The arena fell into silence, the echoes of the intense battle lingering in the air. Nymira stood victorious, her chest heaving with exertion. Silas watched with admiration, a proud smile gracing his lips as his pupil's pink hair fluttered in the aftermath of the fight.
The beauty of the battle, the intricate dance of toki-infused power and expert swordsmanship, was etched into the memories of all who witnessed it—a testament to the strength and artistry that could be achieved through the mastery of toki.
'Maybe I should start trying to awaken my toki through other methods?' Silas thought to himself with a weird expression on his face; however, when he remembered something, he shook his head as the gentle smile on his lips faded.
He was waiting for the right moment. A moment where his mind and soul would be graced with an epiphany, allowing him to delve deeper into the secrets of magic.
And, deep within, he knew that moment was just around the corner.
That moment would be one that would change the course of humanity and Gilea alike for hundreds of years. After all, what's rarer than becoming the first human to control mana itself in the form of magic, not toki?
'These people don't even understand the kind of treasure they have been blessed with. They think toki is just a power like any other. They don't question... They've grown complacent with the current world, and hate change.' Silas thought while chuckling at the irony of his thoughts.
Hatred toward change was among the many ways societies collapsed and died out. Yet, the reason Earth's society collapsed was for the complete opposite. Silas' haste for change killed the planet, and he always knew that.
'No matter what you do, you're always heading toward death, aren't you.' Silas grinned self-deprecatingly.
"H-How did you get the style!" The woman asked with a clearly fearful tone.
At first, she had an assumption, but the moment she lost, she knew that her fears were correct.
"The style? I found it." Nymira shrugged before looking toward her Silas.
Silas was snapped out of his thoughts the moment the pair of ocean-blue eyes landed upon his figure. His self-deprecating grin turned into a gentle one filled with pride.
It was a sense of pride that one would only see in that of a father watching his daughter make a life of her own, no longer dependent on him.
The moment Nymira so his smile, her facial features softened before her face became slightly red. At the same time, Silas saw trickles of blood well up in her eyes.
Silas looked up at the stand where four individuals sat behind a table with widened eyes. Even Faldro, who had an annoying grin on his face earlier, looked gobsmacked at the outcome of the fight.
Yet, the man with glowing diamond-like, despite looking shocked, instantly diverted his attention to Silas the moment he felt a gaze on him.
"ANSWER ME!" An oppressive force shot out of the beast woman. A sudden pressure fell upon everyone in the hall.
Silas' eyes darted toward the beast woman on the ground as she let out a power she hadn't shown before.
The toki suddenly turned blood red as not only bloodlust infused into it, but something else too.
Silas' eyes widened as the feeling of darkness-infused mana trickled into his body. He hadn't looked at her soul properly before, but now that it was flaring out to pollute the toki, he quickly confirmed that she was indeed someone with the darkness affinity.
And right now, the large blade was slicing through the air with so much power that it would have turned the likes of Nymira to dust.
Nymira, who had been stunned by the sudden bloodlust, found herself unable to react in time as the blade neared. She was certain that she had beaten the woman, but to think that she still had power inside of her that was this powerful.
Dread seeped into her heart for a moment, while her knees threatened to buckle under the aura's weight. She couldn't help but close her eyes, something all seasoned warriors knew not to do...
But Nymira wasn't a seasoned warrior. She was a child... Or at least that was how Silas thought of her.
She waited for the sword to cut through her with zero effort, yet the attack never came.
Or maybe, she had died too quickly to realize that she was dead?
Was this the afterlife?
She couldn't feel the lights of the hall on her skin anymore, so she had to be dead, right?
Or maybe she got teleported elsewhere?
Questions ran through her mind as she slowly opened her eyes. It felt like an eternity went by as those questions ran through her mind, but in the end, all she could do was wait.
When her eyelids parted, they quickly acclimated to the current light, which wasn't hard at all. After all, the lights had significantly dimmed, and even then, there was a figure standing before her that blocked any of the lights that came at her from the front.
"How unproffesional." A voice came out of the figure's mouth, and it was unlike any other she had heard before.
Yet, she instantly recognized it. Yet, instead of feeling delighted at being alive, a wave of shame crashed onto her.
She simply looked down and didn't dare to look back up again.
"W-What... Let go of my sword." The beast woman spoke with a threatening voice.
Silas, who had already stood in front of Nymira, was holding onto the darkness shrowded blade. His eyes were glowing with a fiery and vibrant green, while his white hair fluttered alongside his cloak in the wind created by the woman's toki.
"I'd rather not kill you. Your bloodlines tend to be, what's the word for it? Inconvenient," Silas said, his voice sounding like a low rumble as he released his own aura.
Suddenly, the woman dropped to her knees and began to shiver uncontrollably.
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