Auburn Encounter

The sensation of flight was intoxicating.

Itsuki tested his new form, pushing off from the floating island with experimental wing beats. The astral wings that had manifested from his armor responded to his thoughts perfectly, catching updrafts that shouldn't exist and propelling him through the crystalline sky. Below him, more islands drifted in their eternal dance, some connected by bridges of pure light, others floating in solitary splendor.

This feels so real. More real than any VR simulation he'd ever experienced. The wind had weight, the sky had depth, and his enhanced senses picked up details that would have been impossible in the old world.

He soared between cloud formations, testing his maneuverability. Bank left, dive, spiral up through a cluster of floating crystals that chimed like bells as he passed. His body moved with fluid precision, as if he'd been flying his entire life.

Then he heard the clash of weapons.

In the distance, a figure with orange-red hair was engaged in fierce aerial combat, her golden energy wings flaring with each maneuver. She wielded what looked like a hybrid weapon, part sword, part lance, and she was using it with impressive skill against her opponent.

Her opponent was something that made Itsuki's blood run cold.

A masked assassin dressed in pitch-black armor fought with ruthless precision. Dark energy crackled around the assassin's weapons, and his intent was clear - this wasn't the usual dueling combat where opponents tested skills within the safety of protective auras. This was someone focused entirely on killing.

Dueling combat in this world was a normal occurrence. The goddesses of Astral Caliber had blessed the inhabitants of this realm with two divine gifts. The first was the Gift of Flight - every sentient being could manifest wings called Astral Wings, which appeared in countless varieties depending on the individual. The second gift was a protective aura that reduced damage and prevented fatal strikes, though this protection could be depleted through sustained combat.

But this assassin was fighting to deplete Clara's aura completely, seeking a true kill rather than the honorable defeat that marked normal dueling.

The girl was holding her own, but barely. Her technique was solid, her movements sharp, but the assassin's corrupted power was slowly overwhelming her defenses.

Itsuki watched as she executed a brilliant spiral counter, redirecting the assassin's strike and landing a hit that would have ended most fights. But the dark energy simply absorbed the damage, and the assassin retaliated with a technique that shattered her guard entirely.

Her golden energy wings flickered and died. She began to plummet.

Itsuki didn't hesitate.

He folded his wings and dove, catching her just as the assassin moved in for the killing blow. With his free arm, Itsuki blocked the assassin's strike, the impact sending shockwaves through the air.

Shadow Striker build. High speed, high damage, but minimal defense. Glass cannon configuration optimized for quick kills.

"Interference," the assassin hissed, his voice distorted by whatever dark power he was channeling.

"I don't need help!" the girl snapped, struggling in Itsuki's grip despite her exhausted state. "Put me down! I can handle this myself!"

The assassin struck again, aiming for a quick finish, but Itsuki did something unexpected. His legendary blade dematerialized, vanishing completely from his grip.

The assassin hesitated mid-strike, confusion evident even through his mask. "What are you?"

Itsuki's response was immediate. Still holding Clara with one arm, he drew his free hand back and let blue energy crackle around his fist. It was the same technique he'd used earlier that day, but amplified beyond recognition.

"Azure Impact."

The punch connected with the assassin's chest at blinding speed, the blue energy erupting on contact. The corrupted warrior was launched backward through the air like a cannonball, his dark armor cracking from the sheer force of the blow.

"Impossible..." the assassin wheezed as he tumbled through the sky, his corruption flickering and failing. "Raw energy manipulation without a weapon focus..."

Itsuki laughed, a sound that carried clearly through the air. With a casual gesture, he materialized a zipper that hovered in front of him, glowing with the same blue energy. The spatial tear unzipped with a soft sound, revealing a portal to wherever the assassin had been flung.

"Dimensional Rend," he said casually, reaching his hand through the floating zipper.

His fingers closed around the assassin's throat, and with one smooth motion, he pulled the shocked warrior back through the portal. Before the assassin could even process what had happened, Itsuki's other fist was already in motion.

