On the empty training field, Yuki Tsukumo assumed a fighting stance.
Her eyes, brimming with wild charm, were currently locked dead onto Ian.
Boom!
Terrifying cursed energy erupted from her explosive figure like a bursting tsunami.
The ground beneath her feet began to crack inch by inch.
The space around her visibly distorted from the sheer magnitude of her cursed energy.
A bizarrely shaped shikigami, radiating a ferocious aura, slowly materialized behind her.
[Garuda]!
"Ready?"
A highly aggressive smirk curled the corners of Yuki Tsukumo's lips.
She didn't give Ian a chance to answer.
Because she didn't need one at all.
Right out of the gate, she unleashed her strongest cursed technique!
[Star Rage]!
She imbued her terrifying strength—already enough to effortlessly topple a building—with an unparalleled amount of "virtual mass"!
In the next second.
Her seemingly pale and slender fist punched straight toward Ian.
There were no flashy techniques behind this strike.
There was only absolute power, pure to the extreme, capable of easily leveling an entire mountain range (by Japanese standards)!
Wherever her fist passed, the air was violently compressed, letting out deafening sonic booms.
However, facing this apocalyptic strike.
Ian didn't even shift his stance in the slightest.
He simply, leisurely, extended a single index finger.
And then, with effortless grace, he tapped it against Yuki Tsukumo's mountain-shattering fist.
The expected terrifying scene of heaven and earth tearing apart did not occur.
Time itself seemed to come to an eerie standstill at this moment, as if warped by immense gravity.
The instant Yuki Tsukumo's fist, packed with terrifying mass, touched Ian's fingertip.
All the power imbued within it, all the kinetic energy, all the "virtual mass," vanished like a drop of water in the ocean.
Disappearing without a trace.
Yuki Tsukumo's perpetually wild pupils abruptly shrank.
She could clearly feel it.
Ian's fingertip didn't feel like flesh and blood.
It felt like a genuine black hole, devouring all things.
It wasn't a conceptual "mass" simulated by her cursed technique.
It was an absolute void that truly and utterly devoured and annihilated all the "power" and "mass" she had applied!
"Not bad!"
After a brief moment of shock, Yuki Tsukumo's fighting spirit was completely ignited.
Instead of retreating, she pushed the cursed energy within her body to its absolute limit!
Behind her, the shikigami [Garuda] let out an ear-piercing roar.
Immediately after, bolstered by Yuki Tsukumo's cursed energy, it rapidly transformed and extended, turning into a terrifying giant axe!
The giant axe was similarly imbued with the terrifying mass of [Star Rage].
"Try taking this one!"
Yuki Tsukumo shouted as the giant axe descended from the sky with sky-tearing momentum, chopping straight toward the top of Ian's head!
Ian slowly raised his head.
Looking at the giant axe that would make any Special Grade sorcerer despair, a hint of interest finally appeared on his face.
He chuckled.
Then, he gently blew a breath of air at the giant axe.
Whoosh.
In the next second.
An incredibly bizarre scene occurred—one that Yuki Tsukumo would never forget for the rest of her life.
[Garuda], imbued with the heavy mass of a mountain, actually began to tremble violently the moment it touched that breath of air.
The overwhelming force directly ripped it from her grasp.
Subsequently, the mountain-heavy giant axe floated up like a feather and disappeared into the horizon.
An eerie silence fell over the training field.
Yuki Tsukumo was completely petrified in place.
She could feel that her connection with the shikigami [Garuda] had not been severed.
But no matter how she channeled her cursed energy or issued commands, she was completely unable to recall it.
It was still "advancing" higher and further away.
Yuki Tsukumo vaguely sensed a "rule" from a higher dimension—something incomprehensible and irresistible.
It had forcibly altered the definition of her cursed technique.
It had redefined [Garuda]'s "weight" as a negative number.
'Are you kidding me!'
'Is there really a cursed technique capable of doing such a thing?'
"I don't believe it!"
Yuki Tsukumo gritted her teeth, her unyielding wild nature driving her into a complete frenzy.
She abandoned her shikigami, pushed her cursed energy to the absolute limit, and charged at Ian once again!
She integrated her ultimate understanding of cursed energy and mass entirely into her close-quarters taijutsu.
Every punch and every kick carried the terrifying, overwhelming force of a landslide!
For a time.
Only Yuki Tsukumo's extremely fast afterimages could be seen across the training field, frantically launching attacks around Ian like a violent storm.
Fists howled through the air, and kicks crisscrossed in a blur.
The continuous sweeps of wind pressure had already torn the training field to shreds.
However, Ian, standing at the center of the storm, remained rooted in place.
He even had his hands leisurely clasped behind his back.
Relying solely on minuscule shifts of his body, he effortlessly dodged all of Yuki Tsukumo's attacks.
Time ticked by, minute by minute, second by second.
Half an hour later.
Yuki Tsukumo could finally no longer sustain this high-frequency output, as if she had exhausted her very last ounce of strength.
Her entire body was thoroughly drenched in sweat. Her leather jacket was long gone, and the shirt underneath clung tightly to her skin, outlining her beautiful curves.
She knelt on one knee, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for air.
She raised her head and looked at the man standing not far away, as if trying to see right through him.
But after half an hour of combat, the man hadn't even broken a sweat.
'No! Even his breathing rate hasn't changed in the slightest.'
For the first time, her eyes—always so full of wildness and confidence—revealed a complex mix of defeat, shock, and a trace of something peculiar.
'This man hasn't been fighting at all from the very beginning. He was just playing with me.'
"You..."
"What kind of monster are you?"
She asked this question using the last of her strength.
Her hoarse voice carried a tremble that even she hadn't noticed.
Ian slowly walked over to her.
He didn't answer her question.
Instead, under her astonished gaze, he reached out and scooped her up from the ground by her waist.
Then, like he was carrying a sack of grain, he tossed her over his shoulder.
The entire process was incredibly domineering.
Being carried on his shoulder in such a humiliating posture, Yuki Tsukumo, driven by some inexplicable impulse, didn't put up any resistance.
She simply and silently buried her face deep against the man's broad chest.
A faint scent of sunlight drifted into her nose, bringing her a strange sense of comfort.