Meters above the courtyard, sitting leisurely on the rooftop of the Fiva Arcade were two distant figures.
One of them, a man with a lean, athletic build and a sharp jawline, had his head leaning lazily against the palm of his calloused hand, his deep-set eyes narrowed at the battle taking place meters beneath him.
The entire time the fight had been going on, the grin that swept across his scarred face had yet to disappear. He raised the jug of wine beside him, taking a long, satisfied gulp.
He patted his chest, laughter rumbling deep in his throat.
"Phew! Just when I thought that the night would turn out in the same boring way. Say, Sylvia, doesn't this look like the perfect spot for a date?"
The woman he was addressing didn't spare him a glance, her eyes fixed on the book resting on her knees, almost as if he might as well be air.
But she eventually replied, her voice filled with disdain.
"I would rather date a frog, Ethan. Only a vixen will want to have anything to do with a cheating, distasteful brute like you. Go find yourself a whore."
He laughed again, standing to walk to the edge of the metallic roofing. Below him, the steel creaked and deformed, as if it was fighting to withstand the weight of the existence moving right above its surface.
"Still the same old rejection, Sylvia. Why do your words always hurt more than the last?"
The glint in his eyes was the furthest thing from hurt. If anything, he looked amused.
Those eyes were now fixed on the ongoing battle where the bizarre young man was hurled backwards by the armored assailant, his face adopting a thoughtful expression.
"The kid is the new Candidate, isn't he? But this baffles me. How does Ferborn, a mere Runescribe, hold enough influence to get him in?"
Sylvia flipped the pages of her book, replying in the same breath.
"He used one of the favors owed by the Grand Preceptor to request a spot among the candidate ranks."
She let out a derisive scoff.
"Although... the Preceptor wouldn't have honored the request if there weren't so many witnesses. After all, the boy was allegedly—"
"Weak?"
Ethan finished for her, his eyes narrowed at the sight of the boy still hurtling through the air.
Because of how slowly they perceived time, the conversation till now had barely taken microseconds. In fact, it would take a long while for a second to pass beneath the weight of their perception alone.
"Does this look weak to you?"
Ethan couldn't understand. This was the same boy that had faced off against an Intermediate Apprentice and won easily without manifesting his Resonance String.
In what ways was he considered weak?
"By any chance, has the Committee in Charge of Admissions gone mad?"
In the same instant, Sylvia was right beside him, almost as if she had always been there.
"You are asking the wrong questions."
She looked at the battle playing out in slow motion, so slow that a snail could probably crawl faster than the figures were moving.
With her eyes turning a lightless black, just like the dead of the night, she began to speak, choosing her words carefully.
"He was reported to have awakened barely a week ago. What I try to understand, Ethan, is how any of this is possible."
Ethan let out a dry chuckle at her words, quietly deciding not to humor her little jokes.
But he couldn't deny the fact that he was excited nonetheless. After all, in the next few hours, he would be leading his precious students in their early morning physical fitness exercise.
He couldn't wait!
Oh, he couldn't wait!
Even now, all he wanted to know was the physical limits of his new student. Would he be able to carry ten boulders? Twenty? Fifty?
Ethan was tempted to kidnap him and go test it for himself, but he had to choose restraint now. Patience, patience. He had to be patient. He couldn't ruin his first impression now, could he?
"The stupid smirk on that irritable face of yours makes me feel pity for that poor boy. You are definitely going to overwork him to the bone, aren't you?"
Sylvia spoke now, this time her voice coming from behind him, where she sat meters away, quietly reading her book. Ethan hadn't even realized when she left his side.
But Ethan wasn't surprised. Sylvia was the Nightless Rumbler for a reason, existing everywhere and nowhere at the same time during the dead of night, when her powers were strongest.
In fact, Ethan had a feeling that this wasn't even her true body, but just one of her innumerable phantoms.
He let out a sharp snort.
"You speak like you aren't the same, Sylvia. The boy fights without flow, so he obviously hasn't awakened the [Rhythm]. That must be pissing you off and gnawing at your mind right now, isn't it?"
She neither affirmed nor denied it, only flipping the pages of her book intermittently.
Above them, a massive golden airship appeared in the skies, leaving behind showers of golden sparks. Etched on its surface was the insignia of the Choir of Dawn, the symbol glimmering gorgeously under the moonlight.
Ethan's face settled into one of self-realization.
"They are here."
***
With his Weaves manifested, Elias didn't wait for the armored stranger to get to him first.
He shot forward, the wind howling from the force of his velocity as he cut through the air resistance.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The Armored Assailant kept up his pace, his head only tilting slightly at him as Elias kept advancing closer.
Elias gritted his teeth, raising his palm to twist his Weaves the moment he arrived within a meter of the stranger.
It rang outward with palpable intensity, rising in intensity with a shrill, loud cry.
🎵🎵 DAN DAN DAN!🎶🎶
An inferno of bright red flames followed his motion, roaring through the air towards his opponent.
But....
CRACKLE
It was then that Elias felt a dizzying feeling of danger light up in his senses. He was barely able to raise both his hands in defense, his body vibrating as he fought to shift it to a different frequency from that of his opponent.
But it was useless.
The punch slammed into his raised forearm, vibrating at the same frequency as his body. It was followed by the pain of his bones shattering before it was numbed by the paralysis of the lightning.
BAM
He was hurled through the air, landing on the trunk of an olive tree, its wood splintering from the force.
He coughed, rising shakily to his feet. Blood ran down his face from a cut on his forehead, running downwards to stain his polo in crimson.
Ahead of him, the armored stranger hadn't stopped walking towards him, his steps taken so slowly they might as well have been mocking him.
