Aiden held his sword above his head in a wide stance. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a few seconds, and when they opened, he shot forward. His speed was impressive, covering the distance between them instantly.

He went for a slash first, but Arith was unfazed. The sword bounced off her invisible defense, and then she moved in for the counter, attacking with a kick to his head. Aiden pulled back, dodging the attack, but she didn't relent.

She charged forward, launching another kick, but he dodged that as well, going under the kick and then coming up with a stab, only to be blocked again. Immediately he pulled back and retreated a few steps.

Arith stood there looking at him, her smile remaining on her face.

'Whatever this defense is, it's out of this world. How do I even get through if I don't know how it works?' he asked himself. But every defense had a weakness, and he knew that for certain. He just had to find it. So he decided to bombard attacks as fast as possible and see what worked.

Channeling his soul energy, he charged ahead full speed, his body became a blur. He lunged at her with a stab, and that was blocked, but he didn't stop. Rearranging his stance, he went in again with another attack, and then another. A flurry of attacks landed from each angle, each one causing a shockwave, and each one stronger than the last.

He gritted his teeth. Nothing was working, he was running out of soul energy, and yes, she was standing there unfazed. He clenched the sword harder, eyes blazing with unrelenting will. He charged forward again, this time delivering his strongest slash, but the same thing happened, and the attack was blocked.

Arith immediately moved for a counter, throwing another kick. He slid under it and dodged completely, and then he pushed his speed, moving fast to her back for another attack. It was so fast that she couldn't even see him, and before anyone could blink, he was already behind her and a full horizontal slash was going for her head.

Arith reacted at the last moment. The sword wasn't blocked this time, and she was forced to dodge backward, the tip of the blade cutting some of her hair. They spread into the air like petals falling to the ground. Aiden saw this, and happiness overtook him.

Aren saw it, and realization hit him. He knew her secret, the way her defense worked. Legion looked at Aren. He saw the concentration in his eyes and the flash of realization.

'Hmm, seems this kid might have spotted it. That last move made it very obvious what the way to win is,' Legion thought. He backed away from the fight, and Aiden was moving in for another attack.

"You shocked me pretty much, but I'll not let you win," she said before dashing at him full speed to land an attack. But he was ready to counter as well. Right before she attacked, she sunk into a portal on the ground and popped up behind him. She threw a punch so fast it snapped like a whip and stopped just an incredible distance away from his head.

"I win," she said, her smile widening even more. She was seemingly enjoying herself now.

Aiden's shoulders slumped after he lost. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He had given it his all; the gap in levels was just too high to cover. He walked back to the others, and finally it was Aren's turn.

Aren walked to the center of the training ground. He stood opposite Arith, who was ready to go three for three.

"Your defense is awesome," he stated, "but it has one fatal flaw that I have noticed," he added, looking her right in the eye.

His statement immediately rubbed her the wrong way. Could he have discovered the weakness?

'No, that's impossible. I've trained for years now to use it without anyone knowing. There's no way,' she thought to herself.

"There is no point trying to play mind games. Just do your best," she said casually, waving off what he said.

Aren smiled. "I'll surely do my best," he said, summoning Wolf Guard and the full Insect Armor. He wanted to see just how much he could go against her. He charged forward at full speed. She smirked, ready to take him down as well.

Midway, he unleashed a claw strike, but it bounced off her defense.

"Tsk, that won't work at—" Her sentence was cut short as she saw several beings made of shadow form. Four wolves came out, their eyes glowing red.

"Spread out," Aren said, and the wolves immediately spread out. He also stopped running. Now Arith was surrounded.

"Summoner?" she muttered, her tone slightly shook.

"Yup. This is the best method to defeat you, right?" Aren asked.

"Like I'd tell you that, kid," she said.

"Well, you don't have to. I watched both fights, and I came to a very good conclusion," Aren said. The wolves slowly started approaching. She kept her attention on them as much as she could, and then out of nowhere Aren attacked with a claw strike that she only reacted to at the last moment and dodged rather than blocked.

She snapped her head to Aren, looking right at him. Aren gave her a smile.

"When you fought Kira, she got one attack through that defense, and it was when you were stumbling back. When you fought Aiden, he got past when he got behind you," Aren said.

"Your ability isn't all-round," he said. One wolf lunged forward, but she dodged it before sending a kick right into its head that killed it. A few seconds later, it was resummoned and rushed back into formation.

"The secret of your ability is simple," Aren said with a smile.

Arith frowned. "And what could it be?" she asked.

"Well, your ability to block any attack only works on—"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.