanaki's strength, but to her preparation, her intellect, and ironically, to the very "kindness" and "connections" she had once mocked. That piece of equipment was clearly a reward from this girl's "foolish" actions.
"I've lost," Luna said, her voice holding no hatred, only a sense of astonishment and a strange clarity.
[The duel has concluded. Winner: Yanaki.]
[Ownership of the [Shard of Sacrifice] has been confirmed.]
Yanaki slowly lowered her dagger. She looked at her defeated opponent. She had proven that her path, the path of a strategist, of an underdog who uses her head, was a perfectly viable way to achieve victory in this ruthless tower.
All three Memory Shards were now hers. The path to the Observatory was wide open.