Ash twisted his body awkwardly, dodging the punch by a hair's breadth. His eyes trembled slightly.
'Is this… the power of my physique?'
He didn't have time to think. Selen followed up with a roundhouse kick infused with golden energy.
Crack!
Ash raised his arm to block, but he was sent flying across the yard, tumbling over debris, coughing out blood as his arm throbbed.
Selen looked at Ash in disdain as she walked toward him, golden energy flaring around her.
Ash coughed, clutching his ribs. His legs wobbled as he stood back up.
'I can't beat her with brute force. I need to outsmart her…'
"Space bends more easily than you think. With intent and enough pressure, it will yield."
Aetherion's words surfaced again.
Ash raised his hand. The space in front of him shimmered faintly. 'Just one meter, come on!'
Swoosh!
He blinked—just one meter forward.
[Ding! You have learned a skill: Blink.]
Selen's punch barely grazed his shoulder.
Ash's eyes lit up in amazement as he thought to himself. 'It worked!'
"Blink…" he muttered to himself, heart racing in excitement. 'I can move through space just like that?'
Selen raised an eyebrow and snorted in annoyance, thinking that Ash was not without any trick.
She launched toward him again. Ash blinked to the side, then ducked low and tried slashing at her side. But her reaction was swift as she kicked his knee and knocked him backward again.
He groaned. Pain bloomed in his chest, but his mind was turning fast.
'If I can bend time and space… then let me try slowing her movements. Just a moment. That's all I need.'
Ash raised his hand again, focusing everything he had into his bloodline and physique. A faint ripple in time emerged.
[Ding! You have learned a skill: Chrono Snare.]
Selen's movements stuttered. Her mid-air punch slowed for just a moment. Even though it barely made any difference to strong people like Aetherion and Li Jian, it was enough for Ash.
He blinked forward again.
Slice!
His sword grazed her shoulder, spraying blood on the ground.
Selen snarled, golden light bursting out of her as she dashed back and glared at Ash in anger.
Boom!
She appeared before him, her leg sweeping up in a graceful yet devastating arc.
Chrono Snare!
Ash activated it a split second earlier.
In Selen's perspective, everything was fine. But to Ash, time rippled and slowed down as the world became sluggish to him.
Her kick came slower than usual—just enough, barely enough for him to react in time.
Ash ducked under the attack, the air brushing past his hair like a whisper of death, as he felt that he might be dead if the kick were to hit his head directly.
Suddenly, he clenched the sword tighter when he saw an opportunity.
'Now!'
In the middle of the motion, Ash blinked and appeared behind her.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he reversed his grip on the sword, holding it in a backhanded stance like he had seen in the novels and manhwa he once loved.
Ash moved on instinct as he thrust the sword with everything he had, aiming at Selen's heart.
The tip of Ash's sword pierced clean through her back, angled slightly upward and burst out through her chest, right where her heart was.
The golden glow around Selen glowed once, then flickered like a dying flame.
She gasped once before the strength in her limbs vanished as her legs buckled.
Ash stood behind her, still gripping the sword tightly. His breathing was ragged. Blood soaked into his torn clothes.
Selen's eyes widened. Her mouth opened, but no words came as she could only show a disbelief expression on her face.
'How? Isn't he just at the Peak-level Silver Rank?'
'WHY????'
'Why is it him? If it were me that was being chosen with that kind of power instead of that trash—'
Before she could finish her thoughts, she lost all of her consciousness as her body slumped forward.
Ash let go of the sword from her body, letting it slide free from her back as her lifeless body collapsed face first into the dirt and golden energy dissipated like dust in the wind.
[Ding! You have killed the Peak-level Gold Rank Awakener]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining 10 silver points]
[Ding! Due to your comprehension of time and space abilities that you've gained in the fight, your experience at Silver Rank has increased to 100%]
Ash stared at her body for a few seconds, then dropped to one knee as he gasped heavily, his body trembling from the strain and adrenaline.
A slow clap rang behind him.
Aetherion stood there with a faint smile. "Not bad. A little rough around the edges, but you're learning."
Ash looked up slowly, his eyes still unfocused as he was still in disbelief.
"That was… insane," he said between heavy breaths.
Aetherion chuckled. "You barely scratched the surface of space and time. But it's a start."
Ash's gaze flicked to Selen's corpse.
"She deserved it," he muttered in a low voice. "But it still feels strange somehow."
"That's what a real fight is." Aetherion said, his tone suddenly quiet as he continued. "You survive, you kill… And in doing so, you step forward."
"But still, in terms of swordsmanship, your skill is at the level of beyond help, a.k.a. TRASH!" Aetherion chuckled and patted his shoulder. "So, don't be proud of yourself because what you have done is really nothing."
Ash rolled his eyes in response before looking at Li Jian with excitement.
"Did they leave something valuable?" Ash asked, thinking that there must have been a lot of valuable things inside the two Lord Ranks' spatial rings.
"My Lord, you want these things?" Li Jian asked in confusion as he wondered why Ash wanted these useless things.