Das.h.i.+ng towards The Watcher, Lyrica twisted her body and slashed her blade horizontally.

*BANG!

A single slash in her current state was able to send The Watcher stumbling backwards as he was shocked at her strength.

Before he could even respond, Lyrica flashed in front of him and twirled her sword.

"Burning Lotus!"

There were a few slashes that were close to grazing him but The Watcher would barely dodge it every time.

However, Lyrica continued her endless a.s.sault.

While it was true that she could only sustain her current state for a short amount of time, the closer she gets to the end, the more power she would gain from her skills.

*CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Looking at Lyrica who was slowly speeding up, The Watcher couldn't help but want to increase the amount of power he was displaying.

But if he did, he would be breaking the rules of the test.

His strength was supposed to be limited to the challenger and not above it to the point where she couldn't beat him.

His frustration started to increase as he was being pushed back.

"Why are you holding back! Fight me!" Lyrica shouted out in annoyance.

She could tell that he was keeping his power consistent even when she was using her berserk skills. While she could guarantee a win, she wanted to test her limits.

"Since you have given me permission, that is exactly what I shall do." The Watcher said seriously since it was frustrating to be constantly pushed back.

A blue aura burst out of him and had almost extinguished Lyrica's red aura in a single burst.

Lyrica was not dissuaded however, instead, fighting intent raged inside her.

*BANG! CRACK!

Blocking one of The Watcher's strikes, Lyrica widened her eyes when she saw the handle of her sword crack apart.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of examining her weapon. Instead, she quickly s.h.i.+fted her grip and wielded her broken blade normal swords.

Looking at her stance, s.h.i.+ro finally understood what she was missing.

'The reason why she can't break through into her attack domain is because her weapon wasn't fully compatible. Her hidden proficiency is a mix of dual ended blades and dual whips. The best weapon for her would be one that could transform between the two.' s.h.i.+ro thought to herself.

However, for such a weapon, they'll have to find an extremely talented blacksmith with the equipment to match.

Even Helion was helpless at her previous request of the weapon.

But once Lyrica obtains the weapon, her overall attack power would evolve.

While there was also the option of custom making a weapon for Lyrica with her Nanomancer Cla.s.s, it wasn't a good solution since she won't be there all the time. Not to mention the fact that once the weapon runs out of mana, it would disa.s.semble itself.

To make matters worse, the damage isn't repairable since it can only be repaired by her.

While she wasn't as proficient with dual wield as she was with her original weapon, Lyrica was still able to hold her own due to her berserk skills.

s.h.i.+ro also realised that Lyrica's gla.s.s rose container was slowly being filled up with blood.

'Ohya? It's a berserk skill that charges over time? Interesting…' s.h.i.+ro thought with a smile.

For skills like that, it is weaker than normal berserk skills but the power released at the very end far surpa.s.sed that of a berserk skill.

It was a double edged sword in other words. You were weak at the start but it compensates at the end.

'Lyrica knew this hence why she stacked several berserk skills at the start. The result of which would compensate for the weakness of her heart essence berserk skill. But once her skill ends… The backlash would render her completely weak.' s.h.i.+ro thought to herself. Lyrica had one chance to end this and if she missed that chance, she would lose this fight.

Continuing her offence, Lyrica smiled when her rose container was completely full.

Leaping backwards, Lyrica gritted her teeth and gripped the container.

"HAA!!"

Shattering it in one go, blood splattered around her and coagulated into armour.

The Watcher went on guard but it was too late since Lyrica had already appeared behind him.

*BANG!

Upper cutting The Watcher into the air, Lyrica gritted her teeth and readied her sword.

"Rose Blossom: Black Rose!"

A black aura covered her and started to change into a rose.

Scattering into several hundreds of rose petals, they slashed towards The Watcher surrounded him in a storm of black petals.

"Wow…" Madison muttered seeing the petals surround The Watcher and attack him from all directions.

"Che." The Watcher clicked his tongue as he tried to fend himself from the petals. However, they were sharper than he had expected.

One of the petals had even managed to rip his left arm off. Frowning, The Watcher ended the test.

*BOOM!

