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In a moment faster than the blink of an eye, Fan-Yen punched faster than before. Her movements were so fast that no one could see anything more than a flexed elbow and the straight punch in two consecutive instants.

That nearly invisible punch was too much for Olivia to dodge completely.

“..!”

But the one who looked shocked was Fan-Yen. Bones shattered and blood spewed out, but it was not from a vital spot like Olivia’s head or chest, only her left arm. Olivia had realized she would not be able to dodge in time, so she had sacrificed her left arm to close in onto her opponent.

“Sparkling Lightning Shock!”

The fist clad in blinding lightning struck Fan-Yen’s stomach, the impact sending her many steps back.

There had been an effect, but it seemed like it was just a pushback, as there was no visible damage on her body.

“Give up, such weak hits won’t-”

As Fan-Yen tried to regain her footing, she was shocked to see those black eyes right in front of her.

Then a palm gently touched her chest.

“Electrifying Blood Lotus.”

Olivia’s mana infiltrated Fan-Yen’s body to break havoc. Just like the earlier punch, Fan-Yen was pushed back, but this time there was fire and lightning lingering in her chest, while a stream of blood gushed out. Not even the resilient dragonborn could fend off an attack that targeted the inside of their bodies. She was still standing, but that had been a heavy hit for her.

“Now you’re getting somewhere, girl. ’tis been a long time since I’ve met someone as strong as you.”

Even while wounded, Fan-Yen straightened her back and grinned even more.

Her dress was torn apart, her hair tie shattered, and her chest fully exposed, but none watching looked at her with lust. The scar running diagonally across her chest carried so much weight it sobered up everyone.

Compared to the scar, the wound Olivia left was nothing.

“You’re still far from matching the person who left this though. Is this the peak of your power?”

There were hardly any humans who could even scratch the body of a dragonborn, so just that alone was considered a great deed. And for dragonborn, a scar was a medal of honor showing they had lived long enough to meet the rare champion who was strong enough for that.

Fan-Yen was no different, her scar being evidence of the respect she had for him, literally carved into her chest.

But Olivia would not step back, replying with a calm voice.

“In that case I’ll show you my trump card.”

A Magical Art her father had taught her, and she had only managed to master recently.

“Divine Wind…Form Zero!”

In the blink of an eye, Fan-Yen lost sight of Olivia and was assaulted by countless fists.

Divine Wind was a movement Magical Art. The first form allowed one to travel at an incredible speed, but only heading forward. The second form had less speed than the first, but it could be redirected into every direction imaginable and granted more fine control.

Both were simplified versions, designed by Olivia’s father Shuma so she could learn them at a young age. Now that she had grown up, she had been able to master the original Divine Wind. Namely, moving at an incredible speed while still being in full control.

Dragonborn had better motion perception than humans too, but not even they could follow Olivia’s movements now.

Their scales were also resilient to magic, and a large portion of a Magical Art’s impact came from magic too. So far most of the lightning clad attacks Olivia had used had been essentially wasted, with only her physical punches having some effect in moving Fan-Yen around.

Now those punches were coming in at a much faster pace though, and as they piled up in number so did their effect.

But dragonborn were still strong enough to resist most punches. The only difference now was that they came in so quickly they were impossible to see.

Fan-Yen raised her arms into a defensive stance to protect her face. She could feel the hits being stronger, but she knew that moving so quickly had to have a high cost. On top of that Olivia’s left arm was already incapacitated, so Fan-Yen could just continue defending and wait for Olivia to exhaust herself.

But then she had to pause and think again.

Focus on defending?
Wait for her to exhaust herself?
Even though I’m a dragonborn?
What’s happening?

She had started acting all arrogant, saying that giving away the first hit was the least she could do to make the fight fair, but now she was being cornered into being defensive.

Where had all her pride and honor as a fighter gone? Was this really her way of honoring the legacy of her fallen comrades, and the man who had carved her chest?

They would feel ashamed of being friends with such a coward.
I’ll admit it, this girl is just as powerful as them.

To shake off the cowardice taking hold of her, Fan-Yen yelled as arrogantly as she could.

“Don’t get carried away!”

If Olivia’s feet were fast, then Fan-Yen just had to take them away. So she stomped the ground, making it shake violently. It was no exaggeration to say she had just caused an earthquake, lending credence to the many stories of the power of dragonborn to cause natural calamities.

The ground seemed to vanish from underneath everyone from a moment, and even if Olivia managed to avoid tripping, the tremors would still slow her down.

The onlookers began to complain and scream, but Fan-Yen did not care about them. Instead she looked around rapidly until she finally caught sight of Olivia’s shadow.

“Above?!”

Looking up, she finally spotted Olivia herself. But it was already too late.

“Spellbound Moonlight.”

Olivia muttered that as she held a leg straight out, and then the heel of her black boots landed squarely on the head of Fan-Yen.

Fan-Yen’s view blackened out for an instant, and then the girl vanished again.

Even though Olivia had not known that would be effective, Olivia had already landed and squatted down for a followup attack, turning her body to the left slightly as she planted her feet firmly.

All of those movements were just a blur for Fan-Yen, the dragonborn audience, and even Natalia who had activated her automaton mode to not miss a moment of her master’s fight.

“!!”

Olivia kicked off the ground while straightening her body and raising her right fist, channeling power from all her body into her arm and fist, striking Fan-Yen’s chin with it.

All of the amassed power was unleashed at once, sending Fan-Yen’s body flying into the air.

That was the final straw that unleashed the dragon’s fury.