Serum

“Scales?”

Cecilia’s eyes narrowed as her acute vision took in the details of Dirk’s scale armor. 

It appeared over his body after he was covered by a black film, the scales poking out from within the film and a helmet simply appearing on top of his head. 

The scales were small, but just big enough to be linked with rings. There were thousands upon thousands of them, each one expertly placed and angled so that they all layered against each other without flaw. 

And his helmet was entirely featureless, its sleek design making him look like some kind of futuristic knight. What was curious about it was how it had no openings to speak of for his face, merging smoothly into the scales that covered his neck and eliminating all potential weak points. 

It seemed rather inhuman to Viola. The scale armor made him look like some kind of black viper that moved without emotion, its only focus being the prey that would soon fall beneath its fangs. 

And then, she brought her own armor out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as impressive as Dirk’s. 

It was a set of leather armor with certain areas of her body guarded by metal plating. Her chest, forearms, hips, shins, and other vital areas were all protected. But otherwise, the leather afforded her maximum range of motion. 

But did Dirk’s not do the same? Unlike her armor, his had zero soft points that could be broken through. After all, at a certain level, the slightest weakness could turn into a devastating hindrance. One unguarded shoulder could result in a lost arm, a small slit for sight could become a mailbox for a well placed arrow. 

Viola also didn’t know where Dirk could get such an amazing set of armor. Armor was especially expensive, even more so than weapons. So where did he get the money, and who crafted it for him? And when? 

Many questions that even his parents had. Nobody had seen Obsidius, and only Pandora knew about the blob’s functions besides Dirk and perhaps the Vampire Queen. 

“Cool armor.”

Viola muttered after Dirk seemed ready. 

“Thanks.”

His monotone voice responded, making him seem even more robotic. 

Finally, once Viola equipped a long but sleek sword, they stood opposed to each other. 

They were silent for a moment, nobody indicating that the battle had started. 

But then, Viola stepped forward. 

She didn’t suddenly break out into a dash, nor did she release an attack. 

She just walked forward, the tip of her sword weaving around to her side, as if she were playing with it. 

But Dirk immediately sensed her expertise. She seemed to be ready for anything he could throw at her. No matter what happened, she would close the distance between them. There was nowhere he could run. 

It amazed Dirk. By simply walking, Viola was cutting off avenues of escape and invoking feelings of helplessness. 

But unfortunately for her, Dirk could already see through it. His instincts were too sharp to fall into a trap like that. 

But this was a spar, not some battle to the death. So instead of attempting to break her down, he decided to match her. 

Dirk took a step forward, and from the stands, Cecilia smiled. 

He walked almost exactly like she did. He matched her cadence, her stature, and both seemed to be attempting to dominate the other with their unspoken presence. 

It made Viola smile as well. 

And then, they met in the middle. 

They stepped toward each other at the same time, and just as they were about to collide, their bodies twitched. 

Viola let off a simple slash. But shockingly, in response, Dirk stabbed forward instead of blocking. 

His speed was shocking enough. It was explosive, like his arm was a cannon. But it couldn’t block her strike, and it was stupid to think he was trying to trade blows. 

But then, just as her blade was going to land, he disappeared. 

Viola sensed spatial fluctuations, causing her mana vision to focus behind her where Dirk's figure appeared. 

But then, another figure appeared to her right. And just as she thought that was the true Dirk, another appeared to her left. 

Four Dirk’s that, for a split second, resided in four places at once, all of them stabbing toward her neck. 

Her body shifted, attempting to block the strike of the figure to her left. It was the last to appear, and she could tell that this was a deviated version of Void Walking. So she believed that the last figure was the end of the spatial channel. 

But just as she deviated from her initial strike forward, all the Dirk’s disappeared. 

And the Dirk in front of her, the one that had never moved, settled into place. 

His blade arrived before her neck, stopping and nicking her skin. And her strike was nowhere to be seen, her focus toward her left where there was nothing. 

For a moment, everything froze. And then, Viola let out a nervous chuckle. 

“Holy shit. I have no response to that. 

She turned her head back to her front. Dirk had never actually moved. He just overlapped his presence in four different places. 

It was something Dirk realized after studying his magic more. 

The spatial channel he created placed his body in multiple places at once. Dirk had been learning to extend the amount of steps he could take, allowing him to void walk further without brute forcing the spatial channel to extend into instability. 

But, just because he took four steps didn’t mean he had to settle on the last one. 

He could settle on any of the steps he took, because he was technically in all those places at once. 

It was an extremely deceptive tool, one that allowed him to defeat his sister in a single exchange. 

Of course, it may not be able to happen again, but since when did enemies meeting on a battlefield get to have second chances in a fight?

She was as good as dead. 

