"E-eh, I've only gotten a little stronger, so I think you still have a good idea of what I can do."
"No, I insist, my body's been getting a little rusty you see." He held a wicked grin as he uttered those words, fierce determination burning in his eyes.
"Geh!......Alright as you wish."
There was no way out of this fight, the boy was forced to yield.
After a quick change of clothes, he was now wearing the outfit Sophie had provided moments earlier. They were clearly designed for combat, because he could hardly feel any restriction in them. It was the same sleeveless style as what Julius was wearing, but his clothes didn't have buttons going up to the chest area, instead the chest section had an open "V" shape. Only ten meters separated the two warriors, and the Symbol of the Silva clan on the floor between them had dictated that by its length and width. Kanon took a stance but Julius retained his firm posture, hands still by his side, the challenger in this situation was obvious.
"Kanon, before we begin, bring it out. The Goetia"
Julius' words carried the weight of a verbal assault. "You've always had the bad habit of trying to play the solemn hero, but that won't work here. Your enemies won't hold back due to your sense of humility. Treat this as real combat and attack me with everything you have!"
Gritting his teeth, Kanon cast aside all hesitation and firmly shouted, "Alright!"
His voice brimmed with determination, and an intense golden glow replaced the gentle fragility once reflected in his azure eyes. The Goetia's energy seemed to burn away any trace of weakness, asserting its rightful dominance. Arcanum was slowly seeping from his body and coming together to form a bubble around it that was seven meters wide, this was Senken (foresight).
It was mostly used in two ways, and the first form was combat oriented, users would manipulate arcanum to create a "territory" of sorts around their body. With this, their reflexes and reaction speed would increase, and one could react significantly better to anything that breached the territory they created. The second form of Senken was for large scale use, and with it the user would expand the territory they had created which would let them perceive any living thing caught within it like a radar, regardless of whether they used mana or arcanum. The further the territory was expanded however, the less effective it became and even expanding the territory's range in the first place required training.
Kanon knew that Senken wasn't enough to let him win, after all, they had sparred many times before, and he had never managed to land a hit on Julius, not even once.
"Haah" he steadied his breathing, yet Julius was completely unfazed by the bold display he was now putting on.
An overpowering air of intimidation now flourished in the once tranquil room. Neither combatants had moved, until - A single bead of sweat trickled down the right side of Kanon's cheek, gliding effortlessly off his skin, paying no heed to friction. The room held its breath, a stillness so profound that even the tiniest sound was amplified. As the bead of sweat finally met the wooden floor, the impact resonated like shattering glass, its echo serving as an unspoken signal: the battle had begun
Kanon made the first move- He seemed to clear the ten-meter gap in an instant, stopping right before Julius, he turned his body with Herculean might and used the centrifugal force to swing a devastating kick strong enough to cleave through concrete.
Bang!
The impact echoed through the sparsely furnished room, filling the air with a heavy thud. The wooden structure quivered as if a sudden earthquake had jolted it, bearing witness to the raw energy of the clash. But Julius was unfazed, he merely raised his left arm to block the boy's first strike. If this were a regular person, their entire forearm would have been shattered and their head sent flying -Yes If it were a regular person, the man he was now facing bore the epithet of "Steel Seraph" an attack like this was little more than paltry to him.
Julius's left arm slightly twitched, and Kanon felt his entire body shiver, he immediately dashed backwards, as if being rewound in time - but it was too late. Julius seemingly vanished from the boy's sight, only to reappear in the midst of his retreat, his right fist clenched tight enough to crush boulders - there was no way out of this.
Julius swung his fist like a wrecking ball, his opponent - now off balance could only attempt a cross block, the man's fist inching closer towards his face with every second. Kanon knew exactly where his fist would make contact- but despite seeing the attack coming, and knowing exactly where he would get hit, he was powerless to do anything. A powerful right jab made contact with the right side of his face and sent him flying through the air like a frightened sparrow.
He felt a sense of Déjà vu upon impact. His body tumbled towards the back of the dojo, but using the momentum, he placed both hands on the wooden floor and performed a leap to regain his balance. His back now leaned against the opposite end of the dojo. The right side of his face felt numb, and a slight sense of dizziness was now creeping in. But still, the young challenger smiled - "Why didn't you follow up that attack?"
"This is just sparring, not a fight to the death. However, is that your best?"
"Heh I wonder."
