The Sword Saint’s Second Life As a Fox Girl

Every single strand of hair on her body stood at attention. Erin knew her opponent would be immensely different from the others she had faced so far. She hadn’t felt this much apprehension since her battle with the Ashen Knight. It wasn’t her opponent’s skill or level that made her apprehensive. Rather, it was the notion of what kind of intricate ability her opponent had that made her fretful.

“You can have the next move,” Ovir said, a grin adorning his face. “I won’t dodge. I promise.”

“Erin, don’t fall for it,” Nivia warned, who had her bow drawn and an arrow trained on Ovir. “It’s a trick.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Erin responded in a whisper. “Trick or not, being passive won’t do us any favours.”

Aera was glaring at Ovir hard as if she was intending to bore through him with her gaze alone. “Erin, may I—”

“No, Aera. Wait for my signal,” Erin said and finally lunged at her foe once again with Fleet Foot.

“Oh, finally,” Ovir huffed in mockery and lazily raised his sword in response.

Erin accelerated herself with Lightning Rush when there were only a few feet between her and Ovir. Her sword streaked through the air with a silver flash. The tip darted towards Ovir’s head in a blink of an eye. However, Erin’s sword, along with herself, passed right through Ovir as if he was only a mirage.

“What the fuck was that?!”

Erin was convinced she had struck an illusion of sorts but her conviction was shattered when her Sixth Sense cried out the danger that immediately followed. She spun around just in time to block Ovir’s slash that was aiming for her head. Sparks flew as the metal clashed.

“It’s no illusion?”

“Surprised?” Ovir smirked. “Of course, you would be. You’re still a greenhorn in the field of magic.”

An arrow flew harmlessly right through Ovir’s head similar to Erin’s attempt just seconds ago.

“Spatial Magic,” Nivia said. “There’s no doubt about that. It’s Spatial Magic. It has to be.”

Ovir chuckled. “The Elf is correct.” He shrugged. “But what good will that do? It will not change the outcome of this battle. Maybe the journey will be different now, but the end remains the same. Victory shall still be mine.”

“Be my guest,” Erin said and thrust forward with a slash.

“Whoa there,” Ovir exclaimed in feigned surprise as he easily parried Erin’s blow.

Erin used her deflected momentum to swing herself into another slash. Ovir sidestepped her blade with a complacent smirk but it disappeared as abruptly as he ducked down. The space above him split into half and displaced against one another for a few seconds before everything returned to normal.

“Rend,” Ovir muttered and tutted. “Bollocks. You’re a Spatial Magic practitioner too.”

Erin shrugged in response to Ovir’s rattled scowl.

“I retract what I said. Your arrogance is overflowing. Your confidence is just your arrogance’s ripple.”

“Maybe.”

Ovir snorted. “You’re really—” He cut his words short and spun to the side just as Aera’s fist darted past him. “You fucking daughter of a—!” He once again left his sentence hanging to dodge another attack, an arrow from a certain Elf.

“Oh? He’s not using that strange Spatial Magic spell of his,” Nivia remarked.

“Spatial Magic requires a lot of mental vigour in addition to its tremendous Mana expenditure. He probably only used it early on to discourage us. I don’t believe it’s a spell that he could use consecutively.”

Ovir grunted. “Are you sure about that?”

“Allow me to ascertain that,” Erin retorted and suddenly appeared in front of him with her sword already swinging. This time, her sword passed through Ovir harmlessly.

“Oops, you’re wrong, Fox,” Ovir scoffed. Instead of his sword, he moved his fingers as if he was drawing a line in the air.

Erin recognised the movement and didn’t hesitate in dodging Ovir’s Rend.

Meanwhile, Aera leapt at Ovir from behind.

“How uncouth.” Ovir spun around and thrust his sword at Aera.

Nivia shot an arrow at Ovir’s blade, displacing his aim and allowing Aera’s fist to reach him.

But it didn’t. Ovir evaded her fist at the last second by tilting his head slightly to the side.

