Chapter 73: The Whale of Oblivion (4)
Thud!
“Urgh!”
“You’ve gotten slow. Think you can keep up?”
Katra asked with a cold smirk. I clenched my teeth, parried his punch, and met his follow-up attack with my rapier.
Ignoring the dull pain that reverberated through my arm, I launched another strike.
Clang…
Sparks flew in all directions as fists clashed with the rapier.
It was absurd—how could a bare fist unleash such force?
If that were all, maybe I could’ve managed.
But Katra had another trick—he casually regenerated his wounds using aura every time he got hit.
On top of that, his sudden punches and kicks were lethal, catching me off guard more than once.
[Left!]
Boom!
“Hhngh!”
I barely dodged a blow that tore through the air.
Katra chuckled, clearly enjoying himself.
“Your reaction speed isn’t bad.”
But the truth was, his attacks were too fast for me to follow.
If it weren’t for Sylphi shouting directions, I would’ve been hit long ago.
And even now, my body was boosted by the power of the wind, pushed to its peak.
Yet, even in this enhanced state, the best I could manage was barely keeping pace.
How much time is left?
[Three minutes. Damn it. He’s way too strong!]
Just three minutes left. After that, I wouldn’t even be able to maintain this state.
And stalling for time? Out of the question.
I was the one desperate here, not him.
The fact that Katra was taking his time meant only one thing—he had plenty to spare.
If this dragged on, Yuruf’s memories would disappear completely.
Not just the ones where we talked or where she found clarity—but all of them.
“Thanks for the advice… Sister Yde.”
That smile I once saw—I’d never get to see it again.
Grit.
That thought brought a chilling clarity to my mind.
My heart began to race.
A burning heat surged in my chest, and I exhaled heavily.
I would never let that happen.
I wouldn’t let her hard-earned clarity—her treasured memories—be erased like nothing.
Clang!
My senses sharpened.
Blue winds began to swirl between me and Katra.
And suddenly, I felt something I hadn’t understood until now.
I could feel the wind.
The breath we exhaled, the gusts stirred by his punches, the chaotic winds slashed open by my rapier—
All of it.
It felt like the wind had become my sixth sense.
The flood of information overloaded my brain, and blood trickled from my nose.
Seeing that, Katra looked slightly puzzled.
“Huh?”
Boom!
The wind moved as if it were part of my body.
I sidestepped his punch with ease and backed away.
Before Katra could process that his punch had hit the ground, my rapier was already slicing toward him.
I could feel every movement of my muscles.
At the same time, I realized just how inefficient my form had been.
All I had been doing was barely mimicking the techniques Arin had taught me.
No wonder Sylphi sighed so much during our early training.
Was I really this clumsy with the rapier?
[…Wait. Contractor, did you just awaken that?]
So this… is the world as you see it?
Synchronization with a spirit’s senses.
A power awakened when your resonance with your spirit peaked.
If that’s true, then this fury I’m feeling must be close to Sylphi’s own.
Arin once said that this kind of awakening only happens when one faces death.
And right now, I was doing exactly that.
“You’ve changed,” Katra said, smiling even as he regenerated a cut from my rapier.
His unsettling grin widened. I could now see how his arm muscles shifted before every punch.
How his next move would flow.
How the other fist would strike the moment I dodged.
Boom!
His punch slammed into my gut—
—but at the same moment, my rapier sliced across Katra’s body.
Blood gushed from his wounds, yet his smile didn’t fade.
It was a clean, flawless counter.
Katra even nodded slightly, as if impressed.
“You grew stronger while we fought. You’re an interesting one.”
Red aura began to blaze around him like fire.
It felt like something had finally burst free in my mind.
I raised my rapier, trusting in that sensation.
“Then let me show you something real, too.”
The red aura around Katra condensed and shaped itself into gauntlets.
I could feel the sheer power packed inside them.
I bit down and coated my rapier with the wind’s force.
“Try and block this one.”
Boom!
The red gauntlet shot toward me with a thunderous burst of wind.
I raised my rapier to deflect it—
—but the moment the two clashed, the rapier snapped in half.
Before I even had time to react, a barrage of punches flew toward me.
