For a split second, the whole world seemed to hold its breath. The audience, the wind, even the glint of sunlight on the arena floor froze in place.
Time slowed as the jagged ice blade that had once been Mirabella's dagger came screaming toward Ren's exposed flank.
Her sudden range extension caught him completely off guard. It was a brutal, vicious swing that didn't belong in a friendly duel between students. This was the kind of attack meant to end a fight with one move.
But Ren's eyes widened in understanding rather than fear. Without even needing to think, he willed his body into motion and activated his Stage 1 rune.
And then it happened.
Rumble!
A violet mirage burst into the sky above him, like a shadow tearing through a cloudless heaven. It wasn't shaped like a beast, not exactly.
The form was more like an idea of a beast, a formless, rippling phantom that flickered like smoke and roared like thunder in silence.
