Liam's eyes never left her. His stance shifted—not dramatically, just a subtle adjustment in balance and grip. The javelin spun once in his hand, humming ominously with a blend of dark and fire Myst.
For a moment, neither moved.
The tension between them was dense, like coiled wire straining to snap. Mabel's breathing slowed, controlled. Liam's was silent, like he'd vanished into stillness itself.
Liam's eyes never left her. His stance shifted—not dramatically, just a subtle adjustment in balance and grip. The javelin spun once in his hand, humming ominously with a blend of dark and fire Myst.
A burst of flame marked his sudden movement—Flame Dash—flickers of fire trailing in his wake.
Mabel reacted without thought. She dropped low, sliding sideways in a clean, practiced motion as the javelin whistled past her, slicing the air by her shoulder. It struck the ground behind her with a loud clang—and then exploded with a sharp, fiery burst before embedding itself in the floor.
She turned quickly, already mid-counter. Water-infused Myst coiled around her palm as she swung—
But Liam was already there. Crouched low. Calm. His hand hovered inches from her abdomen.
Mabel kicked off the ground, twisting midair. She landed a few feet away in a crouch, fingertips trailing a misty sheen of magic.
Liam remained where he appeared, relaxed and poised. "You're even faster than I thought," he said, voice smooth. " That's good. I need fast opponents."
"You're arrogant, you know that?" Mabel narrowed her eyes. "That kind of attitude's gonna get you hurt."
"You call it arrogance," Liam replied, tapping his temple, "but I call it clarity. And that clarity's keeping you on your toes. Danger makes the best teacher."
"Tch... you planning to lecture me now?" Mabel exhaled sharply, then vanished into motion—her form flickering with light and illusion as she darted forward. She struck at Liam's flank with a fluid palm thrust—only for her hand to pass clean through him.
Liam's real body descended in a smooth, flipping arc. The javelin snapped back into his grasp mid-air as he brought it down like a falling blade. Mabel twisted at the last moment—the weapon grazing her shoulder, searing through fabric with molten heat. She skidded backward, one foot dragging along the polished floor.
They squared off again.
"I see now," Mabel muttered, brushing her singed shoulder. "You're not just fast. You're calculating. Every move has bait behind it."
"Good," Liam replied coolly. "Then maybe it's time you stop holding back like I'm some training dummy and fight me like a fellow operative."
A faint smile tugged beneath Mabel's mask. 'This kid… he really thinks he can handle me.' For the first time in ages, her blood stirred with genuine anticipation.
"Alright, kid," she said, brown eyes glowing with mystic energy. "I'll show you fifty percent. Just don't whine about the outcome."
"I'd be damned to complain," Liam said flatly, spinning his javelin once more. The fire condensed along the shaft in a sharp glow, while the shadowy Myst curled up from the hilt, wrapping around his hand like a living gauntlet.
Mabel shifted her stance.
The air around her shimmered—subtle distortions rippling outward as she activated Spatial Veil, bending the space around her like a thin membrane. Her muscles coiled tight, spring-loaded with tension, and with a sharp pivot of her foot, she launched forward. Her form blurred, twisting like a heat mirage, water Myst surging over her limbs in a fluid, gleaming shell.
Liam moved just as quickly.
His expression remained cold, unreadable—eyes tracking her every warped step. The javelin spun behind him in a lazy circle, his posture low and balanced. Fire flared at his heels in small, volatile bursts, each dash powered by compressed Myst that turned his movements into a blur of speed and heat.
They collided at the center of the hall.
Mabel struck first—a palm strike glowing with dense water Myst. The blow came fast and clean, aimed like a crashing tide. Liam dropped beneath it, twisting with minimal movement, the air hissing beside his face from the force of her strike. His javelin snapped upward in a brutal arc, aimed for her midsection.
Space shimmered as her form vanished, warping into nothingness. She reappeared behind him, suspended midair, her body rotating in a forward flip—heel poised like a blade aimed at the back of his skull.
His instinct screamed, making Liam drop instantly. One knee crashing to the floor as he swung the javelin up to catch the blow.