I’m going to die.
The red aura filled my entire vision.
And just before the world went black, the last thought I had was:
There’s no way I can stop that.
****
BOOM!
A deafening crash echoed through the room. The fist that had been swung with full force—
Was stopped midair.
Katra furrowed his brows and glared at Adele.
That strike, one he had thrown with his full strength, had been blocked—easily—by her open palm.
The very same woman who had struggled to hold her ground against him just moments ago.
“What the hell…?”
Even the spirit that had been flitting around her like a pesky insect froze in midair, stunned at the sight.
“You’re annoying.”
Her voice—cold, unnerving—rippled through the air like a shiver down the spine.
“Guh!”
BANG!
Katra crossed both arms just in time to guard. Not with her rapier—
But with her fist. A small fist, but the shockwave it produced blew him back effortlessly.
When he looked up again, what stared him down were not the same blue eyes from earlier—
But crimson ones glowing with murderous intensity.
The atmosphere was completely different now.
Something terrifying had awoken.
Those eyes—vertical pupils, like a reptile’s—glinted menacingly.
What was this?
A single blow from that small frame shouldn’t have been able to hold back his power like that—
and yet, here she stood.
“Don’t get in my way.”
Whoosh.
A crimson wind began to spiral around her.
Unlike the aura he wielded, hers felt sticky—saturated with bloodlust.
And then—
BOOM!
The sound of air being shredded.
Fist met fist.
She had discarded her broken rapier to the side and was engaging him head-on.
The sheer strength in her blows now was on an entirely different level—
Katra was rattled.
Is this really the same girl from before?
Her punches were heavy, nearly equal to his own aura-infused strikes.
Yet instead of panic, Katra felt something else rising within him.
“Heh… Hehahahaha!”
Even as he was slowly being pushed back, he couldn’t stop laughing.
No—he was laughing because of it.
This was what he had craved his whole life.
The ecstasy of a life-or-death battle.
“Come at me! Let’s see how long you can last in that body!”
“Shut up.”
Her voice slithered through the chaos, chilling and sharp.
The crimson wind surged violently, as though mixed with something not quite… spirit-like.
BOOM!
A kick came flying.
Katra ducked low to evade, then countered with a punch aimed at her abdomen.
She caught his arm midair and leapt upward, evading the hit.
She’s got solid combat sense too.
This wasn’t just blind rage.
Whether instinct or retained reason, her judgment was sharp—practiced.
THUD!
Another fist came flying.
Katra blocked with crossed arms, but she didn’t stop—
She pressed forward, unleashing a relentless flurry of blows.
Fast. Strong.
Completely different from his own fighting style.
But that difference only made the effort behind it all the more visible.
Every punch carried the weight of discipline and relentless pursuit of strength.
“Hahahaha!”
How long had it been since he last felt like this—
since the battle with Abel?
The rematch he had hoped for with Abel was gone now—
but this fight…
This was more than enough.
“Let’s go all the way then!”
“No time for that.”
Whirl…
The red wind licked across her body.
Something big was coming.
Katra grinned, lip twitching from the thrill.
That feeling again—death, creeping closer.
The kind of chill that only came from the battlefield.
And he laughed.
A single, focused punch came flying toward him.
He could have dodged it—
But he didn’t.
Instead, he threw everything he had into a counterpunch.
Because that was the pride and honor Katra lived by.
BOOOOM!
The impact exploded through the space.
His body started breaking down under the shockwave that traveled through his arm.
Even his regeneration couldn’t keep up with the damage being inflicted.
Finally—
She stopped moving.
Katra slowly drew back his fist, watching her unmoving form.
His own body would recover, even if it took time.
But her body—
Would she be able to withstand it?
“It’s over.”
Crack.
A sharp, stinging sensation shot through the back of his neck.
It felt like the mark engraved there had been damaged.
In that split second, something had interfered with the mark.
His body wouldn’t obey him.
Was that her plan all along?
To disable him by targeting the mark?
Then she must have understood its structure—its weaknesses.
Just… who is she, really?
That final question echoed in his mind—
As Katra collapsed.
---The End Of The Chapter---
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