Blade Over Magic

Bloom

There were two reasons why Xander didn’t use Resonance State right off the bat when he engaged with the ant.

The first reason was information. While Aubrey had sent lots of it to him before losing consciousness, she also sent the information about how it seemed to adapt as time went.

Considering the steep mana cost of Resonance State, he made the prudent decision to hold off on entering that state to ensure he understood how the adaptation worked. Hence, when he did use it, it would be far more effective.

...

Then there was the second reason.

And that? Well, Xander wasn’t merely understanding the ant’s adaptation.

No.

He was attempting to push it in a certain direction.

He had succeeded in both of these reasons.

The ant shot forward while swinging its limb, causing a red line to appear on Xander’s torso. He immediately ducked to evade it, but as he ducked, he moved directly in the path of the ant’s follow up thrust which was aimed straight at his skull.

His head shifted to the side, the delayed between thought an action eliminated with the advent of this state..

But Xander still noticed that at the tip of the ant’s limb was a red ball, and upon closer inspection, this ball was made up of numerous of those red lines.

Xander’s figure phased away just as the ’ball’ activated, and the space in that area got vaporized.

Had he not move, his torso would have been erased.

His figure materialized behind the ant which was already spinning, its limbs moved in haphazard patterns. Sometimes jagged, sometimes smooth.

Xander responded in kind, his usage of this sword and his footwork changing calmly to deflect the following attacks.

While Resonance State didn’t really Amp his speed, the boon of no longer telegraphing was hard to put into words. Hence, it made his consequent combat a sight to behold.

And yet, something was clearly different with the ant.

It was unknown when this change occurred. Whether it was when it first got frustrated, or when its wings got cut off. Either way, it was clearly different.

Not just in the way it fought—though, that was rapidly changing too—but also in its mindset.

After enduring Xander’s onslaught for so long with minimal success as well as its own actions. It had begun to acquire something that seemed natural to most, but was new, yet dangerously useful to it.

Experience.

The pressure of facing Xander had caused its adaptation to kick into overdrive. But this adaptation was no longer about copying what it had seen before.

Instead, it started making more uses of things it already had.

Like that ball of red lines from before. Now, rather than a predictable linear slash, it rapidly materialized the red lines into the shape of a sphere above its limb, thrusted forward, and let it erupt.

And this was just the start.

It’s eyes, which had previously been filled with intense curiosity, were now filled with a level of cold efficiency that hadn’t been there before.

The change was immediate.

The ant no longer just charged in. It as it clashed with Xander, it would constantly change things up. It would make use of its red lines in an on and off, unpredictable manner. It started to learn timing, feints, and so on. It also learned to use the rest of its body. Be it trying to ram into Xander, kicking him, or even using its head. It seemed to finally grasp that its entire body was a weapon.

In just a few short moments, it stopped moving like a predictable boss and started fighting... like a fighter.

It wasn’t a master. Not by a long shot, but it was still unprecedented.

And this was mixed with its already absurd stats.

Hence, what followed was an insane scene.

Xander, who was technically in his peak state, looked to be doing his best just to avoid getting hit. The ant’s attacks were like a storm, and Xander was like a small boat in the middle of it.

The two of them moved across the battlefield, destruction left in their wake as they zipped around the place. Only, Xander wasn’t exactly keeping up in terms of sheer speed. The ant was pretty much just punting him around.

A minute passed, yet the number of times they clashed far exceeded a thousand times, and at this point, Xander was already covered in blood.

His armor was shredded, and while the wounds weren’t deep, there were a whole lot of them. Keep in mind, none of the attacks that caused these wounds touched him directly.

At some point, the ant seemed to have deepened its connection with its ability to cut through space. Hence, even though it didn’t hit Xander directly, the space bordering its attacks became sharp like small blades. Blades which managed to nick Xander occasionally.

If things developed in this direction, he’d die from blood loss before the ant even landed a direct hit on him.

He had taken too long, and now it seemed like the specimen was finally grasping the true essence of adaptation.

It was becoming a true monster.

Yet despite this. Despite the clear disadvantage. Xander wasn’t discouraged.

He didn’t despair. He didn’t panic. He didn’t become frantic.

Instead, his gaze turned... bright.

No, not just bright. It turned clear. Like someone who had finally caught sight of something they had been longing to see for so long that they stopped bothering to count the time they waited.

Xander’s sword and the ant’s limb collided again, but the ant immediately noticed something.

Xander... stopped using his vibrations.

Even though it had matured rapidly throughout the course of this battle, it couldn’t help but feel perplexed again.

To be frank, Xander’s vibrations were one of the greatest threats to the ant at the moment. Even though it still seemed relatively fine on the outside—excluding the hole near its hip, the broken knee, and the shattered jaw—the truth was that its insides were a mess.

The constant pressure from the vibrations had wreaked havoc on its internal organs, and more than a few of them were bleeding. Xander was visibly in a dire state, but the ant was just as bad, only internally.

Hence, it’s goal was to kill Xander before its internals failed to withstand the damage and failed. But before it could come up with a way how...

Xander stopped.

Its confusion remained as its limb swatted Xander away. He caught the attack with his sword and dispersed much of the force via vibrations, but he still took significant damage as he was smashed into a rock. Blood dripping from his mouth and forehead.

He still pulled himself out from the rubble, though.

When he did, he looked up and took a deep breath. The ant’s confusion soared. What was he doing?

Yet as it looked at him, it got a strange feeling.

He seemed almost... lighter. Not literally, though you best believe that he’d been spamming Feather Steps the whole fight. Rather, it was as though some invisible weight had left his shoulders.

The ant acknowledged the strangeness of this, then prepared to try and plow through him again.

But that’s when Xander looked down, and when the ant saw his eyes, its body froze.

Not from fear. Nor from suddenly feeling a surge of danger. In fact, the ant couldn’t describe the feeling that surged through it when it saw his eyes.

But it could sort of guess what it was looking at, at least.

Gone was the cold calculation of those eerie green eyes. In its places was...

Passion.

Pure, unadulterated passion so pure that, for a moment, the ant forgot that the person in front of it had been trying to kill it for the past couple of minutes.

Xander’s eyes, which would usually be described as eerie due to their composition, appeared so bright it was almost blinding. He didn’t smile, but he didn’t need to.

The ant already knew. He was ecstatic.

Then, for the first time since the fight began. He spoke.

”Finally.” He entered a stance and beckoned the ant forward.

”Let’s continue.” The ant did not know why, but it felt inclined to. Obey.

It shot forward, and in a moment, both of them clashed several times, but the ant immediately noticed two things.

Indeed, Xander was no longer making use of his vibrations. Not offensively, anyway. Now it was just the sensation of steel meeting limbs.

But the ant did not feel any rejoice at this, which was due to the second thing it noticed.

No matter how it attacked... it couldn’t reach Xander.

It seemed like an odd thing to say. They were right in front of each other. Actively trying to kill each other. Attacks meeting incessantly in the middle.

Yet the feeling persisted.

Before, it was like this.

Xander or the ant would do something, the other would experience it, analyze it, and respond accordingly.

The two of them had entered a strange equilibrium where they constantly adapted to one another.

No, rather tha call it an equilibrium, it was more like a race, and the one who adapted faster would win. And before now, the ant felt that this ’race’ had been pretty close.

But now, suddenly, this feeling finished.

And suddenly, the ant felt as though Xander far out in front of it.

No, not just in front. It felt like it couldn’t even see his back anymore.

Little did the ant know...

That it had opened the door to something that had been repressed for far, far too long.

And now, that thing was waking up.