The impact rang out like a bell—clang—as water Myst detonated from her heel on contact. Sparks flared as Mabel rebounded, twisting midair with elegant precision. In a smooth motion, she extended an arm and unleashed a slicing arc of compressed water.
The air shrieked as it tore through it.
Liam pivoted just in time, the edge of the liquid blade grazing his shoulder. Blood splashed—a red arc in the air—but he didn't flinch, not even a twitch.
Then he exhaled slowly, and the heat around him shifted.
His aura dimmed and deepened, dark Myst flooding in. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he extended his right hand, pressing thumb and middle finger together in a flicking pose. Shadows spiraled toward the space between his fingers, twisting with fire—fusion magic igniting.
The energy condensed rapidly—flame and darkness collapsing into one singularity. A black orb began to form, dense and humming with lethal potential. Umbra Star. Smaller than before but burning hotter and deadlier.
"Let's see how you handle this," Liam murmured as he flicked his fingers.
The miniature sun screamed through the air as it headed toward Mabel like the embodiment of annihilation.
Seeing the incoming attack, Mabel knew she had no time to evade—dodging was impossible.
Her instincts flared, and in a flash, she summoned a layered wall of dense, rotating water Myst in front of her. The barrier shimmered with protective runes, but even so, what came next was cataclysmic.
The Umbra Star struck.
In an instant, the black sun collapsed inward—an implosion of fire and shadow that pulled everything into its core, shrieking with annihilating force. Heat scorched the air, space warped, and the floor beneath cracked and cratered as the spell tried to erase everything in its wake.
Mabel held her ground.
The force tore apart the environment around her, shredding marble, splintering walls—but she remained standing, cloaked in her water veil, braced against the storm. When the explosion finally ceased and the dust began to settle, her body trembled slightly—not from fear, but adrenaline.
She stared forward, eyes wide with awe.
She had seen the spell before—watched it vaporize training dummies like paper—but facing it directly, feeling its pressure and gravity in real time, was something entirely different.
'Damn… I figured it'd be dangerous, but that was far beyond anything I expected.' Her forearm smoked slightly where the heat had burned through the sleeve of her uniform.
"Wow… I have to say, you really ar—"
Liam burst through the fading haze, javelin slashing in wide, ruthless arcs. There was no hesitation in his eyes—just lethal precision.
Mabel vanished mid-sentence, blinking out of sight in a shimmer of warped space. She reappeared at his flank, arm drawn back, a gleaming spatial lance forming in her palm—a needle-thin weapon of bent space, sharpened to an atom's edge.
The lance pierced through his side, clean and sharp—but he was already too close. Blood trailing, he drove the butt of his javelin, which looked like a hammer due to Shadow Solidification, upward into her guard.
Mabel managed to block it with a raised forearm, but the impact sent her flying, her body flipping through the air before she crashed down and skidded backward, boots carving lines across the polished floor.
She came to a stop, panting lightly.
Her mask was gone—ripped away in the blast. A shallow cut bled slowly down her cheek, and her right sleeve hung in tatters. Sweat beaded along her jawline, and for the first time, she looked at Liam with something bordering on respect.
"Damn…" she muttered, eyes narrowing at the blood-slicked javelin. "You're actually trying to kill me, huh?"
Liam walked forward in silence, dragging the javelin along the floor behind him. Sparks sparked in his wake.
"If I don't fight like I mean it… I don't learn anything," he said quietly. "You promised fifty percent. And considering the gap between us, it's only fair I give a hundred."
A wry smile touched her lips. She wiped the blood from her mouth and stood taller.
"Fair point," she said. "I'll admit… for a 5-Star, you're handling my fifty percent better than I expected."
She took a breath and rolled her shoulders.
"Guess I'll stop playing nice."
She clapped her hands together sharply—water Myst spiraling upward around her in a cyclone of blue light. Beneath her feet, a spatial seal flared to life, a glyph of silver and sapphire spreading outward in intricate patterns.
Liam's eyes glinted, lips curling into a cold smile. His grip on the javelin tightened, flames licking up the shaft, shadows coiling along his fingers.
"Now this is getting fun."