The combat assessment ended in a blink of an eye.
It wasn't due to a lack of skill - Alden couldn't even react to what had happened. One moment, the Noble Guildmaster was standing there, in the middle of the barren field. The next, she was beside him, sheathing her estoc as Alden's leather armour dropped to the ground, the straps cut with a precision that stunned him.
How she had done that, he did not know.
An instinctive tremor racked Alden's frame.
He shivered, suddenly sensing the cloaked figure's sharp blade press against his neck. He froze.
The white-haired young man also noticed the staff-wielder level her weapon against him, its jewel tip ready to destroy him if even he showed the slightest hint of malice. Alden tried not to tremble at the thought of his body turning into a lump of bloody flesh, fragments of it scattered across the barren field.
He sighed.
