The Sigil Of Chaos

Nadran"s eyes slightly widened at the sight of her empowered attack, but he quickly regained his composure and rushed back into the fray. Rethara"s smile widened at this scene. [Despite the apparent danger, he is still willing to continue the fight. That is a valuable trait for anyone who wishes to reach the pinnacle of this world, and one he certainly shares with the Nadran I know.]

She swung her sword, aiming to hit him as soon as he entered her range, but he shifted his body just enough to avoid the attack. He quickly launched a claw attack of his own, prompting Rethara to leap up into the air to avoid it. As she descended, she lashed out with a gravity-enhanced kick.

Nadran blocked the kick with his claws, then pushed her back, launching her back into the air, then attacked again before she could stabilize herself, pushing her back several feet. [Yes, this is the feeling I was looking for!] Rethara exclaimed in her mind as they fought back and forth. [I"ve been trying to find a good opponent to push myself with for days. Who would have thought that it would be Nadran that mysteriously appeared at the academy and was able to give me the fight I needed?]

Rethara felt herself acclimating better and better to her younger body as the fight went on, the pressure and intensity of the battle allowing her to familiarize herself with her current limits, testing the strength and responsiveness of her muscles under pressure. This feeling, in conjunction with her natural love of battle, caused her excitement to grow even more, to the point where it took her a moment to realize just how well Nadran was fighting.

[Wow, he"s actually able to keep up with me right now. He"s fighting even better than he did years in the future, but there"s something strange about his movements. He seems surprised at his own reactions, and looking more closely, it seems like his movements are more instinctual than anything else. He keeps losing his balance for a split second after each move, probably because he didn"t expect it in the first place. He also seems to have a stronger aura around him, as well. Wait, instinctive reactions, that type of aura… don"t tell me he has a partially awakened bloodline?!]

Rethara froze at this insane thought, and almost got hit by Nadran because of it. She continued to fight, and closely inspected Nadran"s movements and reactions. [There shouldn"t be any mistake… this looks like a true bloodline, and a pretty powerful one at that. Bloodlines are already incredibly rare among even the most powerful of beasts, never mind a human inheriting one. With a bloodline aiding him, his future is basically unlimited. Let"s see just how much his bloodline can handle right now.]

Rethara suddenly jumped back, creating distance between them, before rapidly inscribing the gravity sigil in the air. The sigil took effect, imbuing her sword with a dark energy. She leaped into the air once more, and when she had reached the apex of her jump, she gave a mental command, inducing the energy to activate. Suddenly, her sword tripled in weight, and she used this heavy sword to strike towards Nadran, who promptly dodged out of the way.

Seeing Nadran evade, Rethara allowed her strike to continue down, blasting a ma.s.sive hole in the ground from the force of the impact. She watched Nadran"s face pale at the destructive power of the attack, and couldn"t help but cheekily grin. "That was a nice dodge there," she commented casually.

"We-were you trying to kill me there?" Nadran asked with a mixture of fear and anger.

"Nah, I was pretty sure you"d survive," Rethara responded nonchalantly. "After all…" […I know how you fight, and an attack like that wouldn"t be able to do you in. Besides, with that level of bloodline, you should have some defensive capabilities, whether you"re aware of them or not.] Rethara"s mind processed all these thoughts, but she didn"t say them aloud, unsure how she could explain how she knew these things without coming across as crazy. Instead she said, "Never mind. Well, let"s wrap this up with one last strike." [Let"s push you to your limits and see what we can find.]

Nadran grimaced upon hearing her proposal. "…How about we don"t, and say we did?" Nadran asked wryly, looking toward the referee for help, but receiving none.

Rethara flicked her greatsword in Nadran"s direction, controlling a part of the gravity-type energy to get flung off her sword and strike him. [Interesting, despite the fact that he was able to dodge faster attacks earlier, he was still struck by this one. I wonder why? Well, he"s locked in place now, let"s see how he deals with a direct attack.]

Rethara leaped into the air once again, preparing to launch a final attack. The remaining gravity-type energy on her sword activated once more, and she began her descent. As she fell, however, doubts started to creep into her mind.

[Can Nadran really stop this attack? I think I got a little too overeager with having such a refreshing battle and wanting to test his limits. I"m used to fighting high-level opponents who always have numerous trump cards at their disposal, but Nadran isn"t even a mid-slate cultivator, never mind a diamond-rank cultivator like the people I was accustomed to fighting before I died. He probably doesn"t have a way to stop this attack, and he appears to be unaware of his bloodline, meaning he can"t rely on it for aid. I"ll probably have to stop my attack short so I don"t actually kill him.]

