**VOL 2, Chapter 2**
The morning air in the underground training centre was cold, sharp, and smelled of ozone and sweat. It was a familiar scent, one I'd come to associate with pain and progress. Across from me, Gabriel stood with her arms crossed, her twelve magnificent wings folded neatly behind her. Her expression was a mask of serene severity, but I knew her well enough to see the challenge dancing in her mesmerizing blue-grey eyes.
"Remember what I have taught you," she said, her voice echoing slightly in the vast, metallic chamber. "Don't you dare disappoint me."
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "Disappoint you? You've spent the last eight hours turning me into a bruised, broken punching bag. If anyone's the disappointing teacher here, it's you." I rolled my shoulders, the dull ache from last night's 'training session' a constant reminder of the power gap between us. "But don't worry. I always collect my debts."
Our conversation was a familiar prelude. Last night had been a relentless, non-stop duel, punctuated only by a few minutes for me to chug a health potion and for her to taunt me. She had been kicking my ass, and I was getting tired of it.
Without another word, she moved.
One moment she was there, a serene figure of divine power. The next, she was gone. A flicker in my peripheral vision, a distortion in the air, and then she was upon me. Her magic and angelic power swirled around her fists, elevating her to a level that rivalled an Ultimate Class being. Me? I was barely scraping by with the power of a third-rate sorcerer.
There was no time to evade. Her form was a blur, her speed a step beyond my reaction time. All I could do was throw my arms up to block.
*CRACK!*
The sound was sickening, a wet, splintering crunch that echoed my own scream. Agony, white-hot and blinding, exploded through my left arm as her punch connected. The force of it lifted me off my feet, sending me hurtling backward until I slammed into the reinforced steel wall, my body leaving a fresh dent.
"Fucking bitch!" I groaned, sliding to the floor in a heap. My arm hung at a nauseating angle.
"We did that last night," she taunted, her voice devoid of sympathy. "You should learn to block with more than just bone."
I bit back a retort, focusing inward. I didn't need her damn lecture. I knew the theory. "Heal it," she continued, as if reading my mind. "I taught you healing spells, and you have Reverse Curse Energy. Use both."
"Only a few beings in existence can wield two conflicting energies without tearing themselves apart," she recited for what felt like the thousandth time. "Be grateful."
"Just wait," I grunted, closing my eyes as the dual energies—one a warm, restorative flow of magic, the other a negative, reversing force of curse energy—wove through the shattered bones of my arm. "Wait until I unlock my full bloodline limit."
The pain subsided, replaced by a tingling warmth as the bone knit itself back together. I stood, flexing my newly healed arm, and settled into a defensive stance I'd been practicing. It was lower, more grounded, a fusion of several styles I'd pieced together.
"Oh? Something new," she muttered, her eyes narrowing as she analyzed my posture. She saw no obvious openings, so she did what she always did: she created one. Rushing forward, she began channeling a blinding amount of mana into her right fist. Her signature charge attack. It was powerful, but telegraphed. She couldn't feint it.
*'A jab to stun, then the haymaker to launch,'* I recognized the pattern instantly. *'Not this time.'*
I closed my eyes, shutting out the physical world. I poured my curse energy outwards, not as a weapon, but as a shroud. It wasn't a true Domain Expansion; it was a hollow shell, a single-purpose technique.
**[New Shadow Style: V2]**
The world dissolved into a realm of pure perception. In this sensory-null space, the only thing that existed was Gabriel's movement, a stark, violent vector against the void. The domain had one effect: to slow her advance just enough, to give my mind the precious milliseconds it needed. My own senses exploded, every nerve ending firing as I timed my response. This was it. The heart of Black Flash. Timing.
*'Wait.'* She was fifty feet away.
*'Wait.'* Twenty feet. The air crackled with her mana.
*'Wait.'* Ten feet. Her fist was drawn back, a miniature sun of destructive power.
*'NOW!'*
My eyes snapped open. I exploded forward, not to meet her, but to slip inside her guard. My domain crumbled around me, its purpose fulfilled. I poured every ounce of stored energy, every shred of will, into my fist. The world seemed to narrow to a single point of impact.
*'BLACK FLASH!'*
My fist, wreathed in a corona of black lightning, connected not with her charging fist, but with her beautiful, smug face.
*SMACK!*
The impact was cataclysmic. For the first time in eight years of our brutal sparring sessions, I saw genuine shock in her eyes. For the first time in her eight centuries of existence, she felt jaw-breaking pain from an opponent. The force of the blow sent her spinning backwards, completely uncontrolled.
My body moved on pure instinct, the euphoric high of the Black Flash still surging through me. I intercepted her mid-air, my other hand, also crackling with residual energy, swinging in a wide arc. It connected with a sound that was equal parts slap and explosion.
*SMACK!*
"AAAHHHHHH!"
This time, her scream was one of pure, unadulterated agony. She crumpled to the ground, the fight over as suddenly as it began. I stood there, panting, my knuckles throbbing. A strange, electric energy still hummed under my skin.
"What the hell was that feeling?" I admitted, staring at my own hands. I knew the theory of Black Flash, the 0.001-second interval of impact that forces curse energy to recoil violently, but I'd never experienced it. It was like hitting a nerve ending of the universe itself.
"SHIT! Gabriel, are you alive?" I rushed to her side, the adrenaline fading, replaced by a cold spike of fear.
"You… you almost killed me," she wheezed, pushing herself up with one arm, her face a mask of pain and disbelief.
"I didn't know it could have that effect! I just… went with the flow," I stammered, the reality of what I'd done sinking in. It was an unexpected turn of events in the truest form.
"Well then, ouch… my ass hurts so bad," she cried out, trying and failing to find a comfortable position to sit. The perfect, bubbly flesh was already turning a violent shade of red, the distinct shape of my hand glowing on her skin. "You will pay for this."
"Let me help," I offered, kneeling beside her. I held up a hand, a faint green light of healing magic glowing around my fingertips. "And I dare you to hit me. I'll make sure the pain amplifies tenfold."
She glared at me, but knew I wasn't bluffing. She let my magic soothe the stinging skin, though the deep, muscular ache would linger. The conclusion for the day was clear: I had grown stronger. Whether it was luck or a genuine breakthrough, I could now seriously harm an Ultimate Class being with my fists alone. And that belief was a weapon in itself.
She left an hour later, her stride stiff but her pride intact. I watched her go, then collapsed onto my bed. The hand print on her ass would fade, but the memory of my first Black Flash would not.
"It's been nine hours straight," I muttered to the empty room, my body finally giving in to the exhaustion. With that, I surrendered to a long, deep sleep, dreaming of lightning and the promise of power yet to be unlocked.