"Quite not as fast as now, don’t you think?" His tone was cool, edged with mockery. An eyebrow lifted in deliberate provocation.
Sylva’s green eyes slid toward him. She didn’t move or argue
"Do not take his words to heart," the voice interrupted before she could even decide whether to respond. "He is simply provoking you. The weak-minded always seek to pull others down to their level. Rise above your race, your rivals, and even your idols. Only then will you hold yourself stronger than any being."
Sylva remained silent, her focus drawing inward again.
"And understand this: you are already fast enough. Five hundred ters per second faster than the speed of sound. No human, by natural ans, could achieve such speed and remain in control. And you unlike an elental have mass, muscle, and a body vulnerable to the air’s resistance. Pushing further without balance would tear you apart."
She pouted.
"Speed is not simply about moving faster," the voice continued, patient but unyielding. "It is the perfect marriage of movent, perception, reaction, and control. You do not simply need to go fast you must carry the elents with you, as extensions of yourself change direction attack and ofcourse change directions. If even one of those aspects falters, your speed becos your enemy."
Sylva’s eyes narrowed, thoughtful despite herself.
"Flying is no different," the voice said. "A bird takes to the sky only with confidence in its wings. If those wings were liable to fail mid-flight, no bird would risk the air. Understand there are aspects of yourself that must be perfect before you trust them at higher limits."
Sylva gave an exaggerated sigh, the kind that ca from hearing a lecture for the thousandth ti. "Yes, yes. You’ve explained this countless tis." Her lips pressed together for a mont before she added, almost like a sulking child, "And didn’t he just move at almost the sa speed seconds ago? All without the help of lightning or wind?"
The voice’s reply was imdiate, firm. "At most, he reached two hundred and fifty to three hundred ters per second. That is far from your maximum. And no it was not purely physical speed."
"I still do not know the exact thod," the voice admitted. "But there are... hints. Subtle ones."
Sylva’s pouting expression faltered. "...Go on... No wait ..i know le guess you just correct "
She broke the silence first, her voice even but carrying a faint edge of satisfaction. "He only moves when tapping the ground. Always." She tilted her head slightly, watching his posture as if dissecting it in her mind. "And once he moves, he can’t change direction until his foot touches down again, wherever he planned to land. That’s his pivot point."
The voice in her head stayed silent, letting her speak.
"And this is the part I’m seventy percent sure about.. he’s using sound sohow." She lifted one hand and snapped her fingers, as if marking the thought. "Every ti, he only appears at the very end of the distance where the sound from his movent travels andis about to end and that exact point he appears. Like he’s asuring by it. Which is... weird, even for ."
Her wings shifted slightly as she hovered, eyes narrowing in thought. "Speed of sound travels sowhere in that range too, so it’s logical. But... creating a sound that precise? And knowing exactly where it will end? Even with my hearing preception which is among the best you’ll find.. I couldn’t do it that perfectly."
Then she tilted her head toward the unseen ntor. "Oh, I didn’t miss anything, right?" she asked in a deliberately casual tone, almost like a student showing off to their teacher. "Also... how’s his reaction speed so good? Even if he reaches that speed, awareness is another matter. I can tell his perception’s almost equal to mine maybe stronger. But how does his body react so perfectly? Like it’s doing exactly what he wants, every ti at that point of Speed.. I know how hard it is when i move?"
The voice finally responded. "Yes. Good. You’ve noticed most of it. As for his fast bodily reaction and precision... that cos from battle experience. And not just any true battlefield experience. His stance, his movent economy, the way he turns his head without wasting motion... I can tell he’s fought as if his life depended on it, over and over again. Armies, duels, maybe both. All physical."
A beat of silence. "If it ca down to a fight without mana, without elental power just skill" the voice’s tone was brutally honest, "he could wipe the ground with your face. Possibly the whole of your family, in one go. TOGETHER~"
Sylva’s lips twitched, part amusent and part annoyance. "...That honest, huh?"
