Chương 219: Chapter 216 - Reunion between friends

Luneia understood not where this Artigan had come from, nor did she understand how exactly he had become so strong. What she did know was that some of it was the Witch Tyrant's doing. After all, the Witch had hinted to her that nobody but her would be capable of putting him down and that she would find him very interesting. [The Knight] wasn't stupid, she knew the Witch wanted Artigan to win and part of Luneia had been okay with that.

It wouldn't be the first time the Witch Tyrant had sent her to assess someone and it turned out that their villainy wasn't their fault at all. Given the suspicious lack of deaths around Artigan, she had been more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not anymore. While she might not have been as good with concepts as her opponent, her class did not lie when it told her what this Artigan was about. A professional killer, explosions and fire, an opportunist. The Knight needed him to die and die now.

While any of those would have been bad enough for her to consider killing him, she wasn't just blind to the repulsion of her class either. True mastery meant that you controlled your class, not the other way round. No, the real, true dealbreaker was whenever Artigan used his aura on her. You could not fake the concepts that were held within them. She felt it in her soul whenever their auras clashed. A domineering tyrant that would bend the world to his will. Waiting, staring and judging her. Gathering his strength.

Artigan could not be allowed to rise any further. This Luneia knew. The problem was that the best chance to kill him had slipped past her fingers. The initial clash when he didn't understand how her skills worked had been her best opportunity and she hadn't used her second Epic, thinking it was overkill on a newbie without unity. Now, Artigan had adapted to her speed and tricks, now he was— Practicing? Artigan stopped approaching her and started doing a very basic sword routine.

He brandished a half broken sword that was slowly regenerating its pieces in front of her. Black robes fluttering in the wind as he focused purely on getting a perfect simple stab.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for your cooldowns."

"Are you stupid?" Artigan grinned at her while practicing his stabs.

"What can I say? I'm a gentleman." This time when he stabbed she saw multiple stabs appearing around him at once. [Flurry Stab] though adjusted so the skill was coming out from multiple directions and coming in at once. An adjusted [Flurry Stab] with aura layered on top, plus he had actually put some of his concepts into the skill itself. Shit. Luneia shot out like a cannon while her skills were on cooldown. She couldn't use [Reset Cooldowns] so soon, but she still had a precursor reset skill and her second Epic.

If he gave her an opening, she'd take it to end him. There were still tricks she had up her sleeve and there were things he couldn't know about her own abilities. Artigan adjusted immediately to the charging Luneia, leaning back against a swinging lance and jumping back when it tried to curve around to hit him. But [The Knight] wasn't done, she stepped forward and thrust her shield out. Despite what many believed, there was true martial skill in fighting with a lance and shield.

Learning and manipulating your opponent's vision was an art that had let her catch many masters off guard. One moment she was stationary in your vision, the next she used all of her explosive power and her shield was in your face. Most people saw her bulk and armor and underestimated her speed, not realizing a fifth realm could wear platemail like it was just ordinary clothes on skin. The other thing that people didn't practice much was actually training your muscles beyond the Trial System's enhancements.

It took too long to make a noticeable difference compared to leveling your skills, but when you did it everyday for over ten years? It made a difference. Most people truly underestimated just how fast she could go without skills. But not Artigan, he had taken multiple steps back and overshot his dodge, possibly expecting her to be able to use [Reckless Charge] again. Damn. Artigan kept the distance and circled around to the side where she was holding her lance. He threw pointless knives again at her side.

She swept them once more with her lance. And the knives exploded. A pointless distraction considering she was completely focused on him. [The Knight] pivoted and kicked off with her foot. The equivalent of a regular adventurer's [Pivot Charge]. Simple strength, power and practice letting her pull it off without using a Skill. Artigan dashed backwards again, keeping the perfect distance to stay away from her strikes. He took a rapier stance as he stabbed.

