"That was just warm-up. The real battle starts now." Sophia leveled her sword at him, fire dancing faintly along the blade.
Jan gulped.
She wasn't holding back this time. But even through the pressure, he could tell—Sophia was putting on a demonstration.
Every motion was deliberate, every flare of mana a lesson.
She was showing Jan how she could use her Fire Element to boost her speed, power, and even propel herself through the air.
It would be a very helpful 'lesson', if not for one problem—
'Fire is completely different from Lightning!'
He couldn't mimic her directly. He'd have to find his own way to move, his own rhythm.
'She's right.'
Flashes of the wave attack surfaced in his mind—how Erza, Rollo, even Marcus channeled mana naturally into every strike.
'In high-level battles, mana isn't just fuel—it's motion itself.'
"Are you just gonna stand there?" Sophia taunted, a fiery grin spreading across her face. "If you won't come to me, then I'll gladly come to you!"
She charged, the ground bursting behind her in a trail of fire.
Jan didn't dare meet that head-on again. He clenched his fist and shouted,
[Tesla Coil!]
Lightning erupted around him, crackling and dancing across his body in a furious storm.
Sophia halted mid-charge, eyeing the display with a smirk. "So you're finally using it, huh? Pretty flashy skill you've got there." She shifted her stance, lowering her body and sliding her sword back into its scabbard.
"But it's got one big flaw."
Jan blinked. With the lightning still coursing around him, he wasn't sure what she meant until he saw her thumb flick the hilt.
*Hiss—*
Flames hissed within the sheath, then she drew.
*Whoosh—*
An arc of fire ripped through the air toward him.
He dove sideways, the fire streaking past him, scorching the dirt where he'd stood.
Luckily, he recognized the stance—it was almost identical to Erza's attack that night during Saveth's ambush.
But Sophia didn't stop there.
*Hiss—* *Whoosh—* *Hiss—* *Whoosh—* *Hiss—* *Whoosh—*
A dozen blazing arcs slashed through the air, one after another.
Jan poured mana into his legs, dodging frantically. Each time his feet touched the ground, another wave came for his landing spot.
He couldn't jump; being airborne would make him an easy target. The barrage forced him to stay grounded, weaving through the chaos with only inches to spare.
His Tesla Coil raged around him, lightning crackling through the air as it whipped his surroundings. But the range was short. He understood now—this was the flaw she was showing him.
He couldn't touch her unless he got close.
'Fine,' he thought, 'If you want to play like this, then I can do the same!'
Running in tight circles to dodge the barrage, Jan extended his hand. Lightning surged to his palm and coiled tightly before firing forward with a thunderous crack.
As if waiting for that moment, Sophia's eyes flashed, and with a single strike, her blade sliced through the bolt like it was nothing.
Jan froze mid-step. "W—WHAT THE HELL?!"
"Mana can stop Mana." She said, grinning, "If you want to overpower me with magic, use more power!"
Then, as if boasting about her own power, she unleashed a bigger arc of fire.
*Whoosh—*
Feeling the heat on his skin from far away, Jan hurriedly moved out of the way. The attack drove past him and struck the wall of the training ground, scorching it black.
'More power, more power!'
He reminded himself, gathering more lightning into his palm, but he was quickly interrupted by another one of Sophia's fiery attacks.
He rolled away and fired back, but Sophia's blade cleaved through his attack again.
"I said more!" she barked.
"I know!" Jan snapped, clicking his tongue. 'It's easier said than done.'
His Control wasn't there yet; he could channel more power, but not that fast.
No matter how large his mana reserve was, as long as Sophia had greater control and better technique, he couldn't overpower her.
He had to find another way.
'Think, think—faster, faster… wait.'
An idea struck him.
Suddenly, the lightning around Jan began to fade. It didn't vanish. Instead, it folded inward. He exhaled, guiding the current back into himself.
Instead of racing out of his body, the current ran through his veins, traced up his spine, spidering through his skull in a web of light.
For an instant, every nerve in his body sang.
'Every living being runs tiny electrical impulses through their nerves. That's how the brain communicates with the muscles.'
*Zizizizizi—* *Crack—*
As he blinked, sparks danced at the corners of his eyes.
'But what if I strengthen that signal? What if I boost the frequency of those pulses?'
If lightning can't hurt him, then it becomes part of his biology—a second nervous system made purely of lightning.
His pulse slowed, the air thickened, and the world fractured into frames of perfect clarity.
Seeing that Jan had frozen in place, Sophia seized the moment to channel more power, about to unleash another grand arc of fire.
Jan watched her in wonder. Her movement was glacial—Sophia's blade still only halfway through its arc—but in his vision, he could trace the exact path it would take: every ripple in her mana, every flicker in her wrist.
He could even see a drop of sweat racing down her cheek.
To her, he hadn't moved yet.
To him, he'd already decided how this would end.
'...I should probably move,' he thought.
She was aiming slightly to his left. He shifted right, dashing forward and closing the distance between them for the first time.
[ Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Mind Overclock Lv. 1 ]