Chapter 236: Level up!!

Words : 1584 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

Glass Reckoning – Break the Present A desperation move: Nala can force the battlefield into a moment that hasn't happened yet. Disoriented, he failed to block the kick that connected with his sternum. [-20 HP] 'Glass Reckoning,' Noah realized, recalling what he'd heard about third-generation refractory abilities. This was a more common skill but still difficult to counter. 'She's creating a full-field mirror of the immediate past. Not changing what happened—replacing it with a mirrored alternative.' The platform felt wrong beneath his feet, distances warped unnaturally through her mirrored lens. Nala pressed her advantage with a series of strikes. Noah defended desperately, but the refracted reality made his normally precise movements clumsy. [-15 HP] [-12 HP] [-10 HP] His health points dwindled dangerously. Anger flared inside him—not just at Nala, but at the fundamental unfairness of her ability. In the stands, Sophie gripped Kelvin's arm. "He can't win conventionally," "No," Kelvin agreed grimly. "Not against someone who can substitute any outcome with a mirrored probability." Back on the platform, Noah wiped blood from his mouth. The white chi around his body flickered, darkening slightly at the edges. 'New approach,' he thought. 'If she refractors immediate reality, I need an action her mirrors can't reflect.' He switched tactics, focusing on the unpredictable nature of chi itself. As Nala approached for another attack, Noah channeled his chi differently—not just outward, but in multiple fluctuating patterns that created rippling waves of energy around him. Nala stumbled, thrown off by the erratic chi patterns. Her mirror abilities required clear reference points to create accurate reflections—but Noah had just created a field of constantly shifting energy that gave her nothing stable to mirror. "What the—" she started, before Noah capitalized with a swift combination. Two strikes connected cleanly before she recovered, activating her mirror ability to avoid the third. But the chaotic chi field continued to interfere with her ability to create accurate reflections. 'Can't mirror what you can't predict,' Noah thought grimly, pressing his advantage. Adapting quickly, she created another crystalline mirror barrier, buying time to recalibrate. Noah struck the barrier directly this time, chi-enhanced fist connecting with the crystalline surface. He placed his palm flat against it and channeled his chi through it, using the barrier's own reflective structure as a conduit. The white energy traveled along the surface, seeking the anchor point, then redirected upward toward Nala. Her eyes widened as her own mirror barrier conducted Noah's chi directly to her. The energy disrupted her connection, causing it to shatter. The crowd roared, but Noah had no time to celebrate. Nala recovered quickly, fury evident in her expression. The mirrors fractured again, but this time Noah was prepared. The moment he felt the shift beginning, he channeled his chi in a perfect circle around himself—creating not a fixed point, but a continuous loop that her mirror abilities couldn't find the beginning or end of. It wasn't perfect—the mirrored reflections still formed around him—but they were distorted, like images in a warped mirror. Nala charged, three mirrored versions of her attacking simultaneously from different angles. Noah observed them carefully. 'Only one casts a true shadow,' he reminded himself, focusing on the middle image. He blocked precisely where the real Nala would be—and connected. The crowd erupted as he followed with a combination, driving Nala backward. For a few precious seconds, he gained the upper hand. Then Nala switched tactics, activating her mirror ability in rapid succession. Each time Noah landed a blow, she created a mirror reality where it hadn't connected. Each time he defended successfully, she reflected a probability where he'd failed. The constant mirror shifts were taking their toll. Frustration burned inside him, darkening the chi around his fists. The pure white energy began taking on a reddish tint. In the VIP section, Master Anng frowned, leaning forward. "Something's wrong," he murmured. Noah felt it too—a shift in his energy, unfamiliar yet somehow not entirely foreign. The techniques Lila had shown him during their private sessions... 'Focus,' he commanded himself. He couldn't afford distractions. Nala created another mirror barrier, larger than before, covering nearly half the platform. Behind its protection, she smirked. "You're good, Eclipse," she called out. "But you're still just a first gen with basic abilities. This ends now." The mirror barrier began to pulse with energy—charging for an offensive maneuver. Noah's health had dropped below half: [Health Points: 289/600] The white-red chi flickered around his hands as his frustration peaked. He'd fought perfectly, adapted to impossible odds, and still found himself on the defensive against her mirror abilities. 'Enough games,' he thought, something dark solidifying inside him. [Optional Objective Available: Execute Null Strike] It was almost like the system was frustrated as well. Noah hesitated for a fraction of a second. Using Null Strike would risk revealing his true abilities. But losing wasn't an option. He channeled his energy differently, focusing not on enhancement but on negation. The chi around his body darkened further, the reddish tint spreading and intensifying. In the VIP box, Master Anng stood abruptly. "That's not standard chi technique," he said sharply. Noah moved with explosive speed, covering the distance to Nala's mirror barrier in a heartbeat. He drew back his fist, concentrating his power. "Null Strike," he whispered, too quietly for anyone to hear. His fist connected with the mirror barrier. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the mirrors themselves seemed to hesitate. The point where Noah's fist touched the barrier began to disappear—not shatter, not break, but simply cease to exist. The deletion spread outward like ripples in a pond, the supposedly unbreakable mirror barrier vanishing where the energy touched it. A perfect circular hole appeared, expanding rapidly until the entire mirror barrier disintegrated into nothingness. Nala's eyes widened. "Impossible—" But Noah was already through the opening, his momentum carrying him directly toward her. She activated her mirror ability desperately, attempting to reflect his trajectory into an alternate probability. It didn't work. The Null Strike had created a void in the mirror itself—a moment that couldn't be reflected because it technically didn't exist in the spectrum of probabilities. Noah's palm strike connected with Nala's chest, the impact sending her flying backward. She crashed into the platform's edge, momentarily stunned. The arena fell silent, spectators and officials alike trying to process what they'd just witnessed. Noah stood in the center of the platform, breathing heavily. The reddish-white energy around his fists slowly faded. Nala struggled to her feet, wobbling slightly. "What... what was that?" On the giant screens above the arena, the slow-motion replay showed Noah's strike. There was no evidence of void energy—only the whitish-red chi surrounding his fist as it connected with the mirror barrier. In the VIP section, Master Anng remained standing, his expression troubled. "That wasn't standard chi manipulation," he repeated quietly. "That was something else entirely." The match resumed, but the dynamic had fundamentally changed. Nala approached more cautiously now, uncertainty evident in her movements. She attempted to fracture her mirrors once more, but Noah had adapted, using his chi to create irregular patterns that couldn't be cleanly reflected by her probability mirrors. The battle continued for another minute, but the outcome was no longer in doubt. Noah systematically dismantled Nala's defenses, countering her mirror manipulation with precisely calculated attacks that targeted the source of her reflections rather than the reflections themselves. When the final blow landed—a spinning hook kick that caught Nala's temple—she crumpled to the platform, unconscious. The crowd erupted in thunderous applause, many spectators rising to their feet. A first-year cadet with supposedly basic abilities had defeated a third-generation mirror manipulator. [Quest Complete: Nullify the Adversary] [Optional Objective Complete: Execute Null Strike] [Reward: +500 XP, Skill Evolution: Null Strike →Chi fusion(Level 1)] Noah dismissed the notification as he approached Nala, who was being attended to by medical staff. He offered a respectful bow as she regained consciousness. "Good match," he said simply. She nodded weakly, still dazed. "What... was that technique?" Noah maintained his composure. "Just an application of opposing energies." As he walked off the platform, the crowd continued cheering. Students from Academy Twelve were on their feet. Near the competitor area, Sophie, Kelvin, and Lucas looked impressed. Only Adrian Albright remained seated, jealousy simmering behind his eyes but he masked it with a smile as always. Commander Albright at the vip area could barely contain his anger. Adrian had won his own match but it didn't matter to him because the supposedly powerless boy had just done it again. And in the VIP section, Master Anng continued to stare at Noah with troubled eyes, recognizing what no one else had seen—the unmistakable signature of dark chi, a technique he had certainly never taught to any first-year cadet. In the competitor waiting area, Lila watched the screens with a satisfied smile. She couldn't stop being happy. That was until the camera panned across the vip area, across Web Pithon, all the commanders in attendance, and then the Rowes. Her father and mother were smiling and clapping. If she didn't know better she'd think they were genuinely happy. But she herself saw the replay. What Noah had done. That was her technique. [Experience: 10,000/10,000] [Level Up! You are now Level 21]

Chapter 236: Level up!!

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