Chapter 15: Trial by Ascension IV
The third match ended quickly.
Joran Frek had entered with brute strength, but Kai hadn't given him time to use it.
Now, murmurs gave way to silence.
The fourth match loomed.
"Match Four: Kai versus Rhess Dagen."
That name drew a reaction.
Rhess was no stranger to the academy's upper ranks. Towering, lean, and cold-eyed, he was known not just for his technique but for the way he broke his opponents—emotionally, not just physically. Every spar of his ended with humiliation.
He walked with measured arrogance, bare-chested, black gauntlets over his forearms, ki visibly humming along his skin.
"You think you're something, huh?" Rhess said, stretching his neck with a loud pop. "Knocking out a few names doesn't make you one."
Kai didn't respond.
He couldn't afford to waste breath. Not for this fight.
Rhess grinned and took his stance—low, serpentine, almost relaxed. A style meant to bait the impatient.
Kai exhaled.
The bell rang.
Rhess didn't charge. He waited. Watching.
Kai took a step—slow. Another. He lowered his center of gravity.
Then, he vanished.
Veilstep.
A flicker of motion—too fast, too fluid. Kai reappeared at Rhess's left flank.
But Rhess was ready.
A spinning backhand met Kai mid-strike. The hit grazed his shoulder—more powerful than it looked. Kai rebounded, skidding to a halt.
Rhess chuckled. "You're fast. But you're not the only one with reflexes."
Kai didn't flinch. His breathing slowed, pupils dilating.
He needed more than just speed.
He needed precision. Instinct. Flow.
He shifted into stance—one foot forward, hands loose, pulse steady.
This was it. The prototype.
He'd only practiced it twice—both times against straw targets. It demanded near-perfect timing, and if it failed… he'd be open, utterly exposed.
Rhess darted forward, launching a sweeping kick aimed at Kai's legs, followed by a bladed elbow arc. Fast. Rhess wasn't playing anymore.
Kai blocked the first strike, weaved under the elbow, and— Veilstep.
But this time, mid-step— he inverted his own motion.
Not just fading.
Reversing.
His momentum snapped back like a whip. From vanishing sidestep to full-speed countercharge.
Kai appeared behind Rhess, already rotating.
"Phantom Reversal – 2nd Layer: Mirror Fang."
He twisted, arm low, and struck Rhess at the junction of spine and hip with a coiled backfist.
The blow didn't just hit—it disrupted.
Rhess staggered, limbs jerking as if his nervous system had glitched.
Kai followed instantly, heel snapping into Rhess's side.
"Balance Reaper."
The final blow hit with surgical grace.
Rhess's stance imploded—his body collapsing like a broken scaffold. He gasped, coughed, and dropped to one knee, dazed, arms trembling to hold himself up.
The arena held its breath.
Then the bell rang.
🟩 [Combat Assessment Recorded – Match 4: Victory]
Rhess didn't look up right away.
When he did, it wasn't with anger. It was disbelief.
"You… did something mid-step. How…?"
Kai offered no explanation. Just a calm glance.
"I adapted."
He turned, stepping away from his fourth opponent—his breath heavier now, shoulders rising and falling with effort.
He could feel the toll.
The Veilstep alone strained his tendons. Phantom Reversal's second layer, even in prototype form, chewed through his ki reserves. His left forearm ached from the reversal torque.
But it had worked.
He looked toward the final platform, where the fifth and last opponent would await.
And past that… the real trial.
The one only the instructors knew was coming.
One match left.