Serum: C178 (Patreon)

Dirk responded oddly.

“An Heir? I’m no prince.”

“How ignorant. Even humans know that title.”

The elven girl scoffed while standing, taking a few breaths to settle herself.

“An Heir is the successor to a King, but we’re not talking about those of a kingdom.”

“A Martial King.”

“Correct.”

She confirmed Dirk’s guess. It seemed his skill was so obscene that he could be dubbed as such.

After settling her body, she looked him up and down as if taking in his entire image.

“I know because I’m also one.”

“Yea, I could feel it. You have to be the second most difficult person I’ve ever fought.”

“Who’s the first?”

“That’s difficult to say.”

Dirk smiled, knowing he couldn’t just drop the name of a Spear King.

At the same time, he did the same and took in the body of this elven girl.

She seemed mature enough, but Dirk really couldn’t be sure about ages. She could be 20 or 100. Elves already had longer lifespans without the age extending power of magic. It was impossible to tell their age under normal circumstances.

But that didn’t matter. What Dirk knew was that she was a Rank 6 and held no mana to speak of. She was also an Heir like himself, a prospect that, while still impossible to certainly say, did in fact have greater chances of becoming a King than the norm.

The title was not given casually, and nobody would dare proclaim themselves as one unless they had the ability to back their words up.

Dirk could tell she wasn’t lying simply by virtue of her instincts. There was no other way she could fight him on equal grounds. After all, Dirk had killed a Tier 6 before with no more than a single strike. That was to say, instincts were everything in these battles, almost equal to sheer power in importance.

Her body was also strong. She was dressed in fitted clothing that seemed to be picked out for her training. So there was no armor to speak of, but she could no doubt summon it at will.

She was a lithe woman, not as well endowed as someone like Pandora, but Dirk would still rate her highly. A few notches below Pandora, to be precise.

Elves in general were known for their beauty as well. Along with their height, it was no wonder that they held greater pride than normal. Compared to the other races, they seemed superior in every aspect.

“What’s your name?”

She suddenly asked, making Dirk tilt his head.

“Isn’t giving my name a bit dangerous for me? You remember that I’m your enemy, right?”

“Please, I don’t give a shit about this war. I came here because I needed some isolation. I don’t like wasting my time slaughtering lesser knights. So you are not my enemy, but a personal rival. I’m asking your name out of respect so that I remember you when I kill you. We are Heirs, not mere soldiers, and we carry ourselves as such.”

She raised her sword with those words, getting into a low stance that would allow her to explode at a moments notice.

Even Dirk could feel the threat to his life. She had clearly been holding back before. They both had, but she had much more to give than he did.

Dirk stood there, not immediately reacting as he smiled at her.

Logically, he should withhold his name. Letting her know that a human noble was here from beyond the Otherworld may lead to grave consequences down the line, affecting many of Pandora’s plans.

But he didn’t listen to logic anymore. Instead, he did as he felt.

“I am Dirk Strider.”

“And I am Eleanor Lotus. Let our battle be fruitful.”

She said that before going silent.

And they both stood there for a second, Dirk taking up a bit more of a serious stance.

The Sword of Dissonance to his side began to fluctuate. In this battle, he couldn't afford to hold back. Plus, he could see Eleanor’s sword glow with enchantments as well, so she had an equally good weapon.

Aura coated both their blades, Dirk’s glowing gold in contrast to the black sword, and Eleanor’s glowing silver like her hair.

And neither of them put their armor on. Their lives would be dictated by their skills and their weapons. That’s what it meant to be an Heir, someone prospect to become a Martial King.

Then, Dirk let a long breath out, his muscles tightening as his smile faded.

Eleanor felt the excitement from him fade. In fact, she couldn’t feel a thing. Normally you could feel the emotions of another person, glimpsing their state of mind.

But from him, she could feel no emotion, no happiness, no determination, not even seriousness.

And then, when he suddenly stepped toward her, his muscles exploding with impossible movement as he basically flew forward, she realized another thing she couldn't sense.

Danger.

She reacted a half step too late to defend properly, forcing her to bend her body and deflect while retreating.

Dirk’s sword came down, flickering through the darkness before colliding with her own blade.

*ting*

The sound they made was small. There was no explosion or shockwave, nearly all of the impact traveling up her blade and into her arm.

She felt her grip shake, but utilizing sheer power, she was able to suppress it and retaliate.

But Dirk was a step ahead of her. She barely reacted when he dipped to her side, his blade slithering along her own while his other hand shot out in a closed fist.

Before she knew it, both the tip of his blade and a punch were sailing toward her. She couldn’t defend against both.

So she defended against the blade. At the same time, his fist met her abdomen.

*Thud*

It collided with her tight stomach, and just as it did, her eyes widened.

Waves of anima flowed out of his fist and exploded against the anima protecting her body. It caused a mess within her as those waves oscillated and shook her entire system.

