Chapter 525 - 525: Bottle neck

After settling everything with everyone, Silva sat down at the top of a mountain, staring at the sky above. He was wondering what Ragna was trying to do with the Guardians and why he took them. He wanted to get up and give chase immediately, but that was not going to work at all.

He did not even know where Ragna was, and that was the first part of the issue. There were more things that needed to be overcome if he wanted to find Ragna.

"Your mind seems full," Dawn said as she walked from behind. She sat down beside him and stared into the distance like him.

"Yours too," Silva replied.

She let out a smile and then bowed her head to stare at the ground.

"I'm falling behind," she said outright. Tears began gathering in her eyes as she spoke, and her body began trembling.

"I have been trying so much to catch up and become stronger, but I can't. I see you, Lily, and Drake ahead and taking on all the dangers as they come, and I am forced to watch from behind and babysit because I am not strong enough to even help." Her voice croaked towards the end, but she tried to keep it steady.

Silva turned and looked at her. He saw the pain that was forming in her. It was clear that she was suffering a lot, and she was breaking down now.

"If anyone deserves to be strong, it's you, Dawn. You have the greatest potential, and you are extremely talented. You are the best of your kind and extremely hardworking."

"Then why, why can I not even go beyond what I currently am?" she asked with red eyes and a shaking body.

"Because you are at a bottleneck, Dawn. You have been for the longest time now," Silva said in a way that made her know that he had known for a long time.

"You have known?" she asked.

"Yes, I have known. I felt it one day when we trained long before we left Argon. I saw something in you that only you could possibly be able to do, but the issue was that you could not unlock it," he explained.

She looked at him with wide eyes, wanting to understand what he was saying more deeply.

Silva took a deep breath. "You are at the cusp of your evolution. All you need now is a little push to take you over that spike."

He said that and then got to his feet. "I have watched you struggle with it long enough, so now I want to help you."

She watched him and then got to her feet as well. She looked at him with confusion, not sure what they were about to do now.

Silva stretched out his hand, and a sword that would fit her style formed in his hand. He handed it to her. She grabbed the blade and stared at it, then at him.

Silva summoned his blade again, and then his demeanour changed into a very sharp and lethal one.

"So today, Dawn, I'll try to kill you. Defend yourself." When he said that, he allowed his entire aura to unleash, and the force that came from it immediately caused the mountain to tremble and shake. Rocks began cracking and falling apart while Silva stood there, as calm as possible, staring at her with killing intent.

Dawn stepped back in fear. After all, this was Silva.

"Dude, you are going to kill her at this rate for sure," Zion said.

"She will be fine," Silva replied and then got into his stance and got ready for her.

Dawn was still worried, but after a few seconds, she gritted her teeth and decided to give it her all. If Silva had said this was a chance for her to reach greater heights and rise to the top, then she was going to take it with both hands.

She refused to allow it to pass her by because she was scared and worried. She pulled the blade back, and her aura changed as well, becoming heavy and sharp.

"I'll give it my all, even if it kills me, so you better not hold back."

"Good," Silva said. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Dawn pushed off the ground and launched at him.

She crossed the distance in a blink and brought her blade down in a diagonal slash. Silva raised his sword and caught it with one hand. The clash rang out across the mountain.

She didn't stop. She swung again, then again, cutting at his neck, his ribs, his legs. Her strikes were fast and sharp, the best she had ever thrown.

Silva blocked every one of them with ease.

He didn't even take a step. His sword moved in small, calm arcs, turning each blow aside as if he was brushing away flies. On the fifth strike, he pushed his blade forward and threw her back.

CLANG!

Dawn skidded across the rocks and stopped on one knee. Her arms were shaking from the impact, and sweat ran down her face.

'Not enough. I need more.'

She gritted her teeth and drew in a deep breath. Fire burst out of her body, bright and roaring, and wrapped around her arms and the sword. The heat made the rocks around her glow red.

She charged again.

This time, her slash came with the full weight of the flames behind it, and it was twice as fast as before. Silva raised his sword to meet it.

BOOM!

The two blades collided, and a wave of fire and force rolled outward from the spot. Dawn pushed with everything she had, her feet digging into the stone, her teeth bared. For the first time, Silva's feet slid back an inch.

He looked at her for a second, and the corner of his mouth moved.

Then he shoved back.

Dawn was pushed away again, but she held her footing this time and kept her sword up. The flames still burned around her.

Silva rolled his shoulder and lowered his blade.

"That was good," he said calmly. "Now I attack."