Damned Healer
Chapter 217: How Proud

Chapter 217: How Proud

Lucy calmly stepped onto the martial stage. Everyone turned their attention to her. Along with Lucius, she was considered one of the weakest in the qualifiers, having only a single ring. Anyone at that level usually wouldn’t even survive one exchange against the others. It wasn’t just about being two rings behind — everyone here was a top-tier talent, treated like geniuses by their clans.

But at the same time — though it was a secret — the three biggest clans in the empire were well-informed. They all knew the twins had gone through an Ancestral Awakening.

Everyone who went through that kind of awakening... either died young in tragic ways... or became major figures. On Earth, all six Emperors who ruled the empires came from that kind of awakening.

Back in the day, those Emperors were unmatched. They fought people with two more rings than them and weren’t even that much weaker. Depending on the situation, they could even win. And that didn’t change as they grew. So no one in their right mind would underestimate the twins — especially...

That tiny girl was his little sister... an anomaly no one could measure or predict. All those things combined made everyone in the arena hold their breath for a second.

"You sure about this?" the high-ranking officer asked in a calm tone.

"Yeah," she replied dryly, "Bro can’t beat all these bastards, so we’ll do it for him."

The officer sighed and stepped back from the stage. Two seconds later, he announced:

"Begin."

The small human clenched her fists inside her gloves, making a dry snapping sound. She stared at Maverick, who didn’t move, and spat out:

"I’m a mystic class. Got only one ring. Became a Spiritual Guardian just a few months ago. Since you and your clan are so damn amazing and invincible, why don’t you attack me the same way you did before? One full-powered exchange — sound good?"

She spoke with glowing red eyes, full of mockery. Everyone instantly saw the resemblance to someone else... She mocked and taunted just like he had — but he backed it up with power. Actually, he was even nice enough to give a warning first.

Maverick gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He was staring at... a literal 14-year-old. A tiny, fragile-looking girl, disrespecting him? How the hell was he supposed to take that?

"Fine. Let’s get this over with," he growled, unleashing all his remaining power.

"Great. I’ll fight like a fighter, just like you. No tricks needed."

Everyone who heard that tensed up. Mystics were versatile and could fill any role, but they weren’t great at any one thing. She was already at a disadvantage... and she wasn’t even gonna use her strongest skill?

The sound of two fists cracking echoed out. Lucy roared, and her body lit up with red flames from her single ring.

Her green hair, tied in a long braid, swayed as she moved. She took her stance, raising her fists in front of her face.

"Hehehe... look, Dan, I taught her that," Niara murmured, excited.

The sound of the sword leaving its sheath rang out.

Maverick roared. His blessing activated, and a red battle aura flared around him. He went all in. Before, he knew what to expect from that opponent — now, facing this girl, he couldn’t afford to hold back.

He shot forward like lightning.

At that moment...

Lucy’s eyes glowed. The intense red turned into... pitch black.

All the red power from her ring twisted. A deep black emerged in its place.

The air went cold. That black light from her blessing was her greatest weapon. And that opponent, with his unusually high karma, was the perfect fuel to make it even stronger.

Maverick felt a tightness in his chest but still slashed with full force.

Lucy moved the same instant.

"Divine Black Fist!"

All the black energy focused into her fist.

*Clang!*

Lucy struck swiftly, hitting the blade — and it didn’t budge an inch.

He widened his eyes, then snarled. Hidden support artifacts inside Maverick’s outfit glowed.

Lucy smirked wickedly.

The black power in her fist slid along the blade like it was alive, wrapping around it. Instantly, all the energy from his blessing and his ring got expelled from the sword.

Maverick couldn’t do anything but try to force the blade with his own body strength. The shock of realizing that made his heart race. With a cold look, his whole body lit up with full force.

Now, the artifacts were obvious to anyone who would watch this later. All the people from his clan widened their eyes — the truth about the previous fight was now clear as day.

Lucy huffed. Her small body moved swiftly, redirecting the blade with her fists. She focused all her power into her leg...

*BANG!*

Every guy in the stands opened their eyes wide.

Darian took a deep breath. He was sure he’d seen that move before. Lucy hit him square in the lower, very sensitive region.

He opened his mouth in a scream and dropped the sword immediately. He trembled, clutched the area, and started groaning in the most pitiful way possible.

Everyone in the stands looked at the members of Red River Pact... and their faces showed total defeat. The stain on them just kept growing. Never shrinking.

Lucy muttered, "How pathetic. Everyone in that clan’s the same... But if you like playing dirty and hurting honest girls, then you better be ready. Bite down!"

She showed no mercy. Spun with a quick leg sweep.

