Chapter 192: Seranil Sakura [@Scott_Skelton and @Thomasinho Golden Ticket Bonus - ]

'It is fast...' Alex thought as he moved his mana from his Mana Heart toward his legs.

He blasted off in a different direction at once.

SWOOOSH!!!

The sharp blade, a gleaming white katana, grazed past him and left a very small red line on his right cheek.

***

Seranil Sakura had just eliminated another participant when she noticed a white light in the air.

"Did they find something?" She muttered as she sheathed her katana back into its scabbard.

"I should check it out just in case." She turned toward that direction and surged forward at a very fast pace. She moved like the wind across the small stone platforms of the water biome.

Then she suddenly noticed something at the corner of her eye.

She would have missed it if she had not been traveling in the same direction.

A black-haired boy had just finished eliminating one of the participants from a lower branch house under the Sakura household.

She had seen the descriptions in many places.

She knew exactly how the Third Prince looked.

Now that she was seeing him in the flesh, there was no doubt.

He had probably not noticed her yet because he had just finished the previous kill.

"Well, too bad. Guess you are in bad luck today." She immediately called on her Air element and used it to propel herself toward him.

Her katana left its sheath and locked onto his head.

At that speed and angle he should not have been able to dodge.

He would be removed from the Proving in a single clean strike.

But Alexander Abyss dodged at the last possible second.

BOOM!

Seranil's eyes widened as the boy slipped past her blade and escaped with only a small scratch across his cheek.

Alex landed on another platform with Amethyst Paradox already ready in his hands.

THUD!

"Well, aren't you very eager to fight? Miss.....?" He activated Adaptation fully.

Mana enhancement flooded his limbs.

Eye of Flesh kept feeding him every detail of the surrounding mana, the shifting air currents, and the sharp intent rolling off the girl in front of him.

"You will know after I eliminate you." She answered and adjusted her posture into a clean battle-ready stance.

'How did he dodge that attack of mine? I was sure he hadn't noticed my presence before, so then how did he manage to dodge it at the last moment?' Seranil couldn't understand it.

The approach had been silent, the angle perfect, the speed high enough that most High Awaken stage fighters would have taken the blade through the skull.

'Is it related to his skill or class?' She tried to guess while keeping her breathing steady and her Air element coiled around her legs.

'She is the real deal.' Alex took in the features of the girl who had just nearly ended his Proving.

Pure white hair.

Pure white eyes.

A classic beauty by any standard, yet wrapped in a clear air of lethality.

In her hand the gleaming white katana still carried a thin trace of residual blood.

His blood.

'And she looks pretty strong.' Eye of Flesh showed him the dense, refined currents of Air mana moving through her body.

This was no ordinary participant.

The control, the density, and the speed all pointed to someone far above the lower-branch fighters he had been clearing.

'But the real problem will be her speed. That agility is what almost cost me my Proving. And by the looks of it, she is from the main Sakura household. A royal like me.' The white katana still carried the faint smear of his blood.

Eye of Flesh showed the Air element settling back into a tight, ready coil around her body.

She was already prepared for the next exchange.

***

Only two seconds had passed since they separated.

In that short time their feed had already become the center of attention across the empire.

In every place where the Proving feeds were being watched, public squares and private chambers alike, people noticed the sudden shift.

"Wait! Are you all seeing that?! It's Seranil Sakura! And that too against Alexander Abyss!"

Viewers who had started drifting toward other screens because the Third Prince had been eliminating participants too easily snapped their attention back at once.

The feed now showed the Third Prince of Winterfang standing opposite a clear member of the Sakura Royal Household.

Both held their weapons ready.

Both were already in full battle stance.

A thin trail of blood leaked from the Third Prince's cheek.

"FINALLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"

The crowd surged with excitement.

"GO! GO! GO!"

"WHO WANTS TO BET MONEY? NOW IS YOUR TIME! ALEXANDER ABYSS OR SERANIL SAKURA! WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN?!"

One of the men running a betting stall immediately raised his voice to capture the sudden wave of interest.

The hype was climbing fast and he was certain many people would jump in while the energy was high.

"PUT MY MONEY ON SERANIL SAKURA! 1 Gold Coin!"

"2 Gold Coins ON THE THIRD PRINCE!"

"5 Gold Coins On—"

"50 Silver Coins on—"

The bets kept coming in a steady flood.

A wide grin spread across the stall owner's face as the coins and markers piled up.

***

Back on the platforms the humid air felt heavier than before.

Water lapped softly against the stone edges.

The distant glow of other signals and the faint sounds faded into the background until only the two of them remained in focus.

Alex kept Eye of Flesh active, reading every small shift in the Air mana around Seranil.

The currents coiled tightly around her legs and the edge of the white katana, ready to explode into another burst of speed at any moment.

Adaptation worked quietly in the background, already cataloguing the exact speed of her previous lunge, the density of the element in her limbs, and the precise angle she preferred when committing to a killing stroke.

Seranil's pure white eyes stayed locked on him.

The small cut on his cheek was the only mark either of them had left so far, yet the tension between the two platforms was thick enough to feel.

She had come in expecting a clean, one-sided elimination.

Instead she was standing across from someone who had read an attack that should have been invisible and answered it with only a thin line of blood.

Neither of them moved for a moment longer.

The empire watched.

The bets continued to climb in every major square.

And the first real high-profile duel of the Proving waited on a single shared breath...

🌿 ─ ❦ ─ 🌿

End of Chapter 192: Seranil Sakura

🌿 ── ❦ ── 🌿