Half an hour later, they had the small training yard to themselves. Enclosed by a wooden fence and sheltered from view by strategic placent 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 scorch 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 so way to go."
David rolled his shoulders, a subtle tension in his movents that only Luna would recognize. 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 his combat performance—sothing 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 her combat posture—feet planted firmly, weight balanced, hands raised in a classical defensive configuration. Unlike David, she carried no visible weapons, relying instead on her formidable fla 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 experienced combatants. Then, as if responding to so invisible signal, they exploded into motion simultaneously.
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 montary 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. She countered with a swift kick aid 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 seed to slow around him, Elara's movents becoming 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 ti," Elara comnted, not wasting breath on more elaborate praise.
She increased her tempo, launching a series of strikes that would have overwheld an ordinary opponent. Each blow was precisely calculated, testing different angles and approaches to probe David's defenses.
David matched her pace, his movents becoming increasingly fluid and predatory as he activated Wolf's Grace. An almost imperceptible aura shimred around him, and his eyes took on a feral quality. His agility surged as he weaved between Elara's attacks, occasionally countering 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 seed to flicker. For the briefest mont, 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 her concern.
David recovered instantly, turning the montary lapse into a feint that nearly caught Elara off-guard. He pushed harder, testing his limits, wanting to know exactly how the dinsional fractures from [Bookmark]'s backlash would manifest under combat stress.
From the sidelines, Yue's brow furrowed. "He's improved," she whispered to Litty. "Significantly. That counter-sequence shouldn't be possible for soone at King Rank."
The sparring session intensified as both combatants found their rhythm. Elara began weaving more complex fla patterns, her hands moving in practiced gestures that summoned increasingly elaborate fire constructs. Whips of fla lashed out, followed by concentric rings of heat that expanded outward like ripples in a pond.
David responded with remarkable agility, his unard techniques sohow sufficient to navigate through the blazing assault. But with each passing minute, he beca more aware of the vast gulf between their true capabilities. Elara's casual gestures contained enough suppressed power to level small villages, yet she restrained herself to a fraction of her potential.
She could end this in seconds if she wished, David realized, a humbling thought despite his pride in his recent advancent. My Monarch Rank ans little against soone of her caliber.
Another reality fracture tore through him mid-dodge. This ti, the effect was more profound—his perception splitting into fragnted shards like a broken mirror. In one fragnt, he saw Elara's fla attack; in another, echoes of the dungeon; in a third, strange landscapes he'd never seen before. The pain was excruciating, montarily blinding him.
The backlash is accelerating, he thought with growing alarm. Each use of my abilities seems to worsen the dinsional instability. If this pattern continues...
He forced himself to maintain his exterior composure, though Luna—watching from the sidelines—clearly noticed sothing wrong. Her eyes narrowed further, a rare display of concern from his normally impassive Aetenus.
"Your movents are becoming predictable," Elara comnted, though her tone suggested she knew sothing else was happening. She was giving him an excuse for his increasingly erratic performance, a courtesy he appreciated.
"Just warming up," David replied, even as another fracture rippled through his left arm, causing it to briefly phase out of alignnt with this reality. The sensation was like having his limb dunked in liquid fire.
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