Inside the dedicated training room, the magical barrier hummed softly.
Ai ting and Seres had already begun their training.
Seres’s slender hands folded elegantly before her chest, then swept outward.
In an instant, six crystalline, gleaming icicles formed, their tips flashing with a cold light.
They hovered loyally in the air at her side like faithful sentinels.
Her gaze sharpened, a finger tapped lightly, and the icicles, as if receiving an order, shot toward Ai ting one after another with a piercing sound.
Ai ting gripped the pitch-black Black Sword in silence, the blade seeming to absorb all surrounding light.
He lowered his body, darting across the spacious training ground like a panther, his steps nimble and ever-shifting in direction.
He focused intently on dodging Seres’s relentless barrage of icicles, the chill wind from their passage occasionally brushing his clothes and hair.
At the same time, his sharp gaze, like that of a hawk, remained fixed on Seres, constantly searching for a precious chance to close the distance for close combat.
After all, none of the skill cards Ai ting currently possessed allowed for direct long-range attacks.
To defeat an opponent like Seres, who excelled in mid-to-long-range suppression and possessed exquisite magical control, his only chance was to break through her magical blockade and get close enough to bring his longsword within striking range.
However, that opportunity was not so easily found.
Seres’s attacks flowed seamlessly, without pause.
Under her precise and delicate manipulation, the six icicles seemed imbued with life and spirit, weaving beautiful yet deadly arcs in the air, persistently blocking all possible paths forward for Ai ting.
Several times, Ai ting attempted to maneuver around her defenses, but each time he was forced back by the icicles’ coordinated and cunning angles.
Once, he barely managed to dodge an icicle that stabbed straight for his face by twisting aside at the last instant.
After several exchanges, his stamina was noticeably declining; his breath grew a bit ragged, and his movements slowed ever so slightly.
Seres keenly noticed Ai ting’s change in condition.
She could tell he was still probing, not yet using his true abilities—after all, he hadn’t shown any of those strange “magics” he’d unleashed when facing Rufus.
“Aiting, aren’t you going to get serious yet? If you keep holding back… you might get hurt.”
She maintained her offensive while speaking, her cool voice carrying both a hint of warning and expectation.
“Looks like… there’s no other way, then.”
Aiting dodged another icicle that grazed his shoulder plate, leapt back two steps using the momentum, and caught his breath, a helpless, wry smile on his face.
He drew a deep breath, his eyes turning sharp.
“In that case… I’ll go all out!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ai ting’s left hand shot up, his fingers snapping out several crisp clicks.
With the sound of the snaps, a faint glimmer of light flashed around him.
It was a series of buff spells instantly cast via his skill cards.
At last, his left hand performed that signature gesture—thumb up, index finger straight to form a pistol shape—and pressed it to his own temple, miming a “shot.”
Skill activated—
[Adrenaline].
In the next second, Ai ting’s entire aura changed dramatically.
The weariness in his eyes vanished, replaced by a sharp brilliance, and it was as if invisible currents surged around him.
He exploded forward with tremendous force, the ground beneath him seeming to tremble ever so slightly.
His figure blurred like a phantom, leaving a faint afterimage where he had stood, and in a flash, he broke through the last blockade of icicles, appearing right in front of Seres.
The pitch-black longsword in his hand whistled through the air with a force fierce enough to tear it apart, slashing down toward Seres without hesitation.
Faced with this sudden, thunderous attack, Seres’s ice-blue eyes held not fear, but a flicker of excitement.
“Now that’s… the Aiting I’m familiar with.”
Aiting’s powerful slash was precisely blocked by an icicle Seres instantly redirected before her.
Sword met solid ice with a crisp “clang,” scattering shards everywhere.
He narrowed his eyes, feeling the jarring recoil through the blade, but immediately used the force to leap back, widening the distance.
His assault, however, did not pause; as soon as his feet touched the ground, he surged forward again, the Black Sword tracing sharp arcs through the air, launching a barrage of relentless strikes toward Seres.
Seres’s responses were equally astonishing—she moved her arms lightly, and the remaining icicles at her side danced as if guided by invisible strings.
Sometimes they lined up to form a shield, sometimes they thrust in alternation, so agile they seemed like extensions of her own arms, skillfully deflecting Ai ting’s slashes from all angles.
For a while, the clash of icicles and metal filled the air in a storm of ringing sound.
Seeing this, Ai ting ramped up the speed of his attacks.
The weapon in his hand seemed to become streaks of black afterimage, slicing through the air with a low, mournful wail.
Seres did not falter, her control growing ever more exquisite, the icicles’ trajectories even more unpredictable.