Looking at Julius, the boy's golden eyes clearly detected it. He wasn't even reinforcing his body with arcanum- a truly terrifying discovery. Asura had an innate durability far greater than most races; but this was just insane. Bracing against the wall, he steadied himself before leaping off with enough force to shake the room once more. A huge gust of wind followed in his wake as he attempted to deliver a right fist to Julius' face but - Just before impact Kanon suddenly vanished, the only thing that met Julius was the tailwind the boy had previously been carrying.
Kanon reappeared behind Julius like a mirage, following up with another attack, but he was only met with Julius's glare over his shoulder, then he vanished once more; this time appearing from all directions and surrounding the man with flickering after images. A torrent of fists approached Julius like gunfire, but the man simply caught the real aggressor by the wrist, even faster than the boy could react. Pulling him close; Kanon knew this next attack would be the end of him if it ever made contact - He overlayed his right arm on top of his captured left like an "X", - concentrating arcanum into his right arm he shouted-
"Ensh-"
Before he could even finish, in one smooth motion Julius had moved in close, ducking under the peculiar formation he had just made with his hands, and delivered bone crunching blow to his solar plexus, launching Kanon's body in the air like a catapult, gravity brought his body to a halting stop near the front entrance.
SLAM!
He remained motionless after the fall for a few seconds until-
"Gaah!" Blood spurted from his mouth like a demonic waterfall. His body was now convulsing in a kind of nostalgic pain.
It didn't last long, though, Kanon had only needed to endure the hellish feeling for less than a minute.
Julius had employed a martial art known as "Poised Impact," which maintained a delicate equilibrium between offense and defense. This style placed a strong emphasis on fluidity and focused on leveraging precise timing to target an opponent's vital points while infusing arcanum at the exact moment of impact to magnify its effects. Kanon was also a practitioner in this style, but he was far from reaching the same heights as Julius. The last attack was a move called "infusion" and it delivered a powerful impact to the boy's solar plexus that travelled through his body like a wave, resulting in the hellish pain fading from his body almost immediately.
"Are you alright?" Julius asked as he handed him a small handkerchief and a cup of water.
He chugged the water like it was some kind of delicacy.
"Gaah, that brought me back!" Now tapping his chest, Kanon was looking confused as to what just happened.
Julius had to sate his curiosity with yet another brief explanation.
"Infusion huh? I've never heard of it before."
"You're still a rookie when it comes to Ars Belli, your movements ae too rash and predictable."
Kanon clapped his hands together, like he was just struck by some Brillant idea.
"Oh! Why couldn't I read your moves even though I was using Senken?"
"Your use of Senken is too crude. The proper way to use it for combat is not to expand a "territory" around your body, but to compress the field as much as possible."
"Wait, but won't that slow down my reaction speed, since the whole purpose of the territory is to detect things that breach it's parameters?"
"No, it's the opposite. The territory uses arcanum to transmit stimulus to your body at a faster rate, but it still takes some time for this to happen. With a compressed territory, your entire nervous system will enter a hyperactive state, and neurons, synapses and electrical impulses will all be conducted faster. And besides If you were to fight someone else who used Senken the same way you did, the territories you created would just cancel each other out, making it all pointless."
"Oh.....so what you're saying is the territory acts kind of like a transport Wyvern that delivers the stimuli to the nervous system before your body's receptors even detect them?"
"Yea, that's right. That's why the territory especially enhances reflexes, because the impulse is moving straight through your nervous system without needing to go all the way to your brain. In that sense, the entire thing is essentially one big reflex reaction, so the more you compress your territory, the greater the effects will be."
Senken was like a spider's web. In the first form, you spread the web wide to sense any movement that touches it. But in the second form, you weave the web tightly around yourself. This doesn't slow you down – it's like the web now directly sends a message to your body cells whenever it's touched. The body essentially becomes like a lightning-fast alarm system.
"Ohh, I think I get it now."
"Don't get in over your head kid. Even if your use of Senken was better, it still wouldn't amount to much, because I'm still far stronger than you. There's no point in perceiving an attack you can't react to."
"Yea....I can't argue with that."
"There's another reason I wanted to duel you like this. Back when you fought those humans, I felt a strange power coming from you, was that-"
Kanon cut him off, a somber look hung in his downcast eyes.
"Yea it was....the curse."
Julius showed neither shock nor worry at those words.
"I see. If you used that power, then it must have been for good reason. But I thought you didn't want to rely on it?"
"It was my way of responding to their determination. The last human I fought laid all his cards bare, so I thought it was only fair I do the same."
"How long can you control it now?"
"I'd say around three minutes at most."
"Alright I understand. We can end this little sparring session here then. Pulling him up with one arm, they were both set to leave when.