"What do we do?!" Fiona's voice cracked under the weight of urgency, her trembling hands clenched at her sides as she fought the gnawing helplessness.
"I'll give him what he wants," Saldrich muttered, her mind racing. After weighing the options, few as they were, this was the only route that was best applicable to ascertain the upper hand they have.
Aldrich had demanded a duel. A personal confrontation. And if that's what he desired, then she would et him on those terms.
"Sal!" Fiona called after her, the na sliced short by an undeniable understanding between the two.
"I know." Saldrich glanced over her shoulder. "And don't worry… I have no intention of underestimating what he's capable of anymore."
Fiona said nothing in return, she didn't need to. She knew Saldrich well enough to understand the importance behind those words. That na, spoken with such brevity, carried a thousand unspoken pleas.
For too long, Saldrich had looked down on Aldrich not out of malice, but from a silent conviction that she understood him fully. In her mind, his strengths and weaknesses were mapped out like a chart she had long morised. He was the fragile boy who once lay motionless, barely breathing, while she sat at his side, praying that he would open his eyes and smile at her again.
But that version of Aldrich was long gone.
He had changed, transford into soone beyond her understanding. He had shattered the frawork she used to gauge his worth. His accomplishnts no longer fit within the trics she trusted. He had climbed past her expectations, achieving feats even she hadn't touched.
The boy who once needed her protection now stood tall as a man, a formidable, unyielding, evolved man.
This duel wasn't just for his sake, it was her reckoning. Her acknowledgent of his might.
With each step deeper into the mist, Saldrich distanced herself from Fiona's protection and ventured alone into the shifting fog that concealed her brother. Her voice rang out, calm yet firm.
"You wanted a one-on-one, Al. So here I am. Show what you've beco."
She positioned herself where no interruption could reach them. The atmosphere was dense, veiled in a thickening steam that swallowed vision and muffled sound. Still, Aldrich remained hidden.
"Now now, dear sister," his voice drifted in at last, amused yet distant. "No need to rush."
But there was a need.
He had briefly considered striking Fiona while Saldrich was distracted. It was a cold, tactical thought. But it faltered quickly as he knew of Fiona's passive trait. She wouldn't be as defenceless as she seed, and the gamble wasn't worth the risk.
So instead, he resolved to commit fully to this mont, three minutes of concealnt. Three minutes to either defeat Saldrich or fall trying.
A dangerous gamble, but when had his path ever been safe?
"I'm impressed, Al," Saldrich spoke, her voice echoing faintly through the fog. "You've surpassed every expectation I had. Shattered the scale, even."
"I'll take that as a complint," he replied, stepping forward with purpose.
There was no room left for conversation. Ti ticked away, each second precious. Action mattered more now than any words could.
Saldrich t his advance, her stance shifting as she embraced the rhythm of battle once more. Their bodies collided in a violent dance, fists flashing, limbs twisting. Every strike was calculated, every movent executed with deadly precision.
The clash resud where it had been interrupted. This was no longer a skirmish; it was a storm contained in human forms. For three fleeting minutes, the world would belong to them alone.
As their blows connected, Saldrich found herself questioning everything.
Who was this man? Could this really be the sa Aldrich she once cradled, bones like twigs and skin pallid under hospital lights?
No. This couldn't be the sa person. It defied sense.
Could soone truly change this much in such a short ti?
His footwork was masterful, his counters seamless. Their tempo matched unnervingly well as if he had morised her patterns and wove around them with uncanny ease. Had she not possessed the Clover Eyes herself, capable of perceiving movent at a heightened clarity, she would have been overwheld in re monts.
He was that skilled.
This was no longer just her brother. This was an Aldaman. A na that carried weight and pride.
She thought of Dwayne, of herself. Both of them were prodigies in their own right, growing at rates others struggled to keep up with. Yet here was Aldrich, once the weakest of them all, now accelerating past expectations at a terrifying pace.
He didn't just grow, he evolved.
His transformation wasn't rely physical. There was sothing deeper, an invisible pressure he now carried that bent the rules around him.
It was in this storm of fists and breathless rhythm that she understood.
"Fine. I admit it," Saldrich exhaled between parries, blood singing in her veins. "You're not just my brother. You're an Aldaman… and a powerful one at that."
And that ant she would treat him accordingly from this mont onward, not as a sibling she needed to shield, but as a rival. A true adversary.
She broke away with a sudden force, gaining so ground. "Alright, Al, you win this much. But rember, you asked for this. So don't bla when it becos too much to bear!"
Aldrich didn't flinch. He surged forward, fist arcing in a sharp right hook. Whatever speech she planned to give, he wasn't listening. He didn't have ti to entertain it.
But just as his punch neared its mark, her eyes flickered.
A glow.
A sudden shift in the flow of her mana.
Aldrich noticed it imdiately. He had been monitoring her aura closely throughout their battle, watching for any anomalies and this, this was not ordinary.
'Don't tell …'
His instincts scread at him.
He connected the signs, the sudden surge, the glowing irises, the fluctuation in her core. He knew what was coming. He had feared it.
She was activating the Three-Leaf Clover was awakening.
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