[First Year Sword Emperor’s Cup 7]
(Lyncean Sword Marshall Side)
Making it to the quarterfinals was just the starting line for me.
Though I suffered some serious injuries during my match against Rivera Glico, I was able to win the following matches without much difficulty.
The real fight started now.
“You got guts showing up. Young Lady of the Marshall House.”
Caligula Gouf AcGee, the Rogue.
He was three heads taller than me, but despite his massive build, his speed was astounding.
I could only think of one word to describe him:
Barbaric.
A guy who settled everything with his overwhelming strength.
“Keep your dirty mouth shut. I’m here to defeat you and win the championship.”
“Heh, ain’t no way someone like you can defeat me. Guess what they say is right, the weaker someone is, the louder they bark!”
“You! Do you think I’ll let you keep mocking me?!”
“Hey, I’m not mocking you. You’ve got a pretty face. How ‘bout we take our fight to the bed? I’ll show what a real man is.”
I felt rage filling my head.
Luc Hugaro Deskustos wasn’t as evil as I had thought.
He was… someone with his own convictions, and I could sympathize with him.
But… the guy in front of me was evil.
Caligula Gouf AcGee… I would absolutely defeat him.
Live: “It is now the last round of the quarterfinals and the two of the kingdom’s most famous military families are pitted against each other. Which one of them is stronger? The AcGee family who excels in war or the Marshall family who has always been defending the kingdom from the threats of monsters? The military feats of the two families are well-known throughout the royal capital. You can’t not look forward to the match between them.”
Commentary: “You are right. The Rogue Caligula is a genius in combat. His self-taught fighting style perfectly complimented his superior strength. On the other hand, the Blazing Maiden Lyncean is an allrounder with high mastery of Marshall-style swordsmanship, body strengthening, Aura, and her attribute magic. It is a match of a rough-hewn fighting style and an orthodox one. I can’t wait to see who will win.”
I took a deep breath to calm myself down.
I activated body strengthening and clad my body with Aura.
“You ready now?”
“I’m ready to defeat you, yeah.”
“Hehe, nice joke. Come, then!”
I charged at Caligula and swung down my sword.
He should be able to dodge this kind of straightforward attack.
“Oh! What a surprise. Using our brain, are we?”
It was but a feint. The real attack was the Flame Spear I sent right after.
He easily avoided it as well, but I followed it up with a diagonal slash.
“Whoa, you almost got me. Not bad.”
Caligula remarked with a leisurely attitude. In the middle of my offense, I recalled Rivera’s clever tactic. She had got me with it, although not enough to take me down. The experience made me stronger.
I couldn’t cast two spells simultaneously with both hands.
I could, however, use support magic as she did.
I canceled my body strengthening and cast a debuff spell on Caligula.
“Wha!”
Caligula fell to his knee, and I pushed my sword against his neck.
I managed to take Caligula by surprise because he let his guard down.
With this, I won…
“You naïve dumbass!”
Refusing to accept defeat, Caligula pushed aside my sword and struck me in the abdomen. His punch was so strong it broke my armor.
“Guha!”
“You should have struck the killing blow! This is a life-or-death battle! I’m prepared to die. Your naivety will be the end of you!”
Aura erupted from Caligula.
Suffering a serious injury from his blow, I was almost crushed by his pressure. My legs gave out and I fell to my knees.
“Ghh.”
Caligula grabbed my hair and lifted my head up.
“You think a battle is a game? Well, no wonder, you’re a woman!”
He struck my cheek and kneed my stomach.
“Gh! Don’t underestimate me!”
I released a burst of flames from my whole body with my attribute magic, intending to burn him, even if it meant burning myself.
“Ha! Idiot!”
He slammed my body into the ground and leaped away at an implausible speed.
“Wha!”
“Think you can take me down with you? What a fool.”
The blast caught no one but me alone. My body burned all over and stopped listening to me.
“Heh, can’t talk, can you? Your throat is burnt.
“Haa~ you can’t even surrender now. This is why I say weaklings are stupid.
“Anyway, let’s get to the main show, shall we? I’m sure the audience can’t wait to see the embarrassing figure of the duke’s daughter.”
Saying that, he put his hand on me.
N-no! I’d rather die than be treated like this!
“Kh… ju… ki… me…”
I burst into tears.
I didn’t want to lose to a brute like him…
I… realized it now.
Why Luc called me a barbarian… I was ashamed of myself for having used to try to settle everything with power… Strength didn’t give you the right to force things your way. That was wrong.
Was I really going to lose to this kind of barbarian? Was this guy’s way correct? No! Luc denied fighting.
Despite his terrifying power, he denied fighting.
“Hehe, here goes.”
No… I wanted to show my skin for one person only… the one who would be my companion for life…
“Caligula Gouf AcGee!!!”
…His was the last voice I wanted to hear now… I didn’t want him to look at the miserable sight of me.
I didn’t want him… I didn’t want Luc to see me being humiliated by another man…
“Huh? The hell?”
“Take your hands off her.”
“Oh, if it ain’t Luc Hugaro Deskustos. Who do you think you are to order me!!!”
Even through my blurry eyes, I could see it.
Overwhelming mana and Aura… The heavy pressure intimidated everyone in the venue as if the Sword Emperor himself was present.
It even stopped Caligula Gouf AcGee, who had been trying to humiliate me.
“Heh, would you look at this? So you were hiding your power? Interesting.
“Fine, I’m gonna give her to you. Was she your woman? I got no intention to fight against the Deskustos House. But you got it right? Luc Hugaro Deskustos, you owe me now. And it ain’t cheap. Be sure to entertain me tomorrow, or else.”
With AcGee leaving, the referee rushed over and declared my defeat
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Zky Translates 
Alright, since I made the comment earlier, I’m gonna go ahead and pre-empt the guy who’s gonna to compare this situation to the fight between Iris and Elena.
There are quite a few key differences between both of them and I think it’s worth recognizing them;
First, unlike Iris and elena, Caligula never gave Lyncean the opportunity to give up. He simply tried to force himself on her without giving her any way out of the situation. Second, Caligula intended to humiliate her publicly, which Iris never did to Elena. If he had succeeded it could have completely destroyed her reputation among the nobles and possibly even forced her into a marraige with him, allowing him to keep abusing her practically forever. In comparison, after her defeat, Elena will still live with her reputation intact. Even among the nobility she won’t suffer for her defeat against Iris. Third, whereas Iris did it for her own satisfaction while still minimizing the harm done toward her opponent, Caligula wanted to physically, and emotionally destroy his opponent, publicly humiliate her, and ruin her reputation.
While both of these cases are similar, the amount of harm done is vastly different. There is simply no comparison.
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Caligula and Iris are the worst. They should commit suicide
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