My senses adjusted, making up for the loss of sight. I was becoming sensitive to the slightest of noises, and to the slightest vibrations of the surfaces that I touched. From the faint rustling and whoosh of the moving air to the silent, light steps of a person. But even that had its limitations. I couldn’t sense anything from far away.

  Not like I had a third eye or a sixth sense or something.

  My opponent had also become wary of me. His illusion was based on sight, but now that I wasn’t using my eyes, his illusion magic was pretty much useless. I imagined he was no longer using it.

  I sensed him coming from my side, and I stepped back as I faced him. I heard his weapon thrust, so I swiftly extended my dagger forward, parrying his attack. Moving forward, I swung my other dagger at him a few times, but given that I was hitting nothing, and with footsteps all over, he must have been dodging.

  I blocked one attack, and before he could follow up, I kicked my foot upward, hitting him in the jaw. The moment my leg returned to the ground, I swiftly spun and kicked him. I hit hard flesh — he must have used his arm to block. I swiftly backed away just in time to evade his dagger.

  However, as I withdrew, my back suddenly hit a wall. I clicked my tongue. This was why I hated being blind. Frantically, I moved to the side just as I felt an impact on the wall beside me.

  Holy shit, that was close.

  I turned towards the enemy as I kept one hand on the surface of the wall, so as not to lose my way. I held out my dagger, blocking his attacks. Before I could get cornered somehow, I propelled myself away sideways, and at the same time, swung my daggers in the air, sending a slash of light at the enemy.

  My magic hit nothing but the wall.

  I sensed projectiles coming my way, so I swiftly dashed to the side, evading them. Although a projectile grazed my magical barrier. That was completely fine. Another set of projectiles came my way, and I ran forward with a downslide; the projectiles went past above me.

  After continuing to go forward, I held out my hand, touching a wall. I made my way to the other side to hide and take cover.

  So he decided to attack me from a distance.

  However, even his throwables would be limited. That being said, navigating was a bit difficult. Suddenly hitting a wall was a no-no. And because of that, I had an idea. Exuding mana all over my body, I conjured and manipulated the wind to faintly swirl around me. I would know if there was something hard next to me when the wind was disrupted; I could feel it on my skin and the shift of the wind. Just like how the air scattered as it hit the wall behind me.

  I heard a faint sound above me, and so I quickly moved away, just in time before the enemy landed violently on where I had been. At the same time as he landed, I swiftly threw my stringed dagger at him. Judging from the current position of the string, I stabbed him somewhere. I triggered the magical slashes imbued in the dagger. However, at the same time, I felt a tug on the string. He must have pulled it out before the slashes could erupt and do fatal damage. Dammit.

  There was a faint groan, so I must have hurt him somewhere good. As I withdrew the dagger, I heard him running away.

  I’m not giving you time to heal.

  I chased after him. As I did, my wind made contact with obstacles on the path. The moment I felt it, I moved to the side, then jumped over another obstacle. Wow, I never could have done this without magic. I might have to manually touch everything and take it slow. Gotta love magic sometimes.

  He turned, and I followed. I sensed the wind got disrupted at the edges slightly, implying that I must be getting through a small pathway. It was then I sensed an attack coming my way, like slashes slicing through air.

  Lightning crackled in my hand, and I shot it through the incoming magical attack. And it would seem I was successful. I was hoping to hit him as well, but I heard a faint creak from above, and faint taps that kept ascending.

  He’s climbing!

  I climbed up, scaling the wall to quickly chase after him. I must not give him even the briefest time of relief. I used the wind and the sense of touch to determine where to cling on — there were plenty of edges. Although the wind had really made things easier and faster for me. Immediately, I reached the top of the roof, and at the same time, he came up and attacked me. I blocked his attack and then swiftly dashed away, and threw my daggers at him. I heard a single metallic clang, and I quickly withdrew my daggers.

  Before he got a chance to rush at me, I charged at him. He attacked me at the same time. We blocked each other’s attacks.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “How are you doing this?” he asked, sounding dumbfounded. “I have trained my senses to their peak, and yet right now, you surpass me.”

  I smiled ever so slightly. “We have ?different upbringings. I was honed through utter suffering and hopelessness.” Legit. It was so agonizing to be a child and have your vision taken away. How many times I cried. It might have been worse than being electrocuted in a chair. “That is something you cannot understand.”

  “When I win, I will try to learn your technique. To fight without sight.”

  “You’ll never get the chance.”

  ***

  Seiji found it absurd at first at what she had done to herself in this fight to the death. He found it confusing that she would just cover her eyes; they were an essential part of any living being and to a fighter. She was basically ailing herself. However, if she did it, then it must have been something that she hoped would give her an advantage.

