NOVPUBHalf an hour later, they had the small training yard to themselves. Enclosed by a wooden fence and sheltered from view by strategic placement of storage sheds, it offered reasonable privacy without appearing secretive. A few practice dummies stood at one end, while the packed earth showed signs of regular use—boot prints, shallow gouges from weapon practice, and the occasional rch mark from what was likely a mage's errant spell.
Yue and Litty positioned themselves near the fence, ostensibly acting as judges while actually serving as lookouts. Luna stood to one side, her placid expression revealing nothing of her thoughts as David and Elara took positions opposite each other.
"I wonder if he's improved since we last saw him," Yue murmured to Litty, her childlike voice at odds with the analytical gleam in her eyes. "Last I recall, he was approaching King Rank, but still had some way to go."
David rolled his shoulders, a subtle tension in his movements that only Luna would rgnize. Since receiving his system's classification upgrade, he hadn't had a proper opportunity to test his enhanced capabilities against a truly formidable opponent. More importantly, he needed to understand how the [Bookmark] backlash had affected hismbat performance—something he'd kept hidden from everyone except Luna.
"Don't hold back," he said to Elara, his voice carrying a rare seriousness. "I need to know exactly where my limits are."
Elara nodded, assuming hermbat posture—feet planted firmly, weight balanced, hands raised in a classical defensivenfiguration. Unlike David, she carried no visible weapons, relying instead on her formidable flame sorcery.
"As you wish," she replied, a hint of curiosity in her tone.
For several heartbeats, neither moved, each assessing the other with the patience of experiencedmbatants. Then, as if responding to some invisible signal, they exploded into motion simultaneously. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
David closed the distance with startling speed, his right palm sweeping forward in an arc that distorted the air itself. The technique was a perfect execution of the Heaven Whispering Palm, a mystical martial art said to have been bestowed by celestial beings. As his hand moved, it left a faint trail of ethereal energy, like starlight given momentary form.
Elara evaded with a graceful sidestep, her body flowing like water around the strike. Her eyes widened slightly—the only indication of her surprise at the technique's potency. Sheuntered with a swift kick aimed at David's knee, a move designed to test his reflexes rather than cause harm.
David's eyes flashed with an inner light as he activated his Celestial Wheel skill. Suddenly, the world seemed to slow around him, Elara's movements bming crystal clear as he perceived the flow of mana through her body. With this enhanced perception, he easily pivoted away from her kick, simultaneously analyzing her fighting style with his Eyes of the Infinite.
"Impressive reaction time," Elarammented, not wasting breath on more elaborate praise.
She increased her tempo, launching a series of strikes that would have overwhelmed an ordinary opponent. Each blow was precisely calculated, testing different angles and approaches to probe David's defenses.
David matched her pace, his movements bming increasingly fluid and predatory as he activated Wolf's Grace. An almost imperceptible aura shimmered around him, and his eyes took on a feral quality. His agility surged as he weaved between Elara's attacks, occasionallyuntering with strikes of his own that carried the full predatory potential of the technique.
Then it happened—mid-dodge, as David shifted his weight to avoid a particularly vicious slash, his form seemed to flicker. For the briefest moment, like reality itself had hiccupped, his left arm appeared to be in two places at once. A flash of pain crossed his features, gone so quickly that Elara, focused on her next strike, didn't notice.
But Luna did. Her eyes narrowed fractionally, the only outward sign of herncern.
David rvered instantly, turning the momentary lapse into a feint that nearly caught Elara off-guard. He pushed harder, testing his limits, wanting to know exactly how the dimensional fractures from [Bookmark]'s backlash would manifest undermbat stress.
From the sidelines, Yue's brow furrowed. "He's improved," she whispered to Litty. "Significantly. Thatunter-sequence shouldn't be possible for someone at King Rank."
The sparring session intensified as bothmbatants found their rhythm. Elara began weaving moremplex flame patterns, her hands moving in practiced gestures that summoned increasingly elaborate firenstructs. Whips of flame lashed out, followed byncentric rings of heat that expanded outward like ripples in a pond.
David responded with remarkable agility, his unarmed techniques somehow sufficient to navigate through the blazing assault. But with each passing minute, he became more aware of the vast gulf between their true capabilities. Elara's casual gesturesntained enough suppressed power to level small villages, yet she restrained herself to a fraction of her potential.
Sheuld end this in snds if she wished, David realized, a humbling thought despite his pride in his recent advancement. My Monarch Rank means little against someone of her caliber.
Another reality fracture tore through him mid-dodge. This time, the effect was more profound—his perception splitting into fragmented shards like a broken mirror. In one fragment, he saw Elara's flame attack; in another, echoes of the dungeon; in a third, strange landscapes he'd never seen before. The pain was excruciating, momentarily blinding him.
The backlash is accelerating, he thought with growing alarm. Each use of my abilities seems to worsen the dimensional instability. If this patternntinues...
He forced himself to maintain his exteriormposure, though Luna—watching from the sidelines—clearly noticed something wrong. Her eyes narrowed further, a rare display ofncern from his normally impassive Aetenus.
"Your movements are bming predictable," Elarammented, though her tone suggested she knew something else was happening. She was giving him an excuse for his increasingly erratic performance, aurtesy he appreciated.
"Just warming up," David replied, even as another fracture rippled through his left arm, causing it to briefly phase out of alignment with this reality. The sensation was like having his limb dunked in liquid fire.
