His cloak was burnt, broken, and dirty while his hand gripping on the beard of a dangling head. Facing such a demon she couldn't hide her trembling feet. It's not like she was weak, but she wasn't a lucky person to win every battle she got herself into.

"This old man was strong, I might use his head to decorate my wall," said Trace then threw the head away, "But I guess, I found something more appealing," glared at her eyes, "I happened to have a good nose, you aren't a demon, and you aren't a weak human as well, you will make a good head."

He said, sneering. Her heart pounded deeper and harder, she bit her thumbnail to calm herself, her feet stopped shaking and she glared back at him, her green eyes half-opened. 

"What's your name, woman?"

She pulled her sword with one hand, pointed it at Trace and said: 

"Arkan Barka, the sole daughter of two nice farmers. I'm a klutz who always gets her money stolen and causes trouble to whoever she meets, that's why I travel alone, under one life goal."

"Yes?" Trace flexed his upper lip in confusion, "Still Arkan, I hate humans so I won't grant you enough time to achieve your life goal."

"I'll achieve it by stepping on you!" As she completed her sentence her lips trembled.

Woah, I'm cool, she told her self as she looked at her sword. Her blade had a fluorescent-like pipe in the middle. As she blinked the fluorescent glowed with a green color and around it, the wind twined.

Trace rose one eyebrow as he said "Hoo, a wind user. Good then, shall we see," his smile shone again, "Who is stronger, your element or my body?"

Arkan smiled back, but she knew that the situation she was in wasn't comforting at all. Trace blurred like a ghost and disappeared, and in a spark of time she spotted a claw reaching for her neck, she stepped backward and escaped death with a minor cut.

Arkan's sword was one meter long and it should have been pointing forward, which meant the ghost-like Trace attacked from one of her sides.

She shifted her sharp blade, its cutting sides pointed horizontally. And a claw blurred to existence again, she lunged back as her sword slashed under the claw.

Trace blurred to existence, his hand covering a light cut on his chest.

"Not bad, your blade is pretty sharp too," he clenched one hand on the other "But I'm stronger than your blade."

His whole body throbbed twice, countless veins covered him and in a few moments, he became twice his original size.

Arkan swallowed her saliva. Trace disappeared without any blurring to follow him, in that spark of time, Arkan knew that her current state couldn't follow up, she planted her sword into the ground and a wind tornado exploded around her.

Trace from behind smiled as he shot the heel of his foot at her back.

Arkan flew with her sword and before she could be welcomed by a trunk he was there with his leg drawn like a pistol. His knee struck her stomach while his grips hammered her shoulders, she spun on-air and when she dropped on the ground her body was trembling beyond her control.

"The limits of your humanity are very short," said Trace staring at his grips, "unfortunately I can't grow claws in this form, multitasking is pretty hard," he looked at his hand then at her body.

" Are you dead?"

Trace flexed his eyes, to notice one of her vertebrae was out of her back.

"How painful, you should have died by my claws when we started."

"D-don't mak-" she coughed blood, clenched to her sword, and stood on one knee "D-don't make me laugh, you aren't strong, I know a strong demon. If I die by the hands of a weak like you, I better give up showing my face to my family."

She stood again, both of her eyes sparkling with determination.

She recalled what she was told in the mage awakening test.

"You have only two mana pores, and they are in your eyes." 

She wasn't blessed with twenty mana pores like successful mages. She was a swordsman mage, she depended on her sword for all life, and her sword needed time to absorb enough mana from the surrounding.

her eyes flexed, their color became a bit lighter. She should follow the movement better now. She looked at Trace, two veins throbbing up his forehead, Hehe, I made him angry.

Trace moved, and she spotted his shadow. before he passed her, her sword was on his way, its wind sharper than before. Trace drew his elbow back and with his palm-full of veins he shot it at the sword, but…

One hair away from clashing Trace pushed his feet against the ground and jumped back. He looked at his palm, two fingers weren't there, he looked at the panting Arkan, her smile shining with one peaky canine out.

"She's called Marcella, a living sword."

Trace didn't talk back, he looked at his hand, looked around him, felt the breeze then looked at the sky.

 "It's cloudy. Do you think it will rain?"

"I don't care."

"I see," Trace sprung, this time facing the sword. He knew Arkan’s shoulders weren’t in a good state to move smoothly. Her sword slashed, she depended on the weight of the sword as her shoulders were far from good.

Trace flexed his eyes, the sword wasn’t faster than him, such a fighting style would never be faster than him.

The sword moved, he put his confidence above everything.

He knew, he would never die and will continue to get stronger, this second was the second he would develop a dodging sense…

The sword was swinging down, a hair away from the swords peak, his feet rotated and swiftly sidestepped the slash. With his grip drawn back, he flew a punch at the fluorescent pipe on the sword. The repletion of the hit was so much for Arkan and the sword slipped away. In that second his arms veins throbbed, and in a spark of time three punches struck Arkan's head, shoulder, and waist. 

A cracking sound echoed as Arkan tumbled breaking undergrowth and two consequent trees.

Arkan's blood painted the ground she grated through, her body was frozen and had no spark of life in.

Her head flowing with blood, her pupils trembling like a flunked steel fork, her shoulder concaved inward, and her stomach swollen blue. 

He walked up, on his second step a small twig broke under his foot and Arkan trembled as if her soul returned. 

Arkan looked at her sword, extended her arm, but she couldn't reach for it.

"still not giving up?"

Arkan ignored, or maybe her shaken mind couldn't understand what was being said or even what was happening, her pupils rolled and her eyes became pure white, her extended arm fell, and she muttered.

"Marcella, If you absorbed enough mana, then please." Those words weren't clear for Trace, but, the next scream was very clear, "Marcella, AWAKEN!"

At that second her sword emitted green color, and a tornado leaped to Arkan, a strong tornado that pushed him back.

What was happening, he didn't really know, but he understood clearly after a few moments.

When the storm quietened, Arkan was already standing, her whole body covered with green armor and surpassing pressure of wind pulsating around her.

Yo!

I've just discovered this feature lol. 

How are you?

It's my first time writing a fight scene actually so I'm pretty curious about your thoughts. If it's lacking in any aspect please mention it so I can focus on improving it in the next chapters.

If you found the chapter interesting please comment and like it. That will help the story rise and will help me eventually, 

Many thanks.