Their fierce offense and defense dazzled the eye, black and blue light colliding in the air, scattering icy magical fragments and sparks in every direction.
After a dozen breathless rounds of close combat, Ai ting was the first to leap back two steps, his chest rising and falling, his breath a bit uneven, and his sword arm tingling with numbness.
Seres, across from him, was no longer so composed either—fine beads of sweat formed on her smooth forehead, and her breathing grew somewhat labored.
“You’re incredible, Seres. I never imagined your close combat would be at such a level,” Aiting said sincerely as he steadied his breathing.
“I’m already close to my limit too. Aiting, your swordsmanship… it’s truly formidable.”
Seres exhaled softly, white mist condensing in the cold air.
“Looks like… I’ll need to push myself harder, then.”
Aiting grinned, eyes blazing with an unyielding spirit.
Even as he spoke, he made an unprecedented decision.
At this moment, with [Adrenaline] and a series of buffs still active, Aiting called upon the [Composed Calm] skill card.
In an instant, a cool and peculiar sensation surged through his body, as if time within him had reset.
All his skill cards’ cooldowns refreshed, and the fatigue in his body vanished as if swept away, restoring him to peak condition.
Without hesitation, he triggered [Adrenaline] again.
This was [Adrenaline] activated atop its own boosted effect—an extreme operation he had never dared to attempt before, pushing his already doubled stats to terrifying new heights for a fleeting moment.
At that instant, Ai ting’s physical abilities soared beyond their previous peak.
His reflexes reached an astonishing level.
His figure became almost indistinct, his speed climbing even higher, leaving behind an elusive blur like a true phantom across the field.
“What kind of speed…”
Seres’s pupils contracted suddenly, widening in shock, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Her dynamic vision could no longer clearly track Ai ting’s movements.
“So this… is your real strength, Aiting?”
Watching Aiting’s overwhelming presence close in like teleportation, a look of resolve flashed across Seres’s face.
She drew a deep breath, and the mana around her surged with unprecedented intensity.
(If you’re going all out… then I won’t hold anything back, either. I want to show you… that I, too, possess the strength to protect you.)
As Ai ting pushed his limits with doubled [Adrenaline], gambling everything on this moment, Seres likewise unleashed her deepest reserves of magic.
Dazzling ice-blue radiance erupted from her, the temperature in the training room plunging at a terrifying rate.
Frost formed instantly on the ground and in the air.
This was the domain magic she’d used in her battle with the Black God Akane before—Absolute Zero.
Just as Aiting’s lightning-fast slash was about to touch Seres, his charge suddenly stalled.
It was as if he’d plunged into an invisible mire of cold—his movements slowed to a crawl, suspended in mid-air as if frozen, and even time itself seemed to slow to its lowest ebb.
Seres seized this fleeting opportunity.
With a wave of her delicate hand, the prepared icicles immediately reversed direction, shooting toward the immobilized Aiting like arrows released from a bowstring, trailing bone-chilling cold.
The icicles were about to strike their target when Seres was shocked to see that, even while frozen midair, Ai ting’s lips curled upward in a faint smile.
Seres’s heart trembled.
Had she overlooked something crucial?
At the very instant the icicles were about to impale him, the Black Sword in Aiting’s hand came alive, the blade gleaming darkly.
The icicles imbued with frigid magic instantly dissolved upon contact, their energy broken down and absorbed into the sword.
A subtle energy indicator on the sword’s hilt flashed rapidly as it filled with the sudden surge of magical power.
Using the force of the icicle’s impact, Aiting’s body was flung backward.
But the moment he left the “Absolute Zero” domain, he fought through the stiffness and discomfort, forcibly righting himself in midair and raising the now fully charged Black Sword, its tip leveled precisely at Seres.
At that instant, [Silent Hunter] revealed its true form—the blade emitted a crisp, mechanical sound as its structure swiftly shifted and transformed, morphing from a longsword into a “gunblade” that fused the qualities of both sword and firearm.
The next moment, the muzzle flashed.
A beam of energy, condensed from all the frost magic it had just absorbed and colored a deep, icy blue, shot straight for Seres.
Seres’s pupils shrank sharply.
She hurriedly deployed a defensive spell—a thick ice shield etched with intricate magical runes formed instantly before her.
“Boom—!”
The frost energy beam crashed into the shield with a deafening roar.
Seres felt an unimaginable force slam into her.
The shockwave blasted her uncontrollably backward, the heels of her high boots carving two long, clear tracks across the icy floor until her back finally slammed against the barrier wall at the edge of the training arena, barely halting her momentum.