The water was warm beneath Agni's feet—unnaturally so for a Frostwind Tundra Whatever Serina's final attack had been, its effects were still lingering across Frostwind Tundra like ghostly aftershocks. The ice had melted into shallow pools of water that reflected the grey sky above.
His feet were completely soaked, boots waterlogged and heavy. The bizarre contrast between the cold wind cutting across his face and the intense heat burning inside his body sent a chill racing down his spine despite the warmth. It felt like standing between two different worlds simultaneously.
Agni closed his eyes slowly, taking a deep breath of frigid air that burned his lungs.
Then he reopened them.
His vision had transformed completely, now far clearer and remarkably similar to the state he'd experienced during his desperate fight against Walton in the forest. The world had lost all color entirely, reduced to pure outlines and geometric patterns—like someone had sketched reality in black ink against white paper.
When he looked at Raul, what he saw made him pause with fascination.
Two massive energy sources pulsed inside the senior's body, visible through his outline like glowing cores. One was unmistakably a Mana Circuit—a luminous pathway running from the brain down to the lower end of the spine, branching throughout the body like a nervous system made of light. But the other energy source confused Agni completely. Four perfect circles spun rapidly around Raul's heart in orbital patterns, rotating in synchronized harmony like planetary rings. He had no idea what this secondary system represented, and frankly, it didn't matter right now.
What mattered—what truly mattered—was understanding this overwhelming heat building inside his own body.
Don't restrict yourself, Agni's fragmented mind pieced together instinctively. Replicate the exact feeling from the forest encounter. Let it flow naturally.
A distant memory resurfaced unbidden, crystal clear despite years of neglect.
"Always remember, Agni—magic is fundamentally perception. Magic is the perception of feelings given physical form. A mage's spell is the truest expression of their inner self! Your emotions, your will, your very essence becomes reality!"
He swallowed hard, tasting copper from where he'd bitten his tongue. The heat rose from his belly upward—chest, shoulders, arms—flooding his entire upper body with burning intensity.
Flames burst into existence around him without conscious thought. A massive wall of fire rushed forward toward Raul like a tidal wave, superheated air distorting everything behind it.
Raul simply swiped his right arm casually, dismissively.
The flames were instantly blown away, dispersed as if they'd never existed.
Then Raul saw something peculiar. Agni was swinging his arm through empty air as if pretending to hold a sword—his stance was absolutely awful, completely untrained. It wasn't any recognizable technique or combat form.
Stance is terrible. No technique structure whatsoever, Raul noted analytically.
Awareness.
That single word crystallized in Agni's mind with shocking clarity.
He blinked slowly, processing the revelation. The first thing he consciously realized was that he was genuinely aware of this transformed state. Unlike the last time in the forest, which had been purely instinctual survival response, this time he felt the foggy confusion in his mind clearing bit by bit.
He could think while fighting.
He grabbed at the air experimentally, his hand closing around... something. The space whistled softly as his fingers compressed it. He swung his empty hand in a wide horizontal arc.
Nothing happened.
Why? What am I missing?
He looked up at Raul, who was already charging toward him. The senior seemed to be moving in slow motion from Agni's perspective—no, that's wrong. He's moving incredibly fast, too fast for normal perception. The lines around his body are literally bending from the speed and force. But somehow I can see it all clearly.
Raul pushed forward with explosive strength from his legs, the ground cracking beneath his boots. The next second, he was directly in front of Agni.
His hand shot out, grabbing Agni's right arm with a crushing grip. He lifted the prince with ridiculous ease—Agni felt like a child being picked up by an adult—then slammed him into the ice with devastating force.
Agni's body bounced off the wetlands from the impact, all air forced from his lungs in a violent exhale. Before he could even process the pain, Raul immediately executed a spinning kick that connected with Agni's face, snapping his head violently to the left.
The force sent Agni flying through the air, crashing through three thick trees that splintered like matchsticks before he finally stopped.
Raul hummed thoughtfully, walking casually toward the debris. "Well, I suppose I could commend you for returning despite my warning. But if this is the extent of your strength, it's deeply disappointing."
His eyes widened slightly as he got closer. "Oh? Still conscious? Aren't you surprisingly durable for someone your size?"
He chuckled out loud, genuinely amused. "Interesting!"
"Phase Burst!"
Raul frowned as the next moment, he was physically pushed backward by an invisible force—similar to ocean waves crashing violently against shoreline cliffs. The pressure was substantial, forcing him to brace himself.