It was only thanks to her resilience that she was even able to create distance, the anima he released colliding with her own and creating momentum to toss her away.

*Boom!*

She flew through the air, letting the attack take her away while flipping in mid air.

She landed deftly on the ground, but she couldn’t help the grunt as pain wracked her organs.

Reaching and touching her tongue, she saw her own blood. She was shocked.

If she had sensed the danger, she would have done more to defend herself. With their difference in power, she thought she could eat the damage rather easily. His fist seemed so harmless at first. It threw her off.

She simply couldn’t sense anything from Dirk. He seemed totally devoid of life. He was unreadable.

And it did more than just eliminate her ability to read his emotions or sense danger. Her instincts, which were able to predict several steps further before, no longer could.

While she could still guess what he may do depending on the action he took in the moment, it no longer felt like she could read the direction of the battle. There was no flow to pick up, no momentum to kill, no chain of attacks to break.

It was unlike anything she had sensed before.

No, there was one time she had encountered something like this. And it was the only time that she had fought someone at the level she strived for, getting a taste of what true power was.

She was happier than ever that she was as strong as she was. It was the only thing she could rely on, it seemed.

Dirk came at her with more attacks, relentless and unhurried. He was patient with the battle despite him moving faster than ever before.

And she attempted to turn the tide on him as well. Although she could no longer sense the flow of the battle, that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to dictate it. So with her ability to overpower him, she was able to turn the tides and put a momentary halt to his invisible momentum.

And as time passed, she got used to the lack of senses. After all, just because she couldn’t see it didn’t mean it didn’t exist. It was just that Dirk was the only one who could sense both sides of the battle while she could only sense her own state.

By gauging how she felt she was doing in the battle, she could dictate her intensity and direction. She used what she had access to.

And their battle took them across the mountain, their swords clashing hundreds of times each minute.

It lasted hours as well. They both seemed to have limitless stamina, but that was only a facade.

After four hours had passed, Eleanor let out her first labored breath. She couldn’t control it.

Her body started to ache. Each of Dirk’s strikes released oscillating waves that threatened to breach her defenses. But if she utilized her own anima to neutralize it, the agitated anima would release all its energy and let out a concussive blast.

It was difficult to deal with, even after having time to adapt to it. By now, her hands were bruised and her fingers slightly purple. Something like that hadn't happened since she was a kid first learning to swing a sword.

But she could tell that Dirk wasn’t much better. Not only did he have several shallow wounds, but the impacts from her blade strikes were no joke either. He just seemed to have some monstrous healing factor that made up for it, but even that would take lots of energy out of him.

After some time, his intensity went down. Eleanor began to suppress him more. She couldn’t feel his pressure, so she pressed forward instead.

And he retreated as her pressure increased. His level gaza and unreadable Aura never fell, but she had already worked past that. When she was being suppressed, he was doing good. But when she felt good, he wasn’t doing well.

And now he was tired, so she took the advantage all the way.

After another hour, his pressure seemed to fade into nothing. That’s when her heart thrummed.

‘Now.’

She let out a sudden breath, Dirk on his back foot and her body exploding with power.

‘This is it!’

She grinned as she brought her sword back, her muscles all the way from her feet to her back bulging in strength.

It took just a split second longer to achieve her most devastating sword form, but Dirk was in no position to defend against it.

Her Aura glowed, the blade of her sword flashing as Aura radiated from it and disturbed the surrounding air.

Her gaze pierced over toward Dirk’s. He was blindfolded and she couldn’t see his eyes, but she could, just faintly, sense the fact that he could see her just as clearly as she could see him.

Then, she launched herself forward.

Her sword swung down, her entire body’s weight and momentum perfectly adjusted to deliver untold power through her blade and down upon her opponent.

*BOOM*

Her sword created a sonic boom at its tip before it even reached him. At the same time, several bones like her forearm, elbow, and shoulder blade fractured. The tendons between her joints also ruptured under the extreme stress she was putting her body under.

And the entire time, her eyes followed Dirk as if in slow motion.

But what she saw next, she could barely put into words.

Dirk’s body suddenly sparked, arcs of lightning traveling across all his limbs and burning his torn clothes to shreds.

His body also flickered, shifting his position just slightly, no more than a few inches.

And from these movements, it was like his body moved all on its own, driven by forces beyond his own mind.

One arm shot forward, ditching the sword and its weight while his fingers clenched.

His index and middle finger pointed out, heading straight for her blade while his other hand curled and formed a flat palm.

While this happened, earth mana flooded into the floor just below Dirk’s feet, hardening it so much that it turned a metallic gray. However, with the explosive power behind his muscles, even that was cracked.

The maximum potential of his bodily power was squeezed out in a mere instant. The damage to his body was critical at best and deadly at worst, but nothing less would be able to fight back.

Just like that, his body met her blade, the two parties clashing in the center.

