Dante suddenly smiled.
"But Lexa's patience is shorter than his."
He pointed toward the battlefield.
"Watch."
...
As if responding to his words...
Lexa finally exhaled. 'Enough'.
She planted her feet firmly.
Her sword rose slowly before her.
She grasped it with both hands.
Dante and Vexian smiled simultaneously.
"She's getting serious."
Lexa inhaled deeply.
Blood flowed from her blade.
Not streams.
Not waves.
Thousands...
Hundreds of thousands of tiny crimson droplets separated from the weapon.
Each no larger than rain.
She lifted her sword toward the skies
The droplets rose.
Higher.
Higher.
Until they blanketed the sky.
Within moments, crimson mist stretched across nearly ten kilometers of battlefield, perhaps even farther.
The entire sky darkened beneath the sea of floating blood.
Then—
It rained.
Countless droplets descended silently.
There was no metallic smell.
No scent of blood.
Only an endless crimson rainfall.
The only untouched area...
Was the circle surrounding Dante.
Lexa had intentionally left it clear.
Her eyes slowly closed.
Every droplet became another extension of her senses.
Another eye.
Another touch.
Another heartbeat.
Then—
She smiled.
'Found you.'
...
Elric stared upward.
"Blood... rain?"
His expression immediately changed.
Without hesitation he sank into the nearest shadow.
'Running won't work. She's using this to locate me. If I keep moving normally she'll eventually corner me.'
The instant he submerged—
Something followed him.
Tiny.
Almost impossible to notice.
Yet undeniably present.
He felt a faint prick against his shoulder.
His pupils shrank.
'Blood?'
He immediately emerged from another shadow.
The moment he appeared—
Another prick.
This one tore across his back.
His expression darkened.
He instantly hardened the surrounding shadows into armor around his body before leaping again.
Shadow Leap
Every single time he entered another shadow...
Another invisible droplet found him.
He could no longer hide.
Every movement demanded defensive mana simply to survive.
He cursed inwardly.
She only needed one rainfall...
She marked every shadow on the battlefield.
...
Dante nodded approvingly. "She's improved."
Vexian smiled proudly.
...
Elric burst from another shadow—
Only for a massive crimson sword to appear directly before him.
His eyes widened.
Before he could react—
A second blood sword silently descended from above.
"Dammit!"
Two towering shadow shields erupted on either side, intercepting both blades.
The impact echoed through the valley.
Then—
He froze.
Lexa.
She was already there.
Standing directly ahead.
At some point she had predicted where he would emerge.
She exploded forward.
Her acceleration bordered on frightening.
Both hands gripped the sword with textbook perfection.
Blood spiraled around the blade, dramatically increasing its weight and cutting force.
The strike descended.
Elric reacted instantly.
Two shadow tendrils transformed into crossed swords to intercept.
His daggers crossed beneath them.
At the same time two additional tendrils lunged toward Lexa—
One for her abdomen.
One for her leg.
Neither reached.
The blood scattered across the ground instantly hardened.
Crimson daggers erupted upward.
Each shadow tendril was intercepted before it came within inches of her body.
Elric's heart sank.
'How am I supposed to fight this? How much blood has she stored? Is her reservoir endless?'
The collision forced him backward.
Without hesitation he abandoned the exchange, melting once more into shadow.
He emerged behind her.
Faster.
More desperate.
Both daggers descended simultaneously.
Shadow tendrils curled low across the ground, seeking to bind her legs before she could move.
Again...
Blood answered.
The crimson scattered around the battlefield rose instinctively.
Daggers.
Needles.
Small blades.
Every tendril met an interception before reaching its target.
Lexa never even looked down.
Then she moved.
Not with unnecessary flourish.
Not by turning her entire body.
Her feet merely pivoted.
Her hips rotated.
Her shoulders followed.
One perfectly efficient motion.
Nothing wasted.
The same stance.
The same form.
Her sword descended once more.
This time...
There was no hesitation.
The tendrils split apart.
The shadow shield shattered.
Even the hardened shadows behind them were cleaved open.
One swing.
One cut.
Power.
Precision.
Absolute swordsmanship.
For the first time...
Elric understood.
This wasn't someone who merely wielded a sword.
She understood the sword.
Everything before that strike...
Had simply been restraint.
The blade continued downward—
Before slicing through Elric's shoulder.
Or...
What looked like Elric.
His body dissolved into shadow.
A shadow clone.
Its severed arm faded into darkness while still gripping a shadow-forged blade.
Lexa's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"So..."
"That was your hidden card."