COMBAT INITIATED

Both rushed into the sea at speeds that could be followed by none of the gathered observers. Adzorg’s spell proved completely useless, for while it managed to see at vast distances, it was incapable of slowing down the blurs that were Dallion and Harp.

“Is here good?” Dallion asked, holding his aura sword in one hand and the thread cutter in the other.

It was a strange combination, but there was a reason for this other than his desire not to use guardian items. The thread cutter was the only weapon in his possession that was capable of slicing through cloud matter and air currents. As such, there was a very real chance that it could cut through water matter as well.

“A bit further,” the nymph replied, leaving a trail of ripples on the surface.

Dallion followed behind, having cast a flight and a dozen enhancement spells on himself and his weapons. He had also made sure to cover his skin with two layers of magic threads to shield him from any magic attacks, even if he doubted Harp would use such.

“Here,” Harp said a few seconds later.

Instantly, line attacks slammed together, causing the surrounding air to crackle.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by GIACCIA.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

You have sliced GIACCIA’s attack in two.

Attack has no effect.

A double negation? Dallion thought. There would have been a time when he would have been impressed with himself. Now, he viewed things from an entirely different perspective: achieving a stalemate only meant that he wasn’t winning.

Harp burst into three hundred instances, filling up a vast area of the sea.

Dallion followed suit, performing five line strikes with each. He knew that she was weak on receiving wounds, so kept up the pressure.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by GIACCIA.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

You have sliced GIACCIA’s attack in two.

Attack has no effect.

Hundreds of rectangles popped up, reaffirming the stalemate. Dozens of spell circles formed with every strike, pouring aether shards in Harp’s area. Waves shot up hundreds of feet high, blocking all the projectiles before slamming down again with a roar.

Maintaining his level of instances, Dallion sliced through them, pushing forward for a direct attack. It was said that mages and empaths weren’t supposed to engage in one-to-one battles, especially against an enemy skilled in swordcraft. Dallion had seen the danger first hand, yet he found that preferable to losing sight of the nymph.

Rows of spears formed in the water, all flying straight at him in hundreds of instances.

Is this the feint? Dallion thought as he cast aether barriers in front and beneath him. Or is it the actual attack?

Using his guard skills, he made an attempt to complete a guard sequence, but couldn’t manage to make the final step.

Time for the big guns. He did a series of three point attacks straight forward, while causing cliffs to shoot up from the sea floor. At their current speed, they’d hit the surface within seconds. Harp, however, had something planned for the meantime.

Without warning, everything around Dallion turned green.

An attack? He looked around with half his instances. It had been a while since he had seen this awakened marker manifest, but never before had it acted this way. He had witnessed large area effects. He had even seen the potential path of destruction of a mountain colossus’s fist, yet even then there was an indication of where the attack originated. Here, it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

“Crap!” Dallion managed to say at the very last moment. Thanks to his music skills, the sounds of that single word had created the smallest of shields, countering the music attack that followed.

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FATAL WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 75%

The entire sea surface within half a mile vibrated, focusing hundreds of music attacks onto Dallion. Of all of his instances, barely a handful managed to survive, and even then at a significant cost. Jetting up into the air, Dallion tried to counter with line attacks from his thread cutter, but that did little good. Harp’s music was just too powerful. If Dallion were to survive, he had to resort to something he had only seen performed once. There was a lot of risk. If he messed it up, there was a chance he’d kill himself before Harp had a chance to. Still, it was the only way.

Holding his breath, Dallion focused all his concentration on one single point. His right hand thrust the aura sword forward. As the force of the strike was about to be released, he moved his wrist.

Spiral, he thought.

The action was painful and difficult, as if he were trying to stop a rolling boulder with his fingers alone. Yet thanks to having a body trait of over a hundred, he pushed through the pain. The tip of his sword budged, making the slightest of circles. That proved to be enough. As the point of destruction moved down, a spiral thread had broken off from it. Both slammed into the water simultaneously, breaking it up into millions of droplets and scattering them away just as fast.

SPIRAL MASTER

(+2 Body)

An oldie, but goldie, even if you learned it through a cheat. Don’t overdo it yet. There’s a lot more to come.

A two point achievement? The trait increase was insignificant, but it still brought some joy to Dallion’s heart. Receiving an achievement meant that he had learned the skill. As for the warning… he couldn’t care less.

Using the magic threads of his body, Dallion cast half a dozen healing spells onto himself. Even at his current level, it would take a while for them to heal him fully, but even a percent a second was useful in his current condition.

Attack, magic, music! Dallion held his breath again.

The second spiral attack coincided with cliffs emerging from the sea. The timing couldn’t have been better had Harp not moved from her current position.

