At the moment our team split apart, I found myself facing the presumed leader of Team Theta.
Toro Kaneki.
I stood amid the rubble, my hands coated in a thin layer of razor-sharp ice, cold vapor rising around me.
I studied my opponent.
He stood calmly about twenty meters away, wearing elegant glasses, a composed and confident smile on his face. He wasn't in a combat stance—he was observing.
"Boom—whoosh!!!"
From the corner of my eye, I could hear Ethan's fist colliding with Liam's rocky defense—a distant thunderclap—and see flashes of blue lightning from Chloe and Luna's battle, which had begun to resemble a deadly dance.
The battlefield was a symphony of chaos.
But my confrontation was eerily quiet… like the eye of a storm.
'So he's both the leader and the observer…'
'I see. He waited until we were all engaged—then chose his target. Me. He's isolating the leader.'
A classic tactic.
Bold… or foolish.
"So, you're my opponent," I said coldly, mana gathering around me, forming a freezing aura that made the air feel heavy.
"I hope you're ready."
"I'm always ready, Leader of Valerian," he replied calmly. But I didn't miss the confidence in his tone—the confidence of someone who knew something I didn't.
And that worried me.
The data on him was scarce and fragmented. His abilities were unknown.
'Doesn't matter. Analysis starts now.'
I decided to begin with a simple, direct attack—to test his reactions, his defense, his speed. I needed data. Any data.
I raised my hand and formed a sharp spear of compressed ice in the air. About a meter long, needle-pointed, gleaming cold under the dome's gray sky.
[[Ice Projectile]]
Description: Launch a sharp spear of compressed ice at the target. A fast and precise basic attack.
"Whoosh!!"
The ice spear shot forward, slicing through the air with a cold hiss, aimed straight at Toro's chest.
Fast.
With a simple, elegant sidestep, he dodged it effortlessly, letting it shatter against a ruined wall behind him with a sharp crack.
His expression didn't change. He didn't retreat.
Just one small step.
'Agile. So he relies on speed and evasion,' I concluded. 'He likely lacks strong physical defense. A potential weakness.'
I didn't give him time.
Two more spears formed in rapid succession.
"Whoosh!!"
"Whoosh!!"
The first went straight at him.
The second targeted where I predicted he would dodge—based on his previous movement.
A simple trap.
"This time… you won't escape."
The first spear flew.
As expected, Toro began to sidestep—same direction as before.
That's when I released the second spear—straight toward his destination.
"Whoosh!!"
A perfect maneuver.
No escape.
But he surprised me.
Instead of completing his dodge, he stopped abruptly—and raised his left forearm to meet the incoming attack.
'What? Is he insane? Does he think his body can withstand compressed ice? Even if he's tough, that'll seriously injure him. Is he sacrificing his arm?'
Then—
"Shhh!!"
The skin on his forearm hardened, turning gray with a dull sheen. Dark veins spread across it—like stone forming in an instant.
"Clank!"
My first ice projectile shattered harmlessly against his rocky arm.
Not flesh.
Stone.
I froze for a moment.
The second spear—meant to strike him mid-dodge—missed entirely. He had stopped moving.
He tricked me.
He predicted my prediction.
But that wasn't the strangest part.
'Stone skin?'
It resembled Liam Brook's ability. I had seen it just minutes ago, blocking Ethan's punches.
'How? Are they the same type?'
No. That didn't make sense.
Liam's power relied on massive physical endurance. His build was huge. This boy was slender—agile.
Their mana signatures were completely different.
One person shouldn't be able to wield two fundamentally different abilities like this.
It was a contradiction.
Toro lowered his arm—it returned to normal instantly—and brushed off the frost. Then he looked at me, his smile widening.
A wave of irritation rose within me.
"Surprised?" he said calmly.
I didn't answer.
Instead, I gathered more mana, forming small, sharp ice crystals orbiting me like satellites.
'If his abilities are physical defenses, I need to attack from all angles. Test the limits of that "stone skin." Can he cover his whole body? How fast can he activate it?'
I tried to regain control.
Return to analysis.
But he didn't give me the chance.
"You're thinking too much," he said, raising his other hand. "Maybe I should give you something else to think about."