*Clap Clap Clap*

There was a small cheer from the stands, Cecilia clapping with a wide smile. 

“Good! Very good!”

“Impressive.”

Everyone nodded as well. It was a fight that lasted no more than a few seconds and consisted of walking and a single sword strike from each party. But all of them were familiar enough with battle to recognize the skill displayed by both parties. 

Only Exos didn’t have as much of a clue, but he still recognized that Dirk had defeated somebody more powerful than him with a single move. It was amazing. 

Viola sighed as Dirk lowered his sword. Then, his helmet disappeared, revealing a smile. 

“Like that party trick?”

“Hah. Good one. It seems your talent has gone beyond ours. You’ve got insane instincts.”

“It’s just a difference in attributes.”

“That’s no excuse, but then again, maybe talent is an excuse too. So I won’t make any. But I do want to try again.”

“Sure.”

Dirk didn’t mind as they both went back to opposite ends of the arena. Neither had really moved around, and there was much deeper skill to be shown. There was no way either of them would want to end things there. 

And this time, Viola had enough of an impression to know that, not only could her little brother take care of himself, but she would actually need to be completely invested in the fight, otherwise she’d get outmaneuvered and defeated. 

This time, there would be no fancy tricks, and upon starting another bout, there weren’t. 

Dirk generally refrained from using Void Walking, only activating it to shift out of sticky situations. Otherwise, he and Viola competed with their swords as the focus, their magic being supplemental. 

Viola used Earth and Air magic to move around with smooth yet lightning quick steps, her attacks chaining together with constant momentum and carrying great weight behind every swing. 

Dirk felt like his arm was colliding with a heavy metal pole every time their swords came together. He had to stress his own strength in order to not get thrown around. However, when it came to speed, he didn’t lose out. 

For one, Dirk had literal lightning quick movements. The lightning mana in his body occasionally exploded with a bolt of electricity, causing his muscles to contract with extreme force and move before he even told his body to. 

It made his strikes fast and his reactions faster. While the burden on his body was great, because he had completed muscle destruction, he could go like this so long as had the energy. 

But, with their physical capabilities not playing a most decisive role on the outcome, the battle shifted according to their skill instead. 

Primarily, their sword skills. 

Dirk never learned anything about properly wielding a sword. He was never taught any techniques, only how to do the basics. For everything else, he was blind, though he didn’t really mind that. 

Dirk had his own style of fighting that translated into everything he did. His sword strikes were direct, taking the most optimal path for what he was trying to accomplish with every blow. They had very little finesse and there was zero technique to speak of. 

But he could chain together his attacks just as well, if not better than Viola. His inhuman combat senses had basically developed their own sword style, something only the most adept combatants in the stands could see, which was everyone aside from Exos. 

The battle continued for an entire 15 minutes, during which, nobody pulled their eyes away. 

Dirk had let Viola control the tempo, and gradually, she had become faster and more aggressive. 

They had spent a few minutes feeling each other out in consideration. They established their basic capabilities before getting more advanced. More magic, more strength, more technique, more speed. 

Now, 15 minutes later, they moved across the arena as their swords send out rapid sounds of collision, several every second. And their figures were like two blurs, dashing across a dozen meters at a time. 

And from beneath his mask, Dirk smiled as he fought. He felt that Viola was a very suitable sparring partner, one who could keep up yet couldn’t overwhelm him. Dirk felt like he was always surrounded with people who stood too far above him or too far below him. But Viola, despite being technically stronger, was a good match to his abilities. 

Of course, he was withholding a majority of what he could do. He was sure that, if it came down to it, he could kill Viola with certainty. But underneath that level of battle, they clashed on equal grounds. 

From what he could see on her face, she too was enjoying this battle. And because of that, neither of them felt like stopping. 

At some point, their battle had reached an hour in duration. When they reached this point, their battle shifted from simply fighting to learning. 

Each of their styles went through changes. Dirk, from seeing Viola’s swordsmanship, began adopting some of the subtle techniques, making corrections in his most basic forms. He also got a feel for his Sword of Dissonance. He had been using it strictly as a basic weapon, but he now let lose some of its functions, learning how its power could be used. 

Viola was also learning to adapt to Dirk’s very direct yet uncanny ability to deflect, counter,and nullify her attacks. She was learning what it meant to fight someone with atrocious combat senses, and though she couldn’t simply modify her sword techniques like Dirk could, she could still reform her own decision making. She could mimic those combat senses to some extent, seeing the decisions he made and applying them to herself. 

Not only that, but when the Sword of Dissonance started to operate, she had to adjust for the difference in weapons. It forced her reactions to quicken, something she was allowed to do since Dirk didn’t unleash its abilities in full force. 

All these things resulted in their battle becoming more than a spar. And when it reached this point, Ryker only sighed. 

