Chapter 54: The Gumiho (5)

Breck Kyson watched the arena from a separate observation chamber reserved for the faculty.

Unlike the Pillar’s room, it was a narrow chamber with a clear view of the arena, and completely opposite to Pillar’s room.

His grey hair rested backward, combed neatly, as he played with his silver-rimmed spectacles with his fingers. His dark suit matched the contrasting colour of his hair.

He had been watching the duel from the beginning. When Maeve’s nine tails appeared, his interest spiked.

"Hm." He leaned forward slightly.

The Severans would undoubtedly recognize the sudden increase in output. The Tuonis would recognize the shape of the manifestation.

He could already imagine the chaos happening in Pillar’s room.

Two hereditary techniques, both supposedly restricted to their respective families.

People see what they recognize, then assume they understand it.

A common mistake, particularly among families that guard their force control as inheritance.

The sudden increase in Maeve’s output did resemble Severan Overdrive, but the process was crude.

Maeve seemed to be forcing her core beyond its ordinary limits through a different means.

Then the tails...their appearance might remind the Tuonis of their sacred technique, but the resemblance was not identity.

Whatever she had done, she had not simply reproduced what the two families believed belonged exlusively to them, but also made it hers.

Except...she seemed to have forgotten. Overdriving the core, by any means, can only be sustained if the awakener carries the blood of Severan family running in their veins.

She might have created her own overdrive, but it still did not change the underlying principal.

"Children really ought to learn when to stop," he murmured.

The pressure coming from the nine tails had increased again. Kate’s fingers tightened around her weapon, the current along its chain began flickering to life.

"You’re kidding me," She took a step sideways, keeping her eyes on Maeve.

"You know all that talk about showing me your Severan power was a joke...right?"

Maeve was not interested in answering her. Infact, she was dealing with her own internal crises.

But her mind wasn’t thinking straight enough yet.

She stood beneath the enormous tails, her mind was being flooded with expansive audio profile of the environment from her newly formed Gumiho ears.

The blood at the corner of her mouth had begun to spread, and her breathing remained uneven.

Then...one of the tails moved.

Kate’s eyes narrowed as she was on alert.

It descended from above at a tremendous speed, that Kate instinctively pulled herself toward a nearby bead.

*KRAAAK-BOOM!*

The tail struck the floor, splitting it apart just from the sheer impact. Fragments of the broken floor flew all across the arena, and Kate redirected herself toward another anchor.

But, another tail was already moving.

Maeve could hear the next bead that Kate chooses to move just from the tiny vibration of its magnetic field.

Kate barely evaded it, and moved to the next position.

But, as if predicting her movement, the third tail came from the left.

Kate twisted in mid-air, drawing her knees toward her chest as the enormous tail passed beneath her. Its strainds brushed against her clothes, and the force of its movement sent her sideways.

She struck a broken section of the floor with one foot, and immediately accelerated away.

"What the hell?" She had barely finished speaking when two more tails descended toward her.

She moved again. Attraction pulled her toward an another anchor near the arena barrier. Repulsion launched her in the opposite direction, carrying her past the first tail.

She changed direction again.

The tails were not only keeping up with her speed, but they were somehow able to predict where Kate would move next.

Maeve had not moved a single step from her position.

She remained standing in the same position, her hands were close to her body, and her nine tails were attacking fiercer than any of her shadows did throughout the duel.

"Fine." Kate pressed her lips together, her wound on the side of her waist was worsening.

Kate straightened up, and halted in distance of Maeve as she had stopped for a moment.

Kate raised her free hand. Every remaining bead that she could still control responded.

The chrome spheres scattered throughout the arena lifted from the ground. Those embedded in the broken ground tore free, while others rolled across the floor before rising into the air.

Maeve remained still, she noticed the movement of beads, and it wasn’t something she had witnessed yet.

The beads converged. Kate’s nunchaku began to vibrate, and the current along its chain intensified.

