Lyra and Kaelen stood facing each other across the hall.Lyra gripped her staff lightly, steadying her breath.Kaelen simply rested his hand near his sheathed sword, his expression calm.
Without warning—
Shing.
He activated his [Eyes of Eternal Dragon] , irises sharpening like ancient gemstones. Lyra exhaled once… then her body burst into motes of light.
A streak of radiance zig-zagged across the arena—far faster than Kaelen could physically track—until it reappeared right behind him.
Fast.
He only saw the tail end of the light trail before Lyra's upward strike came.A spear-tip of compressed light formed at her staff's head as she swung upward.Kaelen bent back just enough; the attack sliced past his nose, humming sharply.He countered with a quick unsheathing strike, twisting his blade to hit her with the flat end of his sword—but her body dispersed into light particles once more, vanishing upward.
Kaelen looked up.Lyra was already on the ceiling, a massive radiant sphere forming above her head.
"Light Burst — Radiant Spiral." she chanted the spells name as the collapsing spheres of light rained down on him.
FWIP—FWIP—FWIP!
Draconic wings burst from Kaelen's back, and he weaved through the descending spirals like a silver comet. He reached Lyra and delivered a roundhouse kick ,but she had already cast a barrier. It shattered, but the force still sent her crashing into the wall.Kaelen shot forward but before he got close a massive magic circle bloomed in front of lyra targeting him, layers upon layers, with Lyra smirking behind it.Then a dozen light-clones suddenly formed around Kaelen.He froze for a half heartbeat.
"Light clones? At this level? What skill is this—?!." he pondered
Founder's calm voice echoed.
"This is a Unique Skill requiring a Light Spirit's support. I cannot copy that one. The other one, however…"
Kaelen clicked his tongue.
"I see… too late to think about it now."
Every clone raised its staff. A sphere of overlapping magic circles formed around him and then a beam fired.Kaelen barely dodged it , but the rest fired immediately after, turning the sphere into a storm of annihilating light.Just one beam remained unfired, just then-
"Unique Skill: Photon Shift has been copied." founder's voice echoed in his mind.
Kaelen instinctively activated it. His body became a streak of silver light, escaping the last beam by a hair.
When the barrage ended, the clones dissolved into particles. Lyra looked at the empty center of the sphere.
"Did… did I get him?"
A cold touch pressed against her neck.Kaelen's voice drifted behind her.
"Well, if I hadn't copied your skill at the last second… you might've."
He sheathed his sword and stepped back.
"That was close. Way closer than it should've been. Nice job, sis."
Lyra sighed in half-relief, half-annoyance.
"How did you even copy my skill?"
"It's a property of my first skill. I just need the information first."
Lyra squinted at him. "That's cheating."
Kaelen shrugged. "I can't copy your clone skill. It needs a Light Spirit."
Lyra pouted dramatically. "Wowwww, so sad. It's only every other type of skill that you can copy. How tragic~."
Kaelen stifled a laugh. "So what's the name of your new one?"
"Oh it's called Lightborne Phantasm. You saw what it does."
"Pretty cool. If you use it properly, your combat potential skyrockets."
"Yay yay, whatever," she grumbled.
Kaelen turned to Allaric. "Hey, big bro. Want to spar?"
Allaric stood and dusted himself off. He drew his sword. Kaelen unsheathed his own, taking a stance. Then
CLANG—CLANG—CLANG!
Their swords blurred into a metallic dance.Allaric enhanced his body and blade with magicules, pushing his speed higher.Kaelen, even without enhancements, kept up blow for blow.
"He's not reinforcing himself…"
Allaric noted.
"Makes sense if he evolved from human."
Blue flames suddenly ignited along Allaric's hand. He hurled them at Kaelen , Kaelen sliced through them and Allaric's kick slammed into Kaelen's abdomen, sending him skidding back. A massive blue fireball spiraled toward Kaelen. He sidestepped calmly. Then
SHIIING—!
Kaelen's body turned into shining particles, and he reappeared behind Allaric in an instant, kicking him squarely in the stomach. Allaric exhaled sharply but retaliated by coating his sword in blue flames. His slash expanded into a towering fire wave rushing at Kaelen.
Kaelen twisted his sword, pouring magicules into it but instead of swirling, they condensed, collapsing inward until his blade glowed with a silver-blue_luster. He raised the blade overhead.
"Mugetsu." He spoke in a low tone
The sword dimmed and the condensed magicules shot forward as a razor-thin slash of light. It tore through the wall of blue flame. Lyra and Kaelen both felt the danger for allaric.
Lyra threw up a barrier. Kaelen added three more, layering them.
BOOOOOM—!
A silver flash filled the hall. When the light faded, the last barrier was barely intact. The wall behind Allaric had been split open. The floor beneath him was cracked clean in half. Allaric let out a dry laugh. "You really need to learn how to hold back."
Kaelen rubbed the back of his head, guilty.
"I did hold back… It was an experimental attack."
Lyra instantly appeared behind Kaelen and smacked him repeatedly.
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY! HOLD BACK! MORE!"
The scolding went on for minutes.
Finally, a soft groan came from the corner. Selianne stretched, sleepy-eyed.
"…mmm…?"
Kaelen grinned.
"Ohhh, good morning."
Even though it was night. They filled her in on everything.
Kaelen stretched and announced,
"Well… we'll talk about your evolution condition tomorrow. I'm tired. Let's head to the Kingdom of Ingracia and find an inn."
Everyone nodded.
Just as they were about to leave—
DING~
A translucent window appeared.
[New Quest Generated]
[Quest: Convince Chloe to teach you control over your time-based powers]
Kaelen stared at it.
"…Why is it always the complicated ones?"