[Gerrard Freya shback...]
...
...
[Freya''s Residence, Training Grounds]
"Alright, Jan. Give me your best shot."
Gerrard smiled standing almost motionless in the centre of the grounds, a pir of unwavering confidence, knowing that he wasn''t going to lose.
His wooden sword was held high in a guard stance, pointed downwards, his left hand held loosely at his side, ready to react.
On the other hand, Jan stood a few paces away, his wooden sword gripped tightly.
Unlike Gerrard''s rxed posture, Jan''s body was tight with concentration. His gaze flicked across Gerrard''s body, analyzing every shift in Gerrard''s guard, every trace of expression, searching for a weakness, an opening.
However,. No matter how hard he looked.
He couldn''t find an opening.
Jan understood all too well the limitations of his reincarnated body. Despite his mind being way ahead of its own age, time and time again his body failed to keep pace.
Against Gerrard, Jan was brainstorming how he could hit him.
Maybe the Qi techniques of his past life, those honed over decades in his old world, could give him the edge he desperately needed.
Though he''d spent fourteen years in this world focused on mana, he knew Qi and Aura worked on simr principles.
Focusing on the sword, Jan channelled that familiar aura flow. The result was immediate. Light-blue energy flowed along the wooden de, the glow of his own willpower.
"Wow..." He breathed, a mix of disbelief and excitement. "They really do work the same..."
"I''m ready when you are, Mr. Freya," Jan said, raising his aura-charged de.
Even Gerrard, a man well-known in the traditions of swordsmanship, couldn''t hide his astonishment.
For a boy raised by the holy church and being able to wield aura so naturally... to achieve what usually took heroes, swordsmen and even mages countless years to learn... it was a feat worthy of the legendary Garrick himself.
Gerrard nodded a single, sharp gesture.
"Go all in."
DASH!
Jan without hesitation bursted through the grounds,unching a series of attacks, five in rapid session, each imbued with that aura.
SLASH!, SLASH!, SLASH!,
Yet, Gerrard remained immovable. The attacks, while powerful, were easily evaded. Were they simply too slow? Or was Gerrard so quick that Jan couldn''t even perceive his movements?
Jan retreated to his original position. His initial confidence had evaporated, reced by a sense of helplessness.
He looked at Gerrard who simply smiled while looking at him in the same stance he had taken since the beginning of the battle.
"How did he block all of that?" Jan muttered under his breath.
whaaaaAM
Determined to break through Gerrard''s defences, Jan channelled his aura once more, charging as he unleashed a powerful sh from his de.
"Cleaving Arc."
SWING!
A wide-reaching swing infused with his signature aura arced towards Gerrard with undeniable force.
"...!"
This move garnered a surprised reaction from the Old Head.
He finally moved, raising his wooden sword to block the attack. A flicker of hope sparked in Jan''s eyes.
He saw it – a minuscule opening, a momentarypse in Gerrard''s defence.
Jan, relying on pure instinct and honed reflexes, pushed himself forward with a burst of speed.
He closed the gap between them in a heartbeat, His sword arced towards Gerrard''s unguarded chest...
...and Gerrard''s eyes snapped to his, a sh of calction in their depths. Toote, Jan realized. He''d been yed.
"...!"
But the true shock came when Jan saw Gerrard''s index finger. glow with a faint blue aura, a sight Jan had never seen before.
BANG!
But it wasn''t Gerrard''s sword that met his blow.
A single finger stopped his attack.
Shock seized Jan, a shiver running down his spine. Gerrard held his wooden sword loosely, seeing that Jan was full of openings.
"You''re pretty good, Jan," he remarked.
Still spinning from the revtion, Jan watched in disbelief as Gerrard raised his wooden sword.
But instead of delivering an attack, Gerrard used the t side of the de to gently tap Jan''s head.
"You''ve lost," he dered with a yful wink.
...
...
[End Of shback]
Gerrard shook off the memory, his gaze returning to the fiery barrier now shuddering under Louise''s mes. as itshed outwards, casting wild, jerky shadows over the VIP suite.
In the sudden hush that followed, Gerrard''s voice cut through, a response to Kang''s earlier question.
"If anyone has the potential to reach the peak of this world," Gerrard dered with an air of quiet certainty, "it''s Jan."
His eyes remained locked on the dome made of fire. He''d already witnessed a glimpse of the untapped power Jan held.
