Chapter 63: The Tryouts (6)

Sophia moved first.

Her foot touched the ground.

Then disappeared.

Jax’s eyes followed her.

Whoosh!

The Amethyst Lance stabbed toward his chest.

Jax moved his torso a few centimeters to the side.

The spear missed.

Sophia immediately changed the angle.

The weapon swept toward his ribs.

Jax stepped backward.

Again.

Another thrust.

Another miss.

Sophia’s eyes widened.

’He’s fast!’

She accelerated.

Her body became a blur.

The spear struck from multiple directions.

Chest.

Shoulder.

Throat.

Leg.

Jax avoided every single attack.

His hands remained in his pockets.

Sophia’s breathing became heavier.

’He’s a C-Rank.’

She could feel it.

’His Body is clearly within C-Rank territory.’

’So how...’

’How is he so damn fast?!’

’And why can’t I feel any of his Essence?!’

Sophia suddenly switched direction.

The spear came from below.

Jax hopped over it.

Sophia followed with a spinning strike.

He leaned backward.

The blade passed centimeters above his face.

He straightened.

Still smiling.

Sophia landed.

"You aren’t going to attack?"

"Or at least use your hands?"

Jax shrugged.

"Not yet."

She frowned.

"Why?"

"I’m doing something."

He waved his hands dismissively.

"I made a bet with myself."

"A bet?"

"Yeah, something like that."

He grinned.

"I promised myself I wouldn’t use my hands during the first round."

Sophia stared at him.

"You’ve got to be kidding."

"Nope."

He put his hands back into his pockets.

"Feet only."

Something inside Sophia snapped.

’He really is underestimating me.’

She lowered her spear.

"Fine."

Jax tilted his head.

"Hm?"

Sophia’s expression hardened.

"If that’s the game you want to play..."

Purple Essence erupted around her.

"...then don’t complain when you lose."

She vanished.

Jax’s smile widened.

The spear came from his left.

He twisted.

From his right.

He ducked.

Above.

He stepped backward.

Sophia gritted her teeth.

’Come on!’

She pushed herself harder.

Her speed increased.

Jax’s movements remained effortless.

Then Sophia saw it.

A gap.

She lunged.

Jax moved too but...

He was too late.

The Amethyst Lance grazed his side.

A thin line of blood appeared beneath his shirt.

Silence.

Sophia landed several meters away.

Her eyes widened.

’I got him!’

Jax looked down at the wound.

Then laughed.

"That was amazing!"

Sophia blinked.

He wasn’t angry.

He looked genuinely impressed.

"Seriously."

Jax pulled his hands from his pockets.

"You’re really fast."

Something in his demeanor changed.

Sophia’s instincts screamed as she watched Jax step forward.

She barely had time to react.

Bam!

His fist struck her shoulder.

Sophia stumbled.

Another hit.

Her ribs.

Another.

Her thigh.

Another.

Her stomach.

She couldn’t even see them.

’What?!’

She desperately swung her spear.

Jax slipped past it.

Another strike.

Her shoulder.

Another.

Her side.

He wasn’t throwing wild punches.

He was targeting specific points.

Joints.

Muscles.

Pressure points.

Weak spots.

Every attack was deliberate.

Sophia retreated.

’I can’t see his attacks.’

That realization frightened her.

At long range, she could track him.

She could react.

She could use her spear’s reach.

But up close...

He was completely different.

His movements were so fast that her eyes couldn’t process them.

It wasn’t that he was simply moving quickly.

It was as if pieces of his movement were being erased from reality.

Sophia barely managed to block a kick.

The impact still sent her sliding backward.

Jax smiled.

"Woah..!"

"You’re tough aswell."

Sophia gritted her teeth.

"You talk too much."

"Yikes..."

Purple Essence surged through the Amethyst Lance.

The weapon changed.

The crystalline blade expanded.

Its edges became sharper, more intricate.

The shaft lengthened.

Power condensed around the tip until the air itself seemed to distort.

Jax’s smile faded slightly.

"Oh?"

Sophia tightened her grip.

"I’m not done."

She launched herself forward.

The platform cracked beneath her foot.

The spear tore through the air.

Jax dodged.

Sophia followed.

The next strike nearly clipped his shoulder.

Then another.

And another.

She wasn’t just faster.

She was stronger.

Each attack carried more Essence.

Jax retreated for the first time.

Sophia’s eyes lit up.

’I’m pushing him back!’

She attacked again.

The spear slammed into the floor where Jax had been standing.

Boom!

The platform shattered.

Jax leaped onto another floating fragment.

Sophia followed.

She was breathing heavily now.

Almost all of her remaining Essence was being poured into the spear.

But she didn’t stop.

Every strike became more destructive.

Every thrust shattered stone.

Every swing left purple trails through the air.

