CLANG!
Sylas's golden blade slammed against Elara's kanta-like sword.
Sparks scattered across the training room floor.
He stepped in, twisted his hips, and brought Atlas down in a clean slash aimed at her shoulder.
Elara raised her blade.
CLANG!
The strike stopped in its tracks.
Sylas spun around her right side, his boots sliding across the floor as wind gathered beneath his feet. His body moved with elegance.
His swordsmanship wasn't wild like Nara's buck wild style.
It was royal, beautiful, and controlled. But beneath that formal style was a cocky playfulness.
He thrust his sword toward her chest.
Elara tilted her body and the blade cut past her clothes by less than an inch.
Sylas's eyes sharpened as he stepped in again, slashing upward toward her neck.
CLANG!
Atlas was knocked aside.
He immediately followed with a spinning backslash, but Elara leaned under it.
Her red eyes didn't blink.
He feinted toward her leg, then changed the angle mid-motion and stabbed toward her throat.
TING!
The tip of Atlas tapped against her sword and stopped.
Sylas clicked his tongue. He pulled back, ducked low, and swept his blade toward her waist and simply jumped over it.
He adjusted and rose with a vertical slash, but the golden blade sliced through empty air.
He attacked again. And again.And again.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Steel on steel screamed through the large training room.
Sylas suddenly vanished from in front of her and appeared above a few meters in the air. Wind twisted around his body as he descended with both hands gripping Atlas.
Elara looked up and lifted her sword above.
BOOOOOOM!
The impact sent a shockwave across the room strong enough to make Nara raise one arm to shield her face.
Sylas's teeth clenched, arms trembling from the clash.
Elara stood beneath his blade without moving from her spot.
Casually holding Atlas in place.
His feet touched the ground eyes and he kicked off the ground and jumped back several meters. His boots slid across the floor before he stopped.
A thin bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.
Nara blinked with a confused look on her face.
"Why are you running away like a baby!?" She shouted.
Sylas's eye twitched.
Nara pointed her sword toward him.
"The captain isn't even swinging back! She doesn't even have her guard up!"
Sylas glanced over to her.
Then immediately looked back to Elara.
Elara stood in the center of the room with her sword held casually at her side. Her red eyes stayed on him, blank and stern. Her posture was relaxed. Her body carried no visible tension at all.
To Nara, she probably looked full of openings, but Sylas knew better.
Her lack of experience is showing.
He swallowed hard.
Nara's fighting style is to swing first and think later. Her instincts are naturally sharp, but she hadn't seen enough high level battles to understand what stood in front of her.
Where she saw openings… Sylas saw death.
His fingers tightened around Atlas's golden handle.
After every clash… there's a fraction of a moment.
His breathing slowed.
A moment so small I can barely process it mentally, let alone act on it physically.
Another bead of sweat slid down his chin.
That's when she attacks back.
His eyes stayed locked onto Elara.
But she doesn't do it physically.
The memory of their exchanges flashed through his mind.
Each block. Each parry. Each time her blade tapped his sword. Each time her eyes met his.
The feeling had been there.
A sword through his throat.
A blade through his eye.
His arm severed at the elbow.
His chest opened.
His heart pierced.
His head taken clean from his shoulders.
Over and over and over and over.
His throat went dry.
I've never been good with essence sensory like my elder brother.
He breathed out slowly.
To be frank, my ability to sense essence is below average among those fortunate enough to possess such a skill.
His arms trembled slightly.
But with her… that fact doesn't matter.
Elara still hadn't moved an inch. Her essence wasn't flared around her or even visible whatsoever.
She simply stood there and yet Sylas felt it as clear as a sunny sky.
During their short battle…
She killed him.
Over a hundred times.
Not with her blade.
With essence and pure will.
She forced him to feel every single moment she could have struck him down.
Nara doesn't know it…
Sylas's grip tightened.
But I have already lost this battle many times over.
His red eyes trembled slightly.
And she has not taken a single swing.
The training room seemed to stretch around him.
Elara's presence stood at the center of it like an endless ocean pretending to be a puddle.