Jan had established himself as a self-made genius, who had learnt Aura without a proper instructor, and from what Valencia had told Gerrard, he even learnt countless functions of mana mechanics such as healing recovery and mana distribution.
Perhaps, in time, he might even grasp that ''technique'', that''s been lost for many generations.
Gerrard turned to Kang once more continuing"You may not see it now," amusement tugging at his lips, "but Jan possesses a raw fighting instinct surpassing that of any student I''ve encountered. In time, with the right guidance… He''ll be one of the best, if not, the best."
***
[Pinnacle Academy, Stadium 1 - Arena A: Main Stage]
"It''s Over"
The heat within the fiery dome was stifling, the energy of Louise''s mes was pressing in from all sides.
Yet, instead of fear, a surge of excitement coursed through Jan.
The world had just cracked open, revealing even more new techniques to master. If he could replicate Louise''s dome to some extent he might be able to counter him without sustaining to much damage.
Louise emerged his expression grim.
In his hands, his polearm pulsed with a fiery glow. Each rhythmic tap against the ground sent ripples of me across the weapon as if the element itself pulsed through its core.
DASH!
Louise erupted into a dash, his zing polearm raised for a devastating strike.
Jan, his senses seemed to react to Lousise''s attack and with Divine Conqueror he dropped into a defensive stance, his sword held at the ready, eyes narrowed in concentration.
CLASH!
With a thunderous crash, Louise''s me-augmented polearm mmed into Jan''s de, sending shockwaves reverberating through the barrier.
The raw force momentarily staggered Jan, yet he held his ground.
As they shed, Jan knew that with divine conqueror, he would have non problems stopping attacks from Louise.
CLANG!
Their weapons locked in a stalemate, and a sly smile crept onto Louise''s face.
WHAM
Suddenly, he broke the deadlock with a brutal kick to Jan''s abdomen. The impact momentarily winded Jan, forcing him a step back.
Seizing the opening, Louise shifted his strategy. As he channelled of mana into his de, the fiery dome above them responded, crackling with intensity.
SHAAAAAAW!
A blinding beam of fire Shot from the barrier, a concentrated strike aimed directly at Jan.
"...!"
Prepared for the beam, Jan braced himself. As he perfectly waited for the beam to align, he countered the attack with his own audacious move.
"Horizontal sh."
SLASH!
As his sword was infused with aura. The azure de arced out, amplified by Divine Conqueror, Jan''s attack effortlessly sliced through Louise''s beam of fire.
"WHAT?"
Before Louise could react, the energy of the sh struck him, sending him stumbling back several steps.
A wave of surprise washed over Louise as he got back up after that sh.
"Shit... He got me on that one,"
He quickly withdrew his hand from the wound, channelling mana into it.
huuuuu...
The injury wasn''t severe, but he couldn''t fully heal it. his mana was drained of maintaining the fiery barrier and using anymore was already a waste.
Louise knew he couldn''t afford to lower the dome - it offered him a lot of amplifications to his attacks, But Jan was slicing through his mes – mes that even high-grade heroes struggled against. This anomaly who just kept getting better, was besting him in his own domain. It was frustrating.
So he came up with another idea, Instead, he intensified the mes, hoping the increased heat would stop Jan''s advances.
Louise caved the barrier in more closer to allow for little space for Jan to make an error he either had to hit Louise or get struck by his mes.
The fiery barrier pulsed and roared, the heat radiating inwards with vengeance.
SLASH!
Jan, however, was unbothered by this move, pressing forward, his sword was on a relentless pursuit, striking at Louise with precision.
CLANG!, CLANG!, CLANG!,
Each sh of steel seemed to weaken Louise''s defence further. Jan''s power was overpowering him his strikes hitting twice more harder than before
Louise gritted his teeth, struggling to keep his footing under Jan''s countless attacks. He couldn''t risk a direct attack while weakened.
He needed a new strategy, a way to flip the tables...
___________________
Authors notes:
- Aura can be used in many forms but in the simplest of forms is difficult to use even for the strongest of heroes as some heroes refrain from using aura as the belief of them learning it could be a hindrance since mana + aura don''t go well with each other.
- Garrick The Great Hero was the one who discovered how to use aura.
___________________
What Are The Types Of Elemental Zoning
Type A Zone: Amplification Zone, Barrier, Transformation Zone
Type B Zone: Barrier, Transformation Zone or Barrier, Amplification Zone
Type C Zone: Amplification Zone
Type D Zone: Barrier Zone
Type E Zone: Transformation Zone