Jax avoided them all.

Yet even he had stopped smiling casually.

"That’s impressive."

Sophia gritted her teeth.

"Save your compliments."

"Why?"

He ducked beneath a spear.

"You’re doing so great."

"I said—"

Another strike.

Jax stepped sideways.

"You’re really strong."

Sophia’s frustration peaked.

She gathered everything she had left.

Purple Essence erupted outward.

The Amethyst Lance became enormous.

The blade was now several times larger than before, its crystalline structure shining violently as countless layers of Essence compressed into it.

Sophia screamed.

"TAKE THIS!"

She swung.

The attack tore across the battlefield.

Jax’s eyes widened.

But so did his smile.

"That’s some power."

He avoided the strike by a hair.

The enormous spear smashed into the platform behind him.

The entire structure collapsed.

Dust exploded upward.

Sophia stood panting.

She could barely keep the spear manifested.

Her Essence was almost empty.

Jax emerged from the dust.

Not a scratch.

Sophia stared.

He dusted off his jacket.

"That was commendable."

He looked at her.

"Really."

Sophia’s breathing slowed.

"Then..."

She raised the spear again.

"...are you finally going to take me seriously?"

Jax smiled.

"I already am."

He paused.

"Want me to go all out too?"

Sophia froze.

"...What?"

Jax disappeared in a flash.

There was no dramatic surge or even any visible movement.

He simply wasn’t there anymore.

Sophia’s pupils contracted.

’Where—?’

The world slowed.

At least, that’s what it felt like.

Her mind desperately tried to process what had happened.

’Speed?’

’No way.’

’Stealth?’

’Maybe.’

She couldn’t sense him.

Couldn’t see him.

Couldn’t even hear his footsteps.

Ger confusion was cut short by a low voice.

A voice whispered directly beside her ear.

"This is my first time trying this against a human opponent."

Sophia’s blood ran cold.

Jax vanished again.

She turned.

Nothing.

Then he appeared behind her.

Standing casually.

Hands at his sides.

"I developed it for monsters."

Jax seemed to move casually, while everything and everyone in the world seemingly moved in slow motion.

"It’s a combination of every martial art I’ve ever copied."

He took one step.

"One hundred hits."

His crimson eyes gleamed.

"In less than a second."

Sophia’s eyes widened.

’One hundred—?!’

She felt an impact before she even properly registered his words.

The first punch struck her abdomen.

The second hit her ribs.

The third struck her shoulder.

Then another.

And another.

And another.

The world became noise.

Punches.

Kicks.

Elbows.

Knees.

Every strike landed precisely.

There was no wasted motion.

No hesitation.

The combined movements flowed into one continuous sequence of martial arts, each technique transitioning into the next so smoothly that the attacks became indistinguishable.

Sophia couldn’t react.

She couldn’t defend.

She couldn’t even understand what was happening.

One hundred attacks.

In less than a second.

The final strike sent her flying.

She crashed into the remains of the platform.

The floor beneath her shattered completely.

Sophia’s body rolled across the stone before finally coming to a stop.

Unconscious.

The Amethyst Lance dissolved into harmless purple particles.

Silence followed.

Jax stood where he had finished his attack.

He looked at his hand.

Then at Sophia.

A pleased smile appeared on his face.

He glanced toward the badges still attached to her clothes.

Not one had been taken.

Just as promised.

Jax turned his head over his shoulder.

"Thanks for the tasty fight."

He stretched his arms.

"That was fun."

Then he walked away.

Behind him, Sophia remained unconscious among the shattered ruins.

And above the battlefield...

The timer continued to tick.

The first round was far from over.

Status Report!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[STATUS]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Name: Jax

Level: 130 [C-Rank]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Attributes

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Strength: 440

Agility: 400 (×2)

Vitality: 200

Essence: —

Perception: 300

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Skills & Authorities

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Fist that surpasses Time [SS]

Channels the entirety of the Awakened’s Strength and Agility into a single attack.

While charging, the Awakened’s chosen limb becomes completely unusable. The attack briefly transcends the normal flow of time, causing time itself to momentarily halt along the attack’s trajectory. the Awakened becomes severely exhausted and is rendered incapable of combat after the attack.

Godspeed [SS]

Reduces the Awakened’s physical reaction time to 0 seconds and permanently doubles their Agility attribute.

Martial God [S]

Passively copies and perfects any Martial Art the Awakened perceives.

Martial Exchange [S]

The Awakened’s Strength resides within their body rather than their Essence. All Essence and Essence based skills are permanently stripped away, in exchange for for unique physical skills.

Critical Strike [A]

Random chance for the awakeneds attack to grow in power by 400% and to bypass the opponents Durability entirely.

Burst Step [A]

Instantly crosses a designated distance through a rapid Essence-enhanced movement.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━