There was no end to it.
How could someone like this possibly exist?
Atlas's voice echoed softly inside his mind.
Do not look so surprised, my boy.Even your elder brother was no match for her in their battles at the academy.
Sylas let out a slow breath.
The stories my father and the others in my clan shared about her…About what happened between her and her clan…
His fingers trembled around Atlas.
They're beginning to sound more believable by the second.
Elara's red eyes stared back at him.
Calm, empty, and unmoved.
Sylas's heartbeat thudded once in his ears.
She truly is… a destroyer.
He chuckled. It was quiet at first, then it grew louder.
He lowered his head slightly as the chuckle turned into a laugh filled with disbelief.
Elara's brows lifted just a little.
"What's so funny?"
Sylas slowly lifted his head.
His smile remained, but his eyes had changed.
"Nothing." He replied.
He rolled his shoulders once.
"I got a little excited for a moment."
For the first time, something like intrigue flashed across Elara's unreadable face.
Sylas raised Atlas slightly.
"You know… during my elder brother's time at the academy, he would call me from time to time."
Elara's expression didn't change, but her eyes sharpened.
"He would tell me about all the powerful people he met there. All the prodigies. All the monsters. The ones who walked into a room and made everyone else feel like background characters in their story."
Sylas's smile widened.
"But he mentioned you more than anyone."
Elara remained silent.
"He talked about how powerful you were. How ridiculous you were. How every time the two of you competed in something…"
Sylas raised his sword higher.
"You always beat him."
Elara's eyes harden slightly.
"My elder brother was a sore loser. Every call, he complained to me about what he lost to you in that time. Swordsmanship. Essence control. Combat exams. Strategy games. Even stupid contests that probably didn't matter."
He shook his head.
"And every time, he sounded more annoyed than the last. But before one of our calls ended, he made me promise him one thing."
He lifted Atlas to shoulder level.
The tip of the golden blade pointed directly toward Elara.
Nara's eyes widened.
"That pose… That's the same pose he used against the head guardian in the well."
Dark green essence and wind curled around his boots.
Nara's breath caught.
"Is he…?"
Sylas's smile faded and his eyes burned with pure determination.
"He told me…"
The air around him twisted.
"That if he never got another chance to beat you after the academy…"
Dark green essence poured from his body.
"Then if I ever met you…"
His voice rose.
"THEN I BETTER!"
The wind exploded.
"RESONANCE!"
Dark-green essence erupted around Sylas like a storm breaking open from inside his body.
Powerful currents of wind tore through the training room, slamming against the walls and shaking the weapon racks. Nara dug her boots into the floor and raised both arms to shield herself from the shockwave. The pressure forced her back several feet.
The wind and essence spun tighter around Sylas.
His clothes tore apart beneath the pressure, strips of fabric vanishing into the wind. The swirling mark on his chest began to glow, then stretched outward, crawling across his shoulder and down both arms like living ink.
His short curly blonde hair grew longer and longer until it flowed down to his lower back.
He stood shirtless near the center of the room, dark green essence and wind swirling around his body.
Nara stared at him in utter shock.
Even Elara's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Prepare to be defeated, Captain Elara." He stated.
Elara smirked.
"Come then."
Sylas vanished and the floor where he stood cracked beneath the force of his launch.
The room filled with flashes of green and red.
Sylas moved through the air like he had become part of the wind itself. Each step carried him across several meters. Each attack came from a different direction. He attacked from the floor, the wall, the ceiling, and open air.
The next several seconds became impossible for Nara to fully follow.
They clashed across the entire room.
Near the weapon racks.
Above the floor.
Against the ceiling.
Across the walls.
Back to the center.
CLANG!
BOOM!
SHING!
CLANG!
Dark green wind carved lines through the floor. Shockwaves slammed into the walls one after another, making the entire training room groan under the force.
Nara stood frozen, her sword hung low in her hand, the tip touching the floor. Her mouth parted slightly as she watched the battle unfold in front of her.
This was different. This was nothing like her spar with Elara. It was nothing like watching Sylas fight the head guardian.
