I swung relentlessly, my blades cutting through the air in a storm of steel, each strike aimed at tearing through him. With every motion, I felt like I was clawing my way toward some kind of breakthrough, some fragile chance that I might actually defeat him. But the more my blades clashed and scraped, the clearer it became that no matter how hard I fought, the gap between our abilities wasn't shrinking—it was stretching further and further apart. Each strike only hammered in the reality that this fight was hopeless for me, that I was being forced to realize just how powerless I truly was against him.
"Guh, useless…!" Lord Cross's voice cracked from behind me. I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye as he staggered, clutching his trembling body before trying to bolt away like a cornered rat.
But before he could even take two steps, an arrow cut through the air with a sharp whistle and buried itself into the ground in front of him, blocking his path.
