Chapter 164: Training before the Trial
The small clearing could be seen near the very edge of the city of Lamiar. Two figures stood there facing each other in the middle of an intense battle.
They didn’t wield any weapons. They didn’t have to; the sheer force of their physical fight alone made the ground crack and splinter beneath their feet.
A swift punch flew over toward Alen’s figure from the front, directed straight toward his face.
He side-stepped immediately, but a sharp kick was already shot toward his ribs. He didn’t get the time to dodge, so he raised his arms and blocked the kick with his bare hands.
The explosive pressure of the impact pushed him backward several meters away, but he dug his shoe into the ground and maintained his footing.
He took a cautious step back as he sensed her suddenly disappearing from his line of sight. He had already calculated her tactics. He leaned down fast, just as she instantly appeared at his back and threw a fierce punch into the empty air where his head had just been.
"Got you."
Alen grabbed her wrist, ready to flip her over and slam her onto her back. But suddenly, she twisted her body at an impossible angle in mid-air and kicked out at him with her right leg.
Alen immediately blocked the strike with his remaining free hand, but she was still not done. She twisted her momentum again to shoot a second, rapid kick which squarely hit him in the chest.
’Damn, is she made of rubber or what? How can she move her body like that?...’
Alen didn’t waste any time. mana was already surrounding his hands and feet. He immediately launched himself forward. He threw a heavy punch, forcing her to take a defensive stance, ready to block the incoming attack.
But instead of attacking her head-on, Alen slammed his glowing fist directly into the ground.
*BOOOM!*
Large chunks of earth and debris flew around them, and a thick cloud of dust quickly covered the surrounding battlefield.
Just as she lost her vision in the sudden dust-covered field, he quickly appeared through the sideways mist, intending to land a swift punch on her blind spot.
Suddenly, her hand shot out and caught his fist in mid-air. Her violet eyes shone brighter through the dust as she immediately pulled him forward, startling his movements and throwing him off balance. Without missing a beat, her free hand shot forward straight toward his stomach. It was twice as fast as before and impossible to dodge, mana coiling around her knuckles.
"Wait—I give up—!"
*CRASH!*
Before he could finish saying anything, the punch already hit squarely into his body. The force of the attack launched him back several meters away in the air, and even his physical form started to dissolve into fading blue mana.
Lyris pulled her fist back while wearing a satisfied, victorious smile on her lips. A little distance away from her, the real Alen stood their leaning on the tree.
He was clutching his own stomach as an invisible wave of pain shot across his body, hurting in the exact spot where she had just hit his other manifestation.
’Damn, it hurts! Just how much stronger is she getting to make me hurt like this through a clone!’
He looked at the empty air where his manifestation had dissolved into sparks. He realized one single truth: every power had its own unique weakness.
For his Supreme Ability, which was otherwise quite overpowered, the drawback was simple. Whenever his other manifestations got hurt, he also felt the exact same amount of pain. The longer he maintained them in a fight, the more mana he drained, and the mental pressure could easily eat him alive.
He had been training hard for the past few days to reduce that specific weakness of his. But on the other hand, Lyris was instead enjoying beating him up like a personal punching bag.
At first, she had flatly refused the idea of helping him do this, as she actively had to hurt him. But after he convinced her that she was only going to fight one of his clones—in which his own split consciousness resided, she finally agreed. As the days passed, however, she genuinely started to enjoy beating him up.
’Sigh... It seems she has also picked up a bad habit after staying alongside that sadistic little spirit...’
Alen glanced at the girl who stood there calmly smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress and wiping away non-existent sweat from her brow.
’Damn, how can she become that strong? The longer the fight goes on, the stronger and faster she becomes... Is that the true ability of her Star? What kind of insane power did she really get? It looks even more powerful than mine... Is there any weakness to her power or not? I have to find out before I get left behind...’
Alen stood up straight while looking beside him. The little spirit, Ravena, was sitting on a rock, once again eating a piece of candy.
’Where did she get that many candies from? Who gave them to her? Little candy girl...’
Alen couldn’t help but want to annoy her. He reached out, placed his hand on her head, and purposefully messed up her neat black hair.
Ravena felt annoyed at his sudden attack on her hair. She violently snapped his hand away and glared daggers at him.
"Hehe..."
He walked away, leaving the little angry girl behind as he strolled toward Lyris. Lyris, on the other hand, stood there looking down at her own hands blankly. Outwardly, she looked perfectly normal, but there was a fierce whirlwind of thoughts hidden behind her violet eyes.
She realized one terrifying thing about her Supreme Ability. Whenever it became active during her battles, she lost a part of her human emotions. As the fight dragged on, she stopped caring about the other person. She turned into a different person entirely and forgot about holding back.
She had tried to control herself, but in the end, it was turning more and more difficult to manage the primal urge to destroy.
Her apparent weakness was actually a massive strength from another person’s viewpoint. If she didn’t care about anything, she would definitely be focused purely on the battle without thinking about morals or consequences. But later, after she became normal and the real ’her’ returned to the surface, she couldn’t help but feel disturbed at her sudden change of personality. She felt like she had genuinely gone mad for a few minutes of the battle.
She shook her head as she noticed Alen walking toward her. She straightened her back and looked at him with a forced smile.
"So, how did it go, ju—hehe... I mean, Alen?"
Alen nodded, ignoring the near slip-up of him being called a junior.
"Well, it was better..."
Alen’s eyes met hers as he looked at her seriously and said, "I have a favor to ask..."
Lyris blinked. She playfully looked around the empty clearing to find out if she was really the person he was asking, then she reached out and pinched the skin on his arm just to check if what he was asking, was real.
"Ouch! What are you doing?"
Lyris finally snapped out of her joke and nodded immediately.
"Hah, well... It was unexpected... Okay, tell me what it is? I will decide later on after you tell me..."
Alen nodded, satisfied with her reasonable response, as he didn’t expect her to just blindly agree without hearing him out first.
"Well... We are going to the first trial of our Second Stage tomorrow... So I want you to teach me something..."
Lyris paused as she looked at him. This time, her playful expression vanished entirely. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at him with narrowing, calculating eyes.
"What do you want me to teach you?..."
Alen looked at her seriously and said firmly.
"You already know what I am talking about. I want to learn ’that’ skill from you..."
Lyris looked at him for a few long seconds, carefully considering his bold request, and then slowly nodded.
"Well, I will teach you... But... What would I gain by doing that? Don’t think I will teach you my secrets skills for free..."
Alen pursed his lips. He knew that everything in this world comes with a cost, and he should pay her a fair price for teaching him in order to maintain their stable relationship.
"Okay... What do you want?..."
A small, mischievous smile tugged on her lips as she answered calmly.
"I want..."