The training ground fell completely silent, as if the ancient stones themselves were holding their breath. Nicholas adjusted his stance, dropping lower until his crystal sword nearly touched the ground. Then light blue aura began flowing along the blade's length like liquid electricity.

Klaus felt a flicker of disappointment. "Swordmaster level? I was hoping for something more—"

"Don't look disappointed," Nicholas interrupted with a knowing smile. "I'm just getting started."

The aura around his sword suddenly exploded outward, covering his entire body in crackling energy. But instead of stabilizing, it pulsed—surging out from his core then snapping back like a cosmic heartbeat.

Zoom... zoom... zoom...

Each pulse grew stronger, the sound echoing off the reinforced walls with increasing intensity. The light show was impressive, but Klaus had seen plenty of enhanced aura techniques during his time with the White Lion.

Then Nicholas spoke two words that changed everything.

"Lightning God Style."

Lightning Step.

ZAP!

Nicholas vanished, leaving behind an afterimage that looked like a lightning bolt frozen in time. Klaus felt displacement of air behind him and casually sidestepped as Nicholas materialized, crystal sword thrusting toward where Klaus's back had been a split second before.

Klaus turned to face his opponent with that same disappointed expression. "Really? Is speed your only—"

ZAP!

Nicholas disappeared again, reappearing behind Klaus with a horizontal slash that should have taken his head clean off. Klaus tilted back just enough to let the blade whistle past his nose, his enhanced reflexes making the lightning-fast attack seem almost leisurely.

For the next few seconds, Nicholas became a strobing nightmare of speed and steel. He appeared and vanished in rapid succession—behind Klaus, to his left, above him, striking from impossible angles with precision that spoke to supernatural enhancement. Each time, Klaus avoided the attacks with minimal movement, like someone casually swatting away particularly persistent flies.

On the eleventh strike, Nicholas materialized above Klaus's head, both hands gripping his sword for a devastating downward slash charged with crackling aura. But instead of completing the attack, he vanished mid-swing and reappeared directly in front of Klaus.

With explosive force, Nicholas drove his sword into the stone floor.

"Lightning God Style: Eruption!"

The training ground became a war zone. Lightning erupted from the point of impact like a volcanic explosion, white-hot energy racing outward in all directions. The ancient stones screamed under the assault as electricity turned the air itself into a weapon.

When the dust cleared, Klaus stood twenty feet away, completely untouched. He hadn't even bothered to brush debris from his clothes.

Nicholas emerged from the smoke and charged again, his crystal sword now wreathed in pure lightning. The weapon hummed with deadly intent as he brought it down in a strike that could have split mountains.

Klaus caught the blade between two fingers.

"Is that really all you've got?" Klaus asked, his tone carrying the kind of disappointment usually reserved for failed experiments.

Instead of frustration, Nicholas's smile widened. He vanished again, reappearing several steps away with the casual confidence of someone who had been deliberately holding back.

"Don't worry," Nicholas said, bouncing lightly on his feet like a boxer preparing for the real fight. "I was just warming up."

Nicholas settled into a new stance, his crystal sword held at the ready. "Let's increase the tempo a little."

"Lightning God Style: First Gate—Opening."

A sphere of brilliant energy materialized where Nicholas's mana core was located, pulsing with contained power that made the air itself seem thicker.

"Second Gate—Opening."

Another sphere appeared directly above the first, this one larger and more intense.

"Third Gate—Opening."

A third sphere joined the vertical formation, the combined energy beginning to create visible distortions in the space around Nicholas.

"Fourth Gate—Opening."

ZOOOOOM!

A massive wave of lightning energy exploded outward from Nicholas, making his entire body crackle like living electricity. His red hair floated in the energy field as jagged lines of power raced across his skin like luminous tattoos.

"Now let's warm up properly," Nicholas said, his voice carrying harmonics that spoke to power operating on entirely different scales.

He disappeared.

This time, when Nicholas reappeared in front of Klaus with a lightning-enhanced thrust, Klaus actually had to exert effort to parry the attack barehanded. The impact sent Nicholas sliding sideways, but before Klaus could capitalize on the opening, Nicholas vanished again.

Klaus spun and caught Nicholas's next attack—a vicious slash aimed at his back. But now Nicholas's speed had increased to the point where even Klaus's enhanced reflexes were being tested.

"Lightning God Style: Sword Stance, Second Move—Lightning Waterfall!"

SWAAANNNNG!

Instead of a single strike, Nicholas's sword became a cascade of lightning-infused slashes that fell like torrential rain. Klaus clenched his teeth and met the attack head-on, his enhanced fist smashing into the center of the lightning waterfall.

BOOM!

The collision created an explosion that shook the training ground's foundation. For the first time since the fight began, Klaus felt actual resistance against his enhanced strength.

What followed was a blur of motion that pushed even enhanced perception to its limits. Klaus and Nicholas moved like streaks of light, their