Nil

Lux and I were hiding in another nook. These are probably intended for sentries, but they are convenient. I felt something crawl all over my body. Lux shivered slightly at the same instant. That is not a coincidence.

Lux, we need to move. I told her. She tore out of the nook, running full steam towards the open courtyard. About three seconds later, Orga landed by the nook.

You were quite mean to her earlier. She is going to try hard to catch you. Lux chided me.

You deserve an as a teacher; I will stand by that point. I replied, defending myself.

I got a good feeling about her. Why did you want to play this game again? It ended badly last time we played. Lux retorted in an irritated tone.

I want to feel that sensation again, I was onto something. The others definitely won’t push it far enough to feel it. I answered.

You always want to explore more. Lux sighed, annoyed by the game.

Because it is awesome! I replied. A chill went down my spine.

You felt that too? She found us again. She is tracking us through and somehow. Any ideas? Lux asked, clearly not liking the idea of running from Orga for the entire timer.

No need to maintain them if she can track through them; she seems to have the method down. As for how I am not sure. We match the ambient , so in that regard we should be undetectable. She didn’t use sight or sound because would have made those impossible. I am sure we matched the ambient properly. Wait, we have right? Meaning a defined flow, different than what’s around us. No matter how hard we try we can’t mimic the flow of ambient . I theorized to Lux as we dropped .

“Decided to stop hiding! I am going to catch you two!” Orga declared. We had managed to evade her for a total of five minutes before she had a visual on us.

A tree sprouted out in the middle of our path, which Lux dodged effortlessly. Then another, then another, then another. She was making a box; we needed to get into the air fast. Her was going to be too potent on the ground.

Let’s switch for a minute. I’ll use . I told Lux. Lux nodded in agreement.

I used and launched us into the air. Lux shrunk in size and landed on my shoulder as I began running through the air; I could sense the pure irritation from Orga. What about this irritates her so much? I continued to run, until my foot was blasted out from under me by something. The force was enough to make my body do a full flip. Tingling began pulsating up my leg. That’s probably not a good thing.

Is your foot fine? Lux checked as it tingled more.

I highly doubt it. Can you check it? I asked while sprinting with .

Lux nimbly climbed down my body and wrapped her tails at my knee. Lux did some light probing and began healing. After a few moments, the tingling stopped. I felt Lux jump off and deflect something with a blade of light. I her back to my shoulder. I might have antagonized her a bit much.

My arm is numb. I won’t be able to deflect many more of those. Lux informed me. We needed to last another fourteen minutes; this was not a good position. She could attack us at range, and we could not deflect them repeatedly. Orga held an immense advantage. We needed a change of tactics.

Dodge left! Lux roared into my mind. I jumped left, and a burst of shot past our right.

Call out the attacks! Brilliant! is not too intensive. If I stay just above her speed, she cannot close the gap. I replied. It was a tactic we could use.

I began to arc in a circle just slightly faster than Orga. Lux called out where to dodge. The tactic remained effective for another three minutes ten seconds before Orga was launching too many to dodge effectively. The whoosh sound they made as they passed was nerve wracking.

Take over, I need a break to think. I told Lux.

I can run and weave for a bit. Lux moaned. She grew in size, and I hopped on. Lux began sprinting away. Ten minutes twenty-four seconds remaining.

Things were getting tense. I could feel the same tension as before, I flexed a finger, and could feel the fluctuate. My eyes were beginning to tingle. This is it. Lux was starting to tense up. Last time I used this it did not end well, nor would the same trick work because she could track us through . Nez definitely placed a tracker preemptively because he could not find us again.

Do not use it. Lux pleaded with me.

What was this? It definitely was useful, but extremely taxing. Unfortunately, it distracted Lux enough where she took a direct hit. I picked up Lux and began running while she recovered. She shrank down to fit on my shoulder and began healing. Focus. Wait. My eyes are tingling. I activated my , and the sensation got much more intense. This wasn’t right. I could activate it again, but that would be a loss.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“I have finally caught you two!” Orga roared as she closed in. Barely half the time had passed. We had nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds to go.

I exerted through my and tried getting a sense of this. Numerous images flashed through my mind, causing incredible pain almost instantly. Not right. Not right. We were going to get caught at this rate. I don’t want to lose, and I don’t want to make Uncle Nez look bad! THINK NIL! I tried activating the through my eyes. A similar grayscale overtook my vision. This time though, I was moving like normal. Orga was too unfortunately. She prepared another salvo and launched them. I am not even looking at her, how do I know that? I needed to jump and spiral to my right, there should be a hole big enough to squeeze through. My intuition was dead on. What is this? I followed the sensation, using and in conjunction, dodging everything she threw at me. Her attacks got increasingly ruthless, to the point I was having to chain nonstop to try and dodge them. How much does she have? Do adults seriously have this much more ? It had only been five minutes twenty seconds, and I was dripping sweat. My was near empty. I couldn’t keep this up much longer.

