Due to the shock, Lin froze for a moment, not fully understanding the system's messages.
Seeing an opportunity, Silia quickly attacked Lin while saying:
"No matter how great the warrior who wielded that sword was, it crumbled from a single strike of mine!" She aimed her strike at Lin's side and swung her sword at lightning speed, not caring about the serious injuries Lin might suffer!
Lin quickly dodged backward and said:
"That was my first weapon, the first I ever received in my life, and I wanted to keep it as a memento… But you, you just destroyed it." Lin let out a cold laugh and spread his arms to either side.
"Ha-ha-ha! If you want to feel the real me, the one who killed and tore people apart in the fighting pits, then I'm ready to show you. I love swords — they're convenient and a pleasure to wield — but I have to say, my main specialty is hand-to-hand combat!" Lin put on a cold expression and took an unusual fighting stance.
Silia looked at the current Lin and felt his murderous aura — it seemed to her as if a black-purple aura surrounded him, forming into some sort of demon that stared at her, wishing to kill or rip her to pieces!
She involuntarily felt fear, but quickly regained her composure.
"This Lin… He… I just broke his sword, why is he reacting like this?" She took her stance and braced to receive Lin's blows.
"I offered you to buy it, but you refused…" Ron said in a quiet voice, yet Lin still heard it.
Lin looked coldly at Ron.
Ron felt chills down his spine from Lin's gaze. He quickly disappeared into the crowd, hiding from his eyes.
Lin turned back to Silia and rushed at her with full speed!
"She must also have a limit on skill usage," he dodged Silia's sword strike, and as expected, the girl didn't use her skill to freeze the floor.
Lin tightened his fist and aimed it at her stomach, but instead of punching her, he raised his right leg and struck Silia's leg!
Silia also swung her sword, but by the time it cut through the air, Lin had already disappeared from his position!
"Where?!" Silia looked forward, but didn't see Lin. Then she heard the voice of a little girl:
"Sister! Behind you!"
Silia quickly turned her whole body, swinging her sword as she did. When she turned, she saw Lin's right leg flying straight toward her face!
"How dirty." She instantly slashed her sword.
Lin smiled and managed to retract his leg just in time, while Silia was still mid-swing. He stepped to the side and instantly attacked again, this time from the other direction!
Silia stood in place, constantly deflecting Lin's attacks. He gave her no time to think or rest — he was relentlessly attacking her.
At one moment, Lin jumped and tried to kick Silia in the head with his right leg, but the girl was faster and slashed with her sword. While in midair, Lin couldn't quickly retract his leg, so he came up with and executed a plan.
"He won't be able to pull his leg back anymore." Silia thought she had won, but suddenly, Lin's left leg flew from the right and crashed into her face with tremendous force!
Bang!
Silia's entire body instantly dropped to the iron floor, making a loud collision sound. Lin quickly stood up, a bit tired after executing such a complicated maneuver.
"That was harder than I expected." Lin looked at Silia and recalled his attack.
When Silia's sword was about to slash his leg, he quickly bent forward and used all his strength to forcefully lower that leg. At the same time, as he brought one leg down, he raised the other and struck Silia's head with it.
And he had actually succeeded in doing it.
But there was a price.
Lin looked at his right leg and saw a small cut with a stream of red blood flowing out, staining his expensive clothes.
He sighed and looked at the unconscious Silia. Once a beautiful, blonde, capable girl, she now lay unconscious on the floor.
Lin sighed again and looked at the remains of his sword on the ground. He picked them up, slowly examined them, and thought:
"My first Distorted Item… Why am I so unlucky?" He looked at the others and walked toward Noro with a cold expression.
"Sister!" the little girl cried and ran toward the unconscious Silia.
Others rushed to her as well, many glaring angrily at Lin and cursing him for the excessively strong blows he had delivered to Silia.
"... But she tried to cut off my leg…" Lin sighed and said to Noro:
"I won. Can I leave now?"
Noro laughed and nodded.
"Of course, you may leave. I always keep my word. That was an excellent fight." He looked at Ron and said, "Ron, take Lin home."
Ron quickly nodded and left the training room with Lin. Once they were out of sight, Noro's face turned serious. He looked at his shadow and said:
"Krad, you saw that. I have nothing more to say." He headed toward the exit.
Noro's shadow twitched on its own, and a male voice echoed from it:
"Yes, of course. This Lin… He's interesting, very interesting. I want to fight him. I want to, want to, want to!" The voice soon faded, and complete silence fell.
...
Lin and Ron were quietly driving down the road. After Lin's victory, Ron didn't dare say anything provocative, so the ride was mostly silent, which made him a bit uneasy.
But gathering his courage, Ron opened his mouth and asked Lin:
"How did you manage to defeat Silia? She was very strong..."
Lin looked at Ron and calmly replied:
"She wasn't strong, she was naive, thinking that in a fight only swords could be used. Though, she did start using her legs once she realized how effective they are. But even then, she was still weak."
Ron smiled awkwardly at that, since he always believed Silia was one of the strongest of her generation — but it turned out that wasn't the case.
"By the way, I wanted to ask — what's Silia's Price? During the fight, she used her skill quite often, but she didn't seem to experience anything unnatural." Lin asked Ron with interest.
"Unfortunately, that's a secret, and even I don't know the answer…" Ron replied with regret.
"It's fine."
They continued their journey until the car drove into a wealthy neighborhood and stopped in front of a three-story building.
Lin and Ron got out and looked at the large three-story house with a spacious private yard and several black cars parked by the gate. This was Lin's home.
"Wow, I thought you were joking when you said you had a house like this," Ron looked around in awe at the size of the house.
"There's nothing to be surprised about." Lin rang the doorbell and looked at Ron.
"You can go. I don't need you anymore."
"You're not even going to let me inside to see your house?"
"No."
"Not even a little peek?"
"No."
"But what if-"
"Leave."
Ron sighed and got back in the car.
"I hope we don't meet again," he gave the order and several black cars drove off.
"I hope so too." Lin looked in his direction and thought.