The Iron Maiden

Part 7

'This atmosphere...I haven't felt this in a while'

Lia thought to herself as she observes the boy in front of him, she could tell from the positioning of his sword and his center of balance that he was adept with the sword which sent her even more on guard

Though it has been a few seconds since the coin dropped to the ground, neither of them had moved an inch from their original position. Which left some of the spectators in wonder

"What's going on?"

"Why are they just standing still?"

"Are they afraid of each other or something?"

Lia heard faint whispers from those all around her, she noticed that most of the people who were saying that are the household servants that had no experience with combat which Lia found to be understandable. The knights on the other hand were staring at them with a serious expression

'So they could tell huh?' 

Lia expected nothing less from the fighting forces of her master. They knew that silence right now is akin to a calm before the storm. 

Lia and Raiden may be looking at each other with calm expressions, but in reality, their eyes were darting around their opponents and were assessing their strengths and weaknesses 

Those who are used in combat could tell their opponents vulnerability based on the way they conduct themselves, their stances, breathing patterns, and many more. And the knights were astonished at the fact that the two mere children were conducting themselves like this

"Haa..."

Raiden let out a loud sigh as he adjusted his position

"Stare offs like these are fine, but I'd be extremely bored if the entire fight is like this so..."

He strengthened his grip and inhaled long and hard before suddenly emitting an immense presence

Suddenly surrounding him were multiple faint glowing blue lights that were in the shape of an orb. Lia and everyone around could tell what the mysterious light was

"Magic...quite an opening act..."

In this world, the concept of magic exists. It's a phenomenon in which supernatural things and happenings are brought forth with the use of one's mana. Magic is an extremely powerful thing. a person using it can control the four main elements, conjure up tools from nothing,  gain superhuman strength, and many more

And anyone who has mana could use magic. In theory, even a baby could cast a spell as long as they have a decent control over their mana

The magic that Raiden performed is known as Enhancement. It's a spell that strengthens and improves a person's physical capabilities based on the amount of mana that they used. Based on the light coming from Raiden, Lia could tell that he used quite a bit which sent her on guard even more

"Let's go!"

Raiden let out a battle cry and immediately charged towards Lia. She tried to widen the distance between them to get an advantage but it was no use, Raiden's enhanced speed immediately closed the gap between them. He raised his sword overhead and quickly brought it down towards Lia

'Should I dodge?! No that would be-'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sword growing closer. She used both her blades to quickly block the blow

"Ggh!"

The physical impact that she felt from the sword was extremely heavy. So heavy in fact that the weight of it was enough to make Lia's feet sink the soil