"Whoosh!!!"
From his fingertips, a crescent blade of compressed wind shot forward, whistling through the air.
'Wind… and earth?'
My mind raced.
'So… a multi-element manipulation ability? Like mine?'
No.
This wasn't just strange anymore.
It was absurd.
I raised my hand and formed a small ice barrier.
"Clang!"
The wind blade struck it—leaving only a shallow scratch before dissipating.
Weak.
'His abilities… seem weaker than they appear. Is he playing with me?'
The pieces were forming—but the picture still made no sense.
Toro smiled again.
That irritating smile.
I didn't give him time.
"If you have many cards, I'll burn them all!"
I changed tactics.
If he could use stone defense, then I'd overwhelm him—speed, numbers, multiple angles.
Force him to reveal his limits.
The air around me turned colder… then began to move.
[[Wind Blades]]
Description: Form and launch sharp blades of compressed wind. Ideal for fast, multi-angle attacks.
Not one blade.
Five.
They formed around me—sharp, nearly invisible, each emitting a faint hiss.
"Let's see how you handle this."
With a flick of my hand, all five shot toward him in different trajectories—
Two from the front.
One from each side.
One arcing high to strike from above.
A complete assault.
I expected him to use stone skin again.
To reveal its limits.
But for the third time—
He surprised me.
He didn't defend.
Didn't dodge.
He… disappeared.
At the exact moment the blades were about to tear him apart—
His body sank into his own shadow.
Not a movement.
A dissolution.
As if the shadow swallowed him whole.
"Whoosh!!!"
"Crack!!"
The blades sliced through empty space, crashing into the ground and walls behind.
I stood frozen.
Processing.
'Shadow…? Earth, wind… and now shadow?! What is this nonsense?!'
This wasn't a contradiction anymore.
It broke every known rule of mana.
Earth required stability.
Wind required flow.
Shadow required an entirely different affinity—negative energy.
No one could possess all three.
Impossible.
'A magical artifact?' I wondered. 'Is he wearing something?'
That was the only logical explanation.
But artifacts capable of that were extremely rare—and required immense energy.
Yet he showed no signs of strain.
"Looking for me?"
His voice came from behind—slightly to my left.
I spun instantly, slashing my arm forward—releasing a wave of sharp ice.
Nothing.
He wasn't there.
He emerged from the shadow of nearby rubble on my right—still smiling.
He was playing with me.
Using the environment.
Every piece of debris cast a shadow.
Every shadow was a doorway.
"Here."
Gone again.
"Or maybe… here?"
His voice shifted.
It had become a game.
Hide and seek.
'A distraction…'
I calmed myself.
Forced clarity.
'I can't chase him. That's what he wants. I need to change the environment.'
'I need to erase the shadows.'
But that would require a large-scale attack.
High energy cost.
Was it worth it?
While I hesitated—
He moved.
He emerged from the shadow of a burned car—ten meters away.
This time, he didn't vanish.
He raised his hand.
"Whoosh!!!"
[Cutting Wind Blade.]
Same attack.
Weak.
I raised an ice shield.
"Clang!"
Blocked easily.
Too easily.
Then I realized.
The attack wasn't meant to hurt me.
Because while I was blocking—
He was doing something else with his other hand.
I didn't see it.
But I felt it.
A subtle disturbance in the shadow beneath him.
'He did something. Left something behind.'
"Clever…" I murmured.
But I didn't know his next move.
Earth? Wind? Shadow?
Or something else entirely?
This confusion—
This feeling of facing an unpredictable opponent—
That was his greatest weapon.
'How can one person possess contradictory abilities like this…?'
My mind… was faltering.
It was like watching a chess player move a knight like a rook.
Wrong.
Against the rules.
I stood there, ice crystals still orbiting me, staring at him.
Calm.
Smiling.
He had succeeded.
He had broken my greatest weapon—
My ability to analyze.
Now, I was fighting in the dark.
Literally.
And metaphorically.
And my opponent…
Was incomprehensible.
How are your points of view?
In the fight between Ethan and Zain, I used first-person POV (Zain).
In the fight between Chloe and Luna, I used limited third-person POV.
And here, I returned to first-person POV (Serena).