  He had faced her enough to realize that she was someone truly dangerous and serious. That was why, despite the absurdity, he remained completely cautious of this new technique she was showing. And his decision was correct. The moment one of her senses was covered, she started acting a bit differently, faster in her reactions.

  At first, he noticed she was moving a bit slower because of fatigue — which was a surprise; she got tired faster than he had expected. Being a skilled and excellent fighter, she should have a good amount of stamina. But the moment she covered her eyes, it almost seemed like her senses sharpened. The more he fought her, the more certain he was about the change in her.

  Her sight may have been removed, but her other senses definitely sharpened. Seiji was aware that if one was blind, the other senses would get enhanced. But that was for those who were actually blind, and even those who had been blind for most of their lives. Covering one’s eyes with a blindfold just wasn’t enough. However, how was it that this girl managed to do it?

  There were still limitations to her movements, especially in navigation of where she was going. However, when it came to attacks, she had no holes; no attacks would get through her. He tried shooting from a distance, but she would dodge and destroy his projectiles. Even surprise attacks wouldn’t work on her. In direct combat, she just became more effective.

  He never thought something like this was ever possible. It was like he was not fighting someone blind at all.

  He had to reorganize his thoughts, and he tried different things. As he retreated to heal his wounded left arm and the minor wound on his other arm that he had suffered first, she gave chase. She was not letting him heal. He tried climbing up the roof, but surprisingly, she navigated to the rooftop very well.

  As healing his wounds would be a bit impossible at the moment, he decided to go on the offensive. With the stab wound on his left arm, he had to admit, it affected his ability to move his arm. But he just had to endure it.

  One thing he noticed about the girl was that she was proud of her abilities. Although he found it particularly strange that she seemed to dislike how she got them. She seemed to express that she suffered through it. Furthermore, he had a sense that she looked down on him, it felt like she had a dislike for ninjas overall. If she disliked ninjas, then what was she exactly?

  But that question didn’t matter.

  It was shameful that a young person was getting the better of him. Seiji had trained through hell his entire life. He faced monsters, sneaking around them just to train his ability to do stealth. He navigated through the dark caves to train his senses. He went through hell to become powerful. And that in itself took many years. At this girl’s age, he was never this strong.

  She was an enigma. An anomaly.

  But he had to defeat her.

  She moved in to strike. Seiji thrust his weapon, which she parried off before thrusting her own blade. As they exchanged deadly attacks, ?Seiji frowned. She switched her focus to stabbing. He swiftly dodged and kicked his leg sideways. The girl lifted her arm and blocked it — or, to be precise, it was blocked by the barrier on her arm.

  She spun forward and landed a cut on his right wrist.

  Why couldn’t I hit her at all?

  As he backed away, they ran through rooftops with incredible speed and silence. Nothing but the sparks of their grinding weapons marked their presence. He wanted to use his illusion magic, but it was just completely useless against this blind opponent.

  As she chased from behind, Seiji abruptly came to a stop and thrust his weapon at her. She ducked backward as she slid forward, and at the same time slashed his right waist, barely evading his blade. He ignored the pain and continued his assault, delivering another strike at her. She blocked his attack with her barrier as she crouched and thrust her blade forward. Seiji shifted his body backward before the blade hit him and then swung his weapon in the air, sending a short slash of light.

  It crashed against the barrier around her arm, breaking it. It was a chance for him to land a direct hit on her. He dashed towards her, and she dashed towards him as well. The moment they got close, a flash of bright light suddenly lit up from her finger, blinding him.

  Seiji’s face contorted. She had done the same trick before. He expected she would do it anytime, but there was no way he could predict when exactly. However, she barely used the blinding light, as if she was waiting for the perfect moment to use it.

  She timed it at the moment that Seiji was determined to land a direct hit on her, catching him off guard. Still, Seiji knew her trajectory, and he kept going, despite how disorienting that trick was.

  But because of that, the girl dodged his attack, and she spun, moving behind him. As she spun, she let go of the blades attached to magical strings, with a length of about one meter, and swung them towards the back of his legs. She only got to slash one leg, but such damage was already enough to slow him down.

  How frustrating.

  Seiji stood up and continued fighting.

  As the battle went on, Seiji’s movement slowed down, with bleeding on his leg and body. The girl landed more attacks on him. Eventually, she severed his left arm, his less dominant hand. But perhaps that was why she aimed for it in the first place.

  They continued fighting, but the girl was dominating. She struck his legs again, damaged his chest, slashed his forearm. She stabbed his thigh and twisted the blade within before pulling it out. Then she slashed his back.

  At that point, Seiji was certain of his defeat.

  He collapsed to the ground, heaving his breath, bleeding hard.

  A blade then pointed right at his eyes. He looked up, seeing the girl grinning. It was a different kind of grin he had seen from her before. It was like she found joy in it.