Roselle stood her ground. “No. You’re wrong,” she decred, “You are vulnerable, just like anyone else, and I’ll prove it, by beating you with my move!”

  Roselle unched a barrage and tio assault Aliana’s weakening ice barrier. Aliana’s anger fred up “You... you think you defeat me just because you have fire power now?! Don’t get cocky!” She raised her sword defiantly, attempting to ter Roselle’s attacks. However, the fire-infused on shots proved too overwhelming for her, causio stagger backward.

  Suddenly, a wicked smile twisted across Aliana’s lips. She chuckled, a chilling sound that cut through the fiery chaos.

  “Myyyyy, my,” she taunted with a false sweetness. “Impressive, so far, creation of the foolish…however…”

  Without warning, Aliana vanished in a blur of speed, leaving an afterimage in her wake. She reappeared behind Roselle, her sword raised for a decisive strike.

  “This is where it ends!”

  But as she swung her bde downward with deadly i, her fident face quickly twisted into one of horror.

  Roselle had anticipated Aliana’s movement. She had coated the ground around her with a slippery, energy-infused substance. Just as Aliana rushed to attack, her incredible speed proved her downfall.

  ‘Uh ohhh...’

  Uo stop herself, she slid untrolbly on the slippery surface, her attack missing its mark by a wide margin. She found herself uo stop as she stepped onto the slippery substance. With a yelp, she lost her band tumbled headlong onto the ground. Her sword went flying, and she nded with a loud thud.

  Roselle stood over her, her on at the ready, as she looked down at the fallen Aliana. “It worked.. Just like I thought it would,” Roselle decred “I knew you were faster than me, so I had to get a little creative. Turns out, slippery magic is just the thing to take you doeg or two.”

  Aliana, still trying to shake off the effects of her ued tumble, gred up at Roselle “You... you little trickster,” she grumbled/

  Roselle began to el her lightning affinity magic within her body. She focused on infusing it with her newfound fire energy, the two elements blending seamlessly.

  The result ectacur dispy of power. Roselle’s lightning, now imbued with fiery energy, radiated a dazzling, golden-yellow glow. Sparks danced around her, f a dazzling aura of fire aricity.

  “Aliana, your ice is about to melt aermaly,” Roselle decred, her eyes locked onto her fallen oppo. “You uimated us, but we’re more than just creations. t, we grow, and we’ll overe any obstacle in our path! We are more than just maes, we are living beings!”

  Roselle eled her bined lightning and fire energy, the grouh Aliana began to crackle and sizzle. The slippery surface she had created earlier now transformed into a superheated inferno. The ice around Aliana’s body began to melt rapidly uhe intense heat.

  Aliana screamed in agony as the seari engulfed her. Her seemingly invincible Swod Form owerless against the bined might of Roselle’s elements. The ice armor that had once protected her shattered aed away, leaving her vulnerable and defenseless.

  As the searing bst of Roselle’s bined lightning and fire energy engulfed her, Aliana’s sciousness began to drift back to the distant memories of her former years.

  She found herself standing in the midst of a grand arena, the cheers of the crowd eg around her. Her younger self, with vibrant blue hair casg down her back, was a formidable presen the tour grounds. She held her sword, Tengoku and walked with pride and grace.

  Aliana’s past self, with her mastery over the magic arts to summon ice crystals, was a sight to behold. As the final round of the tour reached its climax, she unleashed Sword Magic level 3, a teique she had learned over years of training. Tengoku gleamed with a radiant blue aura as she struck down her oppo with breathtaking precision.

  The areed in appuse, and the annouarted to speak. “Ladies alemen, we have witnessed araordinary dispy of swordsmanship today. Aliana, with her mesmerizing bination of swordsmanship and magical power, has emerged victorious in the final round! She is oh to being a Swod!”

  Aliana’s youthful self took in the cheers of the crowd, a triumphant smirk grag her lips. She reveled iention, believing herself to be unrivaled in her power.

  After the tour, as she stood by herself in the arena’s shadows, a group of six figures hidden in the shadoroached her.

  Aliana addressed them, a smile ing to her face as she puts one hand on her side “Well, what do we have here? More admirers, I presume?” she said, her icy blue eyes log onto the newers.

  A figure with silver hair dressed like royalty, stepped forward. “No. We are not admirers, young one,” he said. “We are the current 6 Swods. We see the potential within you, the potential to bee something greater than you imagine.”

  ’Three years of grueling training. Three years of mastering my Sword Magic. Three years of learning the secrets of the Swod,’Aliana thought, her mind drifting deeper into her memories.

  She vividly recalled one of the most interaining sessions she had ever experienced. She stood in a spacious dojo, surrounded by the grandeur of a hidden mountain sanctuary. Her mentors, the very Swods who had reized her potential that fateful day in the arena, watched with keen i.

  ’I thought I was invincible after proving myself in that tour,’Aliana mused as she reminisced about her younger self.

  In that training session, she faced off against a silver-haired woman, one of her mentors, whose mastery of the sword was renowned even among Swods. The air was charged with anticipation as Aliana raised Tengoku, her sword, and summoned her ice crystals. With a graceful arc of her bde, she sent a barrage of shimmering ice crystals hurtling towards the silver-haired woman.

