The confidence I'd built from the first fight was thoroughly shaken by the second.
My opponent was a short girl named Ada—chocolate-skinned, sharp-eyed, and loose in posture. She wore a jumpsuit, her hands and feet bare, and her grin carried the promise of pain.
"What are you supposed to be, some kind of gardener?" I asked, a bit dismissively.
"Funny you say that," she hummed lazily.
The ground beneath me erupted. Thick stone spikes, each the size of my forearm, shot up in an instant, missing me by inches.
Another set waited for me at the spot I jumped to. I cleared them with a Batto-sword draw, summoning my katana at the last possible moment, and shot forward the instant I landed, Curse Energy burning at max output.
Thorns sprouted behind me—a touch too slow—as I rounded her position, letting a set of knives fly in a single smooth motion. Each blade hummed with Curse Energy.
She dropped to one knee, dodging, and slammed her palm into the ground, raising her biggest spike yet just a few steps ahead. Too close to sidestep or redirect—at least, that's what she thought.
Overdrive flooded my eyes, brain, and nervous system, slowing the world to a crawl. I slipped past the attack, spun on my heel, and loosed another knife.
Congratulations: You've learned Dagger Mastery Lv. 4.
The blade ripped through the air like a bullet, punching clean through her stone wall. She rolled aside and swung her fist, sending a massive stone arm crashing up from the ground. I flipped over it—then the next, and the next—each strike faster than the last, until I broke her momentum with a knife throw to the gut.
It punched through her reinforcement and sank to the hilt. She staggered, blood spilling between her fingers, and tried to summon another spike—but I was already on her. I tore the knife free, kicked her footing apart, and watched as the ground beneath her rippled violently. Ten new spears erupted where one had been half-formed.
I stepped back, throwing another dagger even as I dodged the barrage. It struck her shoulder, and she screamed. The remaining spikes twisted, forming a protective dome around her.
I paused, breathing slow, considering my next move while she made hers.
Her Curse Energy spread wide, saturating every inch of the stone floor until the entire arena pulsed under her control.
It wasn't hard to figure out her technique by that point. She controlled earth through Curse Energy—a simple enough concept with a remarkably high ceiling if you knew what you were doing.
Apparently, she did.
I expected another barrage of stone, which was why I didn't see the dust storm coming.
She shaved off the top layer of the arena floor, filling the air with grit and powdered rock until I could see nothing.
The world went static—sight, sound, smell, and even my sense of Curse Energy were smothered. It was like waking blind into a snowstorm. I coughed and lunged forward, desperate to close the distance before she prepared another Technique, but I was too slow.
A spike of stone shot up from the ground, angled perfectly to catch my stomach. It tore skin and nearly pierced my abdominal wall before I flared Cursed Energy to stop it.
Anyone else would've been impaled.
So, she could see in the dust.
"Doesn't feel so good, does it?" Ada laughed, her voice echoing through the haze.
I cursed, slammed my elbow down on the spike still lodged in me, and snapped it in half. The broken piece clattered to the floor, slick with blood. I crouched low and spread my legs.
Simple Domain: Sensory Overload.
Congratulations: New Shadow Style has reached Lv. 6.
Her technique was a nightmare for most sorcerers—all she'd have to do was pepper the with spikes until they died. If she'd had finer control over the dust, she could've accelerated it fast enough to flay a man alive, maybe even shred their insides to ribbons my forcing grit down their noses and mouth
it's a good thing she was still First Grade, not Special Grade.
But that didn't mean I was safe.
If she was half as good as I suspected, she'd keep moving, attacking from every angle while maintaining the haze. As long as she had the dust, she could win—unless I could outlast her.
She'd started with roughly the same Curse Energy reserves I had, but maintaining that output couldn't be kind to her brain or her reserves. Add the bleeding to that, and I was fairly certain she couldn't keep it up for long.
My Simple Domain's conditions were simple enough: heightened sensory perception within a three-meter bubble, as long as I didn't move. The fresh level-up had expanded its range and improved how easily I could weave Binding Vows into the barrier each time I cast it.
It was easy to forget that Simple Domains weren't all that different from Curtains—different vows and shapes, but similar in function.
As the Domain stabilized, I could feel the thickness of her Curse Energy ebb and flow. My hearing sharpened; I caught the faint pitter-patter of her feet, and soon enough, a silhouette.
Then came the attack—a spike shot straight between my legs. There was no finesse, no subtlety—just pure spite. She probably hoped I'd flinch and break my stance.
I disappointed her.
I summoned my titanium brass knuckles, flooded them with Curse Energy, and swung downward with Overdrive. The spike shattered under the impact.
Another spear shot from behind me as she circled around. I swatted it aside with my other arm.
Then came six more, crossing the edge of my domain in rapid succession. She was burning through everything she had. I braced, flattening myself against the ground and dodging them all.
Our little game of cat and mouse lasted three more rounds. By the end, I had to summon a slab of metal and reinforce it to block her final barrage. When the dust finally cleared, she was on her knees at the arena's edge, chest heaving, blood running down her side and shoulder.
"You're bullshit," she groaned, clutching her midsection. "Anybody ever told you that?"
I didn't respond right away. My Copy Technique was speaking to me—I had a 100% comprehension of her innate technique. It took effort not to grin.
I walked over, rested a hand on her stomach, and let Reverse Curse Technique flow.
"You're not half bad yourself," I admitted. "Why didn't you use your transformation?"
She blinked at me like I'd just said something stupid. "Oh, you're serious? It wouldn't have mattered. If Connie couldn't push you physically, I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. You adapted to my spikes too fast. The dust storm was my best shot."
I tilted my head, considering that. She wasn't wrong, but I still thought mixing it up might've worked—potholes, shifting ground, stone-clad limbs—she could've kept me guessing. Maybe even forced me to fight her seriously.
She huffed and shoved my hand off as I finished healing her. "You geniuses can be real clueless sometimes."
Then she hopped off the stage, walking away.
"Two rounds and two losses, even after your injections?" Ade's voice boomed across the arena. He rounded up his sorcerers, eyes blazing. "It's clear I've been going too easy on you during practice. Adrian get in there and put this farce to an end!"
The green-eyed Special Grade smiled. It was a bit too wide for comfort. My stomach dropped.
Ah hell.