I Reincarnated as a Shinai

Since Diether is using a thicker sword, his overhead strike carries more strength.

Aside from that, his Solar Sword has a natural fire affinity which can cause trouble to the Dark Elves.

Boom!

Diether poured a lot of his Spiritual Energy into that strike. It is a very simple strike but if it managed to successfully hit the target, it wouldn't matter whether they are First-Class Arcanist or Fourth-Class Arcanist. That strike can't be easily defended by one's physical body!

Clack! 

"Tsk! What's that?"

Diether's movement was extremely fast since he used his Flash Step to appear behind the huge Dark Elf. He wanted to cut him from the back but instead of hitting the Dark Elf's body, he hit something sturdy but it doesn't seem to be made of metal.

He then saw black energy forming at the spot where he hit the sword. 

"Gahaha!" The huge Dark Elf laughed seeing how ineffective his attack was. 

However, Stella had already gotten closer as she thrust her sword while targeting the Dark Elf's throat. 

It is a simple Tsuki but since the opponent is bigger than her, her thrust is in an upward motion. If she successfully hit the Dark Elf, it will directly plunge to his brain!

"Haa!"

The tip of the sword was filled with her Spiritual Energy. She didn't bother saving at all since she still has her Spectral Cloth Vambrace which has enormous Energy saved up. 

Thud!

Unfortunately, similar to what happened to Diether's attack, it was also blocked by this mysterious black energy.

However, of the two felt worried at all. They're just gauging the strength of this First-Class Dark Elf after all. 

Diether currently has three Arcana with him thanks to him being a capable Captain of his unit. He managed to receive one during his Bestowal Ceremony, another one as a reward for becoming the youngest Captain, and finally an Arcana he obtained after killing another rouge Arcanist.

This time, Diether used what seem to be a Tobacco Pipe Arcana that he received from the rouge Arcanist…

He threw it at the Dark Elf but he's not aiming to kill him…

Thud!

The dull silver tobacco pipe reached the Dark Elf who seemed to be unbothered to defend against their attacks.

He appears to be completely confident that his mysterious black energy would defend him from any attacks. 

However, Diether's Arcana attacks differently…

After it hit the forming Black Energy, it suddenly turned into smoke and covered the Dark Elf's body.

Poof!

Previously this Tobacco Pipe was used by the Rouge Arcanist to hide his identity by using its smoke to cover his body. However, it also has other use in which it could harmlessly slither around the target's body… That's right, it can't just target the user but the others as well.

Soon, Diether saw that the Dark Elf was unable to remove himself from being covered by the Smoke…

'I see… So it won't defend against non-lethal attacks… Just like what I expected.' Diether thought after realizing that the smoke was completely fine and touching the Dark Elf's body.

Apparently, this is not the first time that Diether fought against someone who has a Semi-Sentient Defensive Arcana. The flaw in this Arcana is that as long as it didn't detect any killing intent, it would be useless!

Luckily, hiding their killing intent is something that he learned from a Knight Commander when he was still at the headquarters. It's a skill that wasn't taught to everybody. Diether was just fortunate to befriend a Knight Commander who was previously working as an Assassin.

With this in mind, he immediately controlled the Arcana to return to him since it still consumes his Spiritual Energy.

"Stel! Give me twenty seconds! I have a plan!"

"Don't just give me a nickname! Anyway, I may just end it, you know!" Stella answered with a smile as she pounced at the Dark Elf.

The Dark Elf grinned seeing Stella charging at him. 

He opened his palm as if he was trying to grab and crush Stella's head. Stella didn't doubt that this brute Dark Elf is capable of doing that. 

However, she won't back down. Instead of dodging, Stella decided to activate her Full-Body Armor.

Her Awakened Spectral Cloth Vambrace is a Unique-Rank Arcana with a total of four Abilities. 

The Full-Body Armor is capable of covering her with ancient spectral clothes making her look like an angel who descended from the sky. 

Vacuum Shield allows the user to create a vacuum in a small area that can be used as a shield or depending on the Arcanist's strategy. 

Force Reflect can deflect almost any projectile whether they are made of magic or physical weapons.

Finally, Stella's Energy Bank can store 400 units of Spiritual Energy! This is her most important Awakened Skill since as far as she knows, she had never seen any Arcana with such an amazing ability. 

"Hmm?" 

At last, the Dark Elf finally felt something after seeing Stella's sudden changes. Her Sword Intent suddenly burst followed by her sword thrust.

Bam!

The tip of the sword was still blocked by the dark energy coming from the Dark Elf's body but this time, the power behind the sword was enough to force the Dark Elf to step back a couple of times!

"Haha! That's a lot better!" He suddenly felt elated seeing how Stella suddenly became strong by just changing her clothes. 

He then poured his dark energy into his gauntlet and let out a punch… Because they have about three meters distance, one would normally think that his fist wouldn't reach Stella. However, the latter felt something from that incoming fist. 

'Vaccum Shield!'

Whoosh~

The Dark Elf's dark energy attack suddenly vanished after touching the vacuum shield Stella created. 

"Oh?" He was surely surprised seeing how his attack was easily dealt with. This is the first time it happened so he was flustered for a moment.

"Hmph!"

Stella used this opportunity to attack again. This time, she wanted to deal with that energy protecting the elf's body.

Since her Arcana is defensive-type equipment, she can only trust her sword skills and Spiritual Energy to attack… 

However, there is one thing that she had learned after she participated as a member of the Broken Fang in the war between the Dukedom and the Kingdom!

It is her reward for her huge contribution during the war!

The Beast Arts!