Chapter 678: Mastering your Art

The fourth Guard of Ash moved forward from behind the third Guard just as Ezra began descending through the air.

His timing was precise.

While the third Guard was recovering from the previous exchange, the fourth had already moved into position to continue the attack.

Ezra landed on the poles, his feet settling onto the narrow surfaces one after the other.

He regained his balance almost immediately.

The poles were narrow enough that a careless step could throw him off balance, yet he stood as though he had landed on solid ground.

He did not need to look down.

The fourth Guard was directly in front of him.

The man thrust his wooden staff toward Ezra’s torso, using Cognis to strengthen his arm and increase the force behind the attack.

His muscles tightened as he drove the weapon forward, the tip cutting through the air toward Ezra.

Ezra stepped backward across the poles.

His eyes remained on the incoming staff.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, placing each step carefully enough to maintain his balance without slowing his retreat.

The fourth Guard followed him, continuing to push the staff forward rather than allowing Ezra an opportunity to escape the attack’s range.

Ezra stopped retreating and leaned to his right.

The staff passed close to his cheek.

The fourth Guard immediately adjusted his grip, moving his other hand along the weapon.

He pushed the staff toward the right, following Ezra’s leaned position and attempting to catch him before he could straighten.

But Ezra had already begun moving again.

He bent down.

The staff swept over his head, missing as Ezra slipped beneath it.

Rather than retreating farther, he moved closer to the fourth Guard, entering the space where the staff was less useful.

His right hand reached down and caught hold of the guard’s right leg.

The fourth Guard tried to counter.

He began shifting his body to recover his balance, but Ezra had already secured his grip.

Ezra turned and pulled, using the guard’s own movement against him.

The man’s feet left the pole.

His body was flung into the air, rotating until he was nearly upside down.

For a brief moment, he had no footing with which to resist the throw.

The first Guard moved in and caught him against his back before he could fall.

The two Guards were now close together, with the first supporting the fourth.

That brief interruption in their formation gave the second Guard an opening.

She jumped.

Her feet left the poles as she passed over the first and fourth Guards.

She rotated in the air, gripping her wooden staff with both hands.

As she completed the turn, she raised the weapon above her head and swung it vertically down toward Ezra.

The strike came from above.

Ezra had little room to retreat.

He could move across the poles, but doing so would leave him exposed to the other Guards, who were already moving around him.

Instead, he directed one of his Blacksteel rods upward and into the staff’s path.

The rod shot through the air and met the descending weapon.

Klang!

The collision sent a sharp sound through the training room.

The rod shifted slightly downward under the impact, but Ezra maintained control through Alchemy Levitation and kept it in the path of the staff.

For a wooden weapon, its density and strength were surprisingly high.

It was sturdy enough to rival the Blacksteel rod under the force the second Guard had put behind her strike.

Ezra could feel the pressure of the clash through the movement of the rod.

Yet he did not need to struggle to keep it there.

His Alchemy Levitation allowed him to control the heavy Blacksteel weapon with ease.

The problem was not the weight.

It was everything happening around him.

While the second Guard attacked from above, the third Guard had moved to Ezra’s right side.

He saw the opening created by the clash and thrust his staff toward Ezra’s side, aiming to catch him while his attention was occupied.

Ezra turned sharply.

The third Guard’s staff passed behind his back by barely an inch.

Ezra’s body rotated with the movement, allowing the weapon to miss without forcing him to abandon his footing on the poles.

As he turned, he raised his left arm and guided his hand through the same motion.

A Blacksteel rod followed the movement of his left hand.

It shot toward the third Guard’s face.

The guard leaned backward to evade it.

The rod passed close to his eyes, briefly blocking his view.

He had expected Ezra to remain occupied with the second Guard’s attack, but Ezra had already countered from the side.

Before the third Guard could straighten, several more Blacksteel rods flew toward him from the front.

His eyes widened.

His counters are so fluid!

The thought came with a flash of panic.

He wanted to bring his staff around to block the incoming rods, but his body was still leaning backward to avoid the first one.

He tried to recover his balance while shifting his weapon into position.

The rods were already closing in.

The first and fourth Guards rushed in front of him.

The first Guard had just caught the fourth, and now both moved to protect the third.

They brought their staffs across their bodies, striking at the incoming rods before they could reach their teammate.

The wooden weapons collided with the Blacksteel rods in quick succession.

Some rods were knocked away from their original paths, while others were deflected to the sides.

Ezra remained in control of them through Alchemy Levitation.

The rods could accelerate and change direction at his command, even after being struck away from their intended targets.

However, he still had to decide where to send them next.

Meanwhile, the second Guard had landed behind Ezra.

She rushed toward his back, using Cognis to increase her speed.

Her feet moved quickly across the poles, and she kept her staff ready as she closed the distance.

Ezra sensed her approach.

All four Guards were moving around him, but their positions remained clear within the mental sketch he had formed of the training room.

He could track the guard in front of him, the one approaching from behind, and the two moving around the sides without needing to turn his head.

He knew where each of them was.

He could follow their movements even when one guard crossed behind another or when their attacks came from different directions.

The poles beneath their feet did not disrupt his awareness, either.

He could move across them while keeping track of the entire fight.

But seeing their movements was not the problem.

The main issue was fully utilizing what the Duke had spoken about.

I have to make my control of the rods more fluid than this.

Ezra lowered his body just as the second Guard swung her staff horizontally over his head.

The weapon passed above him, missing by a narrow margin.

He did not remain in that position.

He retreated several steps across the poles, moving away from the second Guard’s reach while keeping his balance.

Then he jumped and spun in the air.

His body turned as he rose.

