For the first ti in more than a decade, Atticus saw the darkness far too many tis.
The last ti he had been killed this much was during his first trial, when the avatar had severed his head an incalculable number of tis.
But at least then, he had an inkling of what the avatar was doing. Now, he had no idea.
He braced himself each ti, watching the mana, watching for even the slightest displacent around him. However, every single ti, Atticus would only catch a fleeting streak… and then darkness.
His head had been severed so many tis he had already grown used to the pain. The darkness. Even so, the shift ca when he finally realized sothing important. This was a trial about controlling Solvath's power. So why the hell hadn't he been using it?
As he ca back to life once more, Atticus instantly reached deep within himself and summoned Solvath's power. The world abruptly lit up like a canvas in his mind.
He felt… everything. The countless energies in the air, drifting silently through space. Their nature. Their weight. Their power.
Suddenly, the avatar's gaze flashed. Again, Atticus saw a streak. However, this ti, sothing else slipped into his senses.
A small, almost imperceptible distortion just before him. As he focused on it, Atticus realized it was simply multiple energies harmonizing into the shape of a lethal slash.
'I see.'
Mana surged through Atticus' body as he blurred to the side, catching sight of a streak that ripped through the space where his head had been.
Another slash ca from behind, and he shifted again, evading. Then another from the side, another from above, another from below. Atticus beca a phantom, his figure blurring as he weaved through the attacks, barely slipping past each one. His thoughts never stopped moving.
'I can't keep this up.'
If this was like any of the other trials, then his purpose was clear, to defeat the avatar using whatever he was being taught. He couldn't do that if all he did was evade.
Regardless, after analyzing the attacks, Atticus quickly determined what it was.
'Still blade.'
It wasn't a new art, but the fifth katana art. Only this ti, instead of will, the avatar was using the surrounding energies to manifest it toward him. But to have such control over the energies…
Atticus' eyes flashed.
'Absolute domain.'
The sixth art wasn't the attacks themselves, but what made them possible, the dium.
The relentless attacks abruptly stopped.
'Hm?'
Atticus had already begun to frown when a sudden flash of light drew his gaze upward. His expression hardened.
The avatar had suddenly appeared in the sky, his katana blurring into an endless cascade of slashes that seed to swallow the heavens.
The avatar's gaze flashed, and it all ca crashing down.
"Endless blade."
Atticus vanished into an incalculable number of afterimages. Slashes erupted all around him, colliding with the descending barrage in a continuous storm of booming force that engulfed the area in a thick haze.
In the middle of the chaos, Atticus moved like a machine, slashing, slashing, and slashing. Yet the attacks were relentless, seemingly endless. Even after several seconds, there was no sign of them stopping.
'Not just that.'
Atticus' gaze sharpened as one slash passed straight through his blade. He twisted at the last instant, narrowly avoiding it from severing his body. As he t another, it detonated on contact, the explosion blasting him backward.
Atticus gritted his teeth and spun, flowing with the motion as his katana blurred, intercepting the slashes rushing toward him.
His mind churned.
'They're all different.'
The slashes… each one was ford from a different energy. One detonated on contact. Another slipped through matter as though it didn't exist. One carried a crushing weight, like a mountain pressing down.
The only reason he was still holding on was because Solvath's power allowed him to perceive each one's essence before it struck.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, a presence surfaced behind him, and he whirled around. The avatar stood there, slowly sliding his katana into its sheath.
"What—"
His world went dark.
…
Atticus slowly rose. He had died too many tis to be surprised by it anymore.
He fixed his gaze on the avatar, now standing kiloters away in the sa position as before.
'He used one of the energies to appear behind .'
The energies were endless, each carrying its own properties and effects. He had been relying on mana to enhance himself, but it was only a single facet of what truly existed.
'Absolute domain.'
With the avatar watching, Atticus slowly shut his eyes. His world sank into a muted silence. He extended his perception outward, and once more, the world unfolded like a canvas, the nature of every energy imprinting itself into his mind.
Atticus held onto that sensation, the quiet submission of the energies beneath his presence, the faint reverence in their flow, the overwhelming sense of absolute dominion.
His eyes snapped open.
"Absolute Domain."
His gaze flared with a blinding purple light. A surge of violet energy wrapped around him, forming a dense trench coat that drifted as though stirred by an unseen wind.
Atticus exhaled, his fists tightening. He could feel it. It wasn't just mana responding to him anymore, but every single energy in existence.
He lifted his gaze. Ahead, a wide grin had spread across the avatar's face.
A long mont of silence passed as they held each other's gaze. Then… two streaks.
Atticus blurred to the side as a lethal slash tore past him. Ahead, the avatar had also shifted aside, evading the slash Atticus had sent.
Their gazes collided mid-air, the world fading into nothingness. Then, they moved, erasing the kiloter-wide distance between them in an instant, crashing into each other in a barrage of dull, thunderous booms.
The avatar moved like a current weaving through uneven terrain, unpredictable. One mont he was a blur of speed, the next he flickered like fla. He was one with his blade, unleashing an endless rain of lethal strikes.
But Atticus was no different. Countless energies surged through his body in rapid succession. One mont, he slipped through every attack. The next, his strikes carried the crushing weight of mountains. His katana moved like an extension of his will, eting each of the avatar's attacks head-on.
Explosions tore through the desert. Endless sand dunes collapsed, and kiloters-wide craters were carved into the land.
They shot into the sky in a streak of light. The avatar's blade slipped through Atticus' guard and flashed toward his neck. Atticus' gaze sharpened. A surge of spatial energy flooded his body, and he vanished, reappearing behind the avatar in an instant. A heavy force coursed through him next, and his blade ca down with the weight of the world.
The avatar suddenly turned translucent, the strike passing through him as though he didn't exist. Before Atticus could follow through, the avatar shot backward.
A wide grin stretched across his face as he sheathed his katana and settled into a stance. Almost instantly, the energy around him began to tremble.
Atticus narrowed his eyes.
He watched as the surrounding energies surged toward the avatar, flooding him in a cascade of flickering light. His presence swelled… denser, heavier.
'He's harmonizing the energies.'
Atticus' gaze turned cold as he sheathed his katana and stepped into a stance of his own. The avatar wasn't the only one capable of that.
He reached outward, sorting through the countless energies around him. Then, they surged toward him, an overwhelming tide of power roaring through his body.
At a glance, the avatar had chosen to amplify his strength. So instead, Atticus chose sothing else entirely.
Speed.
In an instant, his body grew so light it felt as though even still air could carry him away.
His gaze t the avatar's, and everything else fell away. Then, their voices rang out in unison.
"Godspeed grace."
Whoosh.
Atticus sheathed his katana, then exhaled. As the harmonized energy dispersed from his body, he felt his weight settle back to normal.
He turned, fixing his gaze on the avatar, who still held his katana in a stance. His eyes narrowed as a faint line slowly began to spread across the avatar's neck.
He watched as the head slid cleanly from the severed neck. It spun as it plumted from the sky, yet the avatar's gaze remained locked onto him.
That sa wide smile lingered on his face as he spoke.
"Good."
"…"
"Whew."
As the head disappeared into the thick haze blanketing the terrain, Atticus released a deep breath. Though he was practically immortal in this world, a wave of ntal fatigue still washed over him.
'What now?'
As the thought ford, the world suddenly receded around him, and darkness swallowed everything.
Atticus' eyes snapped open, landing on the bloodied Whisker, staring at him with a wide grin.
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