小嫂子的味道

Lying on the ground down-faced, Nsiria was regretting how she missed a golden opportunity—one that will never shine on her again, all while she kept cursing herself for messing this up.

Her heart was paining so much that she would've cried if she wasn't in public. Something was strange though, a few minutes had passed since she fell but the referee hasn't announced the end of the match.

Sensing this she turned her head and looked at the referee with confusion, when she did, she saw that the referee was staring back at her with the same confusion.

"Isn't it over?" she asked.

"Ah, so that's why you were still there," the referee mumbled to himself. "No, the match isn't over," he then said to Nsiria.

"Why?"

"Look there, your sword is still not touching the ground, so no," said the referee as he pointed toward Nsiria's hand.

She was holding her sword with her right hand, technically her hand was on the ground but she still hasn't loosened the grip on the sword so the blade wasn't touching the ground but was suspended in mid-air.

This explained why the match was not over. According to the rules, a student won't lose until their sword touches the ground, and the sword was precisely mentioned there. It didn't matter if the student hit the ground or not; the sword was what was important.

"Then…the match is still ongoing?" she tried to confirm once again.

The referee nodded, and as he did, Nsiria felt a wave of relief washing over her heart and erasing all of her regrets and anxiety. She hasn't lost, there was still time left for her to take her revenge.

The light of the opportunity was still shining over her, she still had a chance. There was hope left.

She closed her eyes, let out a breath, and then opening her eyes again she rolled to the side.

She raised her legs up in the air and then with a forward jump she stood back to her feet.

Clenching onto the hilt of her sword tightly she pointed it toward Seiren. Seiren was also in the delusion that the match had ended that's why she never attacked Nsiria when she was on the ground; completely off guard.

But now that Nsiria has risen to her feet, she was also cautious and was focusing on her.

"This time I will end it for you!" said Nsiria.

Right after that, she dashed toward Seiren at an insanely fast speed—she went as fast she could, to the point that her legs were starting to hurt. Seiren also came at her in response; she was no longer on the defensive.

"Haaaaaaa!!!!!!" Seiren shouted.

"You are gonna regret what you did to me! I'll make you regret it!!!" Nsiria screamed, her face red with anger and her eyes narrowed.

Both of them came close in an instant, their swords clashed and a loud exploding sound was heard. The dust around them flew in the air, and a crater formed on the ground below their sword due to the sheer pressure.

They pulled back their swords only to clash them again at a different angle, they did it again and again and again. During the time Nsiria was on the ground—thinking the match it over, both of them had enough time to regain their stamina and recharge themselves.

They were putting all the strength they could gather into their swords, sparks were getting released in the air each time the swords clashed. The scraping and metallic sounds were increasing with every hit.

Though, it wasn't enough.

'Not yet!' Nsiria said inwardly.

'Only this much is no good! I have to faster!'

She increased the mana flow toward her sword and poured more mana into it, the sword glowed more in response. But it was still not enough; she kept on pouring her mana into the sword.

After a certain point; she just didn't care that she can die if she completely runs out of mana. Her speed was increasing and her sword carried for force, but the pressure on her body was also increasing.

She felt like her arms and legs can blast off any moment now, her muscle fibbers were stretching to their very limits, her heart was beating rapidly and her blood pressure had increased.

In no time, she started overpowering Seiren and pushing her back. Her technique was still the same and Seiren was able to successfully predict and block her attacks. But each time she did, she was forced to take a step back.

She was gritting her teeth; Nsiria was getting out of hand now. She also felt that she was in danger. It was only because their ranks were the same that she was able to see Nsiria even after her speed has increased; if not then the match would be long over by now.

"You! You are not going to win this!" said Nsiria while she kept moving her hands and attacking with her sword.

"And why are…you so confident about that," asked Seiren as she caught her breath.

"Because this is my revenge! You bullied me for days, it was worse. That time I didn't do anything because I thought I was the one at fault!" with each word her sword clashed with Seiren's, and each hit was harder than before.

"But you…you said that it was for nothing! You bullied me just because you didn't like the air around me? What the hell is that bullshit?!" she was speaking loudly.

They were exchanging blows but her emotions were so high that tears came out of her eyes as she remembered what happened to her that day.

"But this time! It will be you who'll regret it! I'll crush the reputation you're so fond of!!"

Her emotions were reaching their peaks, she was now starting to attack rashly.

"I'll make you pay—"

"You shouldn't let your guard down like that."

Before she could finish her sentence, something hard hit Nsiria's head. Later she realized that something didn't hit her head, rather her head hit the ground.

This time, she was able to see her sword lying on the ground in front of her face.