[Flurry Stab] Seven swords of red appeared in front of her while an eighth tried to manifest in her aura and shattered. The seven swords thrust forward— And [The Knight] smashed through all of them, entrusting in her armor and shield to shatter them all. Artigan clicked his tongue as he leapt out of range again, dodging every single strike just in range as he raised his right arm. Pulling it. Warping it. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Shaping it. He increased the gap again and took a stronger stance, Artigan stopped smiling and looked cold and stoic, and thrust. Three swords of crimson aura appeared around him and slammed into her shield. To her surprise the aura blades had weight, slowing her charge a visible amount. Impossible. It was an adjusted [Flurry Stab] with just aura.

No skill activation, just overwhelming force with immense aura control, her righteous aura had barely ripped away at it and she had to use just her physical strength and gear to block it. Something was pressing down on her class. A Tyrant cares little for your righteousness. The Knight stands up against tyranny. No, they bend the knee to rulers. Artigan had two concepts countered by her and had used a third to escape her. This time this singular concept was weighing down on her and pulling away at her skills.

Luneia skidded to a pause when she realized she wouldn't make progress here. The entire time Artigan was using her as a practice dummy and refusing to commit to a real attack. She had just realized it too late.

"How many fucking classes can you pull on?" The cold judgmental gaze faded as he put on a mischievous grin again, a quick shift that made her certain that anyone with multiple classes had to be a psycho.. The silver haired elf shook his head in disappointment.

"That wasn't even really the full class. Just some of the concepts. Not that it worked like I wanted it to." Artigan sighed.

"Trying to make everything work together is a lot harder than I thought it'd be."

"Are you a moron? It took me a decade to master it and you thought you'd learn unity after a couple swings?"

"Unity? Is that what it's called?" [The Knight] clenched her teeth.

"It's what I call it. Don't worry, you won't learn it anytime soon." Artigan gave her a wide grin with bared teeth.

"Then why are you trying so hard to stop me from training?" He had completely read through her. She clenched her lance tightly as she stared into the grinning bastard.

"I just want to break your teeth in, just once." —— Sector Ten… For a long time, Ayla Corvin had disliked Pinkie. Someone that was only aiming to copy her would always disappoint because there was zero chance a copycat could exceed her. She had originally planned on beating her up and sending her on her way—until her instincts told her that something would happen that was worth watching.

Then Pinkie whipped out the praying mantis punch using Ayla's own arms and then managed to stab through her muscles with a fang formed out of her bones. It made today an excellent day. While it was always a good day when she was in The Realm, witnessing a new Legend with endless potential and then having it actually surprise her in combat was something she always enjoyed greatly. Pinkie would go far, who would have thought Lihua would be good at raising someone that was all brawn and no brains?

Refreshed, Ayla launched out of the ocean with an enormous sprout that rose to the sky. The sheer volume of water displaced would soon become the birth of a tsunami. Whoops, too much excitement. It would probably be fine. While the vacuum explosion she stopped would have killed too many, a small tsunami was something that most creatures in Sector Ten would survive. Lihua wouldn't bother her about this… not that she did since little Gammy had passed away.

The Passive Tyrant, or Ayla, she liked to think of herself, just stared at the horizon of this beautiful world and sighed. Just in time for Pinkie to charge at her like a mad bull. Her figure was smaller than it had been just moments earlier, now closer to hers than ever before, though with pink scales, tail and wings. The half mimicked scaley hybrid of her was a little creepy if Ayla was being honest. She raised a hand to stop the fight. Pinkie flapped her wings and stomped on the air to stop herself.

Ayla smiled at her fun new project.

"Easy, easy. I think it's better for you to stabilize that Legend more than anything else."

"My blood is boiling Passive Tyrant, come let us–""Just call me Ayla." While Ayla didn't really mind others calling her a tyrant, it was a little weird when non-strangers called her the Passive Tyrant. It did bother Lihua quite a bit, though she would never admit that to anyone else but her. The thought sobered her up a little. Pinkie didn't care about that of course, the battle-frenzied [Shapeshifter] raised her fists.

"I know you want to fight. I can keep going." Ah, I remember when I was like that. Ayla shook her head.

"Not today. You've made some good gains but it's time for you to sit down and stabilize it."

