Chapter 53: The Moment Before Impact
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Jessica couldn't see.
The world was black.
Not dim, not hazy—just nothing.
No forms, no depth, no outlines of movement.
Just the endless, suffocating void of the blindfold.
But she could feel it.
Edgar's mana was sharp, volatile, crackling in the air like a live wire.
She didn't need her eyes to know where he was.
That much had been obvious from the start—Thunder Magic was messy. Even when it was precise, even when it was focused, it still left ripples.
Jessica had felt it before.
Not directly, but in passing—that distinct, rolling pressure that came with his spells.
And now? Now it was the only thing she had.
The moment the match started, she felt the first shift in the air.
The faintest hum of static gathering in one place.
One.
One source, one point of focus.
The moment he released it, the arena came into focus.
Not in a way the audience could understand—not in a way that made sense.
The charged air around her pulsed outward, sending vibrations through the ground, across the walls, through the dust in the air.
A single wave of energy—and suddenly, she had a shape.
Not vision.
Not clarity.
But an outline. A structure. A sense of the world around her, bouncing back like sound through a canyon.
It reminded her of something.
Something she hadn't experienced herself—but something that had happened deep in the forest, when a team was searching for the hidden relic.
Edgar's magic had done something similar then, hadn't it?
A wave of controlled lightning, pulsing through the earth, returning feedback from what lay beneath.
That was how they had found it.
Not by seeing, not by feeling, but by letting the ripples of his mana map out what they couldn't detect themselves.
And that was why this blindfold didn't matter.
Edgar had made this fight easier for her.
Jessica flexed her fingers around the hilt of her sword, exhaling slowly.
The next pulse of energy rippled across the field.
She could feel him.
The crowd saw one person standing against the darkness.
Jessica saw everything.
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The first pulse of energy surged outward.
Medium-sized. Fast. Controlled.
Jessica felt the pressure wave hit her first—a rolling arc of heat and static, carrying the full brunt of its force slightly to her left.
A feint.
The blast itself wasn't wide, but the majority of its force was skewed left, trying to push her right.
She almost smirked.
If she moved immediately, she'd lose.
Jessica forced herself to stay planted, feeling the pulse scrape past the edge of her range. She didn't dodge. Not yet.
The second pulse was already coming.
Smaller. Faster. Sharper.
This one wasn't aimed at center mass—it was targeting the exact space to her right.
If she had dodged the first one normally, she'd be walking directly into it.
She could feel it now—the distinct layering of Edgar's magic.
The smaller the blast, the more concentrated and fast it was.
The broader the spell, the slower it traveled.
That meant the third wave was already forming—and it was going to be big.
Jessica finally moved—but only at the last second.
She felt the pressure of the medium pulse about to slam into her face.
Her feet shifted—split-step.
A sharp, controlled movement, just before impact.
Not to dodge the first wave. To stall.
And because she waited, the second wave had already passed the opening to her right.
If she had dodged immediately, it would have caught her clean.
Because she hesitated, it was already gone.
That left the third wave.
Jessica could already feel the static field thickening.
A wide, encompassing blast.
Too big to dodge completely.
But.
Not too big to cut through.
She only had one chance.
Her feet adjusted—a sharp, minimal Flicker.
Less than a foot.
Jessica let out a breath and grinned.
"Oh, that was cute."
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Jessica felt the mana walls closing in.
She had one shot.
Her grip tightened like a vice.
If she wasn't a Moran, she would have lost her sword from the sheer resistance of the swing.
But she wasn't just anyone.
Her blade found the weakest point in the cage and ripped through.
The impact sent a violent backlash up her arm, her muscles locking as most of the feeling in her right hand went dead.
Just enough to get one stab off.
She didn't stop. She couldn't.
Her blade continued its arc—hitting the second spell the moment it came into range.
Jessica gritted her teeth through the discharge, barely keeping her footing.
Then the real problem hit.
The secondary discharge.
A point-blank blast from Edgar's body, a final fail-safe designed to fry anything that got too close.
Electricity ripped through her body, numbing everything in an instant.
She felt her muscles go dead—her entire body locking up.
But her aura was just barely enough to keep her from fully collapsing.
She locked every joint in place, holding her posture, keeping herself upright.
She was completely numb.
She couldn't even move her fingers.
But she made it look like she was in control.
Jessica held the sword to Edgar's throat.
She kept her expression neutral.
Not showing weakness.
Not showing pain.
Edgar was still processing what just happened.
His own spell had backfired on him.
And Jessica was still standing.
The silence in the arena stretched.
Edgar's lips pressed together.
Jessica waited.
Finally, he let out a short, frustrated exhale.
"I yield."
The moment he said it—
Jessica still didn't move.
Not out of dominance.
Not out of arrogance.
Because she literally couldn't.
Her arms stayed locked in place.
Her legs weren't responding.
The only thing keeping her from falling over was sheer instinct.
If the blindfold wasn't on, the audience would have seen the glaze in her eyes.
She was barely conscious.
Her aura had carried her just long enough to survive.
Now?
Now she was seconds from passing out.
But it was too late.
She'd already won.