After a couple of silent seconds, Evangel’s pupils suddenly flickered to the top of her eyelid as she glanced forward.
Following her pupils, I tilted my head backward and glanced behind, and there, in the distance, like a ruby gemstone, was the strawberry mochi.
Illuminated by the bright lights in the building, the mochi reached the apex of its trajectory and slowly descended, threatening to crush against the floor and collapse.
Flicking her head up and down, alternating gazes between my body and the mochi, Evangel seed to make a decision and leaped into the air.
Monts later, I followed after, with my fork in my right hand and ready to strike.
I had been too robotic with my attacks.
All I had been doing was repeating the sa motion over and over and over again.
Sure, sothing like that would have worked for studying, where all you have to do is consu and spit out information.
But swordsmanship was a different story.
There was no textbook to follow...for most.
It was impossible to predict what situation you would be fighting in.
So, you simply had to prepare the best you could for whatever situation.
When I had been practicing earlier with a tree, I hadn’t ever imagined that the training would be used for a fight about strawberry mochi.
Loosening my grip on the fork, I sprinted behind Evangel, jumping over tables and crashing through chairs.
In my fight with Kratos, my strength and technique with the sword hadn’t been the defining factor.
It had been the movent of my body and strategy that I had taken from the hero.
My weapon was simply an extension of my body, not a tool to be used.
It was like glasses for a visibly-impaired person.
An aid.
It is not the main focus; it is simply a helper.
If I moved my hand and applied enough strength correctly, I wouldn’t have to worry about controlling my weapon as it would naturally project my hand’s movents.
My sword didn’t have to be horizontal for my slashes; my hand did.
When I had been swinging my sword earlier, I had been overextending my hand, causing it and, therefore, my sword to wobble.
At that mont, as Evangel’s figure was right below the descending mochi, an inexplicable phenonon unfolded.
One mont, the mochi was falling...the next second, it wasn’t.
My mind seed to power into overdrive as a vertical holographic line appeared below the mochi.
The line, starting from the bottom of the mochi, stretched all the way down to the floor, passing through Evangel’s palm on the way.
Thousands of random characters, all colored ocean-blue-like mana, appeared around , filling my vision.
Only after a second of glancing did I realize that the characters in front of had ford to create various nurical formulas that I had seen in school.
How could I not recognize the air resistance formula from physics class?
Even Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation was there.
Then, suddenly, everything clicked.
The ability to see and predict the movents of things.
The reason why Evangel had been able to dodge my attacks and know all of my strategies.
The line I was seeing...it was the future trajectory of the mochi that my mind had calculated.
Of course, Evangel probably saw a different line, perhaps more accurate or inaccurate, as everyone’s mind calculates different trajectories based on their life experiences and intelligence.
Tempo.
It was a vague yet weird feeling.
My mind...felt clear.
As if I were in a world of mine with nothing to distract and annoy .
I was in complete control over my body, feeling my organs vibrate and blood move throughout my body despite being temporarily paralyzed not even a second ago.
The world...it seed bland.
The previous bright Iight hanging from the ceiling that had almost blinded ...seed dull.
Everything seed so dark...and boring.
Things that would previously excite , like the sll of food and drinks, no longer affected .
It felt as if I were so sort of giant or higher celestial being, looking on at this world from the outside.
Like I was the director of a play.
Perhaps it was my gift?
However, at that mont, there was only one goal that echoed throughout my head.
Get the mochi...or prevent her from getting it.
The task should have been impossible.
Evangel was standing right below the mochi as it landed while I was ters away, simply watching with a fork in my hand.
Yet, one simple fact changed that.
Nothing was moving.
The mochi was frozen in mid-air, and Evangel’s entire body was stuck in place.
Even the chair I had just toppled over was simply floating in the air.
A second later, the mochi and chair had barely moved a milliter downward while Evangel stood still, her arm barely a centiter forward.
Ti had slowed.
If I had to estimate, it would take the mochi about five minutes to fall, whereas it should normally take less than two seconds.
Taking a step forward in the slowed world, I cautiously looked around before imdiately halting.
I felt a cool substance leaking down the right side of my face.
It felt like... a tear was rolling down my skin.
Raising my right hand, I touched the area below my eye, instantly feeling a sticky substance cover my palm.
Then, as I returned my palm to my sight, I froze.
It was colored a dark...crimson red.
Blood.
And in the reflection of my blood-stained palm, I could see my face.
My blood vessels in the right eye had burst and expanded, completely filling my eyelid.
Not a single hint of white was left...my right eye was completely red, matching my pupils.
It didn’t even look like an eye...it seed more like a crimson-red red orb that had been stuffed into my eye-socket.
Yet...as more blood continued to leak down my face, like a waterfall of water, I felt nothing.
There was no pain.
Taking a step forward, I simply strolled around the tables and neared Evangel’s near-frozen figure.
Now standing right in front of Evangel’s, I reached my bloodied hand out above hers, making sure the holographic line of the mochi intersected my palm.
However, at that movent, which was around five seconds after the ti-slowing phenona had occurred, I felt my entire body stiffen.
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