“Mm. One more condition. If you can make my steps drift outside this circle, I’ll count that as your win.”

With a soft hum, Xinuo drew a glowing circle at her feet with her lightsword, a ring of light barely enclosing where she stood.

Which meant, if Xinuo shifted even a hair from that spot, Qianji Sister would win.

“Alright. Since Xinuo Miss has yielded this much, it’d be shameful if I don’t win.”

She didn’t hesitate. Her rapier rose, its tip leveled at Xinuo like a hawk’s beak.

“Wind-Aspect Sword: Blade Tornado.”

Her rapier burst with teal light, and a twister spun up around the blade, fast enough to tear the air like silk.

The whirlwind lunged for Xinuo, a hungry dragon of wind.

“Oh? A magic-sword maiden?”

Xinuo only flicked her lightsword, light as a breeze, and the tornado that could level a small city unraveled like loose thread.

“As expected of Xinuo Miss. You rewrote the mana paths and the element lattice, and forced it to disperse.”

Admiration flashed in Qianji Sister’s eyes, then—

“If magic won’t do, let’s settle it with swordcraft! Wind Augmentation: Armor of the Wind God!”

A transparent azure armor shimmered into being around her, and wind-wings unfolded behind her like twin blades of sky.

“Take this!”

Her figure vanished, speed smearing her into a gust that left the ground whispering.

Clang!

“What!”

She popped into existence before Xinuo, rapier laid across Xinuo’s lightsword like a reed on ice.

“Your speed’s good, but the spatial ripples around you wobble. Too easy to feel.”

Xinuo drew her blade up. Qianji Sister stumbled back several steps, like a leaf pushed by a quiet current.

“Fine. Then how about this—Spatial Sword: Annihilation!”

Her next slash made space around Xinuo crack and slough, collapsing at a pace even the naked eye could track.

“Your spell holds too little of the spatial law. There’s no bite.”

The collapsing space knit itself whole as Xinuo finished speaking, like torn fabric mending.

“Guess close-quarters is still the way.”

She let out a rueful breath, then rushed Xinuo again, feet like wind along water.

“Fire Augmentation: Blazing Flame!”

Her rapier flared crimson, heat rolling from it like a furnace’s breath.

“Fire-Aspect Sword: Flame Burial!”

She drew every fire element nearby into the blade, then hurled a blazing cleave at Xinuo like a falling sun.

“Your swing’s too big. You’re bleeding openings.”

Xinuo flicked her lightsword. The attack line skidded wide like a misfired arrow. Another light stroke, and Qianji Sister was pushed back to her mark.

“Again! Lightning-Aspect Sword: Silver Flash!”

…

Qianji Sister kept pressing, attack after attack, now a darting blade, now a spell flung from afar, waves thrown at a cliff.

None worked. Near or far, everything broke on Xinuo like surf against stone.

“Wow! Sister Xinuo is amazing. It’s my first time seeing Qianji Sister’s attacks do nothing.”

My little sister’s eyes sparkled, stars caught in her pupils.

“Yes. And Sir Xino hasn’t initiated even once. Sir Xino and Yumigawa Senki aren’t even in the same dimension.”

Elyar spoke with a breath of awe, reverence steady as a temple bell.

“Oooh! That blonde big sister is strong! She can last this long under Master!”

Hill’s praise chimed like a silver bell; only she would flatter Qianji Sister here.

“That’s because Little Nuo hasn’t attacked. If she did, Qianji Sister would’ve lost already.”

I smiled at Hill, but a bitter taste rose in my chest like smoke. If someone like Qianji Sister looks like a child swinging toys before Xinuo, then me? I’m less than a newborn.

“Ooh, is that so?”

“Hah, hah! Xinuo Miss, can’t you let me land one? This is crushing.”

Her breath snagged in her throat; frustration darkened her eyes like gathering cloud.

“Mm, that’s tricky. Your sword is sharp and fast. It’s good. But far from enough for me.”

Xinuo’s calm was moonlight on water. She shook her head, unruffled.

“Alright then!”

She drew a deep breath, steadying herself like a bow before release. “Try this!”

“Time Sword: Eternal Time!”

A clock-face sigil bloomed before her, ticking silence into the air. She lifted her rapier and drove it through the center, piercing the heart of the array.

“!?”

Surprise rippled across Xinuo’s face, a pebble in a still pond. Within a hundred meters, time crawled, slowed a hundredfold or more.

“Wind Augmentation: Speed Limit Break!”

“Wind Augmentation: Wings of Wind!”

“Lightning Augmentation: Thunderblade!”

As the second hand began to turn, Qianji Sister stacked three buffs with her last reserves, breath burning like a forge.

Then she ripped forward, speed tearing the air, arriving before Xinuo in one breath. Her rapier crackled with lightning like a storm trapped in steel.

“Told you. It’s useless.”

Xinuo lifted her lightsword again, voice light as a drifting leaf. However—

“Got you! Ice-Aspect Sword: Thousand-League Freeze!”

Lightning vanished from the blade; killing cold bloomed instead, freezing even space like hoarfrost on glass.

“What?!”

Only a flicker touched Xinuo’s calm mask, a brief spark in snow.

“I see. A wide-area spell at this range. For most people, that’d be unavoidable.”

Frost raced for Xinuo’s snow-white long skirt. She lifted her lightsword, caught the icy rapier, and flicked upward like lifting a curtain.

“Redirect.”

Every ounce of the attack shifted skyward, cold flowering above like winter clouds.

“Xinuo Miss, you really are strong.”

Helplessness colored her voice like dusk. Seeing both magic and blade fail, Qianji Sister unfurled her wind wings and darted back fast.

“Yumigawa Senki, do you still wish to continue?”

Xinuo watched her from a short distance, tone even as a flat lake.

“Of course! But first, a question.”

“What is it?”

“It’s—”

She drew a deep breath, doubt tightening like a knot. “Why was Eternal Time ineffective on you? Your movement seemed untouched.”

“Ah, that. It’s simple. Just be fast enough.”

“Speed?”

Xinuo smiled, the curve light as a crescent moon, and answered.

“Yes. When speed reaches a certain threshold, you ignore space and time. To slip the time law just now, I simply swung a little faster.”

…

Silence pressed on us first, awe settling after like snow. We all knew that kind of speed was unreal, unless you perfect the wind law itself.

As for how Xinuo reaches it—her strength sits above every law, a sky beyond sky.