Heaven's Greatest Professor

At first, he was uncertain about naming the moves, but Ariha convinced him. He would need to name it if he were to teach it to anyone else. Most importantly, names have power... It was the aspiration of the name that resonated with the Way...

If he were to pick some lame name, there was a great chance his attack power would diminish, or would never reach the standard he wanted. Thankfully, picking a fitting name for the move hadn't been difficult. Karim or his master had already picked a good name for it. He just opted for a variation of the original name, adding his unique flair. After all, his move was distinct from Karim's.

A single wind blade carrying the power of a hundred formed from his blade. It shot forth, whispering through the storm. The named move he had created after being inspired by Karim cut through dozens of attacks coming his way. That took care of the front. Flipping over, he cast another one of the moves to his rear, dissipating all the wind blades approaching him.

But that wasn't the end of it. The elder avatar of Ariha assaulted him with countless lashes of wind blades, augmented by her golden essence. On this occasion, the attacks became terrifyingly sharp, twisting through the storm to target him. Explore more adventures at m,v l'e-m|p y r

Raising his sword high, he steered through the storm, countering with the same move. It was the only move he found a greater degree of mastery yet.

[Whispers of the Baleful Wind.]

There were over a dozen runes encrypted on his body, most of them were tier 5, with some inclusion of tier 4 and one hybrid script which went beyond a Tier-5 script. He activated only a tier 4 anti-gravity script to enhance [Wings of Radiance].

His speed increased several folds as his form danced through the storm at a destructive pace, dodging and weaving through the encirclement of attacks. His opponent surged forward as well, her speed increasing to match his, perhaps even surpassing it slightly as she managed to close the distance between them within seconds.

Light glittered in her arms, forming a large spear. However, she refrained from throwing it at him, knowing such tactics would be futile against him. Instead, she attempted to engage him in close-quarters combat, though it was hardly appropriate to call it that since with each flash of their wings, they found themselves hundreds of metres apart.

No metallic clanging sound echoed as their weapons collided. Her golden spear, created from pure radiance essence, met [The Divider], brimming with void light. Despite the absence of metallic sounds, the clash of their weapons discharged a terrifying release of reverberations of the Way.

The void light had limited utility compared to the radiance essence; however, in the sheer force of destruction, there was no comparison between the void essence and anything else. It was unmatched in this aspect.

[The Divider] bit through her golden spear as a look of surprise bloomed in her eyes. Yet, he wasn't satisfied with such a minor victory. He twisted to her right, attempting to strike her torso. However, before his sword could connect, her wing came forward and blocked his swing.

Her feathers, glowing with golden armament, shielded her as the void light only kissed through the light, dimming it slightly.

In the next instance, she flapped her wing and threw him off a few metres away. Barely balancing his body, he found she was already on him, another large spear forming in her hand.

He raised The Divider to block, but her long spear cut through the air like a snake and fainted his block to attack his ribs. Thankfully, it was nothing more than a jab as he managed to twist his blade and divide her weapon in a fraction of a moment. Her blow somehow pierced into his light armour, spurting a little blood.

It healed in no time. Still, it showed he could not be complacent with the little advantage he had over her. The being before him was unlike any opponent he had faced before... even the younger avatar of Ariha could not compare with her intensity... and she was barely starting.

Ariha pushed him further, drawing her attacks—feints after feints, avoiding the destructive power of the blade that could render her weapon into halves upon contact. Her spear moved as though it was a living snake, contracting and shifting in form to bite into his body.

Enabling [Void Shroud] should have taken care of the jabs and bruises she managed to deal with him, but he kept it for now, deciding to unleash it when she really came at him with a threatening blow. It appeared that she had only been warming up because if she were to keep on going with this intensity, not just 5 minutes, even a couple of hours would not be a problem for him...

But, of course, Ariha was not putting her heart into it. It was about to be a full minute and--

The familiar bell chimed again as Ariha faltered in her attack.

"That's one minute," she said, not even a speck of sweat or sign of irritation or exhaustion on her form. She was as breathtaking as ever. "That was my one by ten-thousandth fraction of my power... good job withstanding that..."

He barely understood what she said when he found her body turning to a blur and shooting at him again, this time with a speed rising beyond the capability of [Wings of Radiance].

"Now withstand double of that!"

He had no time to dawdle as Ariha closed the distance in no time. He released a tier-5 anti-gravity script and kept his distance from her for the time being. If she really was doubling her power, he needed to understand how far she could go with it.

However, she left no room for him to withdraw. The wind churned, and the reverberation of the way gave way to a vortex, spinning around the third checkpoint, locking down both of them.