During the rotation, Ezra sent several rods toward the first and second Guards, who were charging at him from the front.

The rods accelerated toward the pair, forcing them to respond to the incoming attacks while he completed his turn.

The movement did not interrupt his control over the remaining rods.

The twenty suspended above him stayed at the same level, while the ten he was actively using followed his commands.

Ezra landed steadily on the poles.

The third Guard was approaching from his right, while the fourth moved in from his left.

Both had recovered from the previous exchange and were closing the distance, preparing to attack from opposite sides.

They were trying to prevent Ezra from settling into a stable position.

But Ezra had already sensed their approach.

Just like how I move my hands to guide the motion of my opponent’s force.

He continued thinking about how to apply his martial arts to the ten rods he controlled around him.

The remaining twenty stayed suspended overhead, held at the same height.

He had no need to bring them down.

For now, he needed to improve the control of the ten rods around him and make their movements as natural as the motions of his own hands.

His hands moved toward the two guards approaching from either side.

One rod shot toward the third Guard on his right.

Another flew toward the fourth Guard on his left.

The movements were direct and fast.

Ezra’s hands guided the rods toward their respective targets, and Alchemy Levitation carried out the commands without delay.

At the same time, the remaining eight rods moved behind him.

They travelled through the air, spreading out before gathering behind Ezra.

Their positions shifted as he controlled them, keeping them ready to follow his next movements.

The third and fourth Guards reacted immediately.

Each raised his staff and struck the rod coming toward him.

Klang!

The third Guard smacked the rod away from his front.

On the opposite side, the fourth Guard did the same, knocking his rod off course.

Both Guards had managed to defend themselves, but Ezra had not expected those two attacks to end the exchange.

He was testing the way he controlled the rods, trying to make their movements flow as naturally as his own martial arts.

The two rods moved away from the guards after being struck.

Ezra retained control of them and could direct them again, but the result still faintly irritated him.

"Tsk."

Ezra clicked his tongue.

That’s not how I did it when I faced Maxwell.

His mind returned to his fight against Maxwell.

He remembered how he had utilized one of the Repeater Sword Rifles.

Rather than meeting Maxwell’s punch with brute force, Ezra had used the body of the rifle to touch the incoming fist and redirect its path.

Maxwell’s punch had been coated in golden flames, yet Ezra had still managed to guide its force away from himself.

He had not needed to overpower the punch directly.

He had used the rifle’s position and the movement of his own body to change the direction of the incoming force.

That sensation.

That control.

That was what he needed to reproduce with the rods.

He wanted to control them as naturally as he moved his own hands while performing the Tai Chi Arts.

The rods were not flexible like his arms and hands, but that did not mean he had to treat them as ordinary projectiles.

He could use their positions and movements to guide attacks, redirect incoming force, and create openings.

Ezra’s plain black eyes sharpened.

The eight rods behind him began rotating rapidly.

Each rod moved under his control as he guided them through a coordinated rotation behind his body.

They accelerated without hesitation, their movements stirring the air around them.

As the rotation grew faster, the airflow strengthened.

Wind pushed outward from the spinning rods, much like the movement of air produced by a fan.

The four Guards briefly checked their movements when they noticed the change.

Ezra kept his attention on the rods.

He was an Adept Alchemist.

Moving Blacksteel rods weighing 900 kilograms each was not a task that forced him to struggle against their mass.

Through Alchemy Levitation, he could make them accelerate rapidly and move as he commanded.

His challenge lay elsewhere.

He was trying to make their movements fluid enough to work with his martial arts.

He needed to direct them without treating every movement as a separate command, allowing one action to flow into the next.

When he moved his hands, the rods should follow the intention behind the motion.

When he shifted his stance, he should be able to adjust their positions without interrupting his own movement.

And when an opponent attacked, he wanted to guide the rods as naturally as he would move his hands to intercept or redirect a strike.

I need to grasp full control of the rods.

It’s not just about lifting them and suspending them in the air.

Use Alchemy Levitation as if I’m actually holding the rods with my own hands.

Ezra moved his left leg backward and placed his foot on a pole behind him, adjusting his stance.

The movement was small, but it placed his body in the position he wanted.

The ten rods stopped rotating at once.

Their motion ceased under his control, leaving all ten suspended in the air.

They remained still, without drifting away from their positions.

Ezra had not merely stopped them by allowing their movement to fade.

He had taken control of their motion and brought it to a halt, ready to direct them again.

He looked toward the four Guards.

"Let’s try this again."

He spoke in his usual plain tone.

Then Ezra shot forward toward them.

The ten rods followed from behind, accelerating as he moved.

Their positions shifted with his advance, remaining under his control as he closed the distance between himself and the four Guards.

The Guards reacted immediately.

All four charged toward Ezra.

The training resumed.

Days passed of constant training and rest...

But Ezra was not the only young Alchemist undergoing training.

Across the estate, other young Alchemists were working through their own exercises, each preparing for the semester ahead.

It was not only the children of Ash who had returned to their training.

Children from other Duke Houses, along with those from other noble and non-noble families, were doing the same.

Many of them shared similar thoughts.

Their first semester had ended, and their academic rankings had been revealed.

Whatever positions they had earned, they knew they could not afford to grow complacent.

The second semester was going to be a battle of its own.

For those who had ranked near the top, the goal was to protect their positions or rank even higher.

They had already shown what they could do, but that did not mean their places were secure. Other students would be working to catch up, and those who wanted to remain ahead would have to keep improving.

For those who had ranked low, the goal was different.

They needed to rise.

The second semester would give them another chance to prove themselves, and many of them knew they could not afford to waste it.