The second Azure Impact hit with even more force than the first. The assassin's eyes rolled back, his corruption completely dissipating as consciousness fled. Itsuki released his grip and let the unconscious figure plummet toward the endless sky below.

The zipper snapped shut and vanished.

"What just happened?" Clara whispered, staring at the spot where the portal had been.

Itsuki touched down on a nearby island and finally set the girl down. She immediately stepped back, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"I didn't ask to be rescued," she said, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I had everything under control."

"Sure," Itsuki replied mildly. "That's why you were falling to your death."

"That was a tactical retreat!" she protested. "I was... regrouping!"

Despite her protests, Itsuki could see the grudging respect in her amber eyes. She'd felt the difference in their skill levels during the fight, even while being carried.

"I'm Clara," she said finally, still not quite meeting his eyes. "And I suppose... I should thank you. Even though I didn't need help. I thought you'd let me plummet like the other guy."

"Your build is actually good and not gimmicky," Itsuki replied simply. "You have my respect."

Clara's cheeks flushed pink at the unexpected compliment. "I... well... hmph!" She crossed her arms, trying to regain her composure. "Is that so? I guess you're not too shabby yourself."

She shot him a sharp look, then her expression shifted to something more competitive. "You know what? I changed my mind about the thanks. Instead, fight me properly. One on one. I want to see how you do when you're not showing off."

Her golden energy wings flared back to life, and her weapon materialized in her grip.

"Don't think carrying me around makes you better than me," she said, launching herself into the sky. "I'll prove I can hold my own against anyone!"

The clash was explosive.

Metal rang against metal as their weapons met, the impact sending shockwaves through the air. Itsuki was driven back several meters by the sheer force of the assault, but he'd managed to deflect the worst of it.

Confirmed. High attack power, ridiculous speed, but...

He studied his opponent as they circled each other in the sky. Clara with her fierce amber eyes and aggressive stance, her golden energy wings flaring with each movement. She wielded her hybrid weapon with practiced precision, designed for aerial combat.

The recovery time on those wing bursts is going to be her weakness. And that weapon... it's optimized for straight-line attacks. She'll struggle with quick directional changes.

"Not bad," she called out, her voice carrying clearly through the thin air. "Most people can't even block my opening strike."

Itsuki shifted his grip, falling into a defensive stance. "Most people probably don't see it coming."

She grinned and launched herself forward again, but this time Itsuki was ready. Instead of meeting her charge head-on, he executed a phantom step, his body flickering as he sidestepped through dimensional space. The technique was one he'd perfected in the deepest levels of his previous battles, and it worked flawlessly here.

Her lance pierced empty air where he'd been a split second before.

"What?!" She spun around, searching for him.

Itsuki reappeared behind her, but instead of attacking, he used the moment to observe. She's adapting quickly. Good reflexes, but she's never seen spatial displacement techniques before.

She whipped around with a horizontal slash that he ducked under, then immediately followed up with a wing burst that propelled her upward. Smart thinking, creating distance to reassess.

But Itsuki had already predicted the move. He activated wind walking, a technique that let him step on air itself, and pursued her vertically. Her eyes widened as he literally ran up an invisible staircase to meet her at her new altitude.

"That's impossible," she breathed.

"Everything's possible if you understand the system," Itsuki replied, demonstrating with a gravity reversal that flipped his orientation mid-air. What had been a defensive retreat suddenly became an attack from an unexpected angle.

She barely managed to block, but the force of his strike while falling upward sent her spinning. She tried to stabilize with her wings, but Itsuki was already moving again.

Chain cancel into momentum theft, a technique that absorbed the kinetic energy from her movement and added it to his own. Her spin slowed while his speed increased exponentially.

"You're reading my movements," she observed, circling warily as she tried to regain control.

"Your build's impressive," Itsuki replied, "but it has obvious weaknesses."