Releasing his aura, The Watcher dispersed the petals and landed in front of Lyrica.

Looking at her, he narrowed his eyes before reattaching his arm.

"Examinee Lyrica has pa.s.sed. Grade B+." He said as he dropped the barrier.

"For the examinee's that have pa.s.sed, enter the door behind me and it shall take you to the reward area. As for the chosen one, you will have one more test inside the reward area." The Watcher gestured to the door behind him.

Flicking his fingers, he sent the three of them through the door against their will.

"Rather forceful huh?" s.h.i.+ro said whilst sitting on the tree branch.

"This is not a test but rather request. Would you spar with me? I wish to see the capabilities of your new martial arts that you have developed." The watcher said with a small smile.

"And what would I get out of this?" s.h.i.+ro asked as she crossed her legs. Placing her elbow on her knees, she rested her chin on her hand and smiled lightly.

"A reward?" The Watcher frowned.

"Yes. Surely you're not telling me to spar with you for free right?" s.h.i.+ro chuckled.

"Do you not want to test the might of your sword art?" He replied, trying to persuade her.

"Hahaha, this princess has many more targets to practice with. Why should I do it for free just because you asked?" s.h.i.+ro laughed.

"Then what do you want." He asked.

"What do you have?" s.h.i.+ro grinned. It was the perfect moment to scam something from The Watcher.

Narrowing his eyes, The Watcher said before summoning something in his palm.

"Ohya? You even have the Upgrade Orb." s.h.i.+ro said raising an eyebrow. The upgrade orb was an item that will help increase the quality of your weapon. The main question for her was how that would affect ascendant dream. The best case scenario for her would be to upgrade it from orange to red.

"Seems like you know what this will do. It will upgrade any purple rank item into orange rank." He said.

However, seeing the sudden disinterest in s.h.i.+ro's face, he knew she wasn't interested.

"Can it effect set items?" s.h.i.+ro asked after a short pause.

"Pardon?"

"Can it affect set items? Like a full set of armour." s.h.i.+ro repeated.

Since it couldn't help her ascendant dream, she may as well enhance her current set of armour. As it stands, her current armour gave her the bonuses of mana leech and life steal.

Both these effects were extremely helpful for her, especially since her mana consumption is much higher than average.

With benefits like mana leech, her effectiveness would increase. Plus, if she was able to upgrade her armour to orange rank, then further augment it with her Nanomancer cla.s.s, then this would become an armour that would stay with her for a long time.

"As long as they share the same name and series, I believe this...o...b..should work." The Watcher replied with uncertainty.

"Since that's the case, I want you to give me something else on top of the orb."

"Hmm…" The watcher became hesitant.

While it was true that he was eager to see what s.h.i.+ro could do, the upgrade orb itself was quite precious already.

'That being said, I don't think I'll be able to see another genius like her in my life…' He thought to himself.

Sighing slightly, he summoned one more item.

The item he held in his hand was a silver dagger.

"This item here contains the power of a high level B ranked Dragon Knight. While this item only has one use left, it should keep you safe for a long time." He said, offering the knife and the orb.

Looking at the knife, s.h.i.+ro thought for a moment before nodding her head.

"Very well, this princess is satisfied with the rewards." She smiled and hopped off the branch.

Tapping her necklace, s.h.i.+ro summoned her swords and grabbed two of them.

"So are we just going for a spar?" s.h.i.+ro asked whilst stretching her body.

"I want you to come at me with the intent to kill." The Watcher said seriously.

Summoning two swords of his own, he took a deep breath.

"Very well, get ready." s.h.i.+ro grinned as her entire aura changed. Merciless killing intent erupted out of her as the form of an asura could be briefly seen behind her.

The sheer density of the killing intent caused The Watcher to hold his breath in shock.

"Come." He said after a short moment to prepare himself.

Yin Style Asura's Path: Phantom Path!

Her body flickered beside him almost instantly.

Everything seems to slow down as he slowly glanced to the side and saw the s.a.d.i.s.tic insanity that was in s.h.i.+ro's eyes.

*BANG BANG!

"GAH!"

Just trying to parry s.h.i.+ro's swords caused him to kneel heavily against the ground.

