Chapter 168: Floating steps assimilated.

Zyra’s mouth fell open. She gaped at Bianca for a full three seconds before letting out a loud, belly-shaking laugh. "You are what?" Zyra wheezed, wiping a tear from her eye. "Did I just hear you say that you are Mother Christmas!! Come on, everyone knows Mother Christmas is a middle-aged woman. She is the most popular woman after the Divine Soul maiden Trinity. While Trinity is popular for obvious reasons, Mother Christmas is more of infamous--depending on who you ask. But I don’t get why you would pretend to be her. Are you a fan or anti-fan?"

Bianca leaned forward, pulling her shoulders up to her ears with a straight face. "I am the real Mother Christmas. The rest are just copycats. Think of my skills and think of any footage of Mother Christmas you have seen. If you observe properly, you will find the similarities. I don’t do it for fun or the thrill, I do it because the world needs balance and someone has got to provide it." Then, Bianca’s playful grin melted away. Her face turned dead serious. "Sister-in-law, you can’t tell anyone. I’m serious."

Zyra instantly raised her right hand, holding three fingers to the sky. "I swear on my life. My lips are sealed." She didn’t believe Bianca anyway, so why bother mentioning this to others?

Bianca winced, then let out a sharp chuckle. "Good. Because if the news leaks out, I’ll know the source. It’s literally just you and me who know this secret. Even Hunter and Achilles do not know. Actually, the Black flower guild knows too by now."

Zyra narrowed her eyes, the pieces finally clicking together in her head. "So that’s why you are on the run, but I am guessing that this has more than you playing the saintess of thieves and the poor."

Bianca sighed, slumping her shoulders. "Yes, there is but I would rather not say right now."

Zyra nodded, she did not even want to know any further because she had enough to deal with and her valley was not strong enough to help Bianca with whatever she was dealing with.

"You know," she said, shaking her head, "it seems like a lot of people in this valley have a savior complex. It always makes you guys do completely irrational things. Those two guys you saved were playing saint as well." Her tone hardened just a bit as she pointed a finger at Bianca. "Let me warn you right now. If you ever try to steal from me just like you did at your guild, you will pay for it dearly."

"Hey! I was tempted, okay?" Bianca raised her hands in self-defense. "When I saw your supermarket, my fingers were itching! But I held back. I promise, I won’t do it."

Zyra snorted softly. If Bianca’s admission was true, then she could not trust the woman not to change her mind. But she had a different question for the woman. "By the way, why do you want the class system gone? Aren’t you one of its beneficiaries?"

Bianca laughed harshly. "More of a prisoner than beneficiary. When I was twelve, my favorite aunt, Denea met and fell in love with a low-born. Naturally, her family objected. So, my aunt and her boyfriend ran off. Her parents told aunt Sabrina to track her down. Aunt Denea and her boyfriend lived off the grid, from city to city, one nation to another.

They were hunted like beasts and finally found in the Aurora Dominion after three years. Aunt Sabrina personally led the team that extracted aunt Denea. They arrived when she was in the midst of having a baby. As soon as it was out, they ripped it away and threw it into a mass grave.

Aunt Sabrina broke aunt Denea’s husband’s legs and cut off one of his hands. By the time aunt Denea was returned home, she was not the same. Her mind was not right. Basically, she was a fool, and she is still one to date." She took a short breath. "Three lives ruined because of a class difference. Since then, I am afraid to even make friends with a low-born." Bianca quickly bounced back up on her feet, slapping her knees to change the subject. "Enough talk! Let’s go another round of sparring."

Zyra tilted her head, interested. "Another round?"

"Yes, but this time, I’ll teach you something cool," Bianca said, a confident grin spreading across her face. "It’s a movement technique that only the best speed fighters know. It’s called Floating Footsteps."

"Floating Footsteps?" Zyra repeated.

"Watch closely," Bianca said. She stepped onto the open dirt field. Suddenly, her body seemed to lose all weight. Her feet tapped the ground lightly like a feather bouncing on water. She blurred, moving left and right without making a single sound, leaving light dust clouds that barely disturbed the grass.

"Do it again," Zyra requested, her sharp eyes tracking every subtle shift in Bianca’s ankles, knees, and spiritual energy flow. "System, spend 80,000 energy stones to buy me an assimilation opportunity."

[Yes ma’am.]

Bianca laughed. "Sure! Watch the weight distribution." She executed the footwork a second time, gliding across the ground like a ghost.

Inside Zyra’s mind, a quiet ding echoed. Beauty, instantly captured the movement patterns, breaking down the muscle memory and imprinting it directly into Zyra’s brain. Zyra took a deep breath, circulating her energy, preparing to try what she had learned.

"Alright," Zyra grinned, stepping up. "Let’s spar."

Zyra tried out the Floating Footsteps. She pushed off her left heel, intending to glide, but Bianca was already a blur.

Bianca glided right past Zyra’s side, completely weightless, and lightly tapped Zyra on the back of her head. "Too slow, divine maiden! You’re carrying too much weight in your heels!"

Zyra stumbled forward, rubbing her head. "Again!"

Zyra lightened her step, channeling her energy to her toes. She glided fast, but Bianca was smoother. Bianca dodged Zyra’s punch with a graceful twist, stepping effortlessly on the air above the grass, and swept Zyra’s leg from behind.

Zyra hit the dirt with a loud thud.

"Ha! Almost got it, but my four years of practice beat your five seconds!" Bianca cheered, placing her hands on her hips playfully.

Zyra sat up, wiping dirt off her cheek. "System increase my speed by 10%"

[Yes host]

She closed her eyes for a split second, feeling the speed from the system settle deep into her muscles. She stood up, a wicked smile playing on her lips.

"Come at me!" Bianca laughed, springing forward with Floating Footsteps.

This time, Zyra didn’t just copy the steps__ she mastered them. Her body became as light as air.

Bianca struck with a swift palm strike, but her hand hit empty air. Zyra had vanished!

Before Bianca could react, Zyra floated behind her like a whisper in the wind. Zyra lightly hooked her foot around Bianca’s ankle and pushed her shoulder forward with a soft wave of energy.

Bianca tumbled onto the grass, eating a mouthful of dirt.

"Ouch!" Bianca sat up, wide-eyed, dusting off her clothes. She screamed out in complete disbelief, "How on earth do you learn so fast?! There is no way you are human?!"

Zyra chuckled, dusting off her hands. "What do you mean?"

"It took me four whole years to learn that skill to perfection!" Bianca cried out, stomping her foot on the ground like a frustrated child. "And I had to buy an expensive skill book for it! And you__ you learned it in two tries?!"