"Painful truths are still truths," the voice said without a hint of softness.
"Well, battlefield experience isn’t surprising here," Sylva replied with a shrug. "He’s from that inbred family, after all. Every last one of them is drilled in combat far beyond what anyone else in this empire can manage. They don’t even bother training with the Imperial army because they are the strongest martial unit in the empire."
Her gaze flicked to Razeal’s eyes. "...But then again his eyes aren’t purple. So how did he use that? By what you’re telling , he shouldn’t have this level of battlefield experience with that broken ability of there’s. Not to this extent. How?"
"I don’t know that either," the voice admitted. "But he has it. Unusual, very high-level combat instinct. That much is certain."
Sylva’s tone flattened. "...Alright then. Let it be. There’s only so much experience matters when you’re fighting against absolute power."
Her eyes cooled. The air around her began to hum. "If it’s not about speed anymore..." A faint, dangerous smile curved her lips. "...then I’ll just show him what suppression really is."
The lightning cracked once more
Buzzzzzz!
And she was gone.
Razeal didn’t flinch. His hands stayed in his pockets, his expression mild. But in his eyes, there was a glint of acknowledgnt.
"Ohhh... they’re teaching her well," he murmured under his breath. "And she learns fast."
The pressure in the air shifted, the presence coming toward him feeling entirely different now. No more frantic zigzags. No more hundredfold wild swings. This attack was focused, deliberate. A predator’s strike or a child’s tantrum.
Sylva appeared before him mid-swing
but this ti, as her blade cut into the space he called his Untouchability, sothing changed.
The sword shimred.
No shifted.
In the span of a blink, the weapon in her hands beca a prism of raw, shifting power its blade carrying not just wind and lightning, but a dozen different elents, each layered at a different density, weight, and velocity. vines danced along one edge, frost traced the other, earth rippled beneath the tal, while water and fire twined together along its spine.
Each elent wasn’t just decoration they were moving differently. Every slice carried conflicting speeds, varying weights, distinct elental signatures.
Razeal’s brow ticked upward in recognition. "...Oh the famous rainbow sword of faerelith’s"
She had turned her sword into a nightmare of calculations.
His Untouchability was a matter of mathematics and prediction factoring velocity, force, and trajectory into a system that redirected incoming strikes. But now? This wasn’t one strike. This was dozens, all layered in the sa swing, each demanding its own prediction.
He could see the trick instantly. And he knew exactly what it ant. "She’s trying to fry my brain," he muttered with a dry half-smile. "And... it might actually work."
For a brief mont, his ntal formulas scrambled, trying to accommodate the chaos.
Too many variables. Too little ti too.
The sword entered his Untouchability space
and for the first ti, it didn’t simply slide harmlessly away.
Sylva felt it too. That familiar redirected slip... stopped. Cut off mid-process, like a rope snapping.
Her grin widened, a spark of triumph flashing in her eyes. Sothing between a smirk and a threat. She was so close now so sure she had him in reach that her words ca out in a low, venomous whisper, more promise than taunt.
"Got you... cute little boy. I’m going to break that cocky face of yours."
Her sword, alive with a dozen roaring elents, tore through the air toward him in a perfect killing arc. The air scread under the weight of it.
But before steel and magic could et flesh
"Shadow Defence... activated."
Razeal’s voice was soft, almost conversational. The faint curl of a smile tugged at his lips as he said it, as though he were announcing sothing trivial.
Then the floor beneath him seed to shift.
A pool of shadow spread out from his feet, perfectly still for the span of a breath before it rose, smooth and soundless, into a thin vertical wall. It looked like nothing more than an extension of the darkness at his feet, except for the subtle shimr along its edges that marked it as sothing... other.
Sylva’s brows furrowed in surprise, but her sword did not slow. "Huh...?"
The mont of confusion didn’t last. Her blade t the shadow head-on
and passed through it like a hot knife through butter.
