Realm Lord -
Chapter 168: Light vs Dark
Chapter 168: Light vs Dark
The training platform fell into an almost reverent silence as Aziel and Arthur remained transfixed by Cara’s transformed appearance. The air itself seemed to shimmer around her radiant form, and the very atmosphere had changed—charged with an otherworldly energy that made the hairs on the back of Arthur’s neck stand on end. Her blonde hair now seemed to catch and reflect light from sources that shouldn’t exist, creating an almost ethereal halo effect around her head. The training clothes she wore appeared to be touched by starlight itself, with faint traces of luminescence dancing across the fabric like living aurora.
The silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity. Arthur found himself studying every detail of her transformation—the way her skin seemed to glow with an inner light, how her eyes had taken on an almost celestial quality that made them appear both ancient and timeless. It was as if he was looking at a being that had stepped down from the heavens themselves.
Finally, a hollow smirk slowly crept across Aziel’s face, breaking the spell that had held them all captive. The expression was one of grudging respect mixed with something that might have been fear, though he would never admit it. "Well..." he began, his voice carrying a mixture of awe and bitter acceptance, "I guess they don’t call her the Lightbringer for nothing."
Aziel turned his attention to Arthur, his hand coming to rest on his shoulder with a weight that seemed to carry more than just physical pressure. "Don’t die," he said simply with a light chuckle hiding behind his words.
With that stark warning delivered, Aziel stepped down from the platform with deliberate, measured steps. Each footfall echoed in the relative quiet of the training area, creating a rhythmic countdown to the inevitable clash that was about to begin. His departure left Arthur alone on the platform with Cara, the weight of expectation and the promise of violence hanging heavy in the air between them.
As if responding to some unseen signal, Arthur’s shadow began to behave in ways that defied natural law. What had once been a simple projection of his form on the ground started to writhe and move with a life of its own, dark tendrils rising from the platform like smoke given substance. The shadow crept up his legs with an almost liquid quality, flowing over his body like a second skin that molded itself perfectly to his form.
The transformation was both beautiful and terrifying to witness. The darkness didn’t simply cover him—it seemed to merge with him, becoming part of his very essence. His skin took on a matte black quality that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it as it morphed into the appearance as the same monk robes from the field of dead roses.
In a spectacular display of power, his odachi materialized in a flash of pure darkness, the blade seeming to tear itself from the very fabric of shadow itself. The shadow that had coated his body flowed over the blade as well, wrapping around the steel like liquid night until the entire weapon appeared to be forged from crystallized darkness.
Now it was Myah and Cara’s turn to experience the shock that Arthur and Azile had felt moments before. The sudden revelation of Arthur’s true power had shifted the entire dynamic of the encounter, transforming what might have been a simple sparring match into something far more significant.
For the first time since Arthur had known her—dating back to their days at the academy when she had been nothing more than a distant figure of admiration and intimidation—he could honestly say that this was the first time he had ever seen Cara truly shocked. Her composed mask, usually so perfectly maintained, had cracked to reveal genuine surprise beneath.
Myah’s reaction was even more dramatic. Her jaw hung open in a expression of pure disbelief, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and confusion. "D-dark powers?" she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked frantically between Arthur and Cara, as if trying to process what she was seeing. "How the hell did a weak twerp like him get such rare and powerful powers!?"
The question hung in the air like an accusation, though it was born more from bewilderment than malice. Arthur couldn’t blame her for the reaction, he still can’t believe it himself.
Meanwhile, Cara was engaged in her own internal struggle. Arthur could see her fighting to maintain her usual composed expression, the mask of cool confidence that she wore like armor. For a few precious moments, genuine shock broke through her carefully constructed facade before she managed to collect herself with visible effort.
When she finally spoke, it was with a voice that carried new interest and respect. A smirk played at the corners of her mouth—not the dismissive expression she had worn before, but something that spoke of genuine anticipation. "Looks like this might be interesting after all..." she said, her tone carrying notes of challenge and approval in equal measure. "Don’t disappoint me, Arthur... I’m starting to like you."
The words sent a thrill through Arthur’s entire being. To hear such acknowledgment from someone he had admired from afar for so long was both exhilarating and terrifying. But there was no time to dwell on the implications—Cara was already moving into an attack stance, her grip firm and confident around the hilt of her gleaming sword.
Arthur nodded with grim determination, feeling the weight of shadow and steel in his hands as he adopted a fighting stance of his own. The platform beneath their feet seemed to tremble with anticipation, as if the very ground could sense the power that was about to be unleashed upon it.
The moment of calm before the storm stretched between them, filled with the electric tension of two powerful forces about to collide. And then, with a sound like thunder cracking across a clear sky, they were off.
Or at least, Cara was.
She moved like living lightning, her form blurring through the air in a flash of brilliant light that left afterimages burned into Arthur’s retinas. Even with his enhanced senses—sharpened by his shadow swarming around him—it was nearly impossible for him to track her movement. ’So fast,’ he thought desperately, his mind racing to process what his eyes could barely follow.
Her longsword slashed through the air toward him with deadly precision, the blade singing as it cut through the atmosphere. Arthur managed to deflect the strike with his odachi, but just barely—the collision sent a shower of sparks flying in all directions, each one blazing like a tiny star before winking out of existence.
The impact of their clash sent both combatants sliding backward across the platform, their feet scraping against the smooth surface as they fought to regain their balance. Arthur recovered first, his shadow-enhanced reflexes allowing him to steady himself with grace.
Recognizing that staying on the defensive would only lead to his defeat, Arthur decided to seize the initiative. He stepped forward with purpose, raising his shadow-wreathed sword high above his head in a classic overhead strike position. The weapon seemed to drink in the light around it, creating a zone of darkness that followed its movement like a living thing.
His foot came down on the training platform with such tremendous force that it left a small crater where he had stepped, cracks radiating outward from the point of impact like a spider’s web. The shadow-enhanced strength flowing through his body was intoxicating, filling him with a unbelievable sense of power.
Just as Cara had done moments before, Arthur became a blur of motion—though where she had been light incarnate, he was darkness given form. He wasn’t quite as fast as her supernatural speed, but he hoped it would be enough as he dashed toward her with his sword descending in a devastating arc. Trails of pure shadow followed in the wake of his blade, creating ribbons of darkness that seemed to tear holes in the very air itself.
Cara wasn’t moving to defend herself, and Arthur’s blade inched closer at superhuman speeds. With every passing millisecond, his hopes climbed higher and higher, because he knew that if this attack landed, the match would be over. Even if she managed to block it, the tremendous power he had put into the strike would likely shatter her blade entirely.
’I’m gonna do it!’ The thought blazed through his mind in the crucial moment when victory seemed within his grasp.
But then, as suddenly and starkly as a candle being snuffed out, all his hopes vanished into the wind. She was simply... gone. Disappeared as if she had never been there at all.
Arthur’s blade, still carrying all the momentum and power of his attack, sliced through empty air before crashing into the training platform itself. The impact was devastating—his strike split the sturdy surface almost clean in two, creating a massive fissure that ran from where he stood all the way to the other end where Myah watched in stunned silence.
The sound of the impact echoed across the training grounds like thunder, and Arthur found himself alone on a broken platform, his powerful attack having met nothing but air and stone.
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