*CRASH!*

His face took the full hit, letting out a nasty crack.

His body got lifted off the ground, flung across the stage, and landed hard, rolling like a lifeless sack of meat.

The high-ranking officer ran over, surprised.

His eyes shifted as he checked the guy’s condition... he was alive... but... his life force was totally drained.

He turned to Lucy with a serious look.

Lucy spoke with an innocent face, "He’s alive, right?"

The officer nodded and sighed. There was no way to directly accuse her for his condition. There were too many factors that could’ve caused it — including the guy himself, maybe he did something before the fight. No way to know for sure.

No one there had sensed anything weird before, so there was no proof... but he was certain it was her. Still, he didn’t care. Those people from that clan didn’t deserve a shred of kindness.

"Yeah. He’s just got a few fractures on his face..." the officer confirmed, nodding.

Right then, the vice-leader stepped onto the stage and checked the scene. "How is this even possible?!"

"Get him out of here. Now," the officer replied, clearly avoiding an argument.

The vice-leader clenched his fists and dragged Maverick away — arguing would only bring more humiliation.

Darian could only sigh. His little sister was a bit cruel. That black form of her blessing could invade an enemy’s body and burn away their life force.

The twins’ blessings had similar potential to Darian’s black and white powers, though obviously they had different ways of using them. To activate them, they consumed ring power — and depending on the enemy or the mission, the density and power of the light could grow drastically even with just a little ring energy.

The twins’ black light was like Darian’s dark power. Against anything alive or connected to something living, it was terrifying.

When she attacked, she could’ve thrown all her offensive power into one hit that would’ve broken the enemy’s weapon and guaranteed a win. Just one move — but she would’ve been drained afterward. After all, she only had one ring.

But Lucy chose to use just what she needed to humiliate that clan even more. After getting kicked by a little girl and squealing like a pig for the whole world to see... that man wouldn’t last even one more year.

He’d feel his body age and rot in despair until the end... just dying would’ve been way easier.

"How proud..." Niara whispered, eyes trembling.

Up on the stage, Lucy puffed out her chest and looked at the crowd. Her eyes locked onto the other fighter from that clan... and in that moment, the man felt a chill run down his spine.

But she turned away. Her younger brother needed to shine a little too.

Then she focused on a figure near Gwyneth — a mage from the Temple Wardens clan.

"Sorry, I don’t know your name. Mind a friendly match?"

She asked politely, and the mage nodded, relieved. Clearly, this girl wasn’t cruel without reason.

"Mage class, Horace." he replied, stepping onto the stage and accepting the challenge.

Once there, the two stared at each other from a distance. The officer quickly started the match.

"I’m still inexperienced and haven’t trained much as a mage. I’ll only use this... please give me some tips," Lucy said calmly.

Horace nodded, "Then let’s test long-range power control. That’s essential for a mage."

Lucy agreed. With a huff, a white light and a black light appeared in her hands. With a wave, both grew into one-meter spheres, and she floated them up into the air.

Horace activated his blessing. Two electric pythons about a meter and a half long emerged from his body and floated upward. He looked at Lucy, and she nodded.

They both moved their powers at the same time.

Shocks of energy lit up the sky, sparking with intense flashes.

The two of them stood still, controlling their powers with precision. Lucy really was behind him in skill. But... the black sphere was incredibly strong and suppressed the pythons with ease. There was no edge in raw power — which left everyone shocked.

Whenever one python was destroyed, another appeared. Lucy’s spheres also couldn’t hold for too long and would explode. It looked like a tie. But the mage had three rings and dozens of times more energy than her. Eventually, his win was guaranteed.

Horace tried focusing on the white sphere first, but it couldn’t be destroyed that easily. In the end, with this stalemate, Lucy was developing and learning her mage potential in real time.

...

The fight dragged on for almost an hour. Until finally, Lucy managed to shape her power into something more practical.

The white sphere became a circular shield. The black one turned into a black python.

She got inspired by Horace’s power — that form was easier to control and move around.

Everyone in the arena watched, impressed. They had all gone through the phase of not being able to control their own powers well... but it took them days, months, or even years to get efficient with it. Right in front of them, a small girl had reached a perfect form in just one hour.

"Thanks. I’ll stop here."

Lucy said lightly. Horace nodded, sighing.

At that point, he still had 80% of his energy, while Lucy had nothing left to create more spheres like those. But... even if he attacked nonstop, now she could defend and destroy his pythons easily and without wasting energy.

In just one hour, a match where he had the upper hand with three rings had turned into a crushing victory for her.

"I lost," he said calmly, and turned, stepping off the stage. At least he hadn’t burned much energy.

Lucy smiled. Two wins — she was qualified.