'So how do I make it out of here?'
Reeling back his attention to the fight, he calmly began to assess his options.
Although he was fairly certain that Ava was an illusionist, he wasn't sure.
But it did make the most sense.
If the attack had been a high-level feint that could move as fast as a real attack, she may as well have used a real attack. On top of that, she definitely didn't have the agility or time to shift from a roundhouse kick to an overhand, otherwise the fight wouldn't have lasted more than a few exchanges anyway.
In Valerio's eyes, the elegant princesses now looked like two monsters, and although he had known it, the fact that they truly wanted to take his life settled into his psyche Valerio.
"Look it doe—"
Just as Ava was about to try to reason with Valerio, she heard a muffled "pop." It was as if someone had opened a bottle of champagne so close to their ears that they couldn't even perceive the real loudness of the sound.
As the ringing in their ears settled, the atmospheric Lu started to coalesce towards them.
Space bent and cracked around Valerio, his bright blue eyes turning a shade darker.
Unfortunately for the twins, it was only the beginning.
A deathly wind accompanied the fractured space around Valerio, a dark blue hue enveloping him. A wave of wind and gorgeous blue particles accompanied every breath Valerio took.
He breathed in, relishing in his physique's power for the first time.
It felt like he had been deprived of oxygen ever since birth.
[Shifter's Lock] was unlocked.
1% shift.
Valerio couldn't resist his urges as he grinned, he'd never felt more alive and the best part?
His physique was nowhere near satisfied.
As soon as Valerio grinned, simultaneously, his constitution fully reformed the natural connection between him and the Void as his talent kicked in, greedily absorbing Void Lu to reach equilibrium (50%) once again.
THUMP!
A heartbeat resounded throughout the yin-yang forest.
Forceful. Overbearing. These words seemed to triumph over all others when the twins thought to describe what they heard.
The animals scoured, and the insects hid; the airborne creatures retreated into their nests.
Nature itself seemed to recline at the heartbeat of a single man.
THUMP…..THUMP….THUMP..THUMP.THUMP
Valerio didn't have any time to inspect his body as he glanced at the twins, and broke out into a sprint.
He didn't know what type of abilities they had, if they truly had illusion, had they used it to the fullest extent? Did they have trump cards or techniques they hadn't used yet?
Maybe, maybe not, but those odds were enough for Valerio to retreat, he didn't have nearly enough variance in his methods of countering or attacking to deal with such opponents, not yet.
Ava and Eve shared a rapid glance and dashed, hounding Valerio. With their first steps, the twins covered their ears with a layer of Lu, though it meant that they couldn't hear most of the noise around them, which meant they also wouldn't hear the overbearing sound of Valerio's heartbeats.
Ava and Eve both circulated their Lu to their greatest ability, but they couldn't keep up at all. Valerio's body was already stronger than most at First Plane Tier 7 due to the sheer fact that he had been born with shocking talents and had been raised in the best environment, with the greatest doctors and food.
That was, of course, with his physique sealed; however, how could a bodily talent like [Voidwoven] live up to its potential without its core Lu, Void Lu itself?
Simply put, it couldn't.
As soon as Valerio had undone [Shifter's Lock], his physique had finally started to absorb Void Lu since the first time his dad had suctioned off all of the Void Lu. The atomic vortexes in his cells whirring to life once again and drawing from the Void Plane itself. His speed was further accentuated by the fact that his physique would naturally let him exist in a balance between two planes, meaning that as his body started getting closer and closer to a 50% shift the drag on his body lessened, his speed slowly reaching double his usual.
This stemmed from the fact that the Material Realm had a specific amount of drag, whereas The Void had practically none, especially for The Augustine, none was more welcome there than them.
Thus, Valerio's total motion system only experienced less and less of the Material Realm's drag, inching closer and closer to only experiencing 50% of it as his physique progressed towards equilibrium.
Ava and Eve were forced to watch as the forest warped and distorted around the rapidly disappearing figure of Valerio, and soon enough they couldn't even spot him. The only signs left of him were the trees that were bent towards him and the atmospheric movement of Lu.
Meanwhile, Valerio didn't have anything but running in his mind; his figure turned into a blur as he felt himself reaching speeds he'd simply never experienced before.
It was a shame though, drag, running through the air, was one of his favourite feelings. His nearly half-shifted state essentially cut him off from half of the intoxication. The only saving grace was the feeling of speed he got from seeing the environment around him distort into shapes and colors as his speed increased.
He felt as if he was running clouds, his speed continuing to increase as he hit a 30% shift.
If one were to look at Valerio at his current shift percentage, they'd see a tall young adult blazing through the forest with a trail of royal blue Lu following him. His skin, eyes, and hair, along with the rest of his being, had turned 30% translucent, as if he were a ghost.
His heart felt like it wanted to beat out of his chest and his veins as if there was lava flowing through them, a power unlike anything he'd felt before was flowing into him, or rather, returning to him.
'If only raw strength could rival an illusion.'
It was only after two hundred kilometres that Valerio finally stopped running. After 5 minutes, he had already returned to a 50% shifted state between the Void and the Material Realm, his heartbeat slow, deliberate but most importantly, quiet again. Halfway through his run, he slowed to a jog and continued to distance himself from the twins.
After almost a day of travelling, Valerio had finally decided to rest.
In the middle of an enormous field was a single tree that reached the skies with large leaves that danced to the tune of the wind. The bark of this enormous tree had very few branches, the top of the tree acted as an umbrella for the sunlight.
At the bottom of this tree, a young man sat with his back against the bark.
He was resting one elbow on his knee and breathing ragged breaths, his royal black-gold robe was pristine and unblemished by the nature around him. His lustrous black hair was stuck to his face with droplets of sweat running down his face.
Alas, this scenery, truly worthy of a painting, was tainted by what looked like the essence of the man himself; the man seemed obstructed by a haze as if a brush had faded him into the world.
Of course, this young man was Valerio Augustine.
As he breathed in and out, the world seemed his will, rhythmically accommodating Valerio. In reality, it wasn't the world reacting to his will but the Void Lu he was constantly absorbing.
A voice resonated within the field, "8th Tier huh?"