Chapter 1527: Chapter 217 - The Pride’s Fall (1)
The speed I could achieve while using Samui, combined with the enhancement that Ayuru was providing by increasing the output of my swordsmanship, had already pushed me to a level where it honestly felt as though I had transformed into my dragon form.
Even though I wasn’t actually using my dragon form at the moment, the power I was displaying with these two swords alone felt almost equivalent to what I could achieve while transformed. Thinking about it now, what would even happen if I activated my dragon form while also wielding Samui and Ayuru? The thought alone was honestly a little ridiculous. I’d probably become much stronger than I already was, and considering what I was currently capable of, that was saying quite a lot.
Still, that wasn’t really the important part right now.
The fight itself lasted for less than a second.
By the time anyone could have properly processed what had happened, I had already pulled both Samui and Ayuru back into myself and closed the distance between us.
And just like that, I had already gotten hold of Lucielle.
The moment I moved against her, the battle was effectively over.
Lucielle was already pinned to the ground.
"Wha...?" she muttered in complete disbelief.
The look on her face was one of complete shock.
She stared at the ground beneath her for a brief moment before looking back at me, as if trying to figure out whether what had just happened was real or not. Honestly, she looked like someone who had never experienced defeat before and had suddenly been forced to confront the unpleasant reality that she wasn’t invincible.
"You lost," I told her calmly. "And honestly, it wasn’t even that difficult."
"H-How did you...?" she asked, her voice filled with disbelief.
Then I saw something shift in her expression.
It looked like she had suddenly realized something she hadn’t considered before.
"Wait... don’t tell me..." she muttered. "The entire time we were fighting... were you holding back?"
Well, this was somewhat complicated.
Holding back wasn’t exactly the correct way to describe it.
I wasn’t intentionally suppressing my strength just to make fun of her or anything like that. The real issue was that I simply didn’t want to use a power that could potentially create more problems than it solved.
Although, when I thought about it from her perspective, I supposed that probably counted as holding back.
At this point, trying to argue over the technical definition felt pretty pointless.
"I never would’ve imagined that you were holding back..." Lucielle said quietly.
The expression on her face was honestly more painful to look at than any injury she might have received.
She was the Sin of Pride.
Being physically injured probably wasn’t something that bothered her very much.
Having her pride shattered, however, was an entirely different matter.
That was probably the kind of damage that stayed with a person for a very long time.
She looked at me with an expression that I had never seen from her before.
There was disbelief written across her face.
There was frustration buried beneath that disbelief.
There was anger hidden within her expression.
And somewhere underneath all of that, there was also embarrassment.
Then, after remaining silent for a few moments, she suddenly released an enormous amount of mana around herself.
The resulting pressure exploded outward.
The force was strong enough to blow me away from her position.
Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t nearly enough.
The distance she managed to create was insignificant.
By the time she had fully regained her footing and stood back up, I was already standing in front of her again.
And this time, another blade was already resting against her neck.
"F-Fast..." she muttered almost unconsciously.
The word escaped her mouth almost unconsciously.
She sounded less like someone making an observation and more like someone trying to understand a reality that simply didn’t make sense to her.
She probably couldn’t comprehend how I had disappeared and reappeared beside her so quickly.
Honestly, I couldn’t really blame her for that.
"Your pride is certainly impressive," I told her. "But I don’t think it’s enough."
I looked directly into her eyes.
"I think this proves that I’m stronger than you."
"Kuh..." she muttered while clicking her tongue.
She clicked her tongue in frustration.
Then, almost immediately afterward, she detonated another burst of power around herself.
This time, the explosion happened at extremely close range.
It was obviously another attempt to escape.
Unfortunately for her, it produced the exact same result as before.
By the time the explosion had finished expanding, I was already standing beside her.
Ayuru was already pressed firmly against the back of her neck.
"Running away isn’t going to help you," I said. "You realize that, don’t you? You should just admit that I won."
For someone like Lucielle, giving up wasn’t something that could be done easily.
She wasn’t merely a prideful person.
She was Pride itself in its purest form.
That wasn’t just a title she possessed.
It was the very thing she embodied.
Because of that, breaking her pride wasn’t going to happen in a matter of seconds.
She continued trying to escape.
She moved again in another direction.
And then she tried once more.
And after that, she tried again.
The pattern never actually changed.
She would create distance between us.
I would already be standing there.
She would suddenly change directions.
I would already be standing there.
She would attempt another burst of speed.
I would already be standing beside her with a blade against her neck before she could finish moving.
At some point, it almost started feeling unfair.
Actually, thinking about it now, it was unfair.
"Kuh..." she muttered once more in frustration.
The frustration in her voice became more obvious.
"Just give up already," I told her.
She glared directly at me.
I continued speaking anyway.
"You can try to run if you want, but you already know you aren’t actually going to do that. Your pride won’t allow it. Running away would mean admitting defeat without accepting it."
I kept my eyes fixed on her.
"So the only thing left for you to do is surrender. That’s probably the only way you’re going to lessen the damage to your pride."
She looked at me with open defiance.
The expression on her face made it obvious that she wanted to reject everything I had just said.
Unfortunately for her, wanting something and being able to do something were two completely different things.
She had already lost.
That wasn’t really something either of us could deny anymore.
If I had actually intended to kill her, then this fight would have ended long ago.
If I had swung my blades without holding back at the critical moments, then her head would’ve already been separated from her body.
The reason she was still alive had nothing to do with her own strength.
It was because I had chosen not to kill her.
I don’t think she liked realizing that.
Actually, I was pretty sure she hated it.
Several seconds passed in complete silence.
Neither of us made any movement.
The surrounding silence somehow felt heavier than the fight itself.
Eventually, Lucielle lowered her gaze slightly.
"I give up..." she finally said.
The words sounded painful.
The expression on her face looked painful.
Even the way she breathed afterward made it obvious how difficult those words had been for her to say.
Still, despite everything, she said them.
And in the end, that was enough.
With that, I had won against Lucielle.
Honestly, if someone had told me before this fight started that I would defeat the Sin of Pride by repeatedly appearing in front of her until she gave up out of sheer frustration, I probably would’ve laughed.
Yet somehow, that was exactly what happened.
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