Boom. Everything happened so fast that my mind struggled to catch up. One moment she had appeared behind me and called me Aether, and the next moment my face was slammed into the ground with terrifying force. The impact echoed through the training hall as the reinforced floor beneath me cracked violently, fractures spreading outward in jagged spiderweb patterns.
An attack like that would have killed a normal person instantly. But she knew I was no longer normal.
Even with my face pressed against the fractured floor and my vision spinning wildly, I was still conscious, though badly disoriented. My ears rang as pain shot through my skull, and for a moment I struggled to gather my thoughts.
Did she just vanish?
No… it hadn't felt like that.
It felt different. More like a displacement.
Almost exactly like what had happened to me before.
"Get up, Orion. That shouldn't have knocked you out. I know you're stronger than that."
Her voice came from directly in front of me. Through blurred vision I saw her standing only a foot away, looking down at me with an expression that reminded me of a master watching their student finally begin to understand a lesson.
With a groan I pushed myself up from the cracked floor, forcing my aching body to move. Strength surged through my muscles as I reacted quickly, sweeping my leg toward her in retaliation, trying to knock her off balance after what she had just done.
My leg sliced through empty air. There was nothing there.
"Where did she go?" I muttered under my breath, twisting my body around as I searched for her.
A sudden wave of goosebumps spread across my skin.
My chest tightened instinctively as if something deep within me had sensed danger before my mind could process it.
Then a voice spoke quietly behind me.
"Behind you."
Instead of repeating what had happened earlier, my body reacted immediately. Trusting the instinct screaming inside my mind, I twisted to the side at the last possible moment, barely avoiding the strike that would have sent me crashing into the floor again.
The fight continued.
And with every passing moment the destruction around us grew worse.
Our movements shook the entire training hall. Each clash sent violent vibrations rippling through the ground beneath our feet. The reinforced flooring cracked further under the pressure, and splinters of wood burst from the walls as the force of our attacks rattled the structure violently. The entire building groaned and trembled as if it could barely endure the clash of two enormous forces battling within it.
But despite everything I tried, I was still losing.
I lunged forward, throwing a punch with everything I had. My fist cut through the air with enough force to shake the dust loose from the cracked ceiling above us.
But the moment my attack reached her, it slowed.
The invisible barrier surrounding her body swallowed the force of the blow before it could reach her skin. My arm vibrated painfully from the useless impact as if I had struck something that absorbed every ounce of strength behind the attack. Frustration tightened my chest.
I attacked again, faster this time, my body moving on instinct as I followed with another strike. The same thing happened.
My blow reached her…
And died against the invisible resistance.
It felt like striking something that absorbed everything I threw at it, swallowing the force of my attacks without letting even a fraction reach her.
"You noticed it," she said calmly, watching my expression carefully.
"Try something else."
So I did.
I tried everything.
I attacked with speed, with strength, with every bit of power my body could produce. I used my telekinesis, reaching out with my mind to slow her down or trap her in place long enough to land a decisive blow.
But it didn't work.
Every time I tried to hold her, she either vanished like a ghost or shattered the telekinetic grip with brute force before I could take advantage of the moment.
It was like trying to fight someone who existed half outside reality itself.
Eventually we both stopped moving.
For a brief moment the training hall fell silent except for the faint sounds of debris settling around us. She looked directly at me.
"If you have something new to show me," she said calmly, "do it now. I think it's time for this to come to an end."
She slowly raised her right hand and stretched it forward, her palm facing upward.
"Watch out. This is my final attack."
The space above her palm began to distort.
At first it looked like heat bending the air, but the distortion quickly deepened into something far more terrifying. It resembled a fragment of empty void, a compression of space itself folding inward like the horizon of a black hole.
"Watch closely, Aether," she said.
"This is the limit of what this plane can handle. Any more power than this will cause destabilization."
The mass of compressed void grew larger.
"Defend against it with everything you have if you do not want to die."
Confused but knowing she never joked about things like this, I realized I had no choice but to try something different.
And who was Aether?
The question burned in my mind, but I forced myself to ignore it.
There would be time for answers later.
Right now I needed to survive.
Slowly I calmed my breathing, forcing every distracting thought out of my mind. The shattered training hall, the destruction around us, the fight itself, all of it faded from my awareness.
Focus, Orion.
I closed my eyes.
Remember how it felt.
I searched my memory for that moment when I had stood on the edge of death while facing the shadowy figure. The moment when I had believed everything was lost.
The humming beneath my sternum.
The pulsing sensation of something trapped inside me, struggling desperately to escape. The emotions that had overwhelmed me at that moment.
Rage.
Hopelessness.
Fear.
Loss.
Desperation.
Channel it now!
Bring it out!
Unleash it!!
My eyes snapped open.
The mass of compressed void she had launched toward me rushed forward with terrifying speed. Even though it moved incredibly fast, in my perception it seemed to drift closer as if time itself had slowed.