Tendrils of lightning trailed behind his armor, ringing with a sharp, cackling sound.
His teeth grinding, Elias raised his fingers to wipe off the blood that stained his forehead.
Cracking his neck, his face twisted into a tight grimace.
'This will be difficult.'
He had no doubt that he was outclassed in every way. And while he had various means himself, the same also applied to the opponent in front of him.
So the first thing he had to do was figure out the extent of his limits, and to do all that, he couldn't show all his cards at once.
No. That would just be playing right into his hand.
He had to wait. He had to understand his enemy.
And the enemy in question began to speak now, his voice loud enough to reach him in the distance, his steps kicking up trails of lightning behind him.
"You are impressive. This is the first time that I have ever seen a commoner my age display such frightening combat power. It's rare, and undeniably humbling."
His voice adopted an inquisitive edge.
"What is that in your hands? It's not a Resonance String, yet it rings like one. How strange. How curious."
Elias narrowed his eyes, not bothering to give a reply. Not that he could, even if he wanted to.
Instead, he began to twist his Weaves in answer, its ringing increasing in intensity until the sound was just enough to burn against the ears.
The boy laughed, his voice loud and mocking, his steps neither slowing nor picking up pace even as Elias prepared an attack.
"I will hand it to you, you are strong. Strong enough to be taken seriously. But..."
Elias imagined he was sneering.
"You clearly lack finesse. Your movements are rough, and you waste a lot of energy for the smallest things. You are nowhere close to mastering [Rhythm]. In fact, you haven't even begun. So I wonder, how can you win this fight when you are already so useless?"
Elias burst towards him, reddish flames circling around his arm, then his forearm, as he threw out a punch that had the air around his hand combusting from the sizzling heat.
But surprisingly, the boy simply tilted his body to the side, his fist meeting nothing but air, each of his punches blasting out waves of heat into the distance that charred the leaves of nearby trees, their cinders drifting into the air like dust.
Elias threw out another punch, again and again.
But the stranger dodged them all. That merely wasn't the problem. The problem was the ease. It felt as though he had anticipated his attacks right before they happened, or rather... his body moved the moment the attack was merely forming.
It was maddening.
The boy bent his head backwards, Elias punching his fist right at the spot his head had occupied moments ago. In the same breath, he raised his boots to give him a kick to the waist, only for him to twist his body to the side.
He never parried, nor did he prepare an attack of his own. He simply... dodged.
"Do you see the difference now? This is [Rhythm], little commoner. I don't even need to use the sorcery behind my Armor to beat you."
Elias gritted his teeth, fighting against the feeling of frustration that lit up in his chest.
'I need to be calm.'
But what made Elias wary was the fact that the stranger had yet to manifest his Resonance String. It made Elias hesitate to show more of his abilities, because he had yet to figure out his limits!
But did he really have a choice?
'Dammit. I can't lose!'
Elias had a feeling that if he missed out on the reward from the System, he was going to regret it for the rest of his life. This was his chance to get his first tremor, and something simply told him that this particular tremor was very important.
It was an instinct. He couldn't miss out on it, no matter what!
"Why don't we put an end to this entire farce? It has gone on long enough."
The cold voice of the boy resounded behind his helmet, and then he moved.
🎵RAAK RAAAK!🎶🎶
A cackle of lightning. A brief flash of light, and Elias felt himself get knocked off his feet into the air, a fist wrapped in tendrils of lightning blasting right into his stomach.
Even in the air, the boy was right in front of him, his hand punching his face and blasting him right to the ground.
BAM BAM BOOM
The ground rattled as a crater was left at the point of impact. Elias got to his feet, blood slightly obstructing his vision as he watched the boy shoot towards him from above with his fist coated in lightning.
Elias didn't hesitate this time. No, he simply couldn't hesitate anymore.
'Sonic Skill: |Melody of Ash Rain|.'
The ringing of his Weaves picked up a much more violent tempo.
🎵RAAA DAN DAN DAN!!🎶🎶
Around him, rings of flames arose, burning and sizzling as the heat pulsed outward in dizzying waves. Standing right within the fire made it seem as though he had become the eye of a fiery storm.
Elias raised his fist, meeting the punch of his opponent with one of his own. Lightning and fire blasted outward, intertwining and mixing before bursting apart in the air like sparkly fireworks.
The boy landed within the flames, the fire licking against his armor. He winced, as though feeling slightly discomforted.
He shot Elias a look, his voice mocking.
"Do you by any chance think that this changes anything? Filthy commoner, how naive you must be to think you are capable of standing against me..."
Elias didn't wait for him to finish. He burst forward, flames trailing behind him.
His foot shot towards the helmet of his opponent, flames swirling around his leg like a roaring vortex of fire.
The boy bent slightly, just enough for his feet to miss. Then he laughed, his voice loud and grating.
It was followed by a punch towards Elias's face, his other hand punching his stomach.
Elias vainly tried to change his frequency, but no matter how much he tried, the boy kept up pace all the same.
One of his punches battered his face, and the other caused his stomach to feel as though it had been rammed by a violent force.
Elias reeled backwards, blood spurting from his mouth.
'What am I doing?'
He saw the boy's foot heading towards his face, and he barely raised his hand in defense before he was blasted straight through the ground.
'What am I doing?'
This wasn't the first time Elias had gotten beaten up. He understood failure more than anybody else. The feeling of getting looked down on wasn't new to him, so why did he feel like he was missing something?
'Ahh...'
He stood up shakily, his face taking on a feral edge. The boy was already right in front of him, his fist blasting towards his chest.
But this time, Elias didn't dodge.