Chapter 15 - The Blood of the Sovereign
The crowd screamed, many burying their faces in their hands, expecting to see the young queen crushed beneath the brute's first blow.
Instead, Valeria moved with liquid grace. Rather than meeting the crushing force head-on, she sidestepped with blinding agility. The heavy axe cleaved deep into the sand where she had been standing a fraction of a second earlier.
Before Vrog could wrench his weapon free, Valeria pivoted on her heel, her blade flashing in a horizontal arc. The edge sliced cleanly through the leather strap of the mercenary's shoulder guard, drawing a sharp line of crimson across his armor.
Vrog bellowed in pain and fury, spinning around wildly and sweeping his massive arm to backhand her across the face. Valeria ducked beneath the wild strike, but the sheer wind pressure threw her off balance, sending her skidding back across the sand.
Up on the balcony, Duke Caelen smirked, crossing his arms. "She won't survive a second rush."
But Valeria wasn't just fighting with muscle; she was fighting with the dormant, awakening power of her royal blood. As she rose to her feet, the ancient crown upon her head flared with a blinding, ethereal blue light. A warm, surging current of energy flooded her veins, sharpening her reflexes and filling her muscles with an unnatural, boundless strength.
Vrog charged again, this time thrusting forward with a heavy spiked shield and a shorter executioner's sword.
Valeria didn't retreat. She lunged forward to meet him, her movements so fast she seemed to blur. As Vrog brought his sword down, she parried with a sharp, ringing clash of steel that sent sparks flying into the air. Using the momentum of his own blow, she stepped inside his defensive guard, pressing the flat of her blade against his chest plate.
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The crown pulsed violently. A wave of kinetic energy erupted from Valeria's body, slamming into Vrog like a falling boulder. The massive mercenary flew backward through the air, crashing heavily into the arena wall before sliding unconscious onto the sand.
Dead silence blanketed the arena.
