shadow slave: Avatar of Apocalypse Chapter 15 chapter 15: the speedster

The tall guy attacked without wasting any ti. His muscles bulged, threatening to tear the soft fabric of his white dobok. He advanced like an unstoppable mountain, sending a vicious kick flying.

… A second later, he was lying on the floor with a dumbstruck look on his face. Nephis didn't even change her stance.

Instructor Rock gave her a cheerful look and grinned.

"Next."

What followed could only be described as a massacre. One after another, Nephis managed to defeat almost every single Sleeper present in the dojo.

She didn't seem to be faster or stronger than them, but each ti soone entered the ring to fight her, they would inevitably end up beaten and thrown to the ground.

Sunny watched the process with a growing sense of amusent. However, at so point, even he felt a bit of unease.

Nephis moved with the calm precision of a battle machine. Her technique was clean, graceful and ruthless. No matter what type of attack was thrown at her, she was able to either predict or instantly react to it, then deflect and turn it against the attacker with the minimum amount of effort.

It didn't matter whether her opponent was poor, rich or a Legacy. Everyone would end up dealt with in a matter of seconds.

What's more, through the whole process, the composed expression on her face didn't even change once. It was like Nephis was made out of tal.

'Is… is she even human?' Sunny thought, suddenly apprehensive.

What was he going to do if this Changing Star were to end up as his enemy?

The best course of action would be to run away. Or better yet, try not to antagonize her, to begin with. After all, the sun was also a star, and shadows didn't mix well with sunlight.

Finally, Caster was the last one remaining — once again. However, he didn't seem to be perturbed by the miserable failure of every other Sleeper. With a soft smile on his lips, the young man stepped into the ring.

Caster and Nephis faced each other. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, and then Caster slightly bowed.

Instructor Rock raised his hand and let it fall.

"Begin."

"Lady Nephis. Please excuse in advance."

'What is he going to...'

… A mont later, Sunny opened his eyes in shock.

The word barely left his mouth before Caster disappeared from where he'd been standing.

There was no sound, no tell, just a sharp gust of wind that tore across the ring and made the uniforms of the front-row Sleepers snap.

Nephis didn't flinch.

She took a slow breath and shifted her weight slightly to the left, her grey eyes tracking nothing and everything at once.

A split second later, Caster's fist cut through the air where her head had been, the speed of the strike leaving three faint afterimages trailing behind his arm.

He slid to a stop at the edge of the ring, the soles of his boots smoking against the reinforced mat.

'She dodged on the first move,' he thought, his jaw tightening.

Nephis exhaled quietly.

She couldn't see him move.

No one could.

But she could feel the intent behind every attack, the way the air warped half a heartbeat before he arrived, the way the dust in the ring refused to settle.

For her, that was enough.

Caster shot forward again, this ti refusing to take a straight line.

He feinted left, right, then left again, each change of direction happening faster than the human eye could track.

To the crowd, it looked like the entire ring had been filled with a silver blur.

Nephis didn't retreat.

She stepped into it.

As Caster's knee ca up toward her ribs, she rolled her shoulder and let the strike pass a finger's width from her chest, using his own montum against him.

He spun in midair, sothing no normal body should be able to do, and whipped a backhand toward her temple.

Nephis ducked under it, and the shockwave from the missed blow blew out a light fixture ten ters above them.

Neither of them reacted to the raining glass.

Caster landed in a crouch, his eyes sharp now, and pushed off again.

'She's reading sohow.'

He started circling her, each step sounding like a small thunderclap as the mat began to fray beneath him.

Nephis pivoted slowly, staying centered, not trying to follow his blur but instead focusing on the spaces he had to occupy to actually land a hit.

He chose that mont to strike from her blind spot, a straight punch aid directly at her heart.

Nephis was already moving before he committed.

She didn't et his force head-on.

She brushed his wrist with her palm, just enough to change the angle of his attack by a few degrees.

His fist sailed past her ear, and his balance, perfect until now, was suddenly compromised.

She took the opening.

Her counter wasn't fast compared to him.

It didn't need to be.

Her elbow was already rising to et his solar plexus by the ti he arrived.

The impact was muffled, like a drum struck under a blanket, and Caster's eyes went wide as the air was forced from his lungs.

He tried to blur backward to reset the distance, but Nephis stayed with him.

She couldn't chase his speed, so she didn't try.

Instead, she went where he had to stop.

Each ti he planted his feet, she was already there, landing small, precise strikes to his thigh, his ribs, his footing.

None of the blows would end a fight on their own.

Together, they were dismantling him piece by piece.

Frustration flickered across Caster's face, and he dropped all subtlety.

The ring went white with motion.

To everyone watching, the fight had beco two empty spaces and a storm.

Nephis closed her eyes.

The noise of the crowd fell away.

All she listened to was the hum of air being torn apart.

There.

Her forearm rose.

Caster's shin crashed into it with enough force to make her teeth clack, but the block had done its job.

His weight was forward.

His back was exposed.

Nephis stepped inside his guard, hooked her foot behind his ankle, and drove her shoulder into his chest.

It was the simplest throw taught on the first day of class.

Executed with perfect timing, it was inescapable.

Caster felt the floor vanish beneath him.

He tried to twist, to turn the fall into a roll and blur away, but Nephis's grip on his collar held firm.

She took him down with her full weight behind it.

His back hit the mat hard enough to make the whole arena shudder.

For a long second, no one spoke.

Caster stared up at the ceiling lights, chest heaving.

Nephis stood over him, her silver hair barely out of place and her breathing controlled.

A sleeve of her uniform was torn, and a thin cut on her lip was bleeding from the sheer wind pressure of his attacks, but she was otherwise untouched.

She extended a hand to him.

He looked at it, then at her, and finally understood.

'She wasn't predicting my speed.'

'She was predicting how I'd use it.'

He let out a breath and took her hand.

Instructor Rock's voice broke the silence.

"Winner. Nephis."

The dojo erupted.

So Sleepers were shouting in disbelief, others in open awe.

Senrix, leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed, gave a slow, deliberate clap.

"She's always known how to end things," he murmured.

Nephis helped Caster to his feet.

"You're wasting that speed if you only think about where to hit," she said, her voice quiet but clear.

Caster pressed a hand to his ribs and gave her a lopsided smile.

"And you're wasting those eyes if you only look at where to hit."

Nephis gave a slight nod.

"Then look at what they are hitting."

Caster chuckled, shaking his head.

'Lesson learned.'

He stepped out of the ring, and Nephis turned back toward the center, her expression already distant again.

Sunny was silent for a mont before he thought after his long pause.

'Did Caster just try to regain his dignity as a man by flirting??'