A few days ago:
Aeren stood opposite to the Empress, Real One, and Olivia, staring at them with cold eyes. The Real One and Empress wanted to test Aeren's power, so they both turned their heads to Olivia, who was positioned between them. She sensed their stares but didn't react immediately, standing her ground.
The Empress noticed her hesitation, but she had no other choice—she needed to find a way to gauge Aeren's power. They weren't expecting much from Olivia, but they could at least gather some information about Aeren.
Aeren noticed this too. The Empress sighed, "Hey, girl. Go attack him." She spoke with pride in her voice, not caring about a mere girl from her empire—she could find many like her.
Even if Olivia died, there would be nothing to lose. Olivia was shocked by the Empress's order but followed it without raising her voice. "Yes, Your Majesty."
Olivia took a step forward, and invisible slashes came out of nowhere at her. She blocked the first one, but they kept coming continuously without stopping. She dodged, parried, blocked, evaded, rolled, and did everything she could until the attacks finally stopped.
She stood up and sighed in relief, but she didn't let her guard down. This time she was attacked by millions of slashes at once.
Olivia watched the slashes with wide eyes and created a mana shield to protect herself, but the shield was cut through and Olivia was sliced to nothing.
Aeren, the Empress, and the Real One watched this with emotional detachment, as if they had just killed a rabbit in the forest. No one reacted as they watched her body disappear to nothing. The Real One and Empress had expected this result.
The Empress and Real One glanced at each other and signaled. The Real One jumped at Aeren with his fist, and Aeren didn't use slashes, knowing they wouldn't work on him.
Aeren's fist and the Real One's fist collided.
Boom...
Aeren's right hand was blasted to nothing. The Real One saw this and smiled, saying, "Aeren, you can still join me. I have never lost, and my skill can't be defined by normal logic."
The Empress watched their fight but didn't get involved, waiting for the right moment to kill both of them.
Aeren heard the Real One's comment and didn't react, but he said, "You think too much."
Aeren ran at the Real One at the speed of sound, and the Real One did the same. The Real One punched at Aeren, but Aeren grabbed his wrist before his fist reached his face.
The Real One reacted immediately and was about to use his other hand when Aeren kicked him away and tore off the Real One's right hand.
The Real One got away from Aeren, and Aeren put the hand on his right shoulder and joined it—they connected because of Aeren's skill. His new right hand attached to his right shoulder.
"What did you say before?"
The Real One gritted his teeth as Aeren asked him sarcastically, and Aeren could see his twisted face. The Empress smiled after seeing this, but the Real One's right hand regenerated back.
The Real One looked at the Empress and signaled that it was her turn. The Empress sighed at his signal and created a bow from her pure mana. Her arrows were also made with pure mana, and she released an arrow at Aeren. The single arrow she released started dividing every second, but Aeren just stared at every arrow—not a single one touched his body.
The Empress wasn't shocked by this and had expected as much after seeing his attacks. She had anticipated this and said, "I knew it—your body is like a ghost, just like your attacks. I can see you've had a connection with ghosts from the beginning. But I didn't think much of it. Take this attack and you'll know your place."
She stretched her bow and a new arrow was born, invisible to normal eyes, but Aeren could see it. Aeren knew this arrow could pierce him even with his ghost body. He took out his knife and cut the arrow before it could reach him.
"Hmm, you still have a long way to go." Aeren's cold voice and cold eyes were seen by both of them.
The Empress didn't react to Aeren's provocation and put away her bow, creating a sword of mana instead. The sword was invisible.
The Empress turned her head to the Real One, and they acknowledged each other. Both of them struck together in close combat.
The Empress sliced at Aeren's upper head from above while the Real One ran at him from the ground. Aeren's left hand held his knife and his right hand was empty. He blocked the Empress's attack, and his right hand connected with the Real One in a fist—this time Aeren's hand didn't blast. But Aeren was blocked by his own position, and the Real One's left hand went for Aeren's face. Aeren pushed his knife high and pushed away the Empress, then used his leg to parry the Real One's left hand and backed away.
"Hmm, your teamwork is something else. It's even hard for me to kill you in one swipe."
The Real One and Empress moved backward and joined each other.
"You're not bad either. This is fun! HAHAHA!" the Real One said with excitement on his face, and the Empress ignored him.
The Empress was also impressed by Aeren's prowess and slightly surprised that he was able to counter-attack them.
"How did you train yourself?" the Empress asked without shame. She had never seen anyone who could take her on alone, but Aeren was taking both of them on alone and fighting without struggle.
Most importantly, Aeren could match their speed. Their speed couldn't be measured on any normal level, yet Aeren could see and match their movements like it was nothing.
"I don't train much."
The Empress and Real One weren't shocked because no one reveals their training secrets. The Real One got bored with their talk and attacked alone at Aeren.
Aeren didn't block this time and cut the Real One's both hand with his knife. Kicked him away. The Real One disappeared into the forest between the trees.
The Empress watched this and turned her head to the forest where the Real One disappeared. When she looked back, Aeren had reached her and punched her stomach, sending her flying to the same forest.
"Idiots. Their brains got damaged because of their age."
Aeren noticed that the forest looked dark from the outside. He watched the forest with no reaction and waited for them.
Aeren whispered, and they heard him. The Empress reacted instantly and slashed at Aeren from the forest, but he blocked the attack and deflected it. The attack cut many trees in the forest, but Aeren didn't care about the trees.
Aeren's eyes locked onto the Empress and Real One as he watched them.