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Barbaros’ sword was stopped for a moment, but he swung it again towards Lapis. His speed was too fast for me to follow, and Lapis was unable to evade it as it cut through her, the blade only stopping once it reached the ground and dug into the sand. I was sure that Lapis had to be severed in two from that, but my eyes were seeing something unbelievable.

“Haahahhahahah! Look how easy she fell! She was never a match against me! That’s what you get you b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!”
“What nonsense are you saying? Look more carefully at your own hand.”

Hearing that voice behind him, Barbaros quickly turned around and saw Lapis standing there without a single scratch. And… she was holding Barbaros’ right arm which she had torn off him.

“Wha-! Is- is that my…gyahh?!”

As Barbaros began screaming as he tried moving his right arm, the wound looked rough as if a giant had pulled it off by force. The spray of blood constantly fell on Lapis, but she did not seem to care at all, throwing his severed arm away with a cold and disgusted look. It was like she was discarding a piece of garbage, and everyone who saw that remained silent. Even the nobles that were so loud earlier seemed afraid to breathe, terrified of getting even an inch on her bad side.

“Lapis is really angry now…”
“Yeah… this is the first time I see her like this.”

Karin and Ciel, two of her companions, were also pale as they watched. I was overcome with curiosity so I had to ask them, what was the secret behind her strength.

“S-so tell me, just who is she? I thought she was just a priest? But can a regular human even move so quickly and tear someone’s arm at the same time?”

The two had a complicated face as they turned towards me.

“We don’t know. We have no idea where she used to live or how she lived, all we know is that she’s really strong and our master.”

“Your master…are you saying that she’s the one who taught you all?”

“Yeah. All of us were trained by her to become as strong as we are now. Luvias too, of course.”

“…”

What was that all about? If she was so strong, wouldn’t she be a better hero candidate? She’s so strong already so no one would find any sort of blame in her power. Apparently, my doubts were obvious from my face, so Ciel continued.

“We don’t know why, but Lapis hates standing out with all her might. So she would never agree to be a hero. That’s why she chose to work with Luvias instead, who came asking her to train her.”

“I guess every country has a different way of doing this. But now’s not really…”

Freya was right. This was no time to leisurely talk about things. Barbaros was pretty much being executed in public by Lapis. While we were talking, he had already lost his left arm as well, and now was writhing in pain while bathed in a puddle of his own blood. At that point, he was in no shape to fight back. No matter how much he strengthened his body and magic power, it had all been useless against Lapis.

“Ughh! You little b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!!”

He screamed through the blood covering his face, many fireballs appearing all around him. Was he actually thinking about releasing them towards the public?! The pain had probably made him lose his mind. If he launched a random attack all around him there was a possibility he could hit Lapis, but it was much more likely he would hit the nobles or even the emperor if he kept like that. Was he really not thinking that could happen?!

“Oh no! I’ll deploy a shield!”

“I’ll help too!”

Freya and Ciel decided to prepare for the worst-case scenario and quickly started chanting. But Barbaros’ fireballs were faster. Though before any harm could be done to the onlookers, Lapis protected everyone again. She cast a shield the same instant the fireballs were released, but not around us, instead all around Barbaros. He was trapped in a small barrier together with his explosive magic, which was set off with a thunderous noise. It was like a storm of flames and smoke were trapped in a small place, and when it all dissipated only Barbaros’ charred body remained.

“Gh…hah…”
“He’s still alive… he went through all of that and he’s still alive?”

He was quite resilient, but Lapis walked up to the agonizing Barbaros and thrust her halbert towards his throat.

“Wait!”
“Is she trying to kill him?!”

Karin and Ciel raised their voices alarmed. Lapis appeared to have lost herself in anger and was unable to stop herself. Even if it was just retribution against him for picking a fight with someone out of his league, I still felt like killing him there would be a really bad idea. But then Freya stood up with her right hand towards the sky, a bright circle of light appearing around her that spread wide before vanishing.

“Lady Lapis, don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

Hearing that, Lapis gasped and put her weapon away. The bloodlust I felt from her vanished as well, while her eyes seemed to regain their sanity.

“What was that?”
“Lumielle’s holy magic. It’s a spell to calm down people who are too excited or agitated, but it came in use at an unexpected moment.”

Freya smiled as she explained that. To be able to bring Lapis back from that state, she was quite amazing as well. But at least now things finally started calming down. There were two badly injured people, but at least there was no casualty so no one could complain. It was then that the emperor, who stood silent until then, stood up and spoke in a loud and clear voice.

“That’s it for the match. Both sides fought valiantly, and I’m sure their power will become a valuable asset when fighting the Demon King. If you can’t defeat Barbaros, then there’s no need to continue fighting. That’s it for the mock battle.”

He spoke like nothing happened, simply announcing the result of the earlier match. It felt a bit forceful, but at least that marked the end of the incident. He silently left the place, and the nobles hurried to scuttle after him like a group of leeches. I really wanted to look more into Lapis’ power and what Barbaros’ strange skill was, as well as many more things. But there was one thing that bothered me even more. The emperor had muttered something in a low voice before leaving, ‘it failed this time, but there’s still room for improvement.’