Susan was getting excited.
Nathan"s expression is calm as a lake even now.
She wanted to see how much more till he is forced to get serious.
She decided to get a little more serious herself.
Susan started using the strength of Lvl.14.
Another sword appeared in her hand.
Vroom-
Air stirred, and white flames covers her sword.
She swings her sword downward. A large arc of white flames shoots out and flies toward Nathan.
Phzzzt-
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-Bam!
A sword appeared beneath Nathan, and he jumps in another direction.
Slash-
Slash-
Slash-
Susan continues, sending out arcs of white flames.
But Nathan continued to dodge in the same manner. No, it wasn"t the same.
-Bam!
–Bam! –Bam!
Nathan was getting faster.
The speed at which he was able to burst a layer of ether under his feet was increasing.
He was mastering the technique during the fight itself!
In the memory world, Nathan couldn"t use his art. With his body unable to touch anything, he also wasn"t able to practice combat.
The only thing he could do was manipulate Nether and Ether.
To make use of the extra time, he continued training with the only thing possible there.
For ten years he only practiced controlling Nether and Ether.
Now, his control of energy has reached the level of young geniuses!
Slash- Slash-
-Bam! –Bam!
Nathan was now directly above Susan.
Phzzzt-
-Bam!
He pulls his fist back and jumps down toward her.
Susan raises her sword to block.
Baang-!
Susan"s arm shakes from the clash.
The force behind Nathan"s attack almost makes her drop her sword.
She bends her knees to soften the impact.
"Got you."
Nathan lands on the ground when she suddenly smirks.
Finally, Nathan was close to her.
Vrrrroooom-
Her hair flutters wildly.
Two magic circles appear beneath her.
Instantly Nathan"s body got heavy, and she instead feels lighter.
Nathan realized what had happened.
Susan had debuffed him, and buffed herself!
For this, she used double casting and silent chanting.
Both double casting and silent chanting were something only Rank 5 mages can do.
Yet Susan did it effortlessly!
"[Mana Blessed Physique]"
Susan ignores Nathan"s muttering.
While Nathan is still near her, she kicks toward his temple.
Phzzzt-
She hears a low static sound.
But doesn"t see any sword materialize behind Nathan.
"!"
She quickly stops her kick and jumps.
Fwosh- Fwosh-
Two swords pa.s.s through where Susan"s head was moments ago.
She lands far away from Nathan.
"You can you create your sword in a specific range?"
Susan had believed that Nathan can only create swords behind himself.
Yet just now he created them behind Susan and attacked from there.
"d.a.m.n, what the h.e.l.l is she?"
With a neutral expression, Nathan screams in his mind.
He has been fighting with the stats of Lvl. 14.
Yet Susan, who was also using the strength of Lvl.14 was overpowering him.
But he understood the reason behind it.
The stat for his Lvl.14 and Susan"s Lvl.14 were different because of their talent limits.
"It"s fun."
Susan grinned and crouched. Ready to attack Nathan.
"Someone desperate to escape? All I see is a battle maniac!"
(You are no different)
Nathan touches his face.
He no longer had a neutral expression.
A wide grin was etched on Nathan"s face too!
"I guess that"s true too."
"Yeah, it is."
-Bam!
Susan burst the aura under her feet and darts toward Nathan.
Phzzzt-
Five swords materializes behind Nathan.
Fwosh-
Fwosh-
Fwosh- Fwosh-
Fwosh-
With a little time difference, all swords flew.
They quickly reach Susan.
Susan bent her upper body to the right.
The first sword flew past her shoulder.
Clang-!
She stopped the second sword with her sword.
She ducked slightly forward to dodge the third and fourth swords.
Susan swings her sword to block the last sword.
"[Pierce]"
Suddenly, the last flying sword extends. The tip of the blade is aimed at her head.
Susan"s eye widens.
But her body moved instinctively, and she tilts her head.
The sword"s blade went past her cheeks, slightly grazing her.
But Nathan didn"t stop.
He was already in front of Susan.
In his hand is a reddish-black orb.
She was about to dodge again when she realized that the orb had no energy fluctuations.
Even a normal punch carries small fluctuations of energy.
But the orb didn"t have any fluctuation!
Her mind started blaring alarms at her.
