Li sighed, scratched the back of her head. "How did you... well, it doesn’t matter anymore. I was going to tell you anyway." She then took a single step forward, and her entire body flashed toward Mathilde with a spinning kick.

Mathilde lifted her arm to block the kick, but Li’s leg bent around Mathilde’s defence and hit her on the back of the head. The shockwave alone was enough to shatter the ground around them, but what made the kick even worse was that Li grabbed Mathilde’s hair with her toes and smacked her to the ground in the next move.

"The reason those monks from the temple that Noel destroyed wanted me was because of their blood. They worship our progenitor Core, and to them, I am something like his successor." Li stared at Mathilde who was on the ground. "Did that take you by surprise."

"It did indeed." Mathilde laughed, "Having Lord Core’s blood, that means your bones are made of wood." She stood, cracked her back, and gave Li’s legs a second look. "Can I assume that they can stretch?"

She stood, took a stance, and extended one foot toward Li. "If they can, then show me just how powerful you are."

At that moment, the real battle started. Showing off time was over, and now, it was time to spill some blood. Li stomped on the ground, and all the trees around them shook. She took a dancing step forward and then swung her foot at the air. In that instant, the trees around all moved in blinding speed, sending vine tentacles toward Mathilde like whips.

Mathilde didn’t move a single step, and instead just dodged in her place. She moved at such harrowing speed that her entire body turned into a blur, and all vines missed. She glared at Li with a smile, "So you can control plants?"

Li’s foot was already flying toward Mathilde’s face; all of those earlier attacks were nothing but a distraction. This time, Mathilde deflected Li’s kick with a punch and countered with a kick to the guts. Li coughed blood as her entire body bent like a piece of paper, and she was launched back with a shockwave. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Mathilde was holding back quite a lot, but she was still going to use enough strength, speed, and skill to drag Li on the ground and push her to the limit.

Li clenched her teeth as she swung one of her legs while flying back. Her thighs moved, her knees bent, and the tips of her toes accelerated like the tip of a whip, surpassing the speed of sound, and kicked the air with a loud crack. That had generated enough resistance to allow her to use the air as a platform and immediately bounce back toward Mathilde.

Seeing that, a large grin appeared on Mathilde’s face. "Are you serious?! That kick would’ve dropped Cerilla to her knees, and she is a demigoddess."

With her eyes flashing golden and bright green, Li’s hair danced with the air as she flew right at Mathilde’s face with a flying kick, aiming to gouge one of her eyes out. Of course, Mathilde wasn’t going to take the hit. She gracefully dodged the kick and pushed on Li’s thigh to change her direction.

Mathilde still had the upper hand, but this was Li’s chance. She kicked the air with her other foot, changed the direction of her body, and delivered a direct kick to Mathilde’s chest. Then, everything exploded into violence.

Mathilde retaliated with a kick to Li’s face, and Li grabbed Mathilde by the chest with her toes and ripped one of her nipples off. Both of them seemed to drop all defence in that second, and they started mauling each other with kicks, ripping each other apart with ruthless malevolence.

The forest trembled at their clash, the trees were ripped apart, the ground was shattered, and the air itself started heating up from how fast those two moved and how many shockwaves their attacks caused.

Seeing Mathilde still fight with many wounds on her body was normal, but Noel looked horrified to see Li still fighting with broken arms, shattered ribs, and lost teeth. For years, she knew that giving up wasn’t a word that Li understood, so even if this was just a spar, if Mathilde was willing to go far, Li would follow her.

Arad threw a glance at Cerilla, "You’re a demigoddess, can you survive that fight?"

"No, I train regularly with Mathilde, and I would’ve already dropped by now." She gulped, "That girl Li, I’ve heard she is quite strong, but I’ve never seen her fight before."

Arad looked at the still raging fight. "She has great stamina and pain tolerance. She seems to know a part of Core’s special dance, but not the whole thing." He crossed his arms, "I say her body is holding her back."

But it was then that Li proved Arad wrong and showed something that almost made Jasmine shit herself. She took one step forward, planted her toes firmly on the ground, and in the next second, she was already pushing Mathilde back.

It didn’t make sense. Mathilde had weakened herself just enough to match Li’s physical power, so the only reason Li was gaining an advantage now was pure skill. The part that didn’t make sense is that Li was out-skilling Mathilde, the Kicking Archon, in a kicking match.

Li was getting faster and stronger with each move; she was landing more kicks and dodging more of Mathilde’s attacks. No one understood why, except for Mathilde, Jasmine, and some of the dark elves.

"It! It can’t be!" Jasmine cried as she glared down at the fight. "That wood elf..." D growled with a large smile on her face. "Where did she learn that?"

Mathilde growled, "You don’t have to worry about me, girl. Everything is allowed in this fight, so show me your best. I won’t die even if you cut me to pieces."

In the next moment, Li beheaded Mathilde and cut all of her limbs off with a strange, bright, thin sword that appeared out of nowhere. Only then did Arad recognize those moves; he had seen them once before, and Merida had tried to learn them, but wasn’t too successful.

"Is that [Blade Dance]?" He asked, and D nodded. "Yeah, the fighting style that allowed our goddess to ascend to godhood. That sword is made of moonlight as well, so... she must’ve reached quite a high level of mastery even as a wood elf."

"Li..." Noel looked at Arad, "Well, she is the daughter of the king, but her mother was a court dancer, a moon elf who was hired to entertain his highness and the queens. That moon elf, Queen Solamine, used to dance naked under the moonlight, and got the goddess’s blessing, albeit not being a dark elf."

Dendron landed on Arad’s shoulder, "Elves were born to both Yggdrasil and Qliphoth. Moon elves’ are the dark elves mirroring image, and they are the subject of the same goddess."

"So, the moon elves are Qliphoth’s version of the dark elves?" Arad asked, and Dendron counted. "The sun elves mirror the high elves; the earth elves mirror the wood elves."