Vanessa followed her charge with a roar, soon after an inferno-colored thunder gathered around her blade, which she brought down in a brutal swing.
The middle-aged man, his name Holi, one of the four elders of the family, swept her attack aside with a brush of his hand.
The Valkyrie staggered sideways while the elder, planting his foot firmly into the ground, attacked her with a swift palm strike.
Vanessa, unwilling to fall, twisted her body, the tip of her blade raving through the ground and meeting his attack head-on.
There was a flicker of black and white followed by a dull impact as the two unstoppable forces were launched back by the results of their clash.
Vanessa, tearing through the building at breakneck speed, spun mid-flight and stabbed her greatsword into the ground, halting her motion. But Holi was faster. Having pivoted off the wall, he propelled himself at her while she recoiled, his right palm pulled back for an explosive release.
Vanessa, relieving her hands from the greatsword, fell back, her blade and the ground she once stood on pulverized by the sheer volume of force Holi's palms carried.
Holi, now on the ground, pursued her with the intent to finish this, but Vanessa was a feisty opponent.
Retrieving two daggers hidden behind her, she swung both at the approaching elder, who, exercising impressive footwork, weaved through her fierce strikes and folded his fists into a bundle.
He then whipped his right hand forward, sending a swift jab at Vanessa's shoulder.
The Valkyrie, quick to react, tossed one of her daggers into the air. As it spun, she caught Holi's fist.
The impact caused her gauntlets to crumble, but all in all, her fists were left unscathed.
Holi was impressed, a nostalgic look in his eyes as he remembered a time where this child before him couldn't even last a minute against him.
[Fuji Style: Whirlwind.]
Unfolding his fist, he channeled aura into it and twisted his palms.
A subtle ripple vibrated through Vanessa's body and an invisible force tossed her into the air.
Holi, letting go of her hands, pushed his feet apart and prepared to unleash a barrage of punches—only to falter when Vanessa, using the momentum of her sudden launch, spun and kicked the hilt of the dagger she had once tossed into the air.
It blitzed through the air like a bullet, leading the old man to disrupt his stance and sway to the side to dodge.
"She baited me," he thought, only for his body to be eclipsed by a shadow that rained down on him with a dazzling axe kick.
Moving his hands above his head to guard, his bones groaned from the pressure as Vanessa further hammered home her attack.
Crevices spread across the ground and he gritted his teeth before forcing the Valkyrie back.
Vanessa, carried back by the force, performed a somersault and landed flawlessly a fair distance from Holi, who stared hopelessly at his slightly bruised arms.
"You really have grown!"
At first, he didn't want to compliment her, especially after the massacre she had just committed, but he could not deny it now.
The girl known as Vanessa Bladeheart was a monster of a talent.
The very fact that she, an A warrior, had harmed him, an S ranked aura user, couldn't be denied.
"I am my father's daughter, after all."
Sending her remaining dagger back into the sheath behind her waist, she responded casually, her raging aura concentrated on her fist.
"Holi... among all the elders, you are like a father to me... to us. You must understand why I have to kill Uncle Kain... kill that snake before he bites back."
"....." Holi, his gaze softening, remained silent and allowed her to continue.
"That bastard dared to harm my family. He sent assassins just to kill a child. He's a demon even more than the ones I face on the battlefield. Hence, I can't allow him to live. I have to kill him, so stand aside or be crushed. It is as simple as that."
The news of the attempted assassination had definitely reached his ears days ago, and while he was confident the one who orchestrated the incident was indeed Kain...
"I can't allow the child!"
Golden aura rinsed across his arms, thinning and coiling around them like two serpents, each baring their fangs at her.
"It is your words against his. Until evidence is—"
His words were interrupted when Vanessa, fed up, ignited her feet with aura and bolted at him with lightning speed.
A punch tearing through the barriers of sound advanced towards Holi, who redirected it with fluid precision, like a dancer, and followed with a swift and delicate footwork, breaking past Vanessa's guard and releasing a palm strike deep into her gut.
The back of her armor was blasted off and Vanessa, coughing up a mouthful of blood, staggered back, clutching her stomach with bloodshot eyes.
"An A rank can never defeat an S rank. No matter how exceptional you are or whoever your father is, you can't go against such rules. They are engraved in the very fundamental laws of this universe, and as long as you inhabit said universe, you will abide by its rules."
Vanessa, dropping to her knees helplessly, stared at her humiliated reflection in the pool of blood before her.
It reflected her reality, a fact she was unwilling to accept.
She had left home in hopes of killing Kain, but if she couldn't even defeat Holi, how was she supposed to kill that man?
"Fuck...."
Her teeth clenched and she looked up at Holi with a look of defiance burning deep within her eyes.
"My family... he'll fucking killed them!" she screamed and forced herself up. Tears ranning down her face as she struggled to stand.
Holi remained unbothered and brought his arms behind him.
"So be it then. After all, the strongest decide our fate. Just as you killed the elite warriors of your clan because you were strongest, so too must you accept death from a higher being."
Of course, Holi would never allow such a thing to happen, but he needed to let Vanessa know her place. And yet...
"So will I be justified in killing you now?"
There against his throat was a sword—one he hadn't noticed until it was too late. And there was also the wielder of the sword, standing behind him and posing such a question to him.