Vierenna V. Eirenios [3]

"Why is she doing this? Doesn't it put her at a disadvantage?"

Ana-Lina was curious about Vierenna's reckless maneuvers. which seemed to weaken her position. She couldn't help but voice her question to expert beside her.

Old Jan's expression remained calm, his gaze wide and all-encompassing as if he saw everything in the arena and nothing escaped his focus.

"Curiosity," he answered simply.

And he would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't also curious, fascinated maybe, with the boy, Deon.

His fighting style—despite lacking any prior training or experience—was strange. The speed at which he regained himself was truly terrifying.

Old Jan had never expected Deon to synchronize with Accia and Felice so quickly. Before the fight began, he had generously given him three minutes.

But as soon as he saw how Deon positioned himself in the arena, he abandoned any hope for the boy—he was a mess. Untrained, inexperienced, and perhaps even uninterested.

He'd written him off as dead weight to the twins. And yet, he was the most decisive attacker among the three.

Felice and Accia's fought with flawless teamwork, but Deon? He was something else entirely. He was the wind between them—elusive, unpredictable, the creeping unseen mist, the vision in the face of danger.

And that brought Jan to what he found both fascinating and unnervingly terrifying about him—his vision.

Though nowhere near Vierenna's preternatural awareness, the glimpse was there.

He started by deceiving Vierenna's senses with his delayed movement. Slowly moving behind Felice, masking his intentions.

He could have used Felice and Vierenna's initial clash to create a bigger opening for Accia's attack, but that would have disrupted Accia's balance.

Vierenna, the beast that she was, would never fail to exploit even the smallest flaw.

So he waited patiently.

Vierenna dealt with Felice and freed herself to focus on Accia, not even considering Deon, who had increased his speed, slipping past Felice toward her exposed back.

At the exact moment when Ana-Accia attacked Vierenna's leg, Deon struck at her back.

Old Jan smacked his forehead in frustration at the disappointing yet admirable attack.

Deon's strike was one of vision, but it lacked the refinement of a seasoned fighter. It could have been vastly better, but the final decision was the worst it could be.

Despite its flaws, Deon and Ana-Accia's attack should have landed. But even the slightest imperfection was more than enough for Vierenna to perform that impossible maneuver.

She took advantage of Deon's mistake to create even more flaws.

By targeting her back, Deon had given her head the space to move backward. That small gap from his poor attack and her backward evasion allowed her to dodge Accia's strike as well—by simply lifting her leg.

And that single glance at her brother from below was enough for her to see the instability in his stance.

So she used it against Accia's firm footing and threw him toward her.

Though Accia dodged, Vierenna was simply faster and better at exploiting flaws, leading to Accia's struggle against her.

"And her absolute confidence," Old Jan added after a long pause.

Indeed, Vierenna's confidence radiated from the way she positioned herself against her opponents.

Even when cornered, she'd trapped herself deliberately just to satisfy her curiosity about her brother.

In Deon's first attack, Old Jan saw vision.

In the second, growth—he saw a terrifying ability to learn and adapt.

As Felice launched his next charge at Vierenna, Deon stayed back, observing, not rushing in.

He moved only when he noticed the shift in Vierenna's movements. He felt her curiosity and used it to create an advantage.

Vierenna believed she was the only one in control, but her curiosity was a flaw.

And Deon did what she did best—he exploited it. For a brief moment, he became the leading player.

He moved to bring Ana-Accia back into the fight. But the change he made was reversing their previous roles—now, Accia attacked from behind while he struck from the front.

And it worked. Almost.

Deon was aware of his lack of experience and offensive prowess, so he gave that role to Accia, who was better than him at it. That alone disrupted Vierenna's expectations.

She tried to deal with Felice first to create enough space to defend against the others.

But Deon saw through her and threatened to attack at the moment of her vulnerability, increasing his speed.

Vierenna abandoned her initial plan and searched for a better opening.

And this was where the difference in experience and vision became clear.

Unlike Deon, Vierenna noticed Accia's exhaustion from her previous engagement.

Deon did not. He structured the second attack assuming Accia was in top form.

That created a slight delay in their attack synchronization.

And so, Vierenna did what she did best—she exploited the flaw, no matter how small.

Deon tried to mitigate the damage. He increased his speed to pin her down, refusing to let her escape the encirclement.

But it proved ineffective.

Her attack turned toward him.

Deon did not back down. He stood his ground—the gods only knew what was running through his mind.

But Vierenna's momentum was too overwhelming for him to withstand.

Jan braced for the boy's defeat.

It was clear—he lacked the experience to evade or endure until the twins returned to support him.

But once again, he was completely wrong.

Deon used both Vierenna's momentum and his own to disrupt his balance and push himself beneath her blade.

And Vierenna's own momentum did the rest—flung her past him and away, leaving him unscathed.

Old Jan's jaw slackened at the sight.

He was shocked by Deon's immense ability to adapt and learn from both his own errors and those of others.

But more importantly, he could learn even from what others did correctly—a rare talent.

'His adaptability… monstrous. But his vision needs sharpening.'

Even Vierenna paused, pleasantly surprised.

She took a moment to question her curiosity.

Though she hadn't learned much, the same could be said for Old Jan.

He yearned to see more of Deon, to see how this battle between the four would evolve.

But Vierenna thought otherwise.

She was getting serious, preparing to end the fight as quickly as possible.

'She's doing this for him.'

And she was.

At some point, Vierenna noticed the attention Deon was receiving for his performance.

She was displeased that she hadn't realized it sooner.

But how could she? She couldn't focus on a single person like spectators outside the ring.

She would end the fight quickly so that too much wouldn't be known about her baby brother.

Most of all, she did not want the Eirenios elders notice.

If they glimpsed his uncanny talent as she had in the past days, they would take him from her.

She didn't want that!

She didn't want him to ever look in their direction again.

No matter how tempting their offers might be, Vierenna wanted her baby brother far away from the family's games.

Their mother would've wanted the same.

And Vierenna would do everything in her power to make sure of that.

To protect her baby brother.

She was determined.