Lux, please tell me you have healed. I requested as my body was screaming at me.

About two minutes ago. How are you doing this? Lux inquired in a wondered tone.

Not sure, but I need you to take over, I am out of . I replied as I was panting.

How about this? Lux asked, as I felt her pour into me. My was slowly refilling. I could feel Lux converting from the atmosphere and giving it to me. It was nowhere near as fast as my uncles, but it was certainly enough to keep up and chaining .

When did you learn to do this? I asked Lux.

It was a guess based off of what you said earlier about flow. I need some practice, but this should work for the rest of the time, right? Lux checked, smiling victoriously.

We got this now. I confirmed with a smile.

*

Nez

I watched as my nephew and his absolutely defied reality. At some point, Nil was able to replicate the from earlier. The fluctuation was the same; he had the feeling for it. Instead, he did something, changed the feel, and made it vanish. After the fluctuations vanished, he began dodging Orga like it was nothing. Not a single came close to him. He was perfectly timing his to dodge or weaving into the narrowest of gaps. Lux could not be calling them out as she was busy healing from the that connected. Orga is putting a bit of power into them. She is definitely dancing the line. The truly astonishing part was when Lux began to use . With Lux using on Nil, there was no way Orga was going to catch them without breaking the rules. Nil made it clear how effortlessly he could dodge her without even looking. How is he doing that?

As he made his way around the bend, I saw him more straight on. Ah. His eyes were absolutely ignited with . The creepy sensation from earlier came back. It is his . That also explained the from earlier. It was something to do with his . No wonder we didn’t recognize it. Orga increased the speed of her assault, but to Nil, it didn’t matter. He got confident enough to actually land on the ground for a few seconds, which only angered Orga more. She used to try and make a cage around him, but he behind her running away from her. Her face looked like she was ready to explode.

That explains why Nil wanted to play the ‘game’, he wanted to grasp that feeling again. Poam told me in my head.

He has definitely got the grasp of it now, look at how effortlessly he is dodging her. I replied, admiring the work of my nephew.

There is no way he is going to be able to maintain this. Even if Lux is using the strain and is still there. One of the two of them are going to tire and then that’s game, unless they last long enough. Poam stated with a little excitement in her voice.

I checked the timer, Nil and Lux had to last another two and a half minutes. I then felt a chill on my spine, turning to see Emperor Azzeck standing next to me. He calmly put his hand on my and Nox’s shoulder with a dark, evil smile.

“Would someone please explain why a fox Beastkin is chasing my son and his and nothing is being done about it?” he asked politely, but his tone turned my spine to ice.

“Brother, she is a candidate to be Lux’s teacher. Nil insisted they play this game. We agreed, and in the rules severely harming Nil is strictly forbidden.” Nox explained as Nil flawlessly back into the air and continued running.

“. So mother, you have been giving my son lessons as well? How do you think Senna would react if she saw this sight right now?” Azzeck grilled, his tone being quite accusatory.

“Do not take that tone with me; I am still your mother. And I am sure she would not approve, which is why I had your father make sure she did not come near. I did not expect you to stop by though.” Poam retorted with a scowl.

“So, how is my son dodging all those attacks? Who is he playing this so-called game with? And how is his not depleting?” Azzeck asked with an excited smile.

“She is an old colleague from the Institution of Mages of mine named Orga Fayle who is quite adept at . My best guess is he figured out something with his as to how he is dodging those attacks without looking. As for his , Lux is currently using to refill his . So once one of them tires out it is game over for them.” I informed him.

The four of us watched on as Orga tried her hardest to catch Nil under the restrictions. Nothing she threw at him worked; not a single bluff, feint, stacking attacks, or preemptive move came close to touching him. Nil successfully foresaw whatever Orga tried; this ability was honestly revolting. With the most and a few solid it allowed him to completely dodge an opponent who should have easily been able to catch him by now. I shuddered to think what Nil would be able to do with this in the future. Lux was no slouch either, from observation or guess quickly learned whatever she was taught, and even figured out a new on her own. was not easy, and took practice, but here she was using a rudimentary version of it despite never being taught how. The timer dinged, making a loud sound throughout the courtyard. Orga stopped in an instant, looking crushed, defeated, and despairing as Nil and Lux began cheering. They ran towards us, and when they saw his father stopped cold, looking at each other with a what do we do? expression. Azzeck motioned Nil and Lux to come to him. They cautiously came in, clearly expecting a lecture.

“That was amazing you two!” Azzeck praised as he lifted them up into the air excitedly.

“That was truly unbelievable. And to think you thought Nil could distract me.” an ice-cold voice snarled from behind us.