Erin seized this chance and threw a slash, sandwiching Ovir between two attacks. Before Erin’s blade could reach him, he disappeared from Erin’s sight.

“Behind you!” Nivia shouted and shot an arrow towards Erin’s rear flank.

Ovir huffed as he battered Nivia’s arrow out of the air and lunged at Erin.

Ethereal layers of armour clad Erin’s tail and Ovir’s blade struck them as they came into his path. “So, they’re not just pure embellishments for your beauty. I have been remiss.”

Erin shoved Ovir off her tails and retaliated with a flurry of attacks from her swords. Ovir dodged all of her slashes without receiving a single graze or scratch. Erin wasn’t surprised by Ovir’s inconceivable display of evading her blade. She also had Spatial Sense. Her Spatial Magic was only at level six. Ovir’s Spatial Magic was definitely higher than hers. It was only logical that his Spatial Sense was capable of this extent.

Ovir parried Erin’s last slash and riposted.

A small tinge of fear assailed Erin. She countered his riposte and retreated a few steps away from him. Had it not been for her Spatial Sense and Lust-enhanced stats, she would not have been able to see that strike coming and dodge it. This battle was akin to fighting a foe with the power of foresight. Spatial Sense was probably the closest thing to foresight as far as she knew. It allowed the user to predict the trajectory of an attack. Sometimes, even feints could be exposed.

Before Aera could lunge at Ovir again, he turned her way and stared straight at her. Aera felt a chill running down her spine and she froze in her steps.

“You have such a maiden-like appearance but you’re just a brute in truth. You have no grace.

“Your punches are… more blatant than a child’s lie.”

“Erin, he’s stalling,” Nivia said. “He’s recovering his Mana as we speak.”

“So what if I am?” Ovir asked. “Be grateful that I’m offering you all respite.”

“I am grateful,” Erin retorted dryly and threw an Aura Shot, but it was swallowed up by the space near Ovir. Erin wasn’t disheartened or daunted. She kept swinging her sword, throwing Aura Shots after Aura Shots. Her projectiles kept being devoured by the rippling space around Ovir.

“The result won’t change just because you keep a routine. Have you gone mad from your inability to gain even a single edge in this battle?”

“Oh, just be quiet, will you?” Nivia scoffed and released arrows after arrows at Ovir. Her arrows too were swallowed up by ripples.

“What is this? What are you playing at?”

Aera bounced her gaze between Erin and Nivia. She didn’t understand what those two were doing either but she didn’t want to be left out. And so, she also began launching her own projectiles at Ovir in the form of firebolts, thrown by swinging her flame-clad fists.

“Is this it? Is this your play here? You’re trying to suppress me with barrages of attacks?” Ovir laughed with his head thrown back. “I’m unimpressed. This is so disappointing. I expected more from you, Lady Erynthea. But this foolery is all that you can amount to. How utterly pitiful. I suppose I have let this farce go on long enough.”

The space around him began to distort and whirl. The projectiles bombarding him were devoured at a pace faster than before, to the point that the devouring was outpacing the barrage.

“Witness true strength!” Ovir bellowed. The whirling space around him was pushed out at his cry. It surged towards the three like a tide.

Erin warped to Nivia’s side and pulled her into an embrace. She cast layers of Arcane Aegisus in front of them. As for Aera, the violet flames swelled from her fists and enveloped her body. The rippling shockwave crashed into them. Aera was instantly swept off her feet and carried off while Erin and Nivia withstood the force with the help of the Arcane Aegises.

When the assault receded, Erin dispelled the Aegisus and brandished her sword at Ovir.

“Alright, I’m a little impressed. You withstood a Spatial Magic attack with just the flimsy Arcane Aegis spell. Your aptitude for that magic must be quite high. Still, it is of no threat to me.”

Erin’s free hand began crackling with lightning.

“Are you sure about that, Fae? We are in an enclosed space. Surely you don’t intend to bring this whole place down on us, are you? You may be able to escape but what about your friends?”

“Keep blabbering,” Erin said and tossed the lightning in her hand.