For an attack to be completely undetectable. Susan believed that it was one of Nathan"s strongest skills.
Vrroooom-
Instantly she emptied half of her mana and uses a high-tier agility buff.
"That attack is dangerous. I must dodge it!"
However, Nathan"s next actions shocked her.
Nathan suddenly changes his attack"s direction and attacks the ground.
"No, he is attacking the magic circles!"
The orb struck the magic circles and absorbed them in a split second.
The magic circles vanished and so did Susan"s buff!
However, before Nathan can attack again, she kicks toward him.
Nathan, who was kneeling, thrusts his left arm at Susan.
But Susan was faster, and her attack was about to land on him first.
"[Pierce]"
Just as Susan thinks she had won, Nathan again activates his skill.
Swish-
His nails instantly lengthen towards her neck.
This time, she truly couldn"t block or dodge.
The nails almost pierce her neck, but they stop before her neck.
Nathan knew Susan wouldn"t be able to dodge his last attack. So he made sure his attack was not life-threatening.
He had already calculated the range of his attack!
But there was one thing he didn"t calculate.
"I w-"
Baaam-!
Susan"s kick hits him.
He is thrown in the air.
His body bounces twice before smashing into the wall.
"N-no"
Susan stutters at her blunder.
When she saw Nathan"s final attack was unavoidable, she lost control over her strength.
Her instincts kicked in and she tried taking down Nathan along with her.
She kicked Nathan with her true strength!
Susan runs to where Nathan was. No matter how strong Nathan is he didn"t block her hit.
There was no way her strike wouldn"t harm him.
"Cough..cough"
Nathan coughs slightly and tries to stand.
He was bleeding from the corner of his lips and coughing blood. He probably had some internal injuries.
Judging from how he was standing, it was clear he had broken some bones, too.
Yet his face bore no emotions.
No, looking closely Susan notices Nathan was showing one particular emotion on his face.
"He is irritated?"
Nathan irritably dusted his clothes while staring at her.
Susan"s body stiffened at such a sight.
She had gone through operations for which the doctors had to remove her bones from her body.
Yet, even she couldn"t say that she can stand unperturbed if she had the same injuries Nathan had.
But Nathan wasn"t only unconcerned about his physical pain.
He was irritated at her.
"He is irritated because I couldn"t even control my strength?"
Susan understood the reason behind Nathan"s expression.
But she still couldn"t believe how he was causally ignoring his injuries and only had an irritated expression.
She has seen people have a neutral expression after getting a fatal injury.
So, she knew all of them weren"t actually not feeling pain. But they were doing their all to keep it from showing on their faces.
If they relaxed even a little, the pain will show on their faces.
But Nathan?
He had an expression. But it wasn"t even closely related to expressing his pain.
"Just what are you?"
She was about to apologize when Nathan brings a vial out of his spatial ring.
He empties the content of the vial into his throat and speaks.
"I"m leaving."
As Susan watches Nathan parting back, for the first time, she wonders if it was Nathan who was special or was it the organization he belonged to.
*
I glared at Susan.
"What the f.u.c.k? Isn"t she a supposed weapon? Why the h.e.l.l can"t she even stop her instincts from overpowering herself?"
I didn"t shout at her.
It wasn"t because I didn"t want to.
I wanted to cuss as harshly as possible.
The problem was, I was spewing blood like a fountain from my mouth.
If opened it to speak I might die from anemia!
"f.u.c.k, it hurts like h.e.l.l."
(Why are so blowing your top off? If it"s hurting, shouldn"t you be screaming in pain and not cursing in irritation?)
I sighed at Eth"s words.
The real reason I was getting angry was not Susan. It was me.
It wasn"t true that I never practiced combat in the memory world. Caim and I did many shadow fights.
And this was what I learned from those fights.
"I"m s.h.i.t in closer quarter combat."
I can judge and a.n.a.lyze situations very quickly during fights. But I can"t react just as fast.
Like the geniuses like Susan and the main cast, I don"t move instinctively. I have to think before making each attack.
This delays my reaction time.
Vupp-
I brought out an elixir vial and gulped it down in one go.
"I"m leaving."
----+++++++----
A/N: h.e.l.lo dear reader! Please check the comment I have an important question regarding TEO.
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