v vh

Her opponent has materialized a short distance away from her. He is standing still watching her and preparing his next move. A blue ball of lightning is rotating rapidly in his hands. She can sense the accumulation of a terrifying amount of energy from the ball. It didn't help her trepidation when she noticed the ball getting bigger and changing color from blue to purple.

"It's nice to see that I didn't fry your brain too much." Her opponent smirked and said to her.

"Who are you? Have I met you before?" She asked as she readied herself for battle.

She held up the shield in her left hand while her right hand gripped her blade tightly. Her brown armor began to glow forming a domain of pressure around her. Anyone that enters the domain will be physically suppressed by her talent.

"You don't know me but I know you. I saw my brother defeat you. It was a quick fight. He played with you as one will play with a toy. Then he impaled you on his spear."

His words brought back very unpleasant memories. Her eyes widened at that revelation. There's only one person that has ever defeated her like that.

Her opponent continued, "I decided that day that I must also defeat you. But you ran away. You left the academy and disappeared. It is understandable behavior since that defeat is so shameful. I can only imagine what it feels like to be defeated by someone several years behind you in training but I want to know what it feels like to defeat you myself. I am sure I'll get my wish soon."

Her eyes glowed with anger when she heard what he said. Apparently, this person has decided that she will be his stepping stone. Her armor pulsed with that anger and her blade hummed with indignation. It is one thing to be defeated by Soverick. It is another thing to be defeated by Soverick's brother. If she is defeated now, then she can kiss ever defeating Soverick goodbye. 

So she feels a certain amount of fear. But the major emotion she is feeling right now is anger and indignation that her opponent thinks it will be easy to defeat her and he spoke as if victory is already his. She intends to show him that she will be no one's stepping stone.

"You made a mistake giving me time. I grow stronger the longer I am in battle." She told him.

It is the truth. Her domain of pressure around her has grown stronger. It will certainly suppress her opponent more. 

Her opponent said to her, "I know it is a bad idea but you're a tough nut to crack. Don't worry about me though. I have just the right thing to fix it."

He is surely referring to the ball in his hands. The ball has grown to be 30 cm in diameter. It is his source of confidence and she can not help but admit that it is frightening to look at. Lightning wielders are very rare because lightning is not a basic element of mana. It is special and it requires special individuals that can take it to wield it. She has only heard tales of lightning wielders because of their rarity. But it seems she will personally experience their might today. It is not an experience she is looking forward to.

He gave her a piece of advice. "Don't bother to run. I am much faster than you. Today, we will fight to the death. And today, I, Ghaster Ghastorix, will use you as my stepping stone to defeating my elder brother."

His words clued her onto something. She decided to take it. 

She said to him "So you don't like your brother. I don't like him too. Let's work together to defeat him."

A turning point doesn't mean that they have to fight to the death. They both hate Soverick so they can help each other to remove Soverick. Her chances of defeating Soverick will be higher if she gets some information from his brother or if his brother decides to assist her. She let herself smile at the prospect.

Unfortunately for her, the opponent is a muscle head. He is stubborn and rarely changes his mind. He didn't even think about her proposal.

"No. I don't need your help. If I can kill you then you will be useless to me. So try and survive. Maybe you will be able to convince me to corporate with you when I fail to kill you."

She didn't let the disappointment of the refusal lead to despair. Instead, she turned it into anger. She is not a normal battle sage monkey that can be disregarded like that. She has the advantage of her talent. She can surely defeat him or at least survive. That's what she told herself as the ball grew to be 50cm in diameter.

'I must master the fourth step of weapon mastery if I survive this.' she said to herself silently.

She has not really bothered with skills because of the advantage of her bloodline. She replied mainly on her bloodline and her innate abilities as a transcendent. Her bloodline helps her to use talent better than those that have it naturally. Talent doesn't equal power. A dead genius is no genius. But her bloodline aims to prevent her from becoming a dead genius. 

It is because she is a transcendent that she was able to learn the third step of weapon mastery so quickly. Perfect control of the body and mind is very useful. They helped her to learn the third step with minimal effort. But she is promising herself to put in the time and effort required to learn the fourth step.

Ghaster said to her, "I hope you're ready. This won't take long. You're tough so I am going to crack you open like a nut."

Then he shot towards her with a large ball of barely contained lightning in his hands. She raised her shield to defend herself and her sword to retaliate. And so the fight resumed.