Heaven's Greatest Professor

"You come again to challenge me?" she said, her expression sour.

Warden nodded. "Didn't I tell you to wait for me?"

"You did," she said, eating her orange, looking disinterested. "But I'm not in the mood to fight right now."

Warden frowned. "If you don't fight me, can I just climb up to the top?"

The woman shrugged.

Warden didn't know if this was a trap or not, but he did not plan on skipping this checkpoint. While he would like to climb to the summit, he couldn't deny the amount of improvement he made fighting Karim and Ovium.

The woman appeared elusive to him now, but after he unravelled her enigma, Warden would reach a notch higher in skills.

Thunder crackled in the gathering clouds as lightning burst somewhere close to them. The woman didn't even waver, while Warden had his undivided attention on her.

"Good thing one doesn't need to be in the mood to fight," Warden said as he took his stance.

She lifted her head to shoot him a look, her expression betraying her irritation. She really didn't seem to be in the mood.

Warden could have left as it was... but he chose not to... He didn't know where the feeling of urgency came from, but whenever he looked at her, Warden couldn't calm himself.

"I'm coming..."

Saying that, he charged at her, his spear rising along as the wind concentrated. The white-haired woman glowered at him. She rested the basket from her lap and raised an arm.

"I hate this place," she muttered and chopped her hand in the air.

All the swirls of the pattern seemed to bow down to her with the gesture as the very nature of the place turned against him. Warden didn't stop, however. He triggered one of the lower-tier Anti-gravity scripts to force his way in. He had prepared more of them for this fight.

Warden appeared above air, swinging his spear. He made his move, but her figure vanished while the spear left a deep mark in the stair.

"You could have left, or climbed up like a good boy," she said, hovering in the air. "I guess you wouldn't have survived if you weren't persistent from whatever or whoever made you like this."

Warden frowned.

"Two minutes," she said, rising higher in the air. "I'll give you two minutes. Show me what you're made of... If you bore me, I'll end you here. At least it will be a better ending than what awaits you."

Warden sucked in a deep breath. He felt insulted that she hadn't even brought out her sword this time.

"Come on, I haven't got all day."

Apparently, she did have all day, if her situation was any bit like Karim and Ovium. Read today on m,v,l,e,mpyr

Warden clenched his teeth and shot into the air, charging after her. The wind rustled around him as his spear moved unhindered under the wind's obstruction. The wind only augmented his flow. Warden launched an unnamed wind attack at her—a weaker version, and she had no problem ducking under it.

He launched more of the attack, coming in from all directions, but before even one of them could graze her, her figure vanished from there and appeared somewhere else, as though she was using teleportation at every blink of an eye.

But of course, teleportation was never that fast to implement. That was the effect of her raw speed and the wind working together. There was something else as well, something he could interact with as though some higher form of law, different from gravity and the like.

Time continued to flow, and she avoided all of his moves with otherworldly grace. Some of her movements were physically impossible...

"Thirty seconds remaining," she said as her form appeared behind him, her breath brushing on his ears. She knew how to work him up.

Gritting his teeth, Warden triggered the Tier-5 rune. His speed shot forth, easily doubling. He was onto her, and this time she was unable to disappear before he could strike.

She employed the patterns as a ward that appeared like a barrier between them. Warden's spear broke through the barrier, but in the minute second it took, she had already disappeared from the spot.

"That's better," she said.

Warden flashed again, using the Tier-5 rune. He employed void essence as a whole, as her eyes flashed with more interest, easily understanding the origin of the power.

But that wasn't the end of it. Warden drew his baleful intent along as both of the destructive powers combined together to create something ruinous.

"What's the point of tyrannical power if you cannot strike with that?" she taunted, flashing away.

Warden pulled patterns and mobilised them all to obstruct her movement. It barely slowed down her movement, but the minimum was enough for Warden to catch up, burning away a Tier-5 and a bunch of Tier-4 scripts. He enabled all the Empowering scripts on his body as well, just so that he could withstand the terrible velocity.

Power surged within him in a flood. Warden didn't know for how long he could stay in this form, but he felt invincible.

He shadowed her, swinging his spear in tyrannical forms. The wind rushed in torrential form, answering his call. The woman tried to obstruct his attack, but Warden broke through them all.

Both of their forms flashed in the sky as the lightning crackled in flashes of light.

"Draw your blade!" Warden shouted.

She did not.

Warden showed no mercy. He pushed against the tangible force of the wind and swung his spear in a low sweep, wind rising and concentrating with his void energy and intent, creating something devastating... something malevolent... something baleful.

The angelic face of his opponent split into a grin. "I didn't know why you thought this was a good idea--"

Warden launched the attack at her.

She didn't move away... not this time. Light sparkled around her, her entire form literally glowing with silver light. Then pristine white, celestial wings spread on her back, each of its feathers glowing in celestial light.