She drew the weapon back, concentrating her force before her.

A point of white light appeared right in front of her.

It was smaller than the last time, and the beads aligned direction toward Maeve.

The pressure around it increased.

On the other hand, Maeve was already on the edge. She could no longer feel her fingers properly. Her core was killing her because of the overdrive, because she did not have the blood of Severans.

But Maeve was confident that she could keep up with it a little more.

She tried to breathe, but the movement of her ribs brought another sharp burn. Her vision was starting to feel blurry, and oddly red.

She swallowed, looking at the tiny point of light in front of Kate, and the nunchaks ready for a full swing.

Looking at it, Maeve also raised her hand in Kate’s direction.

Her nine tails moved at once, they lifted from the floor, turned toward the point of light and began converging at the palm of her hand.

The tails were being pulled into a sharp and small point in front of Maeve’s palm that faced Kate. It was similar to how Kate gathered her force to a single point.

One after another, their immense lengths twisted inward, the strands of black fur converged, and the shadows between them thickened until the sperate tails became a tiny point in the palm of Maeve.

Kate sensing the type of attack, swung her nunchaku at the point of light in front of her.

Her impulse flashed with a bright light, but this time, instead of dispersing all across the arena, the raw electrical power surged, and exploded in Maeve’s direction.

"{Shadow Blank}" Maeve called it out.

The raw force of all her shadows collected in front of her palm exploded in response to the Kate’s impulse.

It had no refined shape, the black discharge continued to expand as it advanced.

The two attacks finally collided.

*KRRRRRRRRR---*

For an instant, neither dominated the field.

Kate’s impulse clashed with the raw black force of Maeve.

The arena shook with the tremors as two massive energies collided.

The chrome beads of Kate were completely obliterated.

Kate’s eyes widened. She had expected Maeve to resist the attack but not expected her to meet it with comparable force.

Maeve could feel the recoil through her entire body. Pain seized her chest, her vision began to darken, and the blood vessels beneath her skin ruptured under the strain.

Thin red lines appeared along her arms, and neck, while fresh blood ran from her nose and corner of the eyes.

Her core was no longer responding to her. Her knees bent as her shadow force still tried to stop the incoming impulse.

Her body could no longer withstand the strain.

"COME ON!" Kate pushed further.

"JUST-"

The worder never reached their end.

Something changed between the two force.

A tiny flame appeared at the centre of the collision.

It was pale, almost colorless, and not larger than a candle flame.

Maeve had already lost consciousness, but Kate saw the flame, and she couldn’t believe such a delicate flame bruned elegantly between two massive ongoing collisions of force.

Then the flame began to draw in the destructive force surrounding it.

The black discharge bent toward it, and the white electrical beam followed.

The two attacks continued to pour into that single point, their tremendous outputs just converged into the tiny flame.

The ground beneath them stopped shaking, the shockwaves that had been spreading across the arena disappeared, and the advancing destruction ceased.

The flame, however, did not change at all.

It did not even flicker.

Every remaining trace of Shadow Blank and Impulse was drawn into it.

The arena suddenly fell silent.

Katee stood with her nunchaku extended before her, staring at the little flame.

Maeve’s body was dropped sideways on the floor. Blood soaked the clothes and ground beneath her.

There was nothing left, nor was there any explosion.

"That will do," then a man spoke.

The voice was calm, carrying clear in the silence of the arena.

Breck Kyson, the professor assigned to oversee the duel, had entered the arena without anyone noticing.

His grey hair was neatly combed backward, silver-rimmed spectacles rested on his nose, and his suit remained immaculate despite the dust that had settled across the arena.

Breck Kyson was a genius theorist by profession. Yet his position among the global top five hundred awakeners had never been a matter of academic courtesy.

He looked at the flame, as he stood in the centre of the arena where the massive crater had formed because of clash.

Then he gently blew on it.

*Fff...*

The flame went out.