“Didn’t think I’d see anyone use that,” she said, launching music attacks at Dallion as she spoke. “You always were a quick study once your life was on the line.”

“I learned from the best,” he replied, countering with a music attack of his own. “You were a lot more vicious, though.”

“I was a nymph then. Without my guardian limitations, you wouldn’t have gotten close.”

“Like the thunder fury?”

MINOR HEAL

Your health has been increased by 5%

“You haven’t reached the power of a thunder fury.” A massive wave emerged from the sea. One mile tall, and crashed upon Dallion.

Performing a standard point attack, Dallion immediately surrounded himself in an aether bubble. The mountain of water kept on crashing down. Its sheer volume was too large for an attack of that nature to stop it. Yet, it was more than enough to drill a hole through.

Reducing his instances to fifty, Dallion navigated the bubble through the tunnel he’d formed. For any onlooker, it would start filling up within seconds, but at his speed it felt as if he were moving through a cave of glass.

As he was moving forward, Dallion noticed a minor peculiarity. Near the end of the tunnel, for a fraction of a second, he thought he saw the water flicker.

Damn! Dallion performed a line attack shattering his own aether bubble.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by GIACCIA.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

You have sliced GIACCIA’s attack in two.

Attack has no effect.

“Just like in that awakening trial.” Harp emerged, dashing forward through the tunnel. She was holding both rapiers tightly, cutting through the water as she ran.

Past Dallion wouldn have thought nothing of it, but the present him could see the subtle attacks. The harpsisword guardian was using the water surrounding them to launch indirect music attacks. The threads were clearly noticeable thanks to his aura vision, even among all the other magic that filled the water.

Music attack! Dallion struck the walls of the tunnel as well, sending his own magic to counter.

Knowing it wouldn’t be enough, he followed up with a double spiral attack.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 5%

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 5%

A pair of red rectangles emerged. Dallion felt as if his hands were crushed. The pain quickly passed away, but the damage was significant, effectively reducing his health to a fifth. Still, unlike all the times before, a strange feeling of joy and accomplishment filled him—the knowledge that he was facing a challenge worth overcoming. There was no point complaining, no point worrying. The only way was forward using every skill and ability at his disposal.

Acrobatics, Dallion thought as he cast a new spell on the soles of his shoes.

Both sides of the water tunnel exploded as the spiral attacks tore the mountain apart. Once again, they were in the open.

Keeping his guard up, Dallion leaped off fragments of water as if they were solid. The spell granted him that ability, even if temporarily.

The nymph was in the midst of a multi-attack of point strokes, when the rock cliff of Dallion’s domain finally rose up between them. The ferocity of the attacks drilled it full of holes, but that cliff kept on rising.

Thanks, Felygn! Dallion said to himself. He knew that the mountain wasn’t capable of shielding him from the guardian’s attacks, but it obscured her view to the point that he was finally able to complete a single guard sequence. Time slowed down just enough for him to evaluate his options.

Harp had already shown that her body, mind, and reaction traits were higher than she had let him believe. What about her perception, though? In hindsight, she wasn’t able to fully take advantage of several opportunities so far. If Gleam were part of the battle, Dallion would easily be able to test out his hypothesis. As things stood, he’d have to try it out himself.

Releasing the thread splitter, Dallion drew a series of magic symbols onto himself. From what Adzorg had shown him, the best illusions were multi-layered. Only amateurs went directly for invisibility. The proper way to do it was to create an illusion of him being droplets of water, which he’d cover with three illusions of water spray, then finally start the invisibility symbols.

Chunks of rock flew in Dallion’s direction, causing three of his instances to fade away. Harp clearly had no intention of letting him rest. It was also fairly clear that the ongoing attacks were a diversion for something else—there was no way she’d allow for a sloppy attack such as this to last for so long.

Flying further down, Dallion doubled his efforts, completing a dozen illusion patterns in half a second. It was a good thing too, for barely had he done so then he spotted the markings of a new line attack from the side.

His immediate reaction was to negate it, as he had done many times in the past. Thanks to his force of will, he managed to stop himself from doing so. Already he could tell that the attack was going to miss him. Countering it would only reveal his position and break the illusion he had painstakingly placed on himself.

The top of the cliff crumbled as the line attack sliced it clean in two. Looking closely, Dallion saw the thin layer of water that had accompanied the strike.

Why didn’t you start with those? He wondered.

Even when it came to her future, Harp continued to treat him as a child. There was no guarantee that she would have won, but there was no doubt that Dallion would have been in a lot tougher position had she not gone easy on him until now. Maybe she was trying to gauge his strength, seeing just how much he had improved? If that were the case, it was time that Dallion found just where his present limits stood.