144 Alina versus Arthur (2/2)
Arthur felt the huge change within his origin essence sea and knew what had just happened.
He unconsciously let out a small smile before taking in a deep breath of air, and letting a large black cloud of turbid air out of his mouth.
'I had formed Intent in my previous life, but only after I became a Fae Immortal. I'm not even a Rank 2 Fae Master, and yet something as profound as Intent has formed within me.....'.
The smile on his face seemed to light up the world around him, and caused some of the female audience members to blush slightly as his eyes swept past them. Their existed a profound glint in his eyes, which wasn't originally there before, which seemed to possess some sort of strange, conflicting powers.
People couldn't help but look towards his eyes, attracted by his face and appearance. But when they looked into Arthur's eyes, they couldn't help but feel an intense sharpness within them.
It was strange..... even to Arthur.
'It's different from my previous life.... but that's fine. I've got all the time in the world to let this Intent grow....'.
Coincidentally, he had someone right in front of him, whom he could test this Intent out on.
It was only a small seed of Intent, something that had yet to flourish into its true form, but against an opponent of Alina's calibre, it was more than enough.
Arthur adopted a strange looking stance, spreading his legs wide as he held his halberd in a single hand, aimed and pointed at Alina. He rested the halberd on his other forearm, as his breathing became almost non-existent.
The girl had waited for Arthur to finish, thinking that she would be looked down upon if she attacked during his advancement.
To be perfectly honest, she also wanted to know what sort of Law Arthur had suddenly being enlightened upon, and knew that if she interrupted him, not even her grandfather could save her from being punished.
The number of people within Parachenko Village that had comprehended a Law could be counted on the fingers. If someone like Arthur could comprehend Laws even as a Rank 1 Fae Master then-.
She suppressed a gulp.
His talent would be.... unimaginable....
The girl raised her shadowstream fae and shadowsword fae, narrowing her eyes at Arthur before widening them as his figure completely disappeared.
She turned her head from left to right, and raised her guard up as she turned to look all over the platform.
Arthur's figure hadn't just flickered away, it was completely silent. No cracks on the ground from where he once stood, and no gust of wind that pricked the back of her neck like before. It was almost as though he had turned completely invisible but-.
Her eyes widened as Alina turned around and raised her two blades, feeling an immense pressure bare down on her as Arthur's figure came into view.
"You! Camouflage Fae uses too much origin essence you idiot!".
She jumped back a few paces and noticed that Arthur's figure had completely vanished once more.
Despite the fact that she, and everyone else in the crowd thought that Arthur was using camouflage fae in order to move around, a few people noticed something different.
Randolf narrowed his eyes as he gazed all over the platform.
"There isn't any origin essence being used..... just what sought of power has Arthur obtained?".
Both Elder Vova, and Elder Anatol who were looking at the platform both went wide eyed as they glanced at each other.
"I cannot feel any power of Law being used.... and Arthur's origin essence isn't fluctuating like it was before. Is this some sort of Physique?".
The Elders of the Kovacs Clan had access to records and information dating back to the founding of the Village. They knew that some individuals in this world were born with Physiques that were outside the Thirty Three Sovereign Boundary Physiques.
They didn't know of the existence of foreigners, nor foreign treasures, but Laws and Sovereign Boundary Physiques were commonplace knowledge within Human Heaven.
The two Elders glanced at each other before nodding slightly. They turned towards Niklos and muttered something in his ear, causing his eyes to widen slightly.
His attention turned back towards Arthur on stage, who was using nothing but pure technique and physical strength to push back Alina.
From his point of view, a formless, colourless, traceless power could be seen gathering around him, concentrating itself around the halberd in his hands.
It was unlike any Law he, or any of the Elders had ever seen....
With every clash, he pushed back Alina further and further. The first couple blows only caused her to take a single step back, but with every passing moment, Alina was forced to take two, three, or even four steps back, struggling to regain her composure after experiencing Arthur's immense strength.
The seed of fear had started to take root within her.
Her eyes widened, as she was forced to evade an attack rather than parry.
The halberd fae impacted the ground beneath them, causing an huge amount of dust and rock to go flying up into the air.
Her eyes, and the eyes of many of the audience members widened, as they saw the brightly glowing aura around Arthur's halberd fae. It had only been formless before, due to Arthur's gradual adaptation towards this new Intent, but now, he really wanted to see what it could do.
He raised his polearm once more, his the sharpness in his eyes causing Alina to turn away.
The tone of his voice was calm, yet it somehow managed to resound all across the arena.
"If you don't dodge this.... you'll die".
The brightly glowing Intent gathered around Arthur's halberd, causing his hair and clothes to flutter wildly amongst the wind and dust. His appearance, along with the brightly glowing aura around him made Arthur seem slightly.... demonic, despite the slightly lackadaisical expression on his face.
The power of Intent was unique to every individual.
Unlike Laws that all shared the same root, Intents were unique to the Fae Master.
It was a type of wish after all. No two wishes would ever truly be the same.....
Arthur felt his heart thrum gently as the Intent connected all three of his Origin Essence Seas. The power of Intent travelled through each of them, circulating before gathering within Arthur's weapon.
Despite not understanding the power that Arthur was using, Alina could still feel the undulations in the air. The gentle thrum of his heartbeat caused curiosity to sprout within her, but her instincts were trying to pull her as far away from Arthur as possible.
As was every single person in the audience.
Just like a wish.... an Intent can have many different sides to it. Some might have multiple facets upon which they can show their power. The Intent to kill would have an infinite number of variations, while the Intent to live would have just as many.
Intent for destruction might only have one, while an Intent for creation might have a myriad of forms.
In his previous life.... Arthur's Intent was undeveloped, but he knew it was an Intent for Night.
It was only a single ability, but it could cover an entire region in an endless night. Other than that.... it didn't have that much use.
He had never fully excavated the potential of his Intent, but this time..... with the Boundless Forest Yearning, his memories, his experience and his knowledge.... things wouldn't stay the same, even if he wanted them to.
The glowing power around his halberd, vanished, as numerous glyphs and symbolic characters formed on Arthur's arm and halberd fae.
It... wasn't exactly right....
These glyphs and runes formed just above his arm and weapon. Almost as though it was some sort of shield, or armour.
They all looked more like tattoos more than anything else.
Up on the stage, Elder Zarek went wide eyed, as he unconsciously stood up, and shouted towards Alina.
"Alina! Admit your defeat right now! You can't-".
Arthur's voice resounded over Elder Zarek, despite not enhancing his voice in any way, shape or form.
"Too late".
Arthur thrust his halberd forward, causing the myriad Intent power around his arm and halberd to shine beautifully, before thrusting forward.
The power behind it wasn't origin essence, but something more obtuse and unfettered than origin essence.
To every one else, it just appeared and looked like a brightly coloured beam of light. Completely white in colour, with enough strength behind it to pierce through stone, wood and earth.
It completely brushed past Alina, missing her by centimetres as she dodged to the side, only to glimpse behind her and notice that the beam had suddenly bent, bending constantly at ninety degree angles before-.
It pierced through her upper shoulder, near her clavicle and away from her windpipe.
Arthur wanted to test his accuracy, and hit the spot just between her windpipe, lungs and heart.
He had only struck out with a "Silver Waning Moon", but the sudden fluctuation which caused the attack to bend was-.
"Space".
Elder Vova, and Elder Anatol's eyes widened, as they felt the almost non-existent spatial fluctuations in their surroundings.
Despite their limited understandings, they had enough perception to realize what Arthur had just comprehended.
"Space Laws.... Niklos, your son has comprehended Spatial Laws!".