“You never learn.” Ovir fended off the Lightning Bolt without difficulty.

Erin tossed another Lightning Bolt.

And Ovir cut it down with an unamused face. “Really? We’re doing this again?”

Nivia shot an arrow imbued by her Wind Magic.

Ovir was ready to cut that arrow down but the arrow veered from its original path and came at him from behind. But the arrow hit an invisible barrier.

Nivia quickly nocked another arrow, imbued it with Wind Magic, and released it at Ovir. She completed the routine in just two seconds. She could even do it within one second if the situation called for it.

“Don’t you ever learn!?” Ovir snarled and snatched the arrow right out of the air. “You can’t hit—”

Suddenly, the arrow in Ovir’s hand exploded with a blinding radiance. Ovir’s eyes shut themselves spontaneously.

“You damned bitches!” he cried and flailed his sword around in a panic.

“Now!” Erin shouted in her heart but Nivia caught her soundless command. Together, they lunged at Ovir while he was temporarily incapacitated by the intense burst of a flash.

Nivia and Erin easily avoided Ovir’s desperate and random slashes. Nivia sheathed her bow and exchanged her weapon of choice for a pair of short swords. A slash came her way by deliberate chance. She parried the blow and took a swipe at Ovir’s side belly. Her swords cut into his flesh this time and he shouted in agony.

“Damn you!!” Ovir roared and slashed at Nivia, or where he presumed she was by tracing her attack. However, his blade found nothing but wind. “Fuck!!”

Erin aimed for his arm and swung her sabre. To her surprise, not by much, her blade passed right through his joint harmlessly.

“Die!!” Ovir hissed and thrust his sword towards Erin, or where he felt Erin was.

Erin tutted. She repelled his sword and countered with a roundhouse cut, but Ovir dodged her slash once again. Erin slashed again and he dodged her attack yet again. Erin clicked her tongue and leapt away from him and so did Nivia.

Eventually, Ovir’s sight returned to him and he slowly opened his eyes. Unlike his zestful vigour before, he was now panting hard and bearing a haggard expression.

“He’s tired,” Nivia remarked.

“Of course, he is,” Erin said. “Spatial Magic is quite costly.”

“Victory is certain for us then.”

“Not quite. We still do not know what other tricks he’s hiding. For a prideful and conceited man like him, it’s naive to think he would just accept his loss like a good little boy.”

“Sneer all you want,” Ovir spat in between his laborious breaths. “Your notion of victory just proves how green you are. It’s a costly magic, aye, but it’s no indication of my peril or defeat. You should get your heads out of the clouds. You can’t beat me!”

“Erin, can we just kill him?” Nivia asked in a low voice.

“We can but that’s easier said than done. The best we can do is to wear him down.”

“Enough stalling now!” Ovir snarled and appeared right in front of the two. He swung his sword at Nivia and then he swung his empty hand at Erin, or so she thought it was empty. She felt it with her Sixth Sense and Spatial Sense.

Instead of blocking the unseen attack, Erin moved away and she felt something cutting through the air where she had been.

“A blade moulded of space?”

Now that she realised what it was, she could faintly perceive a shallow blur in the shape of a sword in Ovir’s hand.

“Foolish vixen,” Ovir scoffed with a sneer and swung his Spatial Blade at Nivia, who was already locked in a clash with his corporeal sword.

“Nivia!” Erin shouted and warped in between Nivia. She parried away Ovir’s corporeal blade but her sword passed right through his blade and also his arm.

“Fool,” Ovir snorted and swung his Spatial Blade down.

Erin’s sword was in the path of his arms but her blade wasn’t able to harm him. And his Spatial Blade was coming for her. She could easily dodge his swing but Nivia would become the victim. She conjured up Arcane Aegisus but none of her shield spells hindered Ovir’s Spatial Blade.

“Erin!” Nivia cried as she watched Ovir’s peculiar sword cleave right through Erin diagonally, from shoulder to waist, like a hot knife against butter. There was no blood splatter. There was no gory spill. Erin’s upper body simply slid right off her lower part.