“Well, there’s no stopping them now. Here, why don’t I take you all to a housing unit so you can get settled?”

“Thank you, Sir Strider. That would be appreciated.”

Pandora smiled and rose from her seat, Exos and Nova following. Exos had started to get bored, his mind drifting to his enchanting. And Nova had seen enough to begin to understand Dirk’s power. She also had a faint smile while looking at Viola. 

It seemed not every member of that family was a freak. 

Like that, everyone except for Cecilia and Ethan left. 

“Put more earth mana into your foot.”

As she watched them fight, Cecilia suddenly spoke. Her tone was normal, as if she were talking to someone beside her. 

But eventually, she smiled as Viola did exactly what she told her. Her foot was loaded with more earth mana, stabilizing and linking it to the floor she used for propulsion. 

“Soften your Aura.”

“Use those back muscles when swinging your sword like that.”

“Don’t extend your strikes so much. Know when to pull back.”

“Focus on the tip of your Aura, not its body.”

Cecilia occasionally threw out words, each of them being a critique of both Dirk and Viola. And both of her children heeded her advice, even though they seemed wholly engrossed in their battle. 

Cecilia had realized at some point that this battle had become a moment of inspiration for them, or at the very least, an inspiration for Viola. With Dirk’s stimulation, she was flourishing and learning at a rapid pace. And Cecilia found this to be the perfect time to correct some flaws. 

And Viola’s presence sharpened, almost as if melding with Dirk’s own in an attempt to both adapt to yet mimic it. She was refining herself under his pressure. 

Turns out, like Dirk, Viola was a Rook class Warrior. After all, rising to Bishop class was a massive mountain to climb. In that respect, Dirk and Viola were pretty equal. 

But, that Aura of hers seemed to be pushing past some kind of barrier. Cecilia could see it, but Dirk could feel it. 

As she sharpened, so to did her sword and Aura. And in her trance, the pressure she placed on Dirk increased by quite a bit. 

He found himself on the back foot. With every strike, he felt his palms threaten to rupture under the impact of her sword. Her speed shot up, forcing Dirk to stress his Lightning technique and body to keep dodging. He was also forced to start reading her like he did in normal battles, controlling the pace that she kept trying to shatter with overwhelming force. 

Hour after hour passed. As their battle approached 5 hours in duration, Viola was finally showing greater power than Dirk. She was performing according to her true stature, and Dirk was hard pressed to maintain himself. 

But that pressure was good for him too. He needed to improve, so along with refining his own Aura against hers, he worked on employing more magic, shifting between all his spells. 

Void Walking became more frequent, forcing Viola to slow down and anticipate his movements yet not let Dirk use that against her. Her instincts screamed, but that was exactly what she needed. 

Dirk’s magic seemed to operate from all angles. There was metal, darkness, and fire flowing through the arena, but at no point did it shatter Viola’s momentum. She was only further stimulated, facing it all in her trance. 

At some point, the battle reached a climax. Cecilia and Ethan watched as all the elements besides water sparked and surged through the arena grounds, scarring the earth and stands. 

Both of them were laying out everything they had. The only thing that Dirk lacked was the intent to kill, but otherwise, he was using his fullest power against his sister who was now facing him as if trying to wipe him from this planet. 

Scars even appeared on his armor, faint marks caused by sword strikes Dirk didn’t bother dodging as they wouldn’t threaten him. 

And then, just as they passed the 8 hour mark…

Dirk, who was about to slash out, suddenly jerked back and sent the sword away from his sister. 

A blade of Aura flew past her body and into the air beside her before dissipatinig. 

He looked at his sister, who had suddenly stopped on her feet, her eyes half closed. 

That’s when Cecilia suddenly appeared beside her, catching her body that gradually leaned and fell to the side. 

“Looks like she passed out. She can’t match your stamina.”

She looked toward her son, seeing Dirk breathing heavily. 

His armor retracted, and that’s when Cecilia’s eyes widened. 

Dirk’s body was entirely drenched in sweat, his skin red as if boiling, with actual steam rising from his body. 

“Are you okay?”

“...Yea.”

Dirk responded, but his voice was absent. It seemed that, although he didn’t fall into as deep of a trance as his sister, he had still been rather inspired. 

But he had also pushed himself to his absolute limits. Even now, Cecilia could see all the various types of mana pumping through his veins. 

Fire mana was heating his body, dark mana was distorting the space around him, and the earth mana was shifting the dirt under his feet as if to automatically accommodate his every step. 

Smiling, she placed her hand on Dirk’s head. 

“Go to sleep. I’ll take care of you.”

“...”

Dirk was silent, but after a few seconds, he really did fall asleep on his feet. 

With a chuckle, Cecilia scooped up both her children, carrying them off to their house.