The main types of damage are Physical Damage, Soul Damage, and Hado Damage. [...]

Physical Damage can be inflicted by regular attacks and by certain Flair skills and buffs. Physical damage cannot bypass Armor and Damage Block, but ignore Soul Resistance.

Soul Damage are inflicted by the majority of Flair skills and Flair infusions. Soul Damage bypass Armor but not Damage Block, but is weakened by Soul Resistance.

Hado Damage can be inflicted by Hado skills. Hado Damage cannot be blocked and ignore Soul Resistance, but is also unable to penetrate Armor.

Excerpt from "Understanding Inner and Outer Energy: Flair versus Hado"

Eugene De Lavet

"What is Sei Hado?" I stare at the unfamiliar words at the bottom of the menu before turning to Melodi. She looks at me, blinking a few times, shrugging. I keep staring, but she keeps staying silent.

"So? What's Sei Hado?" I ask again.

"How should I know? Do I look like an encyclopedia to you?"

"You're the Theory girl. You should know!"

"The books said nothing about that. The only thing I can deduce is that whatever it is, it's not related to Flair."

"It's not related to Flair," says Lek. "I've seen Sei Hado in a few people, but I don't know how they unlocked it."

"What have you DONE to Kitty?" She roars in her childish voice. "How dare you hurt my Kitty and just stand there chattering like that?"

"It's best you lovebirds focus on the angry child before she throws a fit. Captain—uh, Commander Kolkov won't be here for at least another ten minutes," Alleria warns.

"We are not lovers!" Melodi throws her hand in the air.

"She's just a child," I say. "How tough can she be?"

Sure, she's more than double my level. Sure, her Flair skills are too foreign Lek can't read them. But I've trained my whole life to become the best swordsman. I'm not about to lose to a child.

I charge at her with the speed of a thousand suns, growling, "World's Most Amazing Sword Flick!"

Before my eyes, she transforms into. . . water. A literal body of water in the shape of a human. The surface of her body bobs up and down like waves. From these waves, tiny water droplets plop out of her before joining the body again.

My sword sifts through her body. No impact. No resistance. Nothing.

I turn back, bringing my sword before me in a defensive stance, but there's no counter attack. Melodi's also barged in and is keeping Aqua busy with her Soundwave Infused-weapon.

"My sword cut through her body and she's still in one piece. What's going on?" I ask Lek.

"My database is analyzing the skill; hold on. Ah, here. Molecular Rekindling, a Passive Flair. Her body recovers HP right after taking a physical attack."

"How much HP?"

"Not sure. I estimate her skill to be around Level 100. So 30% of the amount lost?"

That's a damn good passive she has. Unlike conventional skills which can be learned and mastered, Passive Flair is often innate. So she must've hit the genetical jackpot there.

"How's that different from taking 30% less damage?" I ask.

"If you one-hit her then you can knock her out before she can recover. You can't recover once your HP is 0, duh."

Melodi's able to get hits in. The little girl seems overwhelmed by her aggression, and is not able to defend nor strike back. Melodi's Soundwave Infusion turns Physical Damage into Soul Damage, so she should be able to register full blows.

Until Aqua morphs into a water ball. Melodi is eager to smash the water ball, but Alleria yells, "It's gonna explode!"

Aqua growls, "HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR FILTHY HANDS ON ME, FOOLISH MORTALS?"

Water pillars shoot at multiple directions with a speed so fast I barely dodge in time. When I turn back, Melodi's lying on the floor, struggling to get back on her feet. I look at the menu on top of Alleria's head. Melodi's just lost 5,000 HP.

That much damage from a single strike? How old is she, ten? How can she manage such damage at this age?

She's not bad! I might finally have a worthy opponent who can become as good as me one day!

Time for me to sneak up from behind. If I go in lightning fast and don't yell out my skill, I'll catch her by surprise.

I kick up bulks of sand, powering my Speeding Bullet. My blade whirls as the sand around me whirls from my sheer speed. The combined force of Speeding Bullet and Blade Twister will not only deal damage, but will make her cough blood until she collapses! Or at least cough water; I don't know.

I stab through the water ball. The bubble bursts, and Aqua turns back to her human-like shape. However, it only lasts a second. A cloud of mist shrouds over her—something I don't even know is possible in a desert—and a whirlwind with a small spearhead shoots from it a second later, aiming at me. I dodge it easily.

"Too predictable." I smirk. "You have a lot to learn—"

A giant whirlwind of water smashes onto me, sending me landing on my butt. Only when the mist dissipates do I realize that the whirlwind has two head, and the one that just hit me is significantly bigger than the other.

"You okay?" Lek asks. "You kinda fell for a cheap trick."

"My butt doesn't hurt, but my pride sure does."

Aqua's dog keeps barking and sticking its tongue out, looking at me with glee. How I hate that dog so much. I swear that little knucklehead wasn't even hurt when Melodi stepped on it. It just wants to see me suffer.

"You gonna get up or what?" Melodi pulls me on my feet as she parries the water spearhead, sending it astray.

"Did your attack do damage?" I ask.

"Not much. I thought Soul Damage would penetrate her, but my hit only dealt 3,000." That's only 60% of her attack power after Flair boost. "She must have another Passive skill."

"Nobody has two Passives."

"Nobody we've met had that thing called Sei Hado, neither."

After a while, we got used to the movement of Aqua's whirlwinds. I can dodge them, and Melodi can parry them. Our attacks don't do much damage, but at least they're better than Aqua's 0. We can chip her away. Even if we can't, we'll buy more than enough time for Azra to arrive.

Or that's what I thought.

Aqua morphs back to her human form. Her eyes glow as if they're diamonds, and I can see steam vaporizing from her body.

"You will pay for what you did!" She lets out a shrill scream.

Then, she transforms into a dragon.