Seeing Vincent's blade coming, Tang braced the Crimson Curved Saber against the side of his neck and stepped backward. Sparks from the clashing blades illuminated the edge lurking in the shadows.
But Vincent used his scimitar for drawing cuts. Though his swing was swift, he could not put all his strength behind its edge—that was a technique for axes.
This made up for the disparity in their strength, allowing Tang to easily block the strike Vincent took such pride in.
But...
"Why?"
Vincent dismissed it as a coincidence and pursued him with light, nimble steps:
"[Mirror Image Blade]!"
The Drow Elf's distinctive gliding steps made him seem to float over the ground. His speed would have been impressive to anyone. Like a leopard lurking in the dark, every movement was powerful and agile.
But when two identical figures suddenly flickered into existence on either side, their momentum carrying their blades into flourishes that tore through the shadows with crisp ringing sounds—
The Crimson Curved Saber hummed in answer once again, the sparks of their collision illuminating his ashen, horrified face—
It was no accident!
Finally convinced, Vincent stopped short in stunned realization. "Impossible!"
He could accept Christian seeing through his combat technique. After all, Christian's blade moved impossibly fast. The [Haste Spell] allowed him to slash apart the duplicates and find the real Vincent before the blade sliced his throat.
But the human before him fell far short in both speed and strength, never mind that he lacked the enhancement of a [Haste Spell].
He had simply identified the real blade and moved to block it in advance.
Yet that itself was impossible.
Because—
"Because you're just hiding behind three duplicates. What's so special about that?"
Tang answered as though it were obvious.
The answer really was that simple.
The