If Only I Were the Sword Princess

Lehuai couldn't even leave behind any parting threats. His brainstem was torn apart by Yinzhi's "Heart-Rending," his head was split open by Longyuan's battleaxe, and his corpse slid off the carriage roof, smearing against the guardrails beside the high-speed rail tracks. His exit was unexpected yet completely natural. Although Lehuai's magic art "Too Late" provided a flawless defense, its flaw lay precisely in its perfection. Longyuan's teleportation had a fixed cost, and Yinzhi could freely adjust her mana expenditure, but whenever Lehuai defended, it delayed all attacks concerning him at maximum output—to the point where not even rain could touch the tips of his hair. His magic art consumed the most mana, so he had to reduce its activation frequency as much as possible, which naturally forced him to take greater risks. His margin for error was lower than the others', making him the most likely to be eliminated first. Even if it hadn't been Yinzhi's hand, it would have been Longyuan's axe. In a fight to the death at this stage, what they were gambling on was that negligible, brutal probability. Lehuai's death caused the two survivors to pause briefly, but they instantly erupted into an even fiercer battle. Longyuan's battleaxes violently smashed against the carriage roof blow after blow, while Yinzhi danced like a butterfly through the gaps between the axes. When flowers of blood occasionally burst from their bodies, neither retreated to heal; instead, they fought with increasing savagery. With only each other left as competitors, neither could bear to wait even a single second longer. Yet, there were more than two competitors. As Yinzhi slapped against a battleaxe once more to leap into midair, she suddenly unfurled her wings and shifted two inches to the side, cleanly evading a sword blade that thrust out from the void. "Little sister, you actually didn't kill the stinky man first," Yinzhi said with a laugh. "Big Sis is so angry, you know?" Feili never expected such a stealthy sneak attack would still be dodged. Even though she immediately entered Observer Mode and hid into the line space, her heart and spine were still torn open by the demons. It was as if they had long anticipated her appearance, each raising their butcher knives to strike at the little lamb's most vulnerable spots. Fortunately, she still had Yaxiu's magic art, allowing Feili to safely remain in the line space to nurse her injuries. It was just that every time she appeared, she suffered fatal wounds and was forced to expend vast amounts of mana on healing. Even though she hadn't taken part in the battle from the start, her condition was far from good. However, her time in the audience seats had come to an end. Feili clearly realized that she had to step onto this bloodiest, most brutal stage. She could certainly wait in the line space for them to determine the final victor—in fact, that outcome would arrive very soon. The problem was, even if the eventual winner barely survived covered in wounds, and even if she was fully armed and well-rested, she was still a mortal, while her opponent was a demon. Feili wasn't belittling herself, but through the painful lessons just now, she understood all too clearly the chasm between herself and the demons. As long as a demon had even a sliver of mana left, she stood no chance of winning. Merely standing before a demon meant risking her life; to kill a demon in head-on combat, she would have to pay ten or even a hundred times the price. Therefore, while two were still left, she had to exhaust their mana as much as possible. The best outcome would be one dying while the other ran dry of mana. When that time came, she could bring an end to this battle of destiny, protect the holy grail, and protect everyone. And so... Feili took a deep breath. Once her heart and spine healed, at the demons' most intense clash, she thrust her sword out of the void like a heroine leaping down from the audience onto the stage! "That's more like it! Let's deal with the most evil demon in this world together!" Yinzhi's laughter rang clear even amid the torrential rain and gale. "And then witness your big sister becoming the most beautiful existence!" The demons paid no mind to Feili's existence at all. She was too weak—so weak she was like a bubble that would vanish at a puff of wind without requiring any effort. Her magic art was similarly impractical, inferior even to Lehuai's delayed attacks; at least when Lehuai activated his magic art, he could still attack, whereas hers merely let her hide in an untouchable world while leaving her unable to alter reality. Yet in terms of caliber, Feili's Observer Mode probably surpassed all magic arts. "Infinite Teleportation" involved space, "Too Late" was tied to time, "Death God Walker" was another form of necromancy, and "Break All Arts" was a fusion of Truth and fists. Regardless, these magic arts were merely optimizations of existing miracles; once the demons returned, they could