Lea was the most hard-working in her family. She trained day-in day-out for as long as she could remember to make up for her greatest weakness; her World.
Her World was not as restrictive as others, but it was small for her family’s standards. Very small. So much she was stuck at the Novice Rank for two years, forming a perfect foundation. She never minded a slow ascension through the Ranks. If anything, it was cathartic.
Her World offered her some great options to build a strong foundation as long as she avoided Elemental Soulkins. Hence, focusing on her physique through traits, her Soulkins’ empowerments, and her Ether Gates, she grew slow but steadily. As unimpressive as her growth appeared to be, Uncle Merlin was impressed. He was satisfied with her decision to create a perfect foundation from young on and picked her as his disciple, guiding her through the Ranks ever since she was ten.
With Uncle’s help, Lea procured suitable Soulkins that were not only powerful but possessed highly synergetic traits.
Hence, seven Soulkins and many years later, Lea could defeat a weak Guardian beast. Under the right circumstances. And that was all she needed to do to meet Uncle’s requirements. Only then would she be ready to become a Master herself, knowing her foundation was as perfect as could be.
But now – after months of searching – she found the perfect target. A young, non-elemental Guardian beast. Lea was overjoyed, but the happiness was taken from her when she returned home to see that young, naive boy again. Dan returned from the Grand Camp, and so had that nuisance – Adam.
It was hard to tell how that boy angered her. He just did, be it his presence or that foolish smile plastered all over his face.
Putting aside all thoughts of the boy, Lea told her parents about her findings. They were happy for her…but quickly pedalled back to fawn all over tha annoying boy. Again.
So what if he helped Dan acquire a World Aspect? So what if he awakened less than two years ago? His foundation was bound to be brittle, his rise through the Ranks no more than a streak of luck that was fated to end sooner rather than later. If not for her family, the boy would be nowhere this far either.
Lea tried to ignore the boy, but something was clearly wrong about him. Adam. She couldn’t tell what exactly was up with him but something about that young and naive boy convinced her parents that he was worth investing in.
But why would they invest in him when they told her she needed to overcome her weakness by herself. Adam was weak and unimpressive, yet everyone acted like his achievements were impressive. Like he was so damn special, all because his World was unique.
So what if his World is less restrictive than mine! Having a special World doesn’t mean you are strong.
It also didn’t mean he knew how to take care of his Soulkins. That he could form a tight bond with his beasts. Or that he filled and refined more Gates than necessary.
No. Adam couldn’t have filled and refined more than a few Gates in two years. Even if his ether control mastery was respectable for how long he awakened, the boy would never be able to fill more than a few Gates at every Rank. At most, he backpedalled to bind a few more 1- and 2-Star Gates to his weave after becoming a Journeyman. More than that, and refining the Gates would have failed.
Or he didn’t refine his Gates. As foolish as that would be–...No, that has to be it. If he really is as strong as Dan, he probably sacrificed his Gates’ potential to keep up – to catch up.
It may not be stupid in the short term but for all those with the ambition to become Rulers it was potential-crippling. Unrefined Gates were no less than 20% weaker than fully refined Gates. Compared to perfectly refined Gates, they were about 30% weaker, if not more.
No matter how quickly Adam advanced, his Gates were weaker than hers, his physique frail. His weave’s branches would be too narrow to channel his traits perfectly either. Lea, on the other hand, could do so easily. Aided with her years of practice and thousands of life-and-death battles of practice, she was stronger than Adam. Better than him.
He could dream about catching up to her, but that was it. So why…WHY was everyone so invested in him? And why did his existence trigger her so much if she was stronger than him? If he had no chance at catching up to her.
Lea hadn’t seen or heard anything about him for a year but now that they were back, all she heard everyone in the estate talk about was Dan and Adam.
It bothered her. Frustrated her to no end. So she did something she wasn’t proud off; she snapped at him.
Lea did not regret snapping at him, not really. However, she felt a little bad seeing how angry her calling him lucky made. But even that evaporated when she caught a movement in the corner of her eyes. She glimpsed at her mother, saw her shaking her head, the disappointment in her eyes as clear as day and night.
Lea wanted to say something, but her hair stood up to its end. Death loomed over her, and she instinctively leaped back, her head swiveling to Adam.
He was nowhere near the other side of the arena. One moment he stood there and in the next the arena ground cracked. The aftermath of an explosion echoed in her ears, Adam towering before her, eyes glowing gold as a blade tore into her side.
So fast.
Hunter’s Instincts screamed at her and she triggered Retreat. Her body pulsed with ether as she burst into action, retreating right as several spikes burst from the ground.
Nimble activated right after Retreat’s duration ended, and Lea increased the distance to Adam. Gryphon Sight activated as well, her eyes turning silver as she scrutinized her opponent from anew.