Her eyes flashed with competitive fire. "Care to elaborate?"

Instead of answering, Itsuki demonstrated. He began a pressure sequence, a relentless series of attacks that looked random but were actually designed to force specific responses. Each strike came from a different angle, each technique flowed seamlessly into the next.

As he moved, phantom steps flickered him in and out of visibility, making it nearly impossible for Clara to track his position. When she tried to counter one of his afterimages, he was already wind walking above her, running on invisible air currents to attack from an unexpected angle.

These techniques shouldn't work together so seamlessly. Most fighters specialize in one discipline, but I'm mixing abilities from completely different schools.

Clara was forced into a purely defensive pattern, her energy wings flaring constantly as she tried to keep up with his nonsensical combo chains. But every time she thought she had him pinned down, blade echoes would confuse her vision, afterimages of his sword making it impossible to tell which strike was real.

"This violates basic principles of kinetic energy!" she protested, sweat beading on her forehead. "You can't just stop and reverse a sword swing without losing momentum! And how are you creating multiple images of yourself?"

"How do you know so many techniques?" she gasped between blocks. "Most warriors stick to one specialization, but you're mixing techniques from completely different disciplines."

Itsuki didn't answer. He was too focused on the rhythm of the fight, the beautiful complexity of combat at this level. This was what he'd lived for in his previous battles, the moment when pure skill transcended the limitations of the system.

She realized what he was doing and tried to end it quickly with her strongest attack. Solar Lance, a diving strike that turned her entire body into a projectile of golden energy. The attack was lightning-fast, perfectly executed, and would have been unstoppable against any normal opponent.

Itsuki used perfect parry, one of the fundamental techniques that every warrior learned but rarely mastered. It was designed for predictable attacks with standard timing and hitboxes. But her Solar Lance was anything but standard. The technique had weird disjoints, unusual energy patterns, and timing that shifted based on altitude and approach angle. Most fighters would never even attempt to parry such an irregular attack.

Only someone crazy enough to practice parrying every conceivable variation would even try it.

Her devastating strike was deflected with minimal effort, all of its energy redirected harmlessly to the side.

The moment her weapon struck his blade, he laughed. "I had this trashy senpai who used to abuse this exact technique against newcomers. Worked every time because they didn't understand the patterns."

He smiled as she struggled to recover from the failed attack. "This is a knowledge check. If I parry this move and you try to react, I'll strike you with a counter technique you'll have no answer for. Without understanding the fundamentals, people lose over and over without knowing why."

"That move's recovery time is very dangerous."

Her eyes went wide as she realized her mistake. The powerful dive attack left her completely committed, unable to change direction or defend for a crucial half-second.

Itsuki's counterstrike was precise and devastating. Void Cutter, a technique that severed the connection between a player and their energy source. His blade found the gap in her guard, striking a perfect hit that sent feedback through her entire system.

Her golden energy wings sputtered and died.

"No!" she gasped, her body beginning to plummet toward the endless sky below.

Without hesitation, Itsuki dove after her, his own wings folding back for maximum speed. The wind roared past him as he accelerated, reaching out just as panic began to set in on her face.

His arms closed around her waist, and his wings snapped open, arresting their fall with a bone-jarring jolt.

"I've got you," he said, holding her steady as they drifted toward the nearest floating island.

She was breathing hard, her face flushed from adrenaline and embarrassment. "You... you saved me. Again."

"Of course I did." Itsuki touched down on solid ground and gently set her down. "That was a good fight. Your technique is solid, just needs some refinement."

She stared at him for a long moment, amber eyes searching his face.

He met her gaze evenly. "Unlike that last guy, your build isn't some cheap gimmick. It's solid. I can respect that."

She blinked, then brushed the dust from her armor. A small, wry smile tugged at her lips. "Then I guess I owe you a drink for the save. And for the compliment. But more than that, I want to know where you learned to fight like that."

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