Just before the attack reached me, I shouted with everything I had.
"UNLEASH RESONANCE!"
A massive wave of energy exploded outward from my body.
The power of resonance spread violently in every direction like an unstoppable blast. Nothing could resist it. Not the mass of void she had created, not her, not even the already damaged training hall around us.
Everything was swallowed by the explosion of energy.
Then—
Silence.
Smoke and debris filled the air.
Through the haze I stood there breathing heavily as if I had just run a marathon. My entire body trembled as exhaustion washed over me, and I leaned forward slightly while trying to steady my breathing.
"Did I win?" I asked, blood slowly running down my lips.
I ignored the destruction around me as my eyes darted through the smoke, searching for her. The training hall was barely recognizable now, its structure shattered and broken beyond anything I had imagined.
But I couldn't see her.
"Did I kill her by mistake?" I wondered aloud.
A quiet chuckle answered me.
It sounded amused, almost disbelieving.
"You are far too weak to kill me."
Hearing her voice, I turned toward the direction it came from.
There she was.
Standing on nothing.
She hovered several meters above the ruined floor, levitating effortlessly. There was not a single scratch on her body, not even a speck of dust. She looked completely untouched, as if she had been enjoying a peaceful vacation rather than standing in the middle of a battle.
My earlier attack had done nothing.
Seeing that she was unharmed filled me with relief that I hadn't accidentally killed her, but at the same time a wave of disappointment settled in my chest.
I still hadn't managed to injure her even once.
A faint trace of annoyance rose within me as I realized that any hope of payback would have to wait.
Knowing the test had ended, she slowly descended until her feet touched the ground again. She looked at me with a smile that clearly showed she was impressed with what she had seen.
"That was quite the show, Aether. I am impressed. You exceeded my expectations."
"It still wasn't enough," I replied with a defeated sigh.
"Yes," she agreed calmly. "It wasn't enough. But you should still be happy. You have come a long way, and now I am sure that you will be able to face what is coming without being completely defenseless."
Realizing that she wasn't saying it to mock me, a small smile appeared on my face despite the exhaustion weighing down my body.
But it was finally time.
"I think it's time you answer the questions I have."
Still wearing the same mysterious smile, she replied calmly.
"You will get your answers, Orion."
She glanced around at the destruction surrounding us before looking back at me, her gaze briefly lingering on my disheveled appearance.
"But before you start asking your questions… would you like some tea?"
Her question left me completely confused.
With a simple wave of her hand, the destruction around us began to reverse. Cracked stone reformed, shattered wood returned to its place, and dust drifted backward through the air as if time itself had reversed. Within seconds the training hall looked pristine again, as if the earlier chaos had never happened.
She released a quiet sigh.
"Thankfully I remembered to place a barrier around the building. Otherwise they would have noticed the burst of energy from our fight."
With another small gesture she made a mat appear from thin air for us to sit on. Then she did something that surprised me even more.
A table appeared.
And beside it, a tea set filled with warm tea materialized as if pulled directly from space itself.
The faint aroma drifted through the air, and even before touching it I could feel a strange sense of refreshment spreading through my tired body.
She gestured calmly toward the mat.
"Sit."
My body ached as I lowered myself down, the exhaustion from the fight finally catching up with me now that the adrenaline had begun to fade. The mat felt surprisingly soft beneath me, and for the first time since the battle began, I allowed my muscles to relax slightly.
She sat across from me with effortless grace, as if the chaos that had just taken place meant nothing to her.
The small table rested between us.
Without another word, she reached forward and poured tea into two cups. The liquid flowed smoothly into the porcelain, steam rising gently into the air.
She pushed one of the cups toward me.
"For now," she said quietly, "drink."
Still confused by everything that had just happened, I picked up the cup slowly. The warmth spread through my hands the moment my fingers wrapped around it, the heat seeping into my tired muscles.
I hesitated for a moment before taking a small sip.
The effect was immediate.
A gentle warmth spread through my chest and slowly moved throughout the rest of my body. The exhaustion that had weighed heavily on my limbs began to ease, and the throbbing pain from the bruises across my ribs faded slightly. Even the tension in my mind seemed to loosen, as if the tea itself was calming the storm of thoughts swirling inside my head.
She watched me quietly, as if she had expected that reaction.
Satisfied, she leaned back slightly and rested one hand against the table.
"You wanted answers," she said calmly.
For a moment she remained silent, her gaze drifting away as though she were looking far beyond the walls of the training hall.
Then her eyes returned to mine.
"Before I explain anything," she said slowly, "there is a story you need to hear.
Her expression grew slightly more serious.
"A very old story."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"And it begins… with something called Aether."
So… the word Aether appears again.
Is it a name? A title? Or something far more dangerous?
And the bigger question is this…
Why did she call Orion that?