  The dojo seemed to freeze in time as the ice crystals approached their target. But in an instant, the silver-haired woman moved with unparalleled speed. With a single swing of her own bde, she shattered all of Aliana’s ice crystals with astonishing precision and finesse.

  Aliana’s eyes widened in disbelief as she watched her well-crafted attack crumble before her. The silver-haired woman remained posed, her swlowing with ahereal light as she dispelled the ice.

  The training session tinued, but Aliana’s inner dialogue persisted. ‘I had believed I was unmatched, untouchable,’ she reflected. ‘But these mentors, these Swods, shattered that illusion. They taught me that the power I had was nothing pared to them...’

  The memories pyed like vivid images in her mind. She remembered the tless hours spent honing her skills, the sweat and blood spilled oraining grounds, and the moments of despair when she questioned her own worthiness.

  “It was a journey of self-discovery,” Aliana thought, her thoughts flowing like a river of emotions. ‘Speed, Power, reflexes, defense, and magic. It was already challenging enough to wield magito a bde... so I focused on one key element: Speed.’

  Aliana’s memories shifted to the tless hours she had spent honing her speed. She remembered the grueling exercises, the swift and precise movements that had bee sed nature to her. The way she had pushed her body to its limits, determio excel in this crucial aspect of swordsmanship.

  She could still hear the whispers of her mentors, their guidance ringing in her ears. “Speed is the essence of the Swod,” they had told her. “With speed, you strike before your oppo even realizes. With speed, you evade the deadliest of attacks. With speed, you trol the flow of battle.”

  Aliana had taken those words to heart. She had trained relentlessly, seeking to surpass her own limits with each passing day. She had raced against the wind, sparred with fellow disciples, and practiced her sword teiques until her arms ached and her body screamed for rest.

  “The first time I became a Swod,” Aliana remembered, her thoughts tinuing like a torrent of memories, “I felt the power surge through me, the very world bending to my will. In this form, not even their attacks could melt or break my ice. That’s when I knew I had surpassed them.”

  As the memory pyed out, Aliana recalled the astonishment in the eyes of the other Swods. They had gathered to witness her transformation, and was filled with surprise and admiration. Aliana’s sword, Tengoku, had shone brilliantly, and her silver hair had gleamed like moonlight as she entered her Swod Form.

  The other Swods exged hushed whispers. “She did it in three years,” one of them marveled. “Her speed is unmatched...This is unbelievable.”

  Another nodded in agreement. “Not even our bined efforts could break her i this form. She truly is a force to be reed with.”

  Aliana had basked in their admiration, a triumphant smile grag her lips as she met their gaze. One of her mentors had stepped forward, his eyes filled with pride. “Aliana, you have surpassed our expectations,” he had said. “Your speed is unmatched, and your mastery of the sword is extraordinary. You are now one of us, you are now a Swod.”

  “Young one,” Another said, “your dedication to the sword is truly remarkable. Your mastery of speed is unlike anything we have witnessed before.”

  Another Swod, known for his stoic demeanor, added, “It took us decades to achieve what you have aplished in a mere three years. You are a prodigy, Aliana.”

  Aliana bowed her head in aowledgment of their praise and said, “I owe my progress to yuidand the lessons you’ve imparted upon me. I am hoo be ted among the Swods.”

  ’I am Aliana, the Swod. I’ve spent years honing my skills, mastering my ice magid perfeg my speed. I’ve faced tless oppos and emerged victorious. I am the embodiment of porecision. A...”

  Aliana’s thoughts faltered as she struggled to prehend the reality of the situation. Roselle and Runebelle, with their birength, pushed her to the brink of death.

  ‘Is it possible that I uimated them?’ she questioned herself, a seed of doubt taking root. ‘Have I bee too pt in my power? Or perhaps... have they truly grown beyond what I expected?’

  Aliana y there, her body battered and broken, her once pristine dress now a charred remnant of its former self. The icy magic that had enveloped her had melted away, leaving her in a pool of water that mirrored the defeat she faced. She gazed upon her beloved bde, Tengoku, its silver surface marred by burns and scorch marks.

  “I ’t... move anymore,” she murmured weakly.Her strength had beeed, her body pushed beyond its limits. The Swod, once so formidable, was now on the brink of surrender.

  With a trembling hand, she reached out to grasp Tengoku’s hilt, her firembling as they brushed against the bde. “I’m sorry, Tengoku,” she whispered, “I wasn’t strong enough…to wield you.”

  As soon as she finished saying that, the ued happened. A faint shimmer of light enveloped the bde, and from within it emerged the form of the Sword’s Spirit. Its appearance mirrored Aliana’s own and it stared at her within her mind.

  Aliana’s eyes widened in astonishment upon beheld the spectral figure before her. No words were spoken, but in that moment, a silent uanding passed between them within the realms of her mind.

  Tears welled up in her eyes, and her grip on the bde began to loosen, but a sudden shout pierced through the air, bringing Aliana back to reality. “Princess Aliana, don’t give up!”

  Startled, Aliana turned her gaze toward the source of the one shouting. There, standing before her in a magic academy uniform with blue hair that seemed to shimmer like a sapphire.

  Roselle and Runebelle exged bewildered ghe sudden appearance of this girl had taken them by surprise.

  Risebelle, oher hand, maintained a serious demeanor as she focused aining her magic.