Inertia: Beneath The Starlit Veil Chapter 99: Chapter 99

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Chapter 99 (Cyrus POV) “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Don’t worry—this power won’t be used against you. This will be a bout of just skill.” Loud thuds of my heart pumping filled the desolate room. "Well, should we begin?” Lord Enzo said, raising his blade to me. Nodding was the only thing I could muster in the moment. His presence demanded everything from me—there was no use wasting energy on pointless words. In the amount of time it took for me to blink, our blades clashed, creating a reverberating echo throughout the room. Lord Enzo's poise was evident. There wasn’t haste in any of his movements; each attack and parry was precisely timed, forcing me to go on the defensive. Overwhelming strikes rained down from above in successive fashion. My footwork began to falter, and my arms started to go numb. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he landed his first strike. "I thought you were good with the blade. Are you going to show me the skills that allowed you to kill a Voidfang Basilisk? I’m starting to believe you were lying.” Shaking off his comments, I calmed my breath, suppressing my anxiety, and forced myself to focus. I had been throwing strikes with no strategy, with no will to win. The presence Lord Enzo exuded was slowly sapping my confidence. "Come on, Cy, you are better than this,” I muttered to myself as I parried a horizontal slash. My opponent was left open for a split second—a second I took advantage of. With an explosive step, I closed the gap between us, thrusting the tip of my blade toward Lord Enzo’s core. The attack was fruitless, as I felt my body crash into the marble floor. "Now you’re finally picking it up, but you’re going to need more than that to beat me in a match. The score is one to zero. But I will say—you’re better than most of my subordinates already.” Radiating pain shot from my chin all the way down my back. "So he allowed me to parry him to set up a false opening for me to bite on, and I fell for it easily. I can't let that happen again,” I thought to myself. Blood trickled down my forehead, seeping into my despised, I immediately went on the offensive. Throwing caution to the wind, I launched a barrage of strikes from all angles. I didn’t want the man to have a chance to breathe. I augmented my body with cosmic energy, forcing myself to throw combinations faster than the last. The teachings from my uncle resurfaced. He had always taught me to be unpredictable with the blade. I threw three sets of four strikes and disengaged. Then three sets of six, all following the momentum of a World Tree. Just as I was getting ready to throw my next set, Lord Enzo’s positioning shifted slightly. I knew I had him where I wanted him. My next set of strikes did not follow the same increasing pattern. My strikes became erratic and untimely. I threw a set of five strikes, then three, followed by eight. The only thing that was driving me was finding answers on the whereabouts of my uncle. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, forcing me to push forward with every strike. I felt like I could win this. I was taught how to fight by the brightest stars of my clan. Lord Enzo pivoted to dodge my upcoming strike, causing me to leave my back exposed. The whistling of metal speeding through the air signified my slip-up. Or at least, he thought it did. Before the strike could crush my back, I swept his legs, causing him to lose footing and leaving an opening in his side. Not a moment was wasted. My dark blade was rushing to find itself lodged between the ribs of Lord Enzo. The attack landed, but my desired result never came. The blade forged by Rava merely bounced off the body of my target. "Now we’re tied. Get up so we can finish this.” “I see you found your confidence… Good. You’re going to need it. You’re not going to get another attempt like that again.” “Don’t say never—I’m full of surprises,” I mocked, sliding back into a ready position. The tension in the air was palpable. This was what I had been training for.