"No, I… can keep going, can you not feel it?"

"Sure I can, so can the rest of the world, look up." Ayla shook her head again and then looked at the sky. It was folding in on itself. Giant concentric rings spread out to far, far into the distance, at its center was Pinkie. As if Pinkie was some sort of deep gravitational well. A Legend Manifestation, one where your power was so vast that reality itself frayed at the edges to keep you there. Pinkie simply stared up at the sky with unfocused eyes.

Ayla cleared her throat, trying to sound wise by copying Xavien the Archmage Tyrant's tone.

"People think that Legend Manifestations are the end goal but it just shows you're unable to control your Legend."

"Does it matter? I can keep getting stronger."

"Of course it matters. Think of when you stopped causing sonic booms while you ran around, that's the difference. You've broken the threshold but it's uncontrolled and wild. You could very easily hurt yourself and everything around you if you mess up." But Pinkie wasn't listening, she was too drunk on her Legend. The power coursing through her body probably seemed like it was limitless and malleable. Like she could do and be anything. Her eyes were still unfocused.

"I think I can push it further. I'm so close, Ayla, I can feel it." Ayla raised her eyebrows, if she could indeed copy her instincts it would be a different story, only…

"Your nose is bleeding." Pinkie took a moment to process the words and blinked. She brought her hand to her nose and realized that it had been leaking the entire time. A vein shifted in her head as she tried to fix it but it only made the nosebleed worse. She shoved a hand into her neck and— One of her eyes popped out. It was a common mistake. Not exactly in the way a [Shapeshifter] did it but what Pinkie was going through right now.

"Legends don't make you invincible and it doesn't make you able to do whatever you want. Stop trying to do too much at once." Pinkie's one good eye refocused, nose and eyehole bleeding, the color of her singular eye mirroring hers.

"But you wouldn't stop here." Ayla opened her mouth, then closed it. What were you supposed to say to that? While it was true that everyone else needed to take time to master their own Legend, hers had been something that she crafted and it just worked out. Could she really tell Pinkie to stop? It was a funny thing, but she was always bad at telling people that pushing themselves was a bad idea. She wasn't a hypocrite. … Ayla leaned back while watching the crystal blue waves crest to shore.

A ball of bulging flesh next to her, nothing would come close as long as the waves of reality rippling centered around the ball of flesh. She watched over Pinkie and knew what the little [Mystical Shapeshifter] was trying to copy. It was something innate to her and not a skill listed in the Trial System. Something she had before she entered the Trial System. It was sort of a bestial instinct that told her where good fights were. At least it had started out that way.

Now at realm thirteen it might as well be considered a Legend. Something she had to actively turn off when she was involved in a fight so it would stay interesting. According to Lihua, people like her existed in the greater cosmos and were always picked up to be nurtured as one of the elites in the Great Civilizations. The Manager had even hinted that the Trial System might have been drawn to Earth because of her. Because she had the potential to complete it. Which was pretty cool if you thought about it.

Though Ayla couldn't help but be curious. What would happen if Pinkie could copy her instinct completely? Then added on her shapeshifting capabilities with Ayla's innate understanding of beasts? Now that would be a good fight. So… Ayla let it happen, the giant ball of flesh focused within, Finishing the Legend. Ayla remembered when Lihua had been frustrated at how her first Legend wasn't working out. Ayla frowned. Why was she thinking about Lihua so much?

Even Xavien's Legend Manifestation was much more memorable than Lihua's Legend Manifestation. It wasn't really something she thought about often. She reactivated her instincts and immediately realized why it was the case. Ayla turned to address the figure hiding behind the massive pile of flesh.

"Lihua, what are you doing?" And the Witch Tyrant walked out from behind the giant ball of flesh, invisibility rolling off her in waves. Still dressed in her white robes and white hat, never having changed the color since her daughter had died. That had been why Ayla had kept thinking about Lihua so much. Even when she was actively suppressing her instincts, it had found a way to tell her something was wrong. Xie Lihua smiled at Ayla Corvin.