However, s.h.i.+ro wasn't done. Far from it.

Twisting her body, she let go of her swords and grabbed one of the swords floating around her.

s.h.i.+fting her momentum to maximise the force of her swing, she uppercutted The Watcher and kicked a second sword towards him.

*PUCHI!

The sword embedded itself deeply into his shoulder.

*BOOM!!!

Flaring his aura, The Watcher removed the sword and gritted his teeth.

Twirling his sword in his palm, he stabbed it into the ground.

"Sword Grave!"

Hundred of neon blue swords floated up from the ground around him and shot towards s.h.i.+ro.

Grinning slightly, s.h.i.+ro stomped her foot down and dashed towards the horde.

s.h.i.+fting parts of her body so that they would barely dodge the swords, she was able to close the distance between her and The Watcher very quickly.

Yin Style Asura's Path: Asura Sword Path!

Killing intent drenched the area as The Watcher realised his movements were becoming slightly sluggish.

Looking at s.h.i.+ro who was grinning murderous hysteria, The Watcher finally felt fear for the first time since he became the guardian of the springs.

"ARGH!!!!" He cried out in pain as the four swords cut into him.

With every cut, s.h.i.+ro would rotate between the swords to ensure maximum damage. Her physical strength to attack and mana control to remove the swords.

He tried to block her strikes but a single hit with the pommel of her sword would cause him to break his guard almost instantly.

"Sword Possession!" He Shouted out in panic since he could tell the fight would end soon if he didn't do anything.

A silver pulse was sent out of his body, forcing s.h.i.+ro to slid backwards.

"Hahaha, entertain this princess more." s.h.i.+ro licked her lips since she hadn't had this much fun since using her fortress to erase an entire city in her old life.

The impact and the force of each strike she sent out sent s.h.i.+vers of joy through her body.

'No wonder warriors love battle.' s.h.i.+ro thought as her eyes gleamed with excitement.

Looking at The Watcher who's hair had grown to reach his waist along with a divine sword in his hand, s.h.i.+ro narrowed her eyes and dashed towards him.

*BOOM!!!

A single swing of his sword created a ravine that split a portion of the forest in half but s.h.i.+ro had managed to dodge it.

Appearing behind him, she swung her sword towards his neck.

*CLANG!

She wasn't fazed seeing the sword being blocked but instead, let go of her sword and dragged his hair downwards.

"Long hair doesn't fit on men!" s.h.i.+ro grinned and kneed him in the back of the leg and forced him to kneel.

Flexing her fingers, her swords stabbed towards him from different directions.

"Tsk, Divine Sword Protection."

*BOOM!

A golden barrier rotated around him and sent the swords flying away.

As if grabbing an invisible string, s.h.i.+ro clutched her fist and sent them back to her side.

Jumping over The Watcher, she grabbed one of her swords and pushed mana through the blade.

A deep red glow started to flicker on the blade.

"HAA!!" Swinging the sword towards The Watcher, s.h.i.+ro let go of the sword upon impact, confusing him in the process.

However, s.h.i.+ro ignored his stare as she stepped on one of the floating blades and punched the pommel of her sword using her full power.

Asura Sword Path: Piercing the Nine Heavens! 

*BOOM! CRACK!

The Watcher widened his eyes in shock seeing a large portion of his torso missing in an instant. Looking at the damage, he could tell that the sword had rotational power in order to increase its effectiveness.

Before he could even stand up, two flashes of sword light filled his vision and cut his arms off.

Tilting his head up, he opened his mouth but no words came out.  

Looking at s.h.i.+ro, he simply had no words. White hair flowing behind her while blood covered her parts of her body to create a devilish contrast. Eyes that enjoyed the feeling of slaughter along with a maniacal grin that sent s.h.i.+vers down his spine made his blood run cold. And yet, when paired with her unrivalled beauty, he couldn't help but be enamoured by the scene.

'Simply Perfect' He thought. Even if he was currently kneeling in defeat, he didn't mind watching her like this.

"Now then, it seems like this princess has won, wouldn't you say?" s.h.i.+ro said with a smile with her swords floating threateningly beside her.