Brynhild's mind soon started drafting strategies to deal with her rival.
She wouldn't be an easy opponent, that was for sure.
As for Jarek, she was truly at a loss about how to go around defeating him.
On paper, defeating Jarek shouldn't be difficult when she took into consideration the abilities he has demonstrated so far.
But she would be a fool to think that Jarek didn't have any hidden cards left to play.
She could only hope that the upcoming matches would reveal what he is truly capable of.
After all, there is nothing more unsettling than an unknown enemy.
Coincidentally, as luck would have it, the next match just happened to be Jarek's.
"...number 34—Jarek Jensson!"
"And... number 48—Velkrith Obscurion!"
Soon, both Jarek and Velkrith appeared at the arena.
Velkrith, who had the appearance of a dark-skinned human male with two horns, stood opposite Jarek, equipped with two daggers.
Jarek also sported a weapon of his own.
But if one were to look closely, one would notice that this wasn't his usual sword.
It was much better than his Adamantium sword.
This was a rank 1 medium-grade quality sword.
In the corner of his underground chamber or anyone else's, there were many medium-grade weapons placed there for contestants to use in their matches if they choose to do so.
There were swords, spears, axes, daggers, shields, and many others.
And this was a master-grade underground chamber. What about the grandmaster and empyrean-grade ones?
The academy truly has an overabundance of resources.
'So, it's you. Jarek Jensson.' Jürgen, who sat in the audience, observed the white-haired man in the arena.
'A pretty face.' He added, commenting on Jarek's appearance. 'Let's see what you are capable of.'
Jürgen, just like Thrain, had come out to observe Jarek's match, while his people were gathering all known information about Jarek.
Meanwhile, Jarek, who was in the arena, was completely unaware that he had attracted the attention of a new enemy so soon.
His mind was fully focused on his opponent.
[
Name: Velkrith Obscurion
Age:19
Race: Demon (Shadow)
Cultivation: Master (Early)
Physique: Shroud Trace (Awakened)
]
He was indeed up against someone special this time around.
His opponent was someone who had already awakened their physique.
In fact, among all master-grade students, he was the only person to do so.
Others either don't have a physique like Brynhild and Astrid have yet to awaken theirs.
People with physiques are rare, especially those with powerful ones.
Physiques can only be awakened when one reaches a certain level.
Those involving low-tier laws like shadow are awakened at the Advanced stage, medium-tier laws at the Master stage, and high-tier laws at the Lord stage.
But even if one awakens their physique, mastering it is another issue altogether.
This is normally done when one has achieved full mastery over the law, in other words, at the peak of the ninth level of basic intent.
Velkrith still had a long way to go, but his strength could not be underestimated.
As Jarek observed him, the same applied to Velkrith, who was sizing him up.
When the match began, Jarek was the first to move, rushing towards Velkrith and slashing towards his neck.
But Velkrith stood there motionless as the sword inched closer and closer, until a dagger suddenly appeared and blocked the strike.
Jarek was surprised at not having sensed Velkrith's movements.
His hand had just appeared out of nowhere.
'Again.' But Jarek was undeterred by this and continued with his offensive, as he delivered sequences of mixed strikes in the form of slashes, thrusts, and feints.
But all of these attacks couldn't always land, being blocked or parried with ease, all while Velkrith maintained a smile of amusement.
As Jarek attacked, he continued to study this weird phenomenon, knowing it was a result of Velkrith's physique.
Even with his attacks having no effect whatsoever, Jarek didn't stop.
For a whole minute, he couldn't do anything to Velkrith, who was calmly reacting to his attacks with utmost precision.
Jarek's eyes observed Velkrith's every movement with his keen and calculative gaze, finally having put the pieces of the puzzle together.
'Shadow and time laws? Shroud Trace. So that's it.'
In the middle of slashing, he suddenly sensed danger and quickly moved backward, narrowly dodging an impossibly fast attack aimed at his neck.
Velkrith, whose attack had missed, displayed a surprised expression. "Oh? You have sharp instincts."
He was indeed impressed by Jarek's reaction.
Very few people can react to his attack.
It is almost undetectable, and yet relying on his senses, Jarek was able to react to it and dodge.
If he had not, the match would have been over if Velkrith had placed a dagger to his neck, signifying his defeat.
He had won his first match that way, his adversary utterly unable to process his attack.
'He is nearly unbeatable in close-range combat. Even Astrid might not be his match.' Jarek concluded internally after experiencing what Velkrith is capable of.
His speed is incredibly fast, and his attacks are too elusive.
He was a different kind of nightmare than Freya to close combat type fighters.
One that dominated them at their own game.
Jarek continued with his analysis. 'He is shortening the time it takes to perform any action with time laws. And then by using shadow laws to produce a concealing effect, his attacks become difficult to perceive as they travel at such high speeds. How terrifying.'
The combination of an incredibly fast and elusive attack was truly devastating.
If it were not for the fact that he practices time laws, he might not have seen through Velkrith so quickly.
But even though he had seen through him and even had the means to counter him effortlessly, he had to keep those cards close to his chest.
Now that he had verified his speculations, he decided to change his methods.
Lightning gathered at his hands, and a second later, it was fired at Velkrith.
|Heaven's Fury|
A powerful bolt of lightning rained down at Velkrith's position.
He reacted immediately by unleashing a new ability.
|Devouring Maw|
A large, eerie yet illusory mouth made up of devouring energy was formed, as it swallowed the lightning to consume it whole.
'Devouring laws?'
Unfortunately for Velkrith, his devouring ability wasn't able to absorb all of the lightning.
The strange mouth collapsed, unable to withstand the powerful attack as it still headed towards Velkrith.
Upon contact, Velkrith's body felt numb, and he felt as if his insides were being fried.
With his strong body, he endured the attack that would have turned any mortal to dust.
But in that three-second time frame, he became vulnerable, and Jarek wanted to take this chance to end the match.
His sword came slashing towards Velkrith, who couldn't react because of Jarek's lightning, which had numbed his body temporarily.
Sadly, Velkrith recovered faster than Jarek had expected, blocking his attack with his dagger before launching a counterattack.
Luckily, Jarek had anticipated this and had already moved to dodge in advance.
With this quick exchange, they were once again back to their earlier situation.
But now, both sides had a bit of understanding of the other side's capabilities.