Thief of Time

The longsword in Dia’s hand flickered wildly, fending off a shower of arrows, and the erstwhile princess of the Lustre Dukedom swore never to step out of Moon Mansion again, not until Tot was captured. That promise she made with Claud could wait.

It hurt to think about it any further back then, so she decided to go out for some fresh air and to run an errand. Sure, the others had told her to stay inside Moon Mansion, but the Shadows of Grandis couldn’t be watching the same place day in and day out, like what those stories about them had claimed. Furthermore, she had promised Claud to open some of those bottles he’d passed over, so she had a reason to go out.

As it turned out, the stories weren’t all that wrong after all.

A masked man wearing black blocked her way, and once again, Dia danced with her sword. Silver flashed out and a dozen glinting lights flew at the masked man, who parried them with an equally natural ease.

Dia clicked her teeth. The Shadows of Grandis were all skilled trouble-shooters and trouble-slashers; even the weakest of them, sub-folders without a complete mana circuit, could put up a really hard fight against a one-folder. She knew that all too well.

A single Shadow had the best skills for their specialisation.

Mind’s Eye — predict the trajectory of all incoming projectiles and attacks for the next thirty minutes.

Shadow Blade — for the next thirty minutes, their sword would be nearly untraceable.

Shadow Save — Designate a location. For the next thirty minutes, taking lethal damage would return them back to the designated area. Returning was also possible by reactivating the skills.

Dia didn’t know what were the other three skills, but these three were enough to justify the Shadows of Grandis’ fearsome reputation. They weren’t killing moves by any sense of the word, but when placed together, they became the ultimate harassing force.

With Sword Dance and Sword Sense activated, she could meet the enemy’s attacks with ease. Killing the Shadow in front of her, however, was far harder. It was inconceivable that such valuable personnel wouldn’t have their own defensive skills, and even without that, their Mind’s Eye made overpowering them through sheer martial skill impossible.

Besides, they had Shadow Save, a skill of absurd utility.

She frowned as the sounds of incoming assailants entered her ears, and her sword slashed down onto the Shadow directly.

Her sword spun in her grip as the two locked blades for the sixth time, letting out a metallic screech. Enduring the horrible sound forcibly, Dia kicked out, the mana circuits on her body illuminating the black robes of the Shadow. The sounds of glass cracking followed in its wake as her boot slammed into the Shadow’s chest.

The Shadow froze for a moment, before flying backwards, away from Dia. Before the black-robed figure could hit the ground, it had turned into shadowy smoke that streaked away at a speed the fatigued Dia couldn’t catch up to.

A silver flower bloomed, deflecting and knocking away another shower of silent arrows — her Sword Sense had alerted Dia to incoming projectiles. Before Dia could catch her breath, a second round of arrows came, followed by a third.

Her breathing began to grow disordered as her sword parried and blocked the arrows. There was no time for her to even think, let alone dodge, and within moments, an overpowering fatigue had set into her bones.

There was only one way out, and blood began to run in rivulets as Dia split off part of her attention to gather mana. In such a situation, small applications of mana would amount to nothing. The archers besieging her had definitely used multiple skills, which would account for how heavy each of their shots were. Any barrier she erected with piddling amounts of mana would be shredded in a second.

The storm of arrows lightened, and Dia felt stifled. They too could tell that she was gathering her mana to erect a mighty defence. Evidently, they had a good grasp of her fighting patterns; her original intention was to unleash a devastating slash in the direction of the arrows, deflecting the incoming projectiles and hopefully scattering the archers.

However, they had chosen to take this time to change to light harassment. The old Dia would have unleashed that strike anyway.

The Dia right now, however, was a new and improved version. Her interactions with the sneaky and cautious Claud had opened up some possibilities for her. Her right hand began to glow with a small blue sun, and the rain of arrows stopped entirely. The world seemed to be holding its breath at that moment, a scene that reminded Dia whenever she faced off against a worthy opponent during the Swordmaster Tournaments.

It was probably where the Shadows of Grandis got their information from too.

However, after everything she went through, Dia had picked up some tips. The cautious, life-loving Claud had given her some ideas, and it was a really simple one.

Her right hand touched the chest plate she was wearing, and a piercing purple globe enveloped her. In the stunned silence that followed, Dia forced whatever mana she had left into her legs and lungs, before making a break for it.

Arrows fell like rain once more, but this time, Dia was focused entirely on running. Solid thuds rattled her body as the Shadows displayed their marksmanship, but these impacts only served to increase her movement speed. Weaving and bobbing through the alleyways of Licencia, Dia finally entered a main road, at which point the shower of arrows stopped.

Dia didn’t pause, however.

The fact that the thick barrier around her had shrugged off the Shadows’ arrows easily had prompted them to take a second course.

Bashing through the crowd with the giant purple ball around her, Dia continued to flee in the direction of Moon Street. An ominous threat was gathering from her back, and the feeling of being stared at was so unnatural that it had to be a skill.

She knew for certain that the next arrow to come would be the deadliest one she had ever faced in her whole life, and Dia forced herself to calm down. There was no point in running anymore, not with such a threat painted at her back. Her Sword Sense was telling her that if she were to continue running, she would never muster up enough strength to deflect the coming blow.

In the middle of the bustling street, where a path had been cleared by her reckless charge, Dia stopped and turned to face the unknown archer. Mana was gathering from afar, a mass of mana that could only be made possible if more than one Shadow contributed.

“Fated Sword.”

Her silvery blade lit up with a blinding light. The people on the street scattered and fled at that sight; even the smallest of children were taught to run from shining weapons in someone’s hand.

As she faced off against the unseen archer, prepared to witness the greatest clash of her own making, Dia couldn’t help but think about the novels she had read. The protagonist was supposed to face off against the monster king in the latter’s majestic lair, but here she was, preparing the greatest strike she would ever unleash in the middle of a random street in a random city. Her opponent was perching somewhere on a building, pulling back a bow while other black-robed fellows were pumping mana madly.

It was an absurd, funny scenario that proved that novels couldn’t be believed. Epic clashes were made in the middle of the street, like her and like Zulan Patra, not in some dank dark castle where only foolhardy idiots went.

Dia breathed out slowly. Mana that had been gathering around her legs was now diverted into her arms, and for a moment, she even considered using Sword Fall and Domain of Swords.

At this pivotal moment of her life, the princess of Lustre found herself in a contemplative mood. Effectively, she only had four useable skills. Sword Fall would turn her into a criminal of criminals; four-fold and five-fold mana-users would take her head a day or two later for the destruction of a county’s capital. Domain of Swords…

Dia decided not to think about it too hard, only wondering what her father was thinking when he forced Domain of Swords onto her. All her skills were passed down from her father, save for Fated Sword, and all of them were of great value. This was the first time she felt so restrained by her one-track skillset, but only fools and desperate people changed skills.

Especially rare ones.

Taking in a deep breath, Dia looked down the main street, which was now completely deserted. Her glowing sword, coupled with the purple sphere around her, had scared everyone away. Coupled with the overwhelming mass of mana that was pointed at her…

As it turned out, this was actually a good spot for a showdown.

“Come.”

Her single word seemed to shatter the frozen moment, and an arrow howled towards her in an azure radiance.