It's not wind magic, certainly. Or any elemental manipulation I recognize, Raul thought with confusion. What is this?
Agni wiped blood from his face with the back of his hand, standing up on unsteady legs. His nose was broken, bleeding freely, but his void-slit eyes were sharp and focused.
"So this is real combat," Agni muttered, almost to himself. "No wonder the black-masked senior gets so excited over this feeling. I feel like I'm moving faster than I'm actually thinking. Everything is so clear."
His brain and the pathway down his spine felt intensely hot, as if his mana circuits were overheating from activation stress.
He remembered the hot baths he used to take back in the Luminous Palace—scalding water that made his skin red but felt paradoxically relaxing. This sensation was similar but far more intense, more alive.
He rolled slightly, somehow managing to get on his feet despite his injuries regenerating slowly.
Then he remembered something visceral and specific: being cut down by Walton during their encounter. The precise sensation of the blade moving through air, the initial small cuts breaking skin, the feeling of steel digging deeper into flesh. The slight resistance when hitting bone, only to be sliced clean through anyway. Then the final separation of tissue, the complete detachment of his arm from his body.
That memory contained understanding.
He grabbed at the empty air again, but this time he understood the principle. He applied the concept consciously.
As he swung his empty hand, something changed.
"Void Slash."
An invisible line of cutting force materialized, slicing through the geometric patterns only Agni could perceive.
Raul looked confused. What is he doing? There's nothing—
But then Raul felt it through his combat instincts—a shift in the atmospheric pressure, a disturbance in space itself. It was thin, barely perceptible, a perfectly straight line cutting through the air toward him.
The slash wasn't particularly fast by Raul's standards. His own speed was so overwhelming that his perception gave him plenty of time to analyze and react. But the technique itself was fascinating.
The cutting line approached steadily. Raul lifted his right hand casually, using the back of his hand to touch the invisible attack, testing its properties.
It drew blood immediately, cutting into his skin. He let it dig slightly deeper, feeling the pressure.
It's similar to Aurora's compressed air slashes, he realized. Completely unrefined, no technique structure, but definitely effective at close range. The compression ratio is actually impressive for someone just awakening—
He tried to deflect it with a twist of his wrist.
His hand was severed cleanly at the joint, falling to the ground still twitching.
"Oh!" Raul jumped upward quickly, the cutting line passing beneath him.
He looked behind, his vision tracking the slash's full trajectory. Approximately 100 meters of forest had been slashed indiscriminately, the cutting line having maintained cohesion far longer than expected. Ancient trees began falling in sequence, creating a cascading domino effect of destruction.
A smile spread across Raul's face, wide enough to reach both ears. Pure joy radiated from him.
"SPECIAL ELEMENT MAGIC?!" he screamed with genuine excitement, his voice cracking slightly.
"Hahaha! That attack could have taken down multiple A-Grade monsters if aimed properly! This is perfect! THIS is what you were missing!"
He screamed with joy as he used the air itself as a stepping platform, launching himself downward in a devastating drop-kick aimed at Agni's chest—
But before he could connect, another strong burst of energy knocked him away violently.
"Phase Burst!" The shockwave of distorted air expanded outward, cracking the ground in spiderweb patterns.
"Doesn't work twice on me!" Raul grinned, switching tactics mid-air.
He kicked against empty air repeatedly, using it as solid platforms through pure martial technique mastery—Titan Slaying Arts: Sky Dancer—allowing impossible aerial mobility.
"Titan Slaying Arts: Avalanche Fist!"
Raul descended with a barrage of rapid consecutive strikes, each punch building momentum like falling boulders. The first hit was strong—the second was stronger—the third even more devastating. Each strike amplified the previous one exponentially, creating visible afterimages from the acceleration.
Both combatants clashed in a violent exchange of force.
Both were pushed backward simultaneously, skidding across the wet ground.
Raul grinned widely, his mask barely containing his expression. "Now you understand passion, right? That burning feeling that makes you feel alive?"
He started clapping enthusiastically, his severed hand already fully regenerated. "Congratulations on reaching Level 3 Mana Circuit Manipulation! You were pretty average when I first assessed you—I genuinely didn't think you packed this much hidden potential!"
Agni groaned, spitting blood. "Less talking..."
His void eyes widened as he spoke through labored breathing. "I'm still... under development."