CLEAVER OF SIN - Chapter 272

Chapter 272: Bait [Bonus Chapter]
Darissa felt the air shatter before Instructor Jane even moved. Although they had all been explicitly instructed not to use any form of ability beyond basic physical reinforcement and martial proficiency, Darissa could still sense the disturbance in the atmosphere, the faint ripple of motion that defied logic. As Jane’s blade tore forward toward her arm, Darissa didn’t even consider parrying. She knew, with chilling certainty, that Jane had just elevated her speed and strength to a level comparable to the Academy’s top ten ranked prodigies.

She instantly shifted to the right, her figure blurring like a streak of silver wind as though she had anticipated the attack long before it began. But she didn’t just evade, she retaliated with precision. Her sword flashed upward from below in a diagonal arc, her strike aimed not to merely clash but to sever, intending to take Jane’s arm clean off its shoulder in one ruthless motion.

Jane, realizing she wouldn’t be able to fully withdraw within the minuscule window of time, didn’t attempt a full retreat. Instead, she twisted her wrist and palm, rotating her saber with a fluid elegance that bordered on artistry. In one seamless motion, she intercepted the incoming blade. The clash rang out like thunder, a violent explosion of sparks bursting from the point of collision. Darissa didn’t hesitate even for a heartbeat, she pushed off the ground and blurred backward, widening the distance with cold discipline.

In the span of that breath, William erased the space between himself and Jane. His claymore descended like the claw of an enraged beast from behind, heavy, merciless, and savage. But Jane, as though she had eyes in the back of her head, sidestepped without even acknowledging him with a glance.

The claymore tore through empty air where she had been a fraction of a second ago, the wind howling in protest. Without pausing, Jane’s saber mirrored Darissa’s earlier trajectory, cleaving upward in a diagonal slash with terrifying precision.

William sensed death approaching and moved to dodge, but it was too late. The upward strike had only been a feint. Jane recalibrated mid-motion with frightening ease, adjusting her blade’s direction like a serpent altering its strike. Her saber carved into William’s flesh as effortlessly as a hot blade through silk. With a heavy thud, he collapsed face-first onto the mountain’s cold stone, his limbs falling slack like a puppet whose strings had been severed.

Jane’s black eyes swept over the remaining students. She didn’t speak. She didn’t beckon. She simply stood, her posture composed and absolute, like a divine executioner looking down upon mortals who had dared, no, entertained the mere thought, of standing before her.

Vaelric and Vaelra exchanged a single glance. In that heartbeat, something unspoken passed between them, strategy layered in years of silent combat synergy. Without warning, both vanished from their position, the earth beneath their feet fracturing under the explosive force of their movement.

They were upon Jane in an instant. Vaelra’s first dagger streaked toward Jane’s throat with surgical precision, while her second dagger was aimed directly at Jane’s heart, a perfectly coordinated kill pattern. From the flank, Vaelric’s scythe swung low, his aim to sever both of her knees in one ruthless sweep.

Jane remained unnervingly calm. She stepped backward with minimal motion, and Vaelra’s twin daggers met nothing but thin air. Her saber then dropped low, intercepting Vaelric’s scythe with a single precise sweep.

The impact thundered outward, a shockwave pulsing through the terrain. Jane shifted seamlessly from defense to offense in the same breath. She pushed Vaelric’s scythe aside, then pivoted, her saber slicing toward Vaelra at breakneck speed.

Vaelra did not panic. She twisted, pushing her speed to its very peak, her muscles coiling like a drawn bow. But as steel neared steel, Jane’s rhythm shifted, adjusting in perfect harmony with Vaelra’s movement, as though she were reading her in real time.

‘A feint.’ Vaelra’s eyes widened in silent realization. She moved to counter, but she was already too late. With a single circular sweep, Jane disarmed her completely. The twin daggers spun through the air like silver stars. Vaelra attempted to retreat, but Jane had already read the motion. Without even looking strained, she struck Vaelra’s nape with the hilt of her saber.

As Vaelra’s body lost strength, Jane raised her left hand with immaculate timing, catching the airborne daggers between her fingers as though plucking them from time itself. Without hesitation, she flicked them both simultaneously, one dagger hurtling toward Vaelric, the other toward Caelan.

Both scythe users reacted with identical motion, raising their weapons in perfect mirrored defense. And that, just that, was what Jane waited for.

Her body tore forward like a launched spear, silent yet unstoppable.

Vaelric realized in that instant, too late, that he had walked into a trap. He abandoned his attempt to intercept the dagger, raising his scythe to block the true threat. His blade moved to intercept the incoming saber with perfect form, but once again, Jane’s figure blurred into an afterimage.

She reappeared beside the spinning dagger that had nearly grazed Vaelra’s skin only moments before. Snatching it midair by the handle, she twisted, moving with viper-like lethality.

Vaelric clicked his tongue in cold fury. He had been baited twice, and he had fallen for both.

A series of slashes erupted in rapid succession, so fast the human eye could barely process it. The sound of flesh tearing echoed across the mountainside, blood spraying across the ground in an arc of crimson before Vaelric collapsed face-first, just like the rest.

Caelan Stormveil deflected the dagger aimed at him, spinning his scythe with impressive control. His red eyes snapped forward just in time to see Jane already before him, having erased the distance in an instant.

He didn’t hesitate. His scythe roared forward like death’s own crescent blade, but Jane met it without even a flicker of concern. Her saber intercepted the curve of the scythe before sliding down its spine, slipping into the tang with swift ease. With a single pull, she disarmed Caelan in one sharp motion, ripping the weapon from his grasp as though it were nothing.

Caelan’s lips twitched in bitter acceptance. All he saw was a blur of steel, and then pain detonated through him. His body hit the ground face-first, falling into the growing graveyard of defeated pride.

Jane’s obsidian eyes shifted, leaving behind the barely conscious noble without a second thought. Her gaze landed on the final student still standing, the Tenth Sun, Asher Wargrave.

But before the moment could settle, before tension could breathe;

A rapier lunged forward, thrusting toward her throat with inhuman speed and lethal intent.