Before Aura Nova could even blink after the word left her lips, her senses picked up a new presence lowered before her body, his hand already placed on his hilt with quiet inevitability. It was Lucian, he had moved at a speed that surpassed anything he or Aura Nova had ever displayed before, a speed that felt less like motion and more like instantaneous displacement, as though the world had simply rearranged itself to place him there.

'When?' Aura Nova thought as she hadn't seen or sensed him move, the transition so clean that it felt like reality itself had skipped a frame.

Without missing a beat, Lucian's katana left its sheath with a sharp, resonant zing as it cleaved toward Aura Nova's neck in one sweeping motion, the strike clean and merciless, as though he had banked the entire battle and every prior exchange on this single decisive attack, compressing all intent and killing force into one perfect draw.

Although Aura Nova hadn't been able to follow his sudden movement initially, it didn't mean she couldn't react, her instincts and reactions weren't just for display or show. With blinding force and speed, her arms blurred upward, her twin short swords following in flawless synchronization as she crossed them in an X shape before her chest, the posture firm and absolute like an unbreakable barricade.

And with a thunderous blast, the two metals met, the air stilled for a moment as though it was indecisive about what to do next because of these two monsters colliding. Should it tear? Should it scream? Should it collapse? It didn't know, it had already done it all. The next moment, the air finally seemed to decide, it ruptured outward in a sundering blast wave that tore through everything in its path like an invisible bomb detonating between them.

The force and momentum slammed into Aura Nova violently, her body tearing backward as her feet left the surface of the building she was standing on, her body rocketing away with madness as the wind screamed behind her like a hunting beast. She didn't panic, her body smoothly twisted midair with elegant control as she landed with a deft touch on the side wall of a skyscraper, her soles sticking against the vertical surface as though gravity itself obeyed her will.

She understood immediately that she had been thrown backward because of the difference in momentum and force during the collision. Lucian had already finished gathering his power before the strike, while she had gathered hers in haste, reacting instead of initiating, and that single difference had cost her ground.

Her head snapped upwards, her sky-blue eyes tearing toward Lucian's body, but all she saw was a blade already singing for her neck with lethal glee. Aura Nova didn't speak, she didn't think, she had no time for thoughts, her instincts kicked in yet again as her body bent backward with impossible flexibility, her back now parallel to the glass windows of the skyscraper.

The moment she bent backward and dodged, it seemed as though time had slowed within her perception as she saw Lucian's blade scream past her face in slow motion, her beautiful face, skin, and sky-blue eyes reflecting clearly on the flat side of its silver body, following it was a thin silver line as the blade cut through the air and the very space where her head had been only a fraction of a second earlier.

Should she have delayed even for the lowest fraction of time, she would have been decapitated without question, her head severed cleanly before she even realized death had arrived.

But Aura Nova didn't need to be told, within this moment where time seemed to stretch and slow for her alone, she understood perfectly that the instincts guiding her were the ones she had gained after years of endless battle within the False Reality Layer. Its effects were already showing within this battle, manifesting as something closer to precognition than mere reaction.

The next instant, time snapped violently back into place, and instantly the windows they stood on exploded outward as the shockwave from Lucian's missed attack slammed into the entire building like a cannon blast. Lucian and Aura Nova didn't react, their bodies were long past the stage where glass could affect them, although these shattered panes were tougher than normal glass, reinforced and tempered, it still made no difference to warriors of their caliber.

Aura Nova lunged forward this time, her speed climbing as though she was a car that had suddenly changed gears, acceleration stacking upon acceleration, her twin short swords closing in from two different angles simultaneously, each of them aiming for a lethal point on Lucian's body with ruthless precision.

Lucian simply stared at both attacks with his black eyes, he didn't parry or block, his legs merely danced lightly on the concrete of the building as he dodged both attacks with the ease of a man snatching candy from a child, and as he evaded both strikes, he closed the distance between him and Aura Nova within that same seamless motion and footwork technique. He came face to face with her, a smile still resting on his face, his katana already screaming upward from below in a vicious diagonal slash meant to bisect her.

Aura Nova wasn't flustered that Lucian had gotten so close, instead, she even took half a step forward as though she was leaning in for a kiss... yeah, a kiss of her blade. Her first short sword closed in on Lucian's katana, halting it mid-path and nullifying the attack completely, metal grinding against metal, and at the same time her right blade tore upward toward Lucian's neck at point-blank range with killing intent.

Lucian had no choice but to take a step back in order to dodge as he couldn't parry with his katana that was already hooked in place by Aura Nova's other blade. He dodged with the ease of a master advising a student, smooth and minimal, but Aura Nova was no student to begin with.

The moment Lucian dodged, her short sword that was already hooking his katana immediately moved, its motion like that of a viper striking prey as her wrist flickered sharply and with that single, deceptively simple motion, Lucian's katana left his hand, the weapon spinning helplessly as it plummeted through the air and streaked toward the asphalt far below.

Lucian's eyes flickered in surprise for a brief moment as he hadn't expected this much close quarter combat experience and close combat IQ from Aura Nova, the precision of her disarm clean and undeniably refined.

But Aura Nova cared not for the flicker of surprise within Lucian's eyes, she simply pressed her advantage without hesitation by erasing the distance between them, a distance Lucian had created earlier by taking a step back. Her short swords swung toward his neck and his heart with lethal speed and merciless intent, blades carving deadly arcs through the air.

Mercy? Grace? Compassion? Please, maybe another time, not now.

Lucian didn't panic even though he had lost his katana, he watched the attacks close in with a calm expression as though he was a cat with nine lives and infinite confidence. As Aura Nova's blades were about to dig into his body and sign off his end, his katana which Aura Nova had already removed flashed suddenly as it rotated midair and reappeared back within his hand as though space itself had returned it to him, and with one smooth motion, he blocked both attacks with the grace of a swordmaster that stood at the absolute pinnacle of his craft and domain.

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