Chapter 2897: Disorienting Storm (1/2)
Ivan Reid fully embodied the meaning of the motto of his sword school.
”As light as a cloud, as heavy as a storm!”
The Cloudstrider Sword Style may possess an abundance of techniques that caused its practitioner to become illusive and light, but the innovations of subsequent swordmasters caused it to gain a different approach.
When some of the methods of the original sword style were reversed, its practitioners became capable of borrowing the power of the storm to strengthen their attacks!
Their steps became heavier and their energy depletion grew more serious, but the reward for all of this was power!
Ketis had already been caught off-guard by Ivan's initial manifestation of the storm. Now that she knew what to expect, she did not lose her sword a second time!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
She maintained a solid, two-handed grip of her greatsword as she used the flat of its extensive blade to block the forceful strikes. She frequently turned around in order to meet the incoming attack runs. She also stepped back after every collision in order to absorb and bleed off the kinetic energy transferred to her body.
Different from his swift and light Breeze Steps, the movement technique that Ivan employed at this moment did not seek to evade at all. It actively sought out a confrontation!
The air shook around her as Ivan's constant attack runs whipped up the surroundings and caused an echo of his power to linger after his passage.
The pressure he exerted and the will he radiated caused Ketis to feel as if she was a boat in a storm! The waves pushed her up and down and threatened to capsize her entirely. The surrounding became blurry to her as the storm around her grew stronger and more violent.
A normal swordsman would have succumbed at this point.
If they weren't able to block the repeated charge attacks, the disorienting storm around them constantly gnawed at their focus and attention span.
The storm was incredibly distracting! Ketis struggled to keep her mind straight as Ivan's repeated movements fed the storm.
From a top-down perspective, Ivan's straight-line charges slowly turned like a wheel. It became clear that he did not wish to leave any area around her opponent untouched!
Ketis already sensed that something worse was on the horizon. Once the storm became strong enough, she feared that Ivan would leverage its power to unleash his killer move!
Although she wasn't stupid enough to stay inside the trap, there was no way for her to escape the cage.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ivan's forceful attack runs weren't about hitting her anymore. Instead, he utilized the force of his charges to push Ketis back to the middle and keep her in place.
”Damn bastard!”
The seeded competitor continued to treat her like a demonstration prop for his sword school! He wanted to end this battle in the most spectacular and visually-stimulating manner possible. Her participation was essential for him to pull off his show, so he ruthlessly suppressed her until he finished his preparations.
”How can I break this storm?!”
Breaking her opponent's arrangements was her highest priority, but Ivan's frequent attacks constantly put her on the defense. She could hardly keep herself afloat by blocking the incoming attack. How could she have any opportunity to launch a counterattack?
This couldn't go on. She needed to do something quickly or get completely overtaken by Ivan!
Though the storm around her constantly pounded her mind with disorienting effects, Ketis was no slouch when it came to her mental fortitude.
As an Apprentice Mech Designer who was close to becoming a Journeyman, she had already condensed the beginnings of a design philosophy. Her core obsession and research focus kept a part of her mind stable and in control. She relied on it to remain sober so that she could figure out a countermeasure to her current predicament.
”What the hell is this storm? How come someone running around can induce such a drastic change in this environment?”
The storm wasn't literal. It was impossible for a single human to stir up the wind to such an extent that they become strong and chaotic. It simply did not conform to science.
The reason why Ketis felt so pressured and burdened was because there was a mental component to the storm!
She only had to look at Ivan when he was charging to recognize the source of this phenomenon.
His body exuded a sensation that felt very familiar to Ketis. Having spent a lot of time in close proximity with Joshua, she recognized that Ivan had somehow managed to strengthen and empower his will in a way that allowed him to leverage it in a concrete fashion!
Just this realization alone was enough to upend her views about sword initiates.
While they weren't necessarily capable of piloting mechs, their personal combat prowess was much greater than that of expert candidates and even expert pilots.
With just a small amount of willpower, they managed to develop several sophisticated means to channel it in a way that allowed them to alter reality in an inexplicable means.
”These guys are much further ahead than me when it comes to developing and expressing their superpowers!”
Compared to her original superpower, Ketis was too far behind! She was like a novice who started off from scratch while Heavensworders like Ivan benefited from a comprehensive inheritance.
Although it felt a bit depressing to her to recognize this disparity, she couldn't afford to lose her focus.
She did not look at Ivan just to get demoralized!
Instead, she sought to grasp some clues that would allow her to break his game!
Seeing that much of her current predicament had to do with the willpower that Ivan actualized, Ketis rapidly started to think how she could use this knowledge to come up with a countermeasure.
She recalled her interactions and sparring sessions with Venerable Dise and Venerable Joshua.
She dug up some of the lessons she learned from Ves.
She thought back on her prior encounters against unfathomable opponents such as the Grey Watcher.
Different from other mech designers or swordswomen, Ketis had already become exposed to the more extraordinary side of reality. She even fought against an avatar of a dark god!