Act Like a Lunatic

'Might as well give them a show.' With a thought, his Mana surged, taking the form of one of his new Spells.

Reflexive Zero – he still wasn't sure about the name – was a way Fate thought of to save Mana. Instead of turning his entire body incorporeal, he only changed the parts of his body that were about to be struck. It extended his Skill's uptime by several minutes, but it was tricky to pin down the timing.

Fate turned his head intangible, the kick soaring through his face without making contact as he reached up.

He grabbed Venden's leg with both hands, twisting around as he aimed to slam the Journeyman into the ground.

Venden wasn't a stranger to combat, and used his free foot to kick Fate's fingers. Fate released his grip with a wince as Venden flipped in the air, landing lithely on his feet in a crouch.

"In duels, the first to use their Facet is typically the loser," Venden said with relish as he pounce forward.

Fate used his new Spell once more, but Venden's attack was merely a feint.

The Journeyman used his Mage Reach to shove at Fate's feet, the latter having his legs knocked out from under him as Venden sailed overhead.

Fate landed on his back as the noble alighted behind him.

'Guess even after all that talk, I was still too cocky,' Fate chided himself. 'Of course a noble would have combat training.'

He pressed his palms against the ground and launched himself to the side, narrowly avoiding a stomp aimed at his head. Using his first Spell, Solid Surfing, he sunk into the ground, shooting up and out right behind Venden.

Or at least, where Venden was.

Somehow, the noble had foreseen Fate's tactic and took two steps to the right. Fate came out with an uppercut that hit nothing but air, a fist barreling toward him from the side with little time to respond.

Fate's eyes flashed as he used the third and final Spell he had, Zero Punch.

Breaking his momentum with a shallow lunge, he sprung off from that planted foot and sent forth a punch of his own.

Instead of the two fists colliding, Fate's fist passed through Venden's as the former tilted his head to the side. Just before the fist would land, Fate turned his hand, which was now clear of Venden's arm, tangible while keeping his Skill focused on his arm.

Venden, likely through the same way he saw Fate's previous attack coming, caught on immediately and tried to move his head out of the way at the last second.

The result was Venden's fist shooting past Fate's cheek and Fate's punch smacking the noble in the cheekbone. As the brown-haired man stumbled back from the strike, Fate narrowed his eyes.

'Is he seeing the future somehow? That would fit with the Time Facet, and I'm sure the Grendevens have Universal Facets. But judging by his slow reaction time, it might not be that far into the future.'

Fate hid a smile as he remembered a story his mother had once read to him of a similar situation. In it, a young man of low birth was in love with a princess. The king abhorred the idea of his daughter marrying someone not of noble blood, and gave the young man a challenge.

If he wanted the princess' hand, he'd have to kill a Void Mirror.

Born from the blood of Void Giants, a Void Mirror could 'predict' anything that would happen to it, up to three seconds before it even happened. The humanoid abominations used this to perfectly mirror the actions of their victims, masquerading as the victim's shadow as it waits for the right moment to strike.

The peasant, having been told the secrets of these beasts by the princess, knew how to counter them.

The future is not set in stone, the princess had said. The Void Mirror cannot see the future, only possible timelines, and only those of whoever they lay their eyes on. Then, by process of elimination, they used those three seconds to determine the most likely future.

The peasant's method took advantage of that. By acting as erratic as possible, taking little time to think about his actions, and often taking actions that would otherwise seem insane or self-destructive, he confused the beast.

Without its weapon of choice, the beast was driven into a frenzy, lashing out with its claws and teeth in an attempt to kill the young man. But the Void Mirror was an ambush predator, used to strangling its prey when they least suspected it, and fell swiftly.

The boy brought the Void Mirror's head back to the king and was begrudgingly allowed to marry the princess, and they lived happily ever after.

While Fate doubted Venden's Skill worked the exact same way, he was positive it had the same core rule. If it truly worked off of picking the most likely timeline, it would explain Venden's relatively slow response time.

So, all Fate should have to do is shake things up a little.

He mentally prepared himself for quite a lot of pain as Venden charged forward. He stayed still until the last second, bringing his knee up in a brutal strike to the abdomen just as Venden connected his fist with Fate's jaw.

The two staggered back, one clutching his stomach and the other massaging his jaw. Venden caught his breath, spitting up a puddle of vomit, and glared hatefully at Fate, who gave him a bloody grin. The former had put some of his Mage Reach into that strike, but Fate's was completely natural, something that caused Venden no small amount of apprehension.

"Shouldn't have been so obvious about it," Fate told him mirthfully. "Only a drunk would dodge as jerkily as you did."

"So you've figured out my Skill, and now you plan to act like a lunatic?" Venden laughed coldly as he wiped the spittle from his lips. "You think I haven't dealt with that before? It doesn't matter, because you can't move randomly if you can't move at all."

The noble threw his hand forward, his Mage Reach rushing out to cloak Fate in a cocoon of Mana.