The Gamer's POV

Cedric walked down the hallway of his townhouse, idly shaking the glass bottle containing Elena’s Tears. He brought his left hand up to massage his stiff neck, rolling his shoulders and letting out a low, weary groan before tilting the bottle back to take a long sip of the liquid.

As he stepped out into the upper corridors, the sharp, echoing cracks of weapons sparring drew his attention, drifting up from the open-air, atrium-style training grounds below. Curious, he walked toward the edge of the walkway and leaned over the ornate stone railings to look down.

The sight that met his eyes instantly made him freeze in astonished bewilderment.

The training courtyard was absolute chaos. Deep gouges and heavy damage scarred the stone walls and ground, making the place look as if a monster had been let loose in here. Aside from that, floating eerily in the empty space between the floor and the high ceiling were dozens of wooden spears, suspended perfectly still in midair.

But what truly stole his attention was Dion.

On one of the spears floating in a stark, upright position, Dion was balanced perfectly on his tiptoes right on the very point of the sharp blade. He was crouched in a completely lazy, nonchalant manner, resting his chin on his free hand. His bare torso revealed a perfectly sculpted physique, and he held a silver wine bottle loosely in his other hand.

Standing on the dusty ground a few meters below him was Ino. She was dressed in a traditional, form-fitting sheath dress that draped elegantly over her frame, and her fingers were wrapped tightly around her own spear.

Though she was panting and clearly out of breath, she still maintained a graceful posture, while keeping her eyes locked onto Dion, who merely looked back down at her with an amused, teasing smile.

"Come on, put your back into it, Ino!" Dion taunted, casually gesturing with his free hand.

In the next instant, dozens of the suspended spears spun in the air and shot straight toward her.

But Ino didn’t flinch. Instead, she leapt into the fray, dodging the incoming barrage in the most breathtakingly fluid manner. She spun horizontally in midair, hovering flat as a spear whistled just below her back, then snapped her leg upward to narrowly avoid another grazing her thigh.

While still airborne, a third weapon zipped directly over her head, cutting through a few loose strands of hair.

She landed on the ground in a low crouch, gritting her teeth as she immediately pointed her spear back toward Dion. In response to her command, everything — from the large chunks of shattered masonry on the floor to the wooden spears hovering in the air and those embedded in the walls — all shot straight back toward him in a deadly convergence.

Cedric watched intently, curious to see how he would defend against such a chaotic barrage. But to his absolute amazement, Dion just grinned. The entire storm of flying debris and weapons halted mere inches from his body before exploding into a violent cloud of splinters and dust that blanketed the training grounds.

Cedric had to raise a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden shockwave.

’Woah... since when was Dion this cool?’

No, more importantly, since when could Dion use his powers in this manner?

...However, Ino wasn’t done.

Through the settling dust, she let out a fierce roar as her entire form shifted into a massive black panther. Moving in the same fluid motion, she lunged forward in a blur, literally running on the air itself until she closed the distance to Dion. She bared her fangs, opening her massive jaws to snap right at his throat.

But just before her teeth could sink in, Dion leapt backward, extending both hands wide as he spun through the air, simultaneously hurling his silver wine bottle. The heavy container closed the gap instantly, shattering directly against the panther’s face in a spray of dark liquid.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Dion landed squarely on the vertical wall of the townhouse corridor, crouching effortlessly against the stone like a spider.

Then, he quickly reached out a hand toward the weapon rack in the corner, and with a flick of his wrist, a spear flew directly into his hand. The moment the weapon settled into his grip, he raised it and brought it down just in time to defend against Ino. She had already reverted to her human form, closing the distance instantly to bring her own spear down in a vicious strike.

Both weapons clashed with a resounding crack, and what followed next was the most beautiful and breathtaking display of spear mastery that Cedric had ever seen.

Both fighters moved as if they were completely drunk, swaying and stumbling in a bizarre, unpredictable rhythm. Yet, there was absolute precision in their chaos. Cedric watched in awe as Dion spun his weapon, casually hanging the spear around his shoulders while still deflecting a barrage of thrusts, while Ino mirrored his uncanny movements, twisting her body at impossible angles to counter.

They traded blows seamlessly across every surface of the atrium. One moment they fought until they reached the ground, the next they were leaping into the air, and a second later they were trading strikes upside down along the ceiling.

It was magnificent.

’How are they walking along the walls and ceiling like that? Is that also an application of their ability to lock objects in place?’

Cedric began to analyze the battle playing out before his eyes.

He also deduced that Dion could now lock an object and push it at the same time, which causes the object to explode from the sheer buildup of kinetic pressure.

That, right there was a really terrifying application of that power.

After a few long minutes, both duelists finally ended up back on the solid ground, standing several meters away from each other. Both were sweating profusely and breathing heavily as they lowered their weapons.

Since Ino was wearing a traditional linen veil around her face, her exact expression remained unreadable, but Dion definitely looked like he was having the time of his life with that familiar grin plastered across his face.

He lowered his center of gravity, preparing to lunge forward once again, when Ino suddenly held up a hand to stop him.

"Come on, I think that’s enough, Dion," she panted. "We’ve been at it for hours. I can’t feel my legs anymore, and I... I think I might collapse if we keep going."

"Ah..." Dion looked slightly disappointed, but he quickly relented. "Alright, let’s stop there then. I’m completely starving anyway, and all this drinking has only made it worse."

With a casual flick, he threw his borrowed spear back toward the weapon rack, where it clattered neatly into place.

As for Cedric, well, the man wasn’t really worried about the damage on the walls and floors.

There were intricate runes running along the entire structural framework of the training area. Those were called Restoration Runes and had been installed in the townhouse right from before it had been gifted to Aika by Alicia. As long as mana was fed into those runes, they would automatically repair the damage to the masonry over time.

So instead of stressing over the wreckage, Cedric was genuinely impressed by Dion’s sheer growth and combat prowess.

He had improved a lot right from the first time they had met, and was now displaying a level of skill that might even give Cedric just a tiny bit of headache should they duel at the moment.

Cedric grinned excitedly at the thought as the urge to have a duel began to well up inside him. So far, the only person who had consistently kept him on his toes over the past few months was Aika, and he was thoroughly looking for someone else to duel against who would actually be able to make him go all out.

He sighed and turned around, but just as he took his first step to leave, he heard Dion call out from below.

"Oh? Is that you, Cedric?"

Cedric winced and immediately crouched down low. Then, he began to hastily crawl away along the corridor floor. He absolutely did not want to deal with Dion trying to convince him for the nth time to accompany him out to the castle tonight.