How is he so fast? He’s not supposed to be faster than Dan.
Had she been wrong. Was Adam’s foundation not as fragile as she thought? No, that couldn’t be it. Refining Gates took time. Even if Adam only met the basic refinement requirements, completing several 4-Star Gates would have taken several months. If anything, even that would have been ridiculously fast for young, inexperienced Experts. Too fast for someone who hadn’t spent two years as a Blessed.
So how did he do that? Lea lipped her lower lip, attention shifting to the blade wound. Adam successfully drove his blade into her side. The wound itself wasn’t too bad but her passive trait, Recovery, worked nowhere near as fast as it should have. The healing barely stopped when most of the wound should have already healed by now.
Annoyance bubbled to the surface as she activated Soulfusion momentarily. Her skin took on a green hue, which disappeared as soon as the wound started to heal.
Taking a deep breath, she raised her fists, Bands of Power and Bands of Speed spreading across her arms. Her physical attributes increased sharply, the Bands’ amplification scaling with the number of perfectly refined Gates linked to the weave.
Power pumping throughout her washed away all the doubts lingering in the back of her mind, yet some resurfaced as she scrutinized Adam from anew. He stood there, killing intent pouring out of him in uncontrolled waves.
His eyes flashed suddenly in vibrant gold and both mind and body threatened to freeze in place. Resisting the attack, she tensed further, her hand flicking to the side as another earthen spike tore through the arena ground. Aetheric Strike triggered subconsciously as her hand, formed like a blade, ripped through the attack.
Wings that shimmered in all the colors bloomed from his back, spreading far and wide as the unfurled. They beat once as he leaped into the air. Then…Adam was nowhere to be seen. He disappeared before her eyes, Hunter’s Instincts screaming at her once more.
She stepped aside, Bands of Speed flaring up, just in time as the sound of beating wings rang in her ears. She struck out but failed to hit anything. Instead, her cheek stung and something warm trickled down.
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Lea didn’t even need to touch her cheek to know Adam struck her successfully, and it only infuriated her that she failed to counter. But fury was replaced by utter disbelief as her most recently acquired trait triggered.
Sacred Blood.
It was the power she needed most to fight – to defeat – a Guardian beast, yet its conditions to trigger were hard to come by. For one, the User had to be in a stressful situation. In a situation with no escape. A situation where she was on the losing end.
Second, she had to have a brush with death.
Third…well, the third condition didn’t matter anymore.
Did he just try to kill me… No, he’s playing with me.
With Sacred Blood active, the potency of her Gates and traits increased drastically. Power rampaged through her system, Lea stopped defending. Her sense perked up, every bit of her body ready to strike.
The sound of flapping wings neared once more, yet she didn’t move right away. Lea waited until the last moment before Bonds of Power, Bonds of Speed, and Aetheric Strike flared up at full might, amplified by Sacred Blood. A dozen bands shone brightly on her arms, her fists coated in a brilliant white hue as she struck an empty spot in the air.
The first strike impacted hard, metal bending at Lea’s behest. Her arms flowed smoothly, executing a second, third, and fourth strike in quick succession until the sound of metal breaking echoed through the arena.
The space before her rippled, revealing Adam and several broken parts of a shield that clattered to the ground. Lea barely noticed the shield, her eyes drawn to the boy’s figure. Boy? Who the fuck was she kidding. Adam was no boy.
He towered before her, massive dragonfly wings spread out from his back with a wingspan of no less than ten meters. But that was the least impressive feature about him. Adam was taller than before. A tail thundered on the ground behind him, his golden eyes glowing vibrantly as the abyss-like vertical slits shimmered like a promise of death. A black armor – no, exoskeleton – spread all over his body, covering tail, wings, as well as the rest of his body. Equally black scales peeked out from right underneath the spots the exoskeleton didn’t cover.
A predatory smile peeked out from right under the black armor protecting Adam’s head. Then the world was clad in brilliant light. Adam transformed into the equivalent of a military-manufractured flashbang, blinding Lea momentarily.
Hunter’s Instincts screamed at her once more, but instead of using Retreat, Lea leaned forward and triggered Nimble at full power. She’d caught a glimpse of a blade coming at her from the side and struck out with Aetheric Strike and her Bands’ power. A hiss rang in her ears as her fist impacted. Exoskeleton shattered and a wet snap confirmed the success of her strike. Yet, just as she was about to use Retreat, Hunter’s Instincts blared in her head, louder – more frightening – than before.
She leaned into the attack further, smashed the ground expected spikes to pierce her from below, but the temperature increased instead. In the same moment, her body turned sluggish, like it had grown several times heavier, and something carved through her chest and abdomen before she could respond.