In that moment, Eleanor felt like the world had gone still.

She watched as his two fingers made contact with the flat of her blade, his skin burning and disintegrating under her dense Aura, but still deflecting the sword.

The precision was impossible, the timing almost divine.

She could see the impact as well, how it vibrated his skin and traveled down his arm. The momentum behind her blade, even from a deflecting angle, would shatter metal.

But he seemed to use it as his body moved with the impact, entirely dodging the blade.

And she continued forward, right into his outstretched palm.

She felt her ribs almost crumble under the force of their collision. It took all her strength to resist what may as well have been the impact of her own strike.

She felt several organs rupture, her sternum caving. The feeling was so sickening that she blacked out.

But she woke up again only a moment later as she found herself flying through the air and crashing into a tree.

*CRASH*

“Ahh…”

She couldn’t even scream, her lungs unable to take in air. The only thing she felt was the worst pain she had ever experienced, along with the fear of death.

Even worse was the fact that, not only did Dirk not collapse from that last exchange, but he actually went and walked over to her.

She could barely hear anything over the blinding pain, but she vividly watched as he took almost a minute to drag his half dead body over to her.

“Ugh, that was one hell of a blow. You shattered my entire arm.”

Dirk chuckled as he dropped to a knee beside her.

He had used Eleanor’s own attack against her. That was the only reason it did that much damage. He could never pull something like that off otherwise.

Even then, he could feel how much damage had been done to himself.

Several torn muscles and ligaments, an entire shattered arm, and some other cracks and fractures around the rest of his body. Even some of his organs were ruptured from the impact that traveled down his body from her sword. It most definitely didn’t pass through smoothly.

He had put even more into what was essentially a deflection than Eleanor did into her attack, but he came out arguably worse. The only reason he could even walk was due to his nanites keeping him together. Even then, every tiny movement came with waves of pain that would force a normal man to faint.

But he ignored it. This wasn’t the first time he had walked around as a half dead corpse.

After kneeling beside Eleanor, her lungs barely managed to expand. Her breathing hitched as blood flowed from her mouth, but the entire time, her eyes were glued to him, slightly shaky.

It made Dirk smile, his voice coming out raspy.

“You’re funny. Honestly, the only reason I managed to pull off that maneuver was due to our inherent differences. A mere luck of the draw. If I had been anything less than what I am now, I would have died just then. Plus, I also used magic, some of my more extreme stuff. So you won that round. I’m in even worse shape than you anyway. Here.”

With a wave of the hand, Dirk retrieved a potion. He then slowly lifted it up to Eleanor’s mouth, pouring it down.

The first few drops dissolved immediately. After that, she managed to gulp some down.

It was just enough to keep her condition from getting worse. However, it also allowed her to speak as her lungs began to function.

After looking at Dirk whose arm laid completely limp by his side, and seeing his skin that had turned purple due to all the internal injuries, she asked.

“How much… hic… pain are you in?”

She stuttered as blood interrupted her.

The question caused Dirk to shake his head.

“No use in comparing. I’m not like you, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to have the kind of tolerance I do. It just gets numbing at some point. Definitely not much fun.”

“...”

Eleanor didn’t respond as Dirk set the bottle down beside her

He asked.

“Do you have a way to call for help?”

“Mm.”

She nodded, and with that, Dirk stood up.

“Then I’ll go. It was a good fight, Eleanor Lotus. Definitely fruitful.”

“...”

Eleanor watched as he turned and walked off.

As he did, she thought about how much willpower it must take for him to even be walking as he was. She didn’t believe he was lying, but she couldn’t imagine even standing up with the injuries she had, let alone while in an even worse condition.

But when she saw him, something within her sparked.

“...Agh… Ahhhh!!!”

She suddenly screamed while clenching her muscles. Her legs bent, as did her arms as she started to climb to her feet.

Dirk turned around, watching as tears fell from her eyes. She was in so much agony that her cries came out with shudders.

But she stood, even as she threw up blood.

Her gaze was fierce, if not a bit blurry from the mind numbing pain as she stayed on her feet and faced him.

The sight made Dirk smile at her, giving her a nod of approval.

Then, he left for good, disappearing into the surrounding forest.

Seeing that, Eleanor felt like collapsing. But first, she lifted her shaking arm, in her hand appearing a medallion.

It activated instantly, a voice coming out from the other side.

“Eleanor?”

“H-help…”

Her small voice barely came out shakily.

After that, the medallion slipped out of her hand. And with a free hand, she reached down and picked up the potion.

She barely managed to raise it to her mouth, pouring it in and gulping down as much as she could.

She began to recover visibly not long after, but there was so much damage that it did close to nothing to ease her pain.

Still, even as voices came from the medallion, she continued to stand and maintain her lucidity.

Her eyes remained glued to the direction Dirk left in, as if carving the entire experience into her very psyche.