CHAPTER 95: REN VS LYRA! (2)

Lyra stepped into the chain’s path, but she stepped into it exactly when and where the weapon would be at its maximum extension, with minimal kinetic energy remaining.

Her crystal staff intercepted the chain at precisely the right angle to deflect rather than absorb the impact, while her body moved in perfect harmony with the weapon’s momentum to avoid injury.

The maneuver was so perfectly executed that it bordered on artistic brilliance, drawing thunderous gasps from the thousands of observers who could barely follow the combat’s incredible speed.

But Ren had been expecting something extraordinary. The moment Lyra committed to her deflection, he activated abilities he hadn’t yet revealed.

His Stage 1 umbral kinephantom panther rune activated with terrifying power. Momentum transfer engaged explosively!

All the kinetic energy from his kusarigama’s deflection didn’t dissipate, instead, it flowed into Ren’s body with crushing force, supercharging his next movement with accumulated energy.

Without having to gather momentum, he launched himself forward with velocity that defied normal physics. His enhanced speed turned him into a blur of motion that even Lyra’s Perfect Prediction struggled desperately to track.

But more crucially, he was weaving again with deadly intent. Another mind arrow was building with overwhelming power, but this time he was putting everything into it.

This was a second-layer mental weave with focused intent designed to overwhelm even enhanced cognitive defenses!

The moment the dazzling formation that signified the manipulation of the second layer of the loom appeared, the audience were both terrified and amazed. They almost couldn’t believe their eyes!

This was the second layer!

Lyra saw the attack coming through her prescient abilities, but Perfect Prediction also showed her a terrifying truth—she couldn’t dodge this combination.

The mind arrow would strike regardless of her physical position, and the mental damage would be severe enough to potentially cause unconsciousness.

Her only option was a desperate gambit that would require perfect execution and enormous risk.

She activated her Stage 2 rune with explosive determination.

Temporal Amplification surged through her magical systems like liquid fire, increasing the potency of all her time-based abilities by fifty percent. But more importantly, it allowed her to attempt something that should have been beyond her current capabilities.

"Temporal Shift, second layer," she called out with desperate intensity, pouring everything she had into the most dangerous time weave she knew.

The effect was localized temporal manipulation that briefly accelerated her personal timestream relative to the rest of reality.

But the weave fought viciously against her physical form, causing painful distortions as her body struggled to exist at a different temporal rate than the surrounding space.

For exactly two seconds of real time, Lyra existed in agonizing fast-forward, moving and thinking at rates that made the rest of the world appear frozen while her nervous system screamed in protest.

It essentially slowed down the time of the world, relative to her! This was both different and leagues above speeding up her time in relative to the world.

The mind arrow struck the space where she had been with devastating force, but Lyra was no longer occupying that temporal moment. She had shifted herself slightly forward in time, causing the attack to miss by existing in a different temporal frame.

But the technique came with enormous costs. The magical strain was tremendous, and maintaining temporal displacement while her body rejected the enhancement pushed her abilities to their absolute limits.

When she snapped back to normal temporal flow, she was already executing a complex multi-phase attack that Ren couldn’t have anticipated.

Three Temporal echoes (clones) attempted to manifest simultaneously, but the strain from her previous temporal shift meant the echoes were unstable and flickering. Only two managed to achieve partial solidity, and both were clearly struggling to maintain coherence.

The weakened echoes began weaving different attacks with imperfect coordination: one preparing a Light Lance, the other attempting a Blinding Flash, while the real Lyra desperately tried to maintain both constructs.

Ren found himself facing what appeared to be three opponents, but his enhanced perception could detect the instability in the temporal constructs.

His analytical mind raced through options with lightning speed.

The echoes were real enough to weave, but they were deteriorating rapidly. The attacks were coming from different vectors, but they all originated from the same increasingly exhausted source.

Most importantly, maintaining even two unstable temporal duplicates was draining Lyra’s mental sea reserves at an unsustainable rate.

Instead of trying to defend against all three attacks, Ren made a calculated decision that demonstrated why he had survived every previous challenge.

He targeted Lyra herself with ruthless precision.

While her temporal echoes prepared their attacks, Ren used his stage 2 Umbral Kinephantom Panther rune ability.

Instead of absorbing kinetic energy, he released an insane amount of momentum in a single explosive movement.

He didn’t attack where Lyra was—he attacked where she had to be.

His kusarigama struck toward the exact spot where the real Lyra would be standing when her temporal echoes expired and her consciousness returned fully to her primary body.

The prediction required understanding her magical limitations, her physical positioning requirements, and the temporal mechanics governing her failing echo creation.

Fiendish whirl!

Howllll!

The weapon arrived precisely as Lyra’s echoes collapsed and she materialized, completely drained from the temporal magic. She had no energy left to dodge or defend.

But instead of striking to injure, Ren demonstrated the control that separated elite combatants from simple brawlers.

The kusarigama’s weighted end stopped exactly one inch from her throat, close enough that she could feel the weapon’s heat but far enough away to avoid any actual harm.

"Yield," he said quietly, his voice carrying clearly across the suddenly silent arena.

Lyra looked down at the weapon positioned at her throat, then back at Ren’s eyes with grudging respect. Her mental reserves were completely exhausted, and his positioning made escape absolutely impossible.

More importantly, she recognized the precision and restraint he had demonstrated. The attack could have been lethal, but he had chosen to end the battle with a clear demonstration of victory rather than inflicting injury on someone he respected.

"I yield," she said with quiet dignity.

The arena erupted in thunderous applause as both combatants stepped back and bowed to each other with mutual respect.

They had demonstrated magical combat at its highest levels—a combination of raw power, tactical brilliance, and personal honor that elevated competition into art.

But as Ren walked back toward the candidate observation area, he was already analyzing the implications of what he had been forced to reveal.

His momentum creation ability was now known, his dual weaving capability had been observed, and his tactical approach to exploiting temporal magic weaknesses was documented.

The remaining candidates would have valuable intelligence about his capabilities, and he would need to evolve his approach for the battles yet to come.

The tournament was far from over, and each victory made the next challenge more dangerous than the last.

Still, he was determined to see it to the end!