Lucian waved his hand and pointed at Rhydan. The stones behind him flew forward. Rhydan moved through them without a change in his expression. One passed beside his face, he caught another, one shattered against his shoulder without doing any damage and through the scattered debris—
Lucian appeared.
Though his little trick did not really work since the moment he appeared, Rhydan punched his chest as if he was waiting for it.
Lucian felt a crack in his ribs again. He could feel a strong force ready to push him back, but instead of being thrown backwards, Lucian pulled the broken stones behind Rhydan towards himself. The debris struck Rhydan’s back.
Again, it did not hurt him, but Lucian didn’t need it to hurt him. That was only a distraction. He forced his body to stay in place using Telekinesis, then lowered his body and attacked Rhydan’s knee.
And despite all that—
Rhydan still noticed.
He lifted his leg and blocked. Lucian’s leg cracked as their shins collided.
"Guahh!"
Lucian screamed as he felt the pain. He used Red Quiet that very instant. The knife floating above them dropped.
Rhydan looked up.
Lucian pulled it sideways before Rhydan could reach it.
The blade changed direction in the air and flew towards Rhydan’s neck.
Rhydan still caught it, or at least he tried to, however, the moment Rhydan’s fingers closed around the weapon, Lucian rotated it with Telekinesis.
The blade turned inside his hand.
Rhydan released it before it cut his palm.
Lucian recalled the knife, but before the knife could reach him, Rhydan stepped forward and punched him in the face. Lucian’s head snapped sideways, his vision turned hazy, but before he could fall, Rhydan caught his shirt and lifted him.
Lucian pulled on the knife harder. It flew towards Rhydan’s back. Rhydan turned and slapped it away. Lucian then used Telekinesis on himself to drive his forehead into Rhydan’s jaw, so hard that his own skull cracked a little.
As for Rhydan—
He was actually forced a few steps back, covering his broken jaw with his hand while he stared at Lucian in mild surprise.
Lucian grinned.
That was the second exchange he won.
And this time, it was far clearer.
As if Rhydan did not like his grin, his figure blurred, then he punched Lucian’s chest again and this time, Lucian couldn’t stop himself and his body flew back, rolling on the ground. He planted the knife into the floor to stop himself.
When he tried to stand back up, his broken leg collapsed. He used Telekinesis to pull the knee into position and stood up anyway, all while the grin on his face did not fade away.
He could feel it.
Rhydan used to stop in between their exchanges and give him time to recover. This time, however, he actually dashed forward to punch him.
The Wolf was taking him more seriously now.
That made Lucian’s grin widen.
His eyes glowed very, very strongly.
He found it.
He finally found it.
A Mountain.
This was not the first time Lucian was completely outclassed and overwhelmed by an opponent. He was trained by a monster like Vivienne.
The woman had broken his body multiple times a day just because she felt like it. She stopped his attacks before they even began, she had absolute control over their spars and how long they would last.
She was a Mountain as well.
But...
She was so far above him that Lucian could not see its peak. Facing her gave him the feeling that he could train for years and he would still fail to understand how far away she truly was.
As he was right now, even he knew there was no possible way he could actually reach her.
No matter how hard he fought, no matter what tricks he used, Vivienne could defeat him without effort.
Until now, Lucian had never actually landed a proper hit on her in a spar.
She was not a mountain he could climb.
But Rhydan—
Rhydan was different.
Sure, he was better than Lucian in every single way, the difference between them was enormous, but when he stood in front of Rhydan—
He could see it.
He could see the peak of this Mountain.
He could imagine becoming strong enough to stand where Rhydan stood, he could imagine forcing him to use more strength, he could imagine... a day when he defeated him.
Rhydan was a Mountain he could climb.
And that made something flare inside him.
A fire that could never awaken when he stood against Vivienne because the woman was simply too strong.
And with this fire tempering him, he moved again, attacking the Wolf.
Rhydan continued blocking and countering him with the same calm face as always, but the fight was no longer as simple as it was in the beginning.
Lucian’s movements were becoming more and more complicated. He was no longer waiting for an opportunity, he was now creating opportunities.
Rhydan had to look out for his punches, knees, even his forehead and that wasn’t even enough, the debris around them, that knife that kept floating around—
Every single thing was an enemy.
It was like facing multiple opponents at the same time.
All of this, combined with how Lucian could still read Rhydan’s movements using Still Pulse, change the direction of his body, weapons, and attacks at the final moment using Telekinesis, and use One-Inch Dominion in even the smallest of openings—
He was becoming more and more dangerous.
While at first, Rhydan could still stop everything, now, more of Lucian’s attacks were beginning to pass through.
A fist that dislocated his jaw, a kick that actually managed to bruise his ribs, a deep knife cut on his shoulder.
Of course, none of the wounds were serious. With Rhydan’s regeneration, the wounds disappeared within seconds, but the fact that Lucian was reaching him remained.
And as it all happened, Rhydan stared at Lucian, he observed the grin on his face, that strong light in his eyes and...
Rhydan’s opinion of him began to change.