This was a battle between two beings standing beyond her current reach.
But she noticed something strange.
Her brows slowly scrunched together as her eyes followed Elara as best as they could.
The captain still hadn't attacked back.
Not once.
Even with Sylas transformed she remained on the defensive.
Nara's fingers tightened around her sword.
"What is she doing…? I thought I was going to see her actual fighting style against his… Did she change her mind?"
Sylas vanished again, attacking from behind.
Elara turned and parried without looking.
CLANG!
"Or…"
Her gaze lowered toward Elara's feet.
Then to her hands. Then to the angle of her sword. Then to the way Sylas's attacks kept being guided away instead of simply blocked.
"Is she trying to show me something else?"
Sylas disengaged and immediately jumped back several meters, landing near the far side of the room.
The once chaotic wind slowly calmed.
Nara stood near the wall, breathing heavily despite not being the one fighting.
Sylas's chest rose and fell as dark green essence swirled around his body..
Elara stood opposite him, sword resting at her side.
Still calm and unreadable.
Sylas stared at her for a long moment then he raised one hand above his head.
Dark green essence gathered above his palm.
The essence formed into a massive curved arc several meters long, hovering above him.
The air around it screamed.
Nara's breath caught in her throat. She knew that technique. Back during the exams.
Sylas's eyes burned.
"Arcus Severus!"
He swung his arm down.
The massive green arc sliced through the air faster than lightning.
That attack was going straight for Elara yet she didn't move.
She simply raised her sword above her head then swung down.
For a fraction of a second, Nara felt something invisible pass through the entire room.
Then it hit Sylas's technique.
The massive arc of green essence was sliced apart before it could reach her.
Sylas's eyes widened.
The pressure from her swing didn't stop there. It tore through the broken remains of his ability and slammed into him head on.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Sylas was blasted backward.
His body shot across the training room like a cannonball and crashed through the far wall and slammed into the opposite wall of the hallway outside.
The entire training room shook.
For a moment, everything went silent.
Then Sylas slid down the wall and dropped face first onto the hallway floor.
The dark green essence around him faded. His long golden hair shortened, returning to its normal length.
Atlas returned to his golden sword form beside him.
Nara stood completely still, her hand with sword in hand trembling.
That was the same attack that he cut an entire mountain range with…
She slowly turned her eyes back to Elara.
And she overpowered it… With a normal swing.
Nara looked toward the gigantic hole in the training room wall. Sylas laid motionless in the hallway face first.
Smoke rising from the torn metal around him.
The fight was over.
Even Elara seemed to think so.
She looked toward Nara without taking another step.
"Nara."
Nara blinked, snapping out of her shock.
"Y-Yes captain?"
"There are medpins in the medical bin near you. Grab a few and tend to him." She command calmly.
Nara quickly nodded.
"Right!"
She turned toward the wall-mounted medical bin.
But before her hand reached it, Elara's eyes shifted.
Her body went still.
Nara noticed almost immediately.
"Captain?"
Elara didn't answer.
Her gaze was locked on the hole in the wall.
Nara slowly turned back.
Then her eyes widened.
Sylas was standing.
His body was battered. His shoulder was bleeding. His chest was covered in bruises and thin cuts. His legs shook beneath him as if they were about to give out at any second.
Elara's unreadable face changed completely.
Her red eyes widened.
Not because Sylas had gotten back up.
But because of the mark on his chest.
His cosmic seal hadn't returned to the small swirling mark at the center of his chest.
It remained stretched across his shoulder and down his arms, the same way it had been during his resonance transformation yet he wasn't transformed.
Elara's fingers tightened slightly around her sword.
Has he actually done it…
Sylas lifted his head.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes remained locked onto Elara.
His voice came out calm, but the intensity behind it filled the entire room.
Elara stared at him.
Sylas opened his hand beside him and Atlas trembled against the floor then shot upward.
The golden sword snapped into Sylas's hand.
Dark green essence and wind sparked across the blade once more.
"I will not break my promise to my brother."