Rethara prepared to halt her attack, but then she noticed that Nadran"s eyes contained no fear. Instead, his violet irises displayed calmness as he traced a sigil in the air.

[What sigil is he making? With his sigil casting speed, he won"t be able to finish a sigil in time, and even if he does, it likely won"t be strong enough to stop my attack.] Rethara reached her conclusion, and was once again about to stop her attack when Nadran finished his sigil.

[Wait, how did he finish it in time?] Rethara thought in surprise. [What is that sigil, anyways? Wait, is that-]

A sudden, piercing pain lanced through Rethara"s head, disrupting her train of thought and causing her to black out for a split second. By the time she had recovered, it was already too late to stop her swing. Her sword swung down, then suddenly was intercepted by a force that pushed it to the side, causing it to narrowly miss striking Nadran. It collided with the ground at a high speed, the shockwave from the strike launching Nadran through the air. He hit the ground hard before rolling to a stop on his side.

Rethara spun her sword around before returning it to her spatial ring. "Wow, very impressive," she commented, impressed that he was able to divert her final attack. She began to walk over toward Nadran. "Thanks for giving me such a fun fight. I haven"t had a fight that exciting in…" […Wait, how long has it been? This is the most exciting fight my current body has ever been in, but from my consciousness"s perspective, I had an even more intense fight six days ago… or decades in the future, depending on your perspective…] "…Ever? Six days? Well, something like that."

Then, a thought slipped through her endorphin-filled brain, and the full implications of what just happened hit her. [Oh my G.o.d, I almost just killed Nadran. If he hadn"t managed to divert my attack at the last second, that could have cleaved him in two.]

Before panic could set in, Rethara hastily channeled a calming art, causing her expression to return to neutral. "Sorry, I went a bit overboard, didn"t I? Here, take this," she said, kneeling down and handing Nadran a healing pill she had retrieved from her spatial ring.

Ignoring his incredulous look, she continued. "I really need to work on my… overexcitement during battle," Rethara calmly stated. [Especially if it leads to this kind of outcome… he looks pretty beat up. Maybe I can carry him back to his room?] "I did not originally intend to continue to this extent. Do you want me to help you back to your room so you can rest?"

Nadran hesitated, clearly wary of her, but soon nodded. Rethara walked over and picked him up off the ground. [Wow, this brings back memories…] Rethara thought nostalgically as she adjusted his weight on her back. "So, where is your room?" Rethara asked, realizing she did not know where to bring him.

"314," Nadran responded in a weak tone.

This unexpected piece of information disrupted Rethara"s thoughts, causing surprise to faintly display on her face. "You"re an alchemist?" she asked, taken aback.

Nadran nodded in affirmation, causing Rethara to pause and think. [Since when was Nadran an alchemist? In all the years I knew him, he never showed the slightest hint of knowing about alchemy, but now he"s entered the academy by the merit of his alchemy abilities. What"s going on? Well, regardless, him knowing alchemy can only be a good thing.]

"Alright then," she finally said with a smile before heading toward the alchemy dorms. Her face quickly returned to neutral, but her thoughts did not. [He was able to divert my final attack to the side with a hastily drawn sigil. What was it?] She attempted to remember the appearance of the sigil, but a sudden, piercing pain erupted in her head. Rethara stopped in place, grimacing and clutching her head with her free hand, prompting a questioning look from Nadran.

Rethara took a deep breath before letting go of her head and continuing onward, ignoring Nadran"s questioning look. [That was the same type of pain that caused me to lose control of my attack at the end of the fight. That pain can be really dangerous; I need to be careful. It almost seems like some sort of mental attack, but who could launch such a mental attack in this academy? Even the princ.i.p.al doesn"t have the ability to do that.]

Rethara looked around suspiciously, but did not notice anyone suspicious in the vicinity. Inwardly shrugging, Rethara brought Nadran back to his room before placing him on his bed.

After setting him down, Rethara began pondering once more. […Now what? I feel like directly telling him we become friends in the future wouldn"t be the best choice, but I certainly don"t want to just leave and let us go our separate ways after we were finally reunited… What to do…]

Unsure what she wanted to do, Rethara silently stood near the foot of the bed as Nadran rested, slowly recovering from his injuries as the day came to an end.