There was no resistance, no shudder, no clash of power just the clean, effortless glide of her edge through the strange black barrier. The bisected halves of the shadow wall slid apart, already losing shape.
Of course it couldn’t hold Her strike wasn’t just fast it was packed with so many elental signatures, so much raw destructive energy, that it would take sothing absurdly reinforced to block it. And she certainly had elental advantage over it too.
He is only at... dium elental affinity. An attack with that speed and power, filled with dozens of elental forces... nothing could withstand it.
She’s probably advance proficiency in every elent she’s using, Razeal thought, watching his shadow wall being split apart.
And yet before the halves could fully fall away sothing unexpected happened.
The shadow didn’t die.
From the severed edge, the darkness rippled like liquid, flowing back together as if the cut had never happened. The black wall knit itself whole again in seconds, returning to its original, pristine shape.
I knew it, his expression giving nothing away. Nothing is to be trusted forever. Razeal thought looking at his wall getting cut off
But still looking at sword coming
He exhaled slowly, almost like he was bored, then spread the fingers of his right hand.
A deep red aura, thick as fresh blood, began to leak from his palm. It wasn’t a glow so much as a stain sothing alive, sothing heavy. The air seed to warp around it, and the ground at his feet darkened as if the color was bleeding into the world. An eerie aura apearing around. Might as well send shivers to weaker creatures
His palm opened fully.
BOOOOOOM!
And splattered~
Blood splattered in a violent burst, striking the stone with a wet fluchhh as it spread across the ground.
A shockwave tore out from Razeal’s position in every direction, a rippling wall of force that made the entire arena shudder. For a mont, even the protective barrier surrounding the areana flickered and trembled, its edges warping under the pressure.
Behind Razeal, the stone floor began to crumble. Cracks spiderwebbed out from beneath his feet, small fractures at first, then widening until entire slabs split apart and ground turned to loose gravel. The destruction spread outward like sothing alive, devouring the arena floor.
"Ohhh... quite strong, you annoying woman."
Razeal’s gaze locked onto Sylva’s, his voice steady almost amused.
Her eyes were wide, shock flooding them so openly it made her expression twitch. She could barely process what she was seeing.
He’s a monster...
Even the mysterious voice inside her mind spoke in unison with its other echoes, all three breaking their usual composure.
An actual monster.
Sylva’s thoughts blurred into disbelief. Just... how?
The question stretched in her mind as she stared at the sight in front of her.
He had taken her strike.
With one hand.
Her sword, crafted entirely from a complex weave of elental energies fast, deadly, and sharp enough to pierce the hide of an eighth-ranked beast was caught firmly in his palm. And he wasn’t straining, wasn’t staggering... just holding it there.
A deep red aura coiled around his hand, thick and heavy like liquid blood, the edges of it flickering as if it were alive. His skin was scorched, blackened in so places, with a deep gash splitting the center of his palm. Blood dripped steadily from it, falling to the ground in dark drops.
And yet he still held her blade, unflinching.
Slowly, her eyes rose to et his face.
And her breath caught.
He was grinning.
Not with madness, not with rage just that sa lazy, cocky grin he’d worn from the start.
"Ohhh, don’t be scared baby girl~," Razeal said, voice calm, almost teasing. "You see... I’ve got so strong bones."
A sharp inhale escaped her before she could stop it. "ghasp"
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears at sudden realisation. Forty thousand tis the pain at the very least and he was smiling through it.
He’s... a fucking monster.
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3.6k words
Sorry, guys, I’m late. The day before, I went shopping because I was busy doing admissions for both my brothers, and then did a bit of so shopping. When I ca back ho, I just crashed slept, because I hadn’t slept the night before... (Literally slept 12 hours woke up next day directly)
And today, I helped my little brother buy a small bike, and we also did so shopping for college clothes so that’s why I’m late.
Anyway, thank you so much, guys, really~
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