Meanwhile, at the center of the field,

Lorien and Leila could be seen standing face to face with some distance between them.

Neither of them spoke as both knew that the moment they stood there, the battle has already begun.

The first to make a move was Leila who extended her hand causing a silver spear to suddenly appear in her hands.

'This??!'

Seeing the spear suddenly appearing, Lorien's eyes shrank as his somewhat carefree attitude was instantly shattered.

'Where did that spear come from?! I haven't noticed it until she took the initiative to show it!'

'What's going on here...'

Turning serious, the ring worn on his right hand was instantly transformed into a golden-bladed sword with a dark handle.

'Let's not be careless here, this world is full of weird and incomprehensible abilities, and god knows what her power is...'

'She previously called her cursed technique 'Deception', but what does it even mean?'

With that in mind, Lorien instantly entered a battle state as he used the long 'abandoned' [Transparent World] state.

Using it, Lorien's vision changed enabling him to see the inner working of her body which in turn allows him to predict her actions.

'Muscles and joints, not the best view but it is quite useful.'

Ever since getting this technique, Lorien hasn't actually used it that much, not to mention that this ability could now be replaced with Lorien's [Clairvoyance] which is much more useful in combat.

'I won't be using my abilities for now, at least I won't attack using them, after all, I want this battle to be as long as possible so I can analyze her domain expansion...'

'It's just that I have to first make her use it...'

Of course, Lorien wasn't the only one who was observing his opponent as Leila who is standing on the opposite side was doing the same.

'What is with this ominous feeling?!'

'After he took out his sword, his aura instantly changed, but that's not the issue!'

'Standing here, I can feel malice from everywhere around me, it is as if the world itself is excluding me...'

'Is this how it feels like to get abandoned by the world?'

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Feeling uncomfortable, Leila decided not to wait any longer as she immediately rushed toward Lorien stabbing forward with her spear.

*Swish*

Predicting her actions, the moment she attacked, Lorien has already started defending; moreover, he even had the time to evaluate her.

'Her physical strength isn't that good, at least it is well below mine.'

'Her martial arts or at least her power exertion technique is also very bad, not to mention fully utilizing her power, she isn't even exerting 70% of it.'

'Even though I have already predicted this, it is a bit disappointing.'

'But! the way she is manipulating cursed energy and shrouding her weapon with it is good, at least on par with me.'

Even though Lorien was evaluating her in his mind, his body didn't stop moving as he has already raised his sword to defend himself while also getting ready to counterattack.

But then, just as her spear was about to make contact with his sword, Lorien noticed a smile appearing on her face.

'Why is she smiling like this? it is as if she has succeeded in some sort of trick.'

Even though something felt a bit off, Lorien still didn't stop his action as there is nothing else he could do, it was just that he became more alert.

'I should keep alert...'

But then, just as their weapons were about to make contact, Lorien's [Cairvoyance] activated on its own forcing him to look into the future.

'THIS??!!'

Reacting to what he saw, Lorien immediately stopped defending and instantly activated his ability.

[Dream/Reality: Dream Walking]

This is the ability that allows Lorien to turn himself into a 'dream' enabling him to have an ability similar to that of Logia fruits in the 'One Piece World'; just much more effective and impossible to counter without the use of similar dream abilities.

*Swish*

Crossing paths, Lorien and Leila phased right through each other's bodies causing the attack to be unable to find its target.

"WHAA-H"

*Boom*

Unable to hit Lorien, Leila couldn't take back her attack at the last moment because of the lack of control.

All she could do was redirect the attack toward the ground and use the shock to propel herself far away and out of Lorien's range of attack to prevent him from taking advantage of her state.

It's just that Lorien wasn't interested in doing this as his attention was focused on the 'future' or more precisely the 'future possibility' he just saw.

'When my sword touched her spear it just phased right through it as if it was never there which caused me to be unable to react and I was hit by her.'

'It's just that when I look back at it, the wound's location and the position of the spear don't add up.'

'I am sure that the spear she attacked me with wasn't the one that caused the wound, but another one.'

'WAIT!'

'Her ability is called Deception, I previously wasn't able to detect where her weapon came from, could it be...'

Turning his head toward her just in time for her to get into position again, Lorien said.

"You have deceived my senses haven't you?"

"Huh?!"

Wide-eyed, Leila who was about to attack again with the objective of figuring out Lorien's ability and the reason why she phased right through him immediately stopped dead in her tracks.

Seeing this, Lorien didn't need her to answer as he could tell that his guess was correct based on her reaction.

'So my senses are really deceived.'

'But how does this ability work? I mean, If it directly acts on my body, I should have been able to detect it and erase it, but that isn't the case...'

'I really hate abilities like this, they are really weird.'

Shaking his head, Lorien then activated his [Clairvoyance] and locked it into observing a couple of seconds into the future which is the most optimal way to use it in combat.

Looking further than that is useless unless fighting someone who also has similar abilities.

'I can't find the real position of her weapon like this, and I'll be in a very defensive position unless I use my ability to attack.'

'But! it's not like there is no way to deal with her, after all, if I were to attack, she'll need to defend, at the time, I'll be able to find her weapon.'

Deciding on this, Lorien immediately raised his sword and shot forward with great speed, and slashed toward her.

*Swish*