Chapter 677 - She Never Fails To Intrigue Me
Topher glanced at the child before him with unblinking eyes.
To say that he was surprised by seeing the physical manifestation of Yvonne's aura would be putting it lightly.
Her situation was already an anomaly as no one ever before had heard that a girl could awaken her powers and gain an etcher.
Therefore, to witness her manifest her aura in its physical form was much too astonishing for him.
The light surrounding them at this moment was the representation of the aura residing in their bodies.
Aura within them has no shape, color, or form but that changes when it is manifested outside the human body.
Each person had a different color to represent their aura once they were capable of manifesting their auras physically.
They still did not have extensive information on how these colors were chosen for each person.
However, they had an assumption on the criteria required for an etched to be able to manifest their auras.
Based on what they had observed from the past generations, they knew that this happened in most cases where the pair of etcher and etched had bonded enough to trust each other and had also trained to strengthen their bodies and minds.
Only by progressing individually, could they advance as a team.
Once the etched human could manifest their auras physically, they were capable of quite a few abilities which they were unable to do in the past.
'She always seems to achieve the unthinkable.' The young boy could not deny that he was impressed with what he was witnessing right at this moment.
After realizing that there was nothing odd with Yvonne St. Claire for accomplishing this goliathan feat as she always managed to surprise them, Topher's attention shifted to another aspect about her.
Until now, he had seen only a few people manifest their auras.
Most of them were the elite knights in their squadron yet none possessed the color that Yvonne's aura was emanating right now.
From the knowledge he had obtained through various books, though not conclusive, he was sure that most auras were based on the colors visible in the rainbow.
Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red.
He had read that manifested auras were either in these colors or the shades closely associated with them.
He had also noticed that men belonging to the same family would usually possess a similar shade of auras.
The Tanners, for example, had the primary color red as their base.
His grandfather, the previous Duke Tanner's aura was a deep crimson whereas his father, the current Duke Obinn Tanner had a bright vermillion.
Likewise, following the same theme, Topher Tanner possessed a flaming scarlet red aura.
The entire family of Tanner men had auras of different shades of red.
'I do not know what that fool will have in the future.' He sighed while thinking of his little brother who had awakened his powers a long time ago but had not yet found his etcher.
Tossing his worried thoughts about the black sheep of his family, Topher's mind went to another family, specifically the family of the child standing before him.
Just as the Tanners had red as their base, he knew that the St. Claire's family men possessed blue as their primary color.
He had heard that the previous Earl's aura was a deep indigo while Earl Rutherford's aura was a sparkling azure which Captain Desmo, an old friend of the Earl had revealed to him.
The next heir of the family, Howard had also not found his etcher so there was no way of knowing how his aura's manifestation would look.
However, through all the information he had learned so far about aura manifestation, there was a common theory accepted by most intellectuals and academicians who studied the history of etchers and their relationship with etched.
'Two colors have never been seen before.' He declared, certain about this matter in his heart.
Most colors in this universe, either those directly from the rainbow or their derivative hues, could be found in auras of people from the past and present.
Nevertheless, there were two shades that had never been known to exist in the world of auras.
'Until now…' Topher's eyes fell on the glowing black light illuminating the child's body.
Black and white were the two colors that had never been heard of in terms of aura manifestation.
However, here he was, standing before someone who had the color black as her aura, proving that his previous knowledge could not be taken as the whole truth.
'She never fails to intrigue me.' Topher grinned, mimicking the evil smirk that Yvonne had until now.
The little girl had been enjoying the surge of energy coursing through her veins, an aftermath of manifesting one's aura.
The refreshing sensation which overwhelmed her had taken up her entire attention and thus she had been lost in a trance for just a moment.
However, when she came back to her senses, she saw that the boy before her seemed to be more engrossed than she had been until now.
Therefore, she scoffed at him before deciding to make use of this opportunity that he had presented to her on a silver platter.
'My attacker is too lax.' She sneered at his inattentive behavior in the midst of their match.
To use his distraction to her advantage, Yvonne decided to make her move now.
The aura she manifested acted like an upgrade to her skills, giving her the boost she needed.
Thanks to her aura, she moved faster than her previous speed which allowed her to become unnoticeable at the same time.
Topher snapped out of his daze regarding the conflicting information he possessed and what he was witnessing right now when he noticed that the child who was standing before him had disappeared.
In the next second, Yvonne appeared by his side and before he could react, a heavy blow landed on his forearm.
The child was still much too short for her to strike his face so she had to compromise and attack the areas which she knew would hurt and also was within her reach.
The pain Topher felt worked wonders in dragging his attention back to the present.
He had been practicing for many years before Yvonne had even started and thus had more experience when compared to her.
Not to mention that he was taller and stronger than she was.
Therefore, now that he was concentrating on their fight, he was bent on taking the lead away from her so that he could force her momentum to drop which was necessary if he wished to win.
However, that was easier said than done as Yvonne was giving him a tough time with her confusing agility ever since she manifested her aura.
If the blows he had felt before were not too painful and bearable, the same could not be said for the one he experienced just now.
'The strength of her attacks and her speed multiplied after she manifested her aura.' He noticed that she was swifter and getting ruthless in her movements.
Topher and Yvonne were now stuck in a series of back and forth attacks with no one taking the absolute lead in this match.
The child's advantage was her unexpected attacks whose next move he was unable to predict.
She had no pattern that he could catch on and exploit with hopes of stopping her advances.
To any practiced knight or squire, their movements were repeated and got predictable the more they fought against their opponent in a match.
However, this was not what was happening right now as Yvonne wasn't giving him the opportunity to predict her moves as she did not use the same moves over and over again.
Frustrated as he was, Topher was still doing an excellent job of keeping her on her toes as she dodged his attacks while planning her next moves.
Jax was watching them with awe as the speed of their attacks had gotten much faster and at times he was having a tough time keeping up with their movements.
The child was agile which was her biggest advantage against Topher who was larger and a tad bit slower than her.
'That is where you will lose. Your biggest advantage is also your biggest disadvantage!' Topher smirked when he noticed the aura enveloping her body beginning to flicker and fade.
Sure she had manifested her aura which boosted her strength and her speed but this was not a permanent solution to her problems.
Manifestation of aura took a toll on their bodies each till they achieved it.
The manifested aura was only but a temporary boost that would fade away once the person using it was at his limit.
Not to mention that this was the second time the little girl was utilizing this power.
The first time she had done so was during the lockdown and her father had asked her to stop immediately in fear of exhausting her powers and weakening her body.
This time, she had been able to maintain it for much longer but it could not go on forever.
This was exactly what was happening right now.
Her quick movements and rapid speed were eating up her energy at a much faster rate.
Yvonne could sense that her speed was lowering exponentially and she was getting slower than she had been before she even manifested her aura today.
Surprised at what was happening, she panicked when she saw that Topher's body still had the scarlet sheen enveloping him while hers had now faded entirely.
Jax's eyes widened and Demon fretted when they saw the young boy appear before the child in a flash.
His arm was raised and at a glance, one could make out that it was aimed right at the child's shoulder.
'Dammit!' Yvonne cursed when she felt fatigued after her manifested aura had diminished without a trace.
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