Martial Demons Ascension

The instant Nero's stance shifted Rhyka's world lit up

Not with mana but with the golden lattice of Martial Essence vision

Threads snapped into focus around Nero's body lines of intent weaving together into an image of what was to come And Rhyka didn't like what he saw

From the ground razor thin pillars of glass were poised to erupt jagged spikes that glittered with deadly sharpness From above countless shards rained down in gleaming arcs fine cut like weapons forged by a master craftsman They weren't crude spells Each piece carried precision intention purpose

Rhyka's jaw tightened

This wasn't the kind of attack he could simply slip through Against most mages he had met so far Martial Vision gave him every path every angle But against something this fast this numerous and this refined the truth was simple Even if he could see every possibility there wasn't always a path that avoided injury

And worse

He understood exactly what Nero intended

It wasn't enough to wound him The glass wasn't just a weapon it was a tool The moment those shards sliced into his flesh Nero could leave them behind control them inside his body Rhyka had used enough insidious strategies to know the kind of opponent Nero was Ruthless Surgical He would turn his very body into a battlefield

The Martial Vision shimmered with possibilities each one darker than the last

If I dodge the shards follow If I take one it's over He'll own my blood before the fight's even begun

Rhyka made his decision

The roof beneath him cracked as he stamped his heel down once Wood splintered tiles burst apart and in the same motion he dropped straight through vanishing from sight

Dust and tile shards exploded into the air as his body blurred downward plunging into the dojo below It wasn't retreat it was a calculated choice He wouldn't play into Nero's web If the glass ruled the sky then he would fight where the sky didn't matter

He burst out the front a heartbeat later golden eyes blazing sprinting low to the ground

The first glass pillars erupted exactly where he had been They shot through the roof like spears shredding the house's upper frame glittering like crystal death The sound was like a thousand windows shattering at once a storm of shrieks and cracks The roof collapsed behind him in a hail of splinters and glass

But Rhyka was already moving

He ran toward the danger

The spikes tore from the earth in clusters but Rhyka's Martial Vision traced each one in gold Every spike was lethal but every spike had a single edge of contact the one part that could kill The rest was air

And Rhyka was a man who could step through air

His footwork became a blur his body slipping between the narrowest margins shoulders brushing glass edges close enough to split threads of hair Shards screeched past him from above slicing at impossible angles but his body tilted rolled and weaved with unnatural grace

Each movement was planned an instant before Nero even finished shaping it

From his stance Nero's gray eyes narrowed

He had expected the boy to panic to dodge wide to make himself vulnerable Instead Rhyka dove straight into the forest of glass weaving through as though the spears weren't even there

The noble's lips pressed thin So he noticed

The spell wasn't meant to kill instantly It was meant to cut to bleed to implant glass in his veins so that control could be seized from within Most opponents never realized until it was too late

But this one this magicless boy had already read him

Nero's fingers twitched and the pillars adjusted snapping sideways like jaws closing in The shards from above angled twisting mid air to follow Rhyka's path

But still Rhyka advanced

Every strike that could kill missed by inches every trap he closed slipped just wide The boy's body was already moving before the glass shifted his Martial Vision guiding him through the storm like water through cracks

The dojo behind them groaned half collapsed its roof a glittering ruin But Rhyka didn't spare it a glance His golden eyes burned brighter his breath steady his muscles coiled like springs

He wasn't fighting to protect a home He wasn't fighting to prove himself

He was fighting to show Nero exactly what kind of predator he was

Rhyka's pace was relentless his body weaving through the storm of spikes like a shadow slipping between lantern light His golden eyes burned every line of Martial Vision sketching the battlefield for him in impossible clarity He could see the timing of each new pillar the arc of every falling shard The danger was mapped out like a web

But then

The web changed

Behind him a sound like a hundred bells striking at once split the air A chorus of sharp brittle cracks rang out as every pillar and shard of glass he had passed through detonated Not into wide clean pieces but into powder fine fragments

The air filled with it instantly A glittering fog billions of motes suspended in the breeze each one sharp as a razor's edge Under the dim light it looked almost beautiful like a rolling bank of mist glinting with rainbow sheens

But Rhyka knew beauty didn't matter here

This was death

Through Martial Vision he didn't just see fragments of glass He saw control threads thin golden lines tracing from the fog back to Nero's body The noble wasn't dispersing his magic He was condensing it Every piece no matter how small was still under his command The fog wasn't harmless it was a sea of weapons countless tiny blades waiting to be shaped

If that touches me it's over Rhyka realized coldly A normal wound from a shard he could risk But once inside him this There would be no bleeding it out Nero could simply move it slice arteries pierce lungs shatter bone from the inside

The fog pressed closer closing like jaws

Rhyka's instincts screamed Close the distance Force him before he shapes it

He launched forward body a blur of motion Martial Vision locking onto the lines of Nero's focus Every part of the noble's body language screamed concentration his stance rooted his hands twitching with subtle precision his mana pulsing like a heartbeat

Now Rhyka thought He can't split focus I'll break him before he molds it into something worse

He shot forward golden eyes narrowing fist already tightening

And then the web screamed Danger

The golden lattice of Martial Vision flashed red in his mind a path of intent lighting up from below

A concealed spike

It burst upward with a shriek of splitting stone a finely cut glass pillar erupting from the dirt at the exact spot Rhyka's next step would have landed Not crude not random it had been there the entire time hidden beneath the dirt placed before Nero had even loosed the fog Waiting

If Rhyka had followed through the spike would have skewered his leg clean through the thigh The fog behind him would have rushed forward filling the wound with a billion tiny blades

The perfect trap

Rhyka's breath hissed out between clenched teeth but his body didn't falter In the same instant the spike erupted he shifted his momentum folding sideways into a sharp roll dust spraying as the glass shrieked past his ribs

He came up crouched golden eyes narrowing further

So that's how you fight he thought grimly Every motion a lure Every attack layered with something hidden behind it Not just raw power insidious surgical

The fog of glittering shards swirled behind him pressing closer tendrils already beginning to coil as Nero's fingers twitched

Rhyka's smirk flickered despite the danger sweat gleaming along his brow

"Clever" he muttered

Then his muscles coiled again ready to dive back into the golden web of possibilities