replicate them without much effort. Only Feili's Observer Mode felt utterly alien to them. If Longyuan could chalk it up to his shallow knowledge, Yinzhi couldn't even deceive herself—bearing the name of omniscience and ruling over the secret realm "Black Curtain," she ought to have known every secret since ancient times. Yet even she could not recognize what world Feili had ducked into. Just how immense a secret did a sorcerer have to hide to possess a spacetime unknown even to God-Leaders? However, Observer Mode's lofty godhood couldn't help Feili in the slightest. Even if the demons couldn't perceive her actions within the line space, the moment she intended to attack them, their God-Leader-tier intuition warned them of danger. Within the limits of power permitted by this world, there simply existed no attack that was impossible for them to react to. Feili could remain in Observer Mode to appreciate this grand performance, but if she wanted to join the fray, it was impossible for her to act like a clown and ambush the protagonists with the most stage time. Demons could be spectators or conspirators, but on the final stage, they had to don the most magnificent war robes and slaughter their way to the finale like protagonists, drawing blood with every blade! Those who couldn't fight their way out were mere supporting characters! And supporting characters could never harm protagonists. Feili's sword blade never managed to touch Yinzhi or Longyuan even once. She was too easy to read, not concealing her killing intent in the slightest, causing goosebumps on the very skin she targeted. She was naive as a penned lamb; even if she bit with all her might, she couldn't even pierce the butcher's clothes. Yinzhi's words sounded pleasant, but she showed no mercy whatsoever, her hand brushing past Feili's vitals every single time. Although Longyuan's battleaxe was ferocious, Feili could barely hold it off with her Sanctuary. Retreating into the line space once more, Feili could no longer even hold her sword steady. She slumped onto the ground, unable to stand, able only to wait for Joy Sword to repair the damage to her spine and heart. She gasped for air in heavy pants, soaking wet as though dragged from the water, her clothes drenched in rain, sweat, and her own blood. Her pearly teeth bit down hard on her lower lip. Tears mingled with rainwater as she wept silently in this deserted world. She couldn't see any hope. Even after training for so long with Yaxiu and the others, she was still too weak—too weak to even qualify to step onto the stage. Sheltered under everyone's protection before, she had felt pretty good about herself, until she had to stand on her own this time. Just moments ago, she had made such big promises in front of Yaxiu, yet she could accomplish nothing, achieve nothing. If Yaxiu hadn't left her this world, she wouldn't even have a place to cry. She had actually thought the male lead would fall in love with the heroine's bravery on a journey to save the world, yet she was clearly the weakest among everyone who loved Yaxiu. She sniffled, trying to choke back her tears, but they kept flowing uncontrollably. Curling her body up, she sobbed, "If only I were the Sword Princess..." In the lulls between her sobs, Feili suddenly heard faint, elusive murmurs of discussion— "...Truly unexpected. In my impression, the Weaver has always been bottomless scum, the quintessential sorcerer. Who knew she would actually care about personal ties?" "Striking vitals every time, yet never delivering a fatal blow—even Old Man Yuan saw through her intentions. But the Weaver doing this amounts to squandering her own mana, so he's more than happy to let it happen." "The Supreme is right before our eyes. If..." "...I object..." Feili sat up and looked around blankly, but the line space held no color other than herself, and the voices from before had vanished, as though they were merely her hallucination. Though somewhat bewildered, she figured she might have suffered brain damage, causing auditory hallucinations. Her spine and heart had already healed. She wiped away her tears, burying all her weakness and timidity deep within her heart, gritting her teeth tightly as though any slackening would let all her courage slip away. Even if it was a battlefield devoid of any hope, it was the destination she had to reach. Feili lifted her sword, preparing to head out once more, but her wrist, jarred and injured from the previous clash, had not yet healed; a sudden jolt of pain made her fingers slip. Yet right at that moment, she saw a hand catch the falling sword. Slender, fair fingers like a pianist's wrapped tightly around the hilt like steel rebar. Feili's gaze followed the distinctly veined wrist all the way up, beholding a gorgeous, dazzling combat outfit, a face cold as frost, sharp and sullen ruby eyes, and a cascade of long hair that looked as though it were dyed in blood. She pressed the sword hilt into Feili's hand, and then held Feili's hand tightly in her own.