“So, how about a quick sparring?”

“I don’t think so…”

A shiver ran through me—a sharp, sudden impulse that pierced my back. My body reacted on its own. I didn’t think—I simply dove to the side. I fell hard onto the ground, and dust swirled around me. The air had just been sliced by a blade—right next to where my neck had been mere moments before.

I froze.

Had I not moved, my head would have rolled along the floor.

My heart pounded in my chest, and my breath came in ragged gasps. I looked at the warrior, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. He merely tilted his head, smiling in amusement.

“You almost killed me!” I shouted, anger surging in my chest like a growing fire.

“Almost.” He smiled even wider and moved again.

I couldn’t understand. Why did I have to fight? I had never raised a weapon before, never been a warrior. And now I was forced to risk my life against someone who treated it like a game.

I had no choice.

I had to act. I had to find a way not to die.

“Eye of Chaos.”

A hot pulsation surged in my skull. My left eye ignited with a purple light. This time, the pain was not as intense—more like a familiar echo, a subtle melody of understanding that I was only beginning to grasp. Reality shifted around me. Energy flowed, swirling in incredible patterns.

“Basic energy analysis.”

Suddenly, I saw more. The warrior wasn’t attacking randomly—his movements had meaning, even if they appeared chaotic. Energy gathered in his arm just before a blow; the tension in his legs betrayed his intention to leap. From which direction would the next attack come? I had to read it.

I wasn’t seeing the future, but I was catching hints—clues. I focused, analyzing.

Movement. I bent down; the blade whistled over my head. Next move—the dodge to the side. I was fighting not only against him, but also my own limitations. My body wasn’t keeping up perfectly, yet I was slowly beginning to adapt to his rhythm.

I couldn’t be a passive target. If I only dodged, eventually I’d make a mistake—I thought, feeling the mounting pressure.

“Basic energy manipulation.”

I reached for chaos. I allowed it to seep into my body. If he could use it, so could I. The energy tensed my muscles, and my movements became more fluid. Something had changed. My body began to mirror his actions. Every movement of his became clearer; every impulse signaled an attack. I didn’t overthink it—I simply responded, flowing with the rhythm of the energy inside me, as if my body had stopped fighting and started to accept it.

The warrior paused for a moment, recognition glinting in his eyes.

“Oh ho…” he murmured. “That… is interesting.”

He smiled even wider.

“Now that you’re starting to keep up… it’s time to raise the stakes.”

Without warning, he lunged into attack again. Faster. Stronger. Ruthless.

Yet I still managed to keep pace.

I analyzed every movement, every ripple of tension in his body. Seeing how energy coiled in his legs, I knew he intended a quick sidestep—so I immediately adjusted my position. When his arm tensed in an irregular but repetitive pattern, I realized he was about to execute a horizontal slash. I leapt back just as the blade sliced through the air in front of my chest. I danced between his blows, drawing ever deeper into the rhythm of the chaotic energy within me.

And then I felt it—a jolt.

Pain exploded suddenly, like an inner scream tearing me apart. Before I could react, the world around me blurred. A yank at my hair threw me off balance, and in the next second, I felt a brutal force drive me into the hard ground.

Before I could catch my breath, out of the corner of my eye I saw the blade pressed against my throat.

The warrior was smiling with satisfaction, looking down at me condescendingly.

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“Not bad—I didn’t expect you to keep up.” He tilted his head, as if regarding me with newfound curiosity. “But you have to admit, I won, right?”

I lay there, struggling to breathe, my chest heaving spasmodically, pain pulsing through my body. I didn’t feel anger. I didn’t feel fear. I felt… frustration.

I felt frustration.

Why couldn’t I win?

Why, despite all my effort, was it still never enough?

His mocking smile. Something inside me snapped.

I stopped thinking.

Chaos continued to flow within me.

I felt his grip on my hair—brutal, relentless. Thoughts flashed through my mind like lightning. If energy could flow through my body… why shouldn’t I direct it to where the warrior held me? I focused, allowing the inner energy to flow into my hair, and then released it outward. In an instant, I felt that familiar pulsation—as if sparks were spreading all over my body until they finally exploded at the point of contact.

Something happened.

The warrior trembled, as if something had struck him. His eyes widened in astonishment, and his hand recoiled, as if it had touched something it should never have touched.

Something was wrong. The warrior furrowed his brows, glancing at his hand. What was that? He had never felt anything like it before. It wasn’t an ordinary pain, nor was it the effect of an attack.

He frowned further, clenching his teeth. The chaos energy penetrated his hand, attempting to shatter his own flow of power.

This wasn’t an ordinary attack.

It was something more.

It was like a sudden disruption of balance, as if his own energy had suddenly spiraled out of control. Chaos invaded his body, entwining his inner flow and yanking it in unpredictable directions. He felt his strength—once perfectly ordered—beginning to shatter, breaking into incomprehensible fragments. It wasn’t just pain—it was something worse. A loss of control. Destabilization. It was a sensation as if his very energy was rebelling against him, dancing to rules he had never learned to understand.

The warrior stepped back, shaking his hand as if trying to rid himself of an invisible pain. His eyes narrowed, and a shadow of consternation crossed his face. What was that?

He had never felt anything like it before. It wasn’t an ordinary attack, nor the result of a physical blow. He felt as if something had violently burst into his body, as if chaos had torn through the barrier between him and his own energy. And then he saw it—his inner flow began to buckle, like a raging river whose banks had suddenly shattered into pieces. The energy no longer followed his will; instead, it twisted, strained, and pounded against its own boundaries, as if it no longer recognized itself.

His heart pounded harder. If this had happened while he was using an advanced technique… if it had occurred during a fight… his inner energy would have spiraled out of control, and he would have shattered into pieces.

He gritted his teeth and concentrated his own power. He had to act immediately. He directed his energy to the point where chaos was invading his structure, and with one precise impulse, he expelled it outward. The air around him trembled, and the chaos energy that had wrapped around him just moments before was thrown out, dissipating into space.

“Well, well…” the warrior breathed deeply, as if trying to calm a sudden unease. His smile vanished, replaced by something else—something closer to caution. “That was... different.”

He stood before me with a relaxed posture, but I noticed a change in his gaze. At first, he had treated the fight like a game, light and without much interest. Now his eyes were sharper, more cautious—as if he had to reassess what he initially thought of me.

“Not bad at all.” His voice finally broke the silence. “At first, it was boring, predictable... But in the end? You showed some claws.”

I breathed heavily, my chest rising and falling in an uneven rhythm. My body ached from the exertion, but that wasn’t what held my attention. What had happened at the end of the fight left a strange mark within me. Thoughts swirled in my head, trying to make sense of what I felt when I fell.

Why, when I lost, did I feel something so raw?

It wasn’t just ordinary disappointment. It was frustration. A burning, unfamiliar intensity of emotion that erupted inside me in an instant. And then… I lost control of myself. My body reacted on its own; the chaos energy responded before I even had time to think about what I was doing.

I looked at the warrior, and he stared at me as if analyzing me in the same way I had been analyzing myself. In his eyes flickered a hint of understanding, and then… a warning.

“If you had used that energy at the wrong moment…” he said slowly. “If you had channeled it into me when my own energy was in motion, I wouldn’t be standing here before you now. I would have exploded into a million pieces.”

I shivered slightly. Not because I wanted to hurt him—I didn’t—but because I wasn’t even aware of how close it had come to happening.

“That means you have no idea what you’re playing with.” The warrior tilted his head, as if weighing his next words. “Chaos isn’t a force you can control. It either submits… or it consumes. And if you continue to ignore what’s happening inside you… you’ll soon find out which path you’re on.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to calm my own thoughts. I felt remnants of chaos energy within me; its echoes resonated, as if still trying to find an outlet. In my hair, in my hands… it was still there. It didn’t want to leave.

“During the fight, I did the same as you…” I finally said, looking at the warrior. “I channeled chaos energy into my body to boost my physical abilities.”

The warrior suddenly stopped and looked at me as if I were a complete lunatic. For a moment, he seemed unsure whether he should laugh or run. “You... you did WHAT?!” he finally sputtered. “You’re insane! I only channeled pure energy into my body. You, on the other hand… you infused your body with energy containing a spark of chaos.”

I froze. A thought flashed through my mind—perhaps I had indeed done something irreversible. My own body was evidence of it—it still pulsed with a strange, unstable force. What did that mean? What had I truly done?

The warrior narrowed his eyes, as if suddenly coming to a realization. He looked at me once more, this time not only with shock but with clear contemplation.

"Wait... if you really did channel chaos energy into your body..." he paused, as if gathering his thoughts. "Then how on earth are you still standing here? You should have disintegrated into a million pieces from the very moment you touched chaos!"

For a moment, silence reigned. I could see his thoughts at work, analyzing the situation. Then he furrowed his brows and straightened up, looking at me with an entirely new expression.

"That can only mean one thing..." he said slowly, weighing every word. "You have a connection with chaos. It's the only reason any of this even makes sense."