Chapter 767: He Is Fast
Gabby attacked again before the thought fully settled.
This time, she did not launch straight toward his face. She darted diagonally, flames flickering around her ankles while the air behind her feet compressed in quick pulses that made each step sharper than the last.
She moved like she was kicking against invisible walls, using brief air bursts to change direction before her momentum could be easily read. When she reached Liam’s left side, she swung a flame-coated fist toward his ribs, then twisted before the strike completed and sent a low kick toward his knee.
Liam shifted back from the punch and lifted his leg just enough for her kick to pass beneath it. Gabby planted her foot, used a burst of air at her heel to pivot faster than her hips alone should have allowed, and drove her elbow toward his chest. Liam leaned away, letting the elbow pass, then turned his shoulder to avoid the follow-up flame jab she threw toward his throat.
Sasha immediately cheered from the side. "Go, Gabby!"
Anna followed more calmly, though her voice still carried support. "Keep pressing him. Don’t let him settle."
Dylan grinned. "Yes, yes, excellent advice. Keep attacking the senior who hasn’t used magic yet. I’m sure that ends beautifully."
Sasha shot him a look. "Why are you so negative?"
"I prefer the word experienced."
"You look like you almost died in a bush."
"I almost died in several bushes," Dylan said. "That is exactly why my opinion has value."
Sasha scoffed. "You sound like an old man."
Dylan placed a hand over his chest. "I am wounded. Deeply. Spiritually."
Anna glanced between them. "Do the two of you know each other?"
"No," Sasha and Dylan said at the same time.
Then both looked mildly offended that they had answered together.
On the platform, Gabby continued pressing Liam with increasing speed.
She moved in short, aggressive bursts, using flame to cloak the visible attack while air did the subtle work beneath it. Fire wrapped her fists, shins, and sometimes shoulders, making each strike look like it belonged entirely to her flame affinity, but Liam could see the truth in the way her steps landed.
The air compressed at the soles of her feet, sometimes at her calves, sometimes behind her elbows. Each burst was small, almost hidden under the flicker of flame, but it corrected her balance, quickened her turns, and made her recover from missed strikes faster than she should have been able to.
She threw a right punch toward Liam’s jaw.
He moved his head back.
She used the missed punch to let her body rotate, sending a left kick toward his stomach.
He stepped outside the line.
She fired a small burst of air from behind her right foot, redirected her momentum, and chased him with a palm strike coated in flame.
He shifted his shoulder, letting the strike pass close enough to warm the fabric of his shirt.
Gabby’s eyes sharpened. She was not landing hits, but she was not slowing down either. If anything, each failed strike made her adjust. Her first attacks had been direct. Now she began layering them.
A punch forced Liam’s head to move. A knee rose toward where his ribs should shift. A kick threatened his leg when he tried to step. Her flames flared outward just enough to block parts of his vision, and the air beneath her movement kept making her angles harder to predict.
Liam remained on defense.
He did not use fire.
He did not use dark magic.
He did not even reinforce himself visibly with Myst.
He simply watched, moved, and let her come at him again and again.
Gabby noticed that too, and it irritated her.
He was not treating her like a joke. That much she could tell. His eyes were focused, his body responsive, and he was clearly analyzing every part of her movement. But the fact that he had not used a single affinity made it feel as if she was still far below the level where he needed anything more.
She stepped in harder, flames blooming around both hands as she feinted high, dropped low, and tried to sweep his legs out from beneath him. Liam lifted one foot, avoided the sweep, then placed it down exactly where she could not immediately attack his balance.
He’s reading too much, Gabby thought, frustration pricking through her focus. No, not reading. He’s letting me show him things.
That realization came a little too late.
Liam decided to speed things up.
Gabby lunged again with a flame-coated straight punch toward his chest, her air burst carrying her forward faster than before. Until then, Liam had been retreating or shifting just enough to avoid her. This time, he moved forward with only raw movement.
His foot slid into the narrow space just outside her lead leg, and his body closed the distance before Gabby’s punch fully extended. To Sasha and Anna, it looked almost as if he had vanished from the spot he occupied and reappeared inside Gabby’s guard.
Gabby’s eyes widened as Liam’s left hand redirected her wrist by barely touching it, not grabbing, not forcing, just guiding the line of her punch past his shoulder. His right foot then stepped behind hers at an angle that trapped her stance for half a breath, while his free hand stopped a finger’s width from her throat.
Gabby froze.
She understood instantly.
If that had been real, her throat would have been crushed, cut, or struck hard enough to end the fight.
"One," Liam said.
Sasha’s mouth fell open.
Anna’s eyes sharpened.
Dylan burst out laughing. "That face. Oh, that face was worth leaving the cafeteria."
Sasha snapped her head toward him. "How did he move like that?"
"With his legs," Dylan said.
"That is not an answer."
"It is technically the most correct answer."
"Senior Wellington, I swear—"
"Please, call me Dylan. Senior Wellington makes me sound responsible."
On the platform, Gabby remained speechless for a moment, still trying to process how Liam had entered her guard so easily. She had not even sensed a burst of Myst. There had been no flame propulsion, no shadow step, no obvious enhancement. He had simply moved at the exact instant her body committed forward, stepping into the one space where her attack made her unable to adjust quickly enough.
But Liam did not give her time to fully understand it.
He attacked from the same close range.
Gabby barely had time to pull her arm back before Liam’s shoulder shifted and his hand came toward her face in a straight, controlled motion. She leaned away, but that was what he wanted. His foot hooked lightly behind her ankle, and his other hand stopped just above the side of her jaw while his knee positioned close enough to her abdomen that a real strike would have folded her body before she could ignite enough flame to defend.
"Two," Liam said.
Gabby’s breath caught.
Again.
It had happened again.
She had not even restarted properly, and he had already placed her in another losing position. Her heart pounded harder now, not from exhaustion, but from the sudden pressure of realizing how fast the gap could show itself when Liam stopped only reacting.
Liam moved again.
This time, his right hand came toward her shoulder as his weight shifted low, clearly setting up another close-range entry. Gabby did not think. Her body reacted before her mind could form a plan. Flame exploded from her left side while air burst violently from beneath both feet, throwing her backward in a sharp retreat that tore her out of his reach and sent her sliding several meters across the platform.
She landed low, one hand touching the floor, flames flickering unevenly around her fingers as compressed air swirled and faded around her legs.
She stared at him.
’What was that?’
Her thoughts raced as she tried to understand the movement. He had not used flame. She was certain of that. She had not felt dark magic either. There had been no shadow displacement, no teleportation, no external force. His raw movement speed was just that sharp.
But it was not only speed. If it were only speed, she might have at least followed it. He moved when her balance was committed, entered at angles where her own attack blocked her from responding, and placed his body in positions that made her choices narrow before she even realized she was choosing.
’He wasn’t just faster than me,’ she thought, her breath steadying as her eyes stayed locked on him. ’He moved when I couldn’t. He didn’t beat my speed. He beat the moment before I could use it.’
Her fingers pressed harder against the floor.
’And he’s still not using magic.’
That thought made her stomach tighten.
Across from her, Liam watched her quietly. His sleeves were folded properly now, his posture relaxed again, as if the two "kills" he had just taken had required little more effort than walking across the hall. For a few seconds, he let her think.
Then he spoke.
"If you’re going to stay lost in your head, we can call off the spar," he said. "I have better things to do."
Gabby’s eyes flared.
The words hit exactly where he intended them to. Not cruelly, but sharply enough to drag her out of thought and back into motion. Her pride stung. Her frustration ignited. The flame around her hand grew brighter, while the air beneath her feet began to twist in tight, invisible pressure.
"Don’t act like this is over," Gabby said, her voice low and fierce. "I haven’t even made you take me seriously yet."
Liam’s gaze remained calm.
Gabby launched herself forward again.
This time, the burst beneath her feet cracked louder against the platform, and flames streamed behind her like a short blazing tail as she closed the distance with even more violence than before.
