A couple of hours before the promised challenge, he was startlingly excited, almost to the point of unrest. Various thoughts and scenes played in his mind, interweaving to create an explosion of emotions.
"Nervous?" Ariha asked right after landing before him. She didn't even need to look at him more than a fraction of a moment to know that.
"Of course," he said, letting out a breath. "It would be concerning if I wasn't nervous about this."
Ariha nodded and crept forward to stand before him. She didn't even reach his neck, but she didn't look up; instead, her body floated up to his eye level as she met his gaze.
"Don't think," she advised and raised her palms to clasp his shoulders. "Just do it..."
He nodded. Ariha seemed like she had more to say, but she expressed none of that. He didn't wait for her, either. Sitting down in the middle of the third checkpoint, he began meditating, waiting for his challenge to arrive.
He had done everything he could in the three months' time. He had grown by a metric which shouldn't have been feasible for most rankers. Even without training for the last few days, his Physique had grown by 2%, adding to 95%, though still far from making it to the mark. Perhaps he really had a chance of making it if he put his work into it...
Hell, if he were to spar with Ariha for at least a few hours every day, he would have made double the progress, but no time for regretting that. With his speed of progress, he would probably make it within a few weeks.
The clouds gathered and churned with the intensity of the Way, the wind rising along, joining with their screams as though producing an anticipation for what was to come.
He thought he had a good 50-50 chance of making it. It could be his ignorance of not understanding the depth of his opponent's power, but if he were to consider his opponent wouldn't use the depth of her power, he believed he stood a good chance. Stay updated with m-v l|-NovelFire
A thunder bellowed separate from all others. He leapt to his feet and stared up into the air. The atmosphere had changed; the patterns of the way were lashing out, the clouds darkening and churning relentlessly. A storm was brewing.
Radiance essence and void essence surged within him on his right and left sides respectively, as he stared at the movement in the sky. Something was coming his way, and it wasn't his opponent.
It seemed to be a stele with runes engraved into them. It landed just about a few paces away from him, about ten metres high. It stuck into the ground and manifested a holographic screen of a clock, while the storm brewed.
Sizzling radiance essence flooded from his chest, as light sparked from his breastplate.
One second.
A bell rang, and iridescent celestial feathery wings unfurled from behind Ariha's back in a fraction of a moment. She shot at him, closing the distance in no time. Thankfully, he was prepared for this and swung his blade, void light shooting out from the blade.
The elder avatar's body glowed with golden armament—the radiance essence of war—as she intercepted the blow. There was no change of expression in her eyes. She shot forward, clutching his body and flew up into the storm.
She wasn't silent during her manoeuvre, however. Her wings blazed with fiery intensity and dug into his body as though they weren't feathers, but shards of glass.
His own set of wings unfurled behind him to protect him from her onslaught and give him freedom of movement. His illusionary wings made out of radiance essence expanded wider than hers as he flooded more power into [Wings of Radiance]. With one flap of them, he separated himself from her and bought himself some distance.
"Fake," Ariha clicked her tongue and attacked with the wind blades of the Way.
Thousands of torrential forces of wind blades, augmented by the golden light, shot at him from all directions, planning to pin him down.
Summoning his intent, he infused them into the Way and made an attack of his own. He swung his blade in a full arc.
[Whispers of the Baleful Wind]
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Yo, he would need to TM'd the name after he comes out of the subspace... Hopefully, the next few chapters will give you a dopamine rush...