The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 124: Vivian vs Edmond

As they met, the air grew thick with tension, a cold sweat glazing their skin as they steeled themselves for a confrontation. Each recognized the other, their reputations preceding them and fostering a sense of mutual threat.

To Edmond, the person he saw in front of him was a perfect match for the descriptions of the Bloody Swan, a killer and a terrorist with an infamous kill record: the one who attacked the Black Market and sabotaged Ian’s sensitive operation there, stole the Mithril Coins taken by Prince Liam’s faction, attacked many convoys belonging to the production of Bliss, and, in a final act of defiance to the Prince, attacked the secret Treasury Convoy, which was the backbone of the faction.

To Vivian, Edmond Black was the worst person to meet in a situation like this. His abilities were beyond her measuring; he was known to be a knight on par with Logan, whom she could never match in one-on-one melee combat. With the secret training of House Black’s swordsmanship and aura, the gap between them was something she could never dream of crossing anytime soon.

"... So, you were with the Insurgents after all," Edmond said, putting his hand over the hilt of his blade.

BANG!

Before he could draw it, however, Vivian hip-fired right towards his hilt, hitting it before his hand could reach it and igniting a spark. Edmond took a step back, unable to react to the Swan’s speed, but still ducked to reduce his size as a target, and, with instantaneous speed, he pushed himself ahead while drawing his blade to cut her hand.

With greater speed than his, the Swan pushed herself forward and avoided the blade’s cutting arc by flying acrobatically over his head, aiming down her second gun, and almost shooting him in the head from point-blank range.

BANG!

Recognizing the power of her bullets, Edmond protected himself with an aura shield that deflected the bullet right away and left him dazed by how agile and fast she was.

The two exchanged places, each where the other had been: Edmond with his blade drawn, and the Swan with no guns in her hands this time, choosing to switch to a rifle with a bayonet fixed on.

The exchanges with Edmond were too dangerous, depriving Vivian of the chance to shoot at a pace enough for the auto-reload function to keep up with, as each second was too precious. With the rifle, however, Vivian judged that she could at least buy time for her pistols to reload while staying on the defensive with its threatening firepower and its long bayonet reach.

≪ 💀 Edmond Black 💀 ≫

< Expert Stalker — 100% HP >

The system was kind enough to display Edmond’s name with fighting style and hit points, and two cute skull icons, meaning that this was not someone Vivian should fight on her level.

The villainess wasn’t even keen on fighting a knight of that caliber, but she feared turning her back and running, lest he catch up to her.

She needed to fight in order to run away.

Determined to catch the villainess, Edmond took a step towards her; she fired right away while making distance.

BANG!

The bullet was faster and more powerful than with the pistols, and there was no way for Edmond to deflect or avoid it, but just as it hit him at the center of his chest, he faded like a mirage and reappeared at a much lower stance, charging Vivian with his sabre.

Thanks to the fact that she was retreating, she had enough time to avoid his mean attack and raised her rifle to stab with its bayonet.

Edmond avoided that skillfully, as Vivian’s attack was rather slow and clumsy compared to his refined swordplay, but as he tried to deflect and slash her diagonally, she evaded his sword with the finesse of a ballerina.

Edmond became rather annoyed, knowing that he now had to put more effort into this. He widened his stance, making himself sure-footed, and sprang at Vivian with an Unterhau—an upward strike to force her on her heel—followed by a Zwerchhau—a precise horizontal strike from over the shoulder to attack her face, each strike with a step to enforce it.

Vivian met the upward strike with a deflection of its kind, feeling the heavy weight of Edmond’s strike weigh her down. As he attacked horizontally, she deflected with the rifle to her side, but it was a mistake to meet his attacks head-on.

She lost her footing and staggered; Edmond followed with another mean thrust. She made the right decision to discard the rifle, rolling sideways and creating distance.

"Not very graceful of you, Swan. More like a stumbling duck, I would say," Edmond said as he saw blood on his blade, knowing that his horizontal strike had injured her left shoulder.

"Your parents raised you to hit women, noble sir?" Vivian asked.

"It was a crucial milestone in my training," Edmond replied and kicked Vivian’s rifle away. "Any last words?"

"You won’t live to hear them," she replied sharply.

"Heh! Fine, let’s see what you got?"

Vivian put her hand against the wall beside her and helped herself up. Her mistake was depriving herself of her speed advantage when she used the rifle, hoping for it to give her reach against Edmond, but as she got out of that with a flesh wound, she could consider herself lucky it wasn’t critical.

She took in a deep breath and lowered her stance, putting all her focus on her footwork. Edmond saw that she had no weapon in hand, but seeing how fast she pulled a rifle out of nowhere, it surely meant that this Bloody Swan had some sort of magical storage on her.

He also took his stance and switched his focus to his preferred style as...

BANG!

Swoosh!

A bullet out of nowhere, a throwing knife out of nowhere; the two projectiles clashed and deflected each other.

Vivian couldn’t see Edmond move, as it seemed he had some technique that masked his actions. As for her, she shot with the baby gun in her sleeve before immediately holding the curtain of the window beside her and pulling it to create a cover between them.

Edmond was no fool; he may have used an Aura star to propel the knife, but knowing that if his enemy disappeared, it would be fatal, he decided to use his second Aura star and performed an Aura Slash, a skill reserved for the Silver-ranked Aura users.

The cutting force was short in range but enough to rip the curtain to pieces and would have ruined whatever Vivian was planning, but as Edmond saw it, the Swan seemed to have disappeared, then...

BANG!

"ARgh!"

A bullet hit Edmond right in the shoulder, but he was able to react with enough Aura to mitigate most of the damage. The shooter was right in front of him, but he couldn’t see her, so he used another Aura Star once again and unleashed it like a shockwave, a skill known as Aura Blast.

The short-ranged blast revealed that Vivian was lying on her back, hiding behind her camouflaged umbrella, which was blown away. Edmond rushed her with his sabre, but...

BANG!

... she shot with her other gun, hitting the crossguard of the sabre and disarming Edmond, whose hand couldn’t endure the pressure since he ran out of Aura.

Without losing his momentum, Edmond switched to a throwing knife, using it as a dagger, and descending over Vivian, aiming to stab her in the heart. Vivian blocked with her left gun, holding him in a bind and attempting to pommel him on the head with her other gun, but he held her arm and disarmed her of her pistol.

Almost sitting over her, Vivian immediately jolted with her body, giving herself some leg room, and kicked Edmond with a Power Attack using her knee and right in his lower back... his ass.

Edmond lost balance and let go of her hand, but he leaned with his knife-holding hand on hers and still kept her locked. Vivian’s free hand was now empty, and without thinking, she took out an intricate-looking dagger, attempting to stab Edmond’s side.

Edmond was still stronger in close combat. He caught her hand once again and retreated with his back, raising his own knife and going for the kill, channeling his aura to his right arm. But then...

Stab!

"AAAAAAAH!"

Edmond couldn’t believe how he had been stabbed in his side just now. He lost control over his aura and looked down to see that the Swan’s Dagger had turned into a Sword, and it grazed him in his abdomen, a most fatal area to a human. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Vivian immediately applied pressure with her other hand against the back of her spadroon, Long John Silver. Edmond pushed himself back to not worsening his injuries, but Vivian was ready for him with a Power Attack double kick to his guts.

He felt his guts twisting from the merciless hit as he was pushed away from the Swan, who jumped up back to her feet. She picked up her gun and charged him, but he maneuvered in a way similar to how Voros maneuvers and appeared behind her, slashing her back with a knife. However, it barely grazed her, and she escaped his reach.

Vivian stepped back and picked up her rifle from the ground before immediately storing it away, and shooting a desperate bullet at Edmond, who twisted himself to avoid it, but right then and there, she had a crossbow-like weapon aimed and fired at the window.

Fwick!

Edmond was puzzled for just a second and would have attacked again, but that second was all that Vivian needed before she would suddenly get pulled out through the window, flying towards the building across the street from this one.

"HEY!"

Edmond shouted and ran at the window beside him, only to see the Blackguards standing on the street looking puzzled at what had just happened.

"AFTER HER! IT’S THE BLOODY SWAN!"

Edmond’s words sent a jolt of urgency through every man on the street as they immediately ran to the other building through the alleys.

As for Vivian, once she landed on the high triangular roof, her hook line was grappled into a chimney at the top of the building. She immediately pulled it away and slid onto the roof, reaching the gutters.

A Blackguard came from the alley on a horse while they were encircling the building; Vivian immediately dropped on him with her dagger to the back of his neck, killing him in an instant.

The horse neighed and kicked up, frightened by the sudden pressure on his back, but Vivian was quick to drop the Blackguard and take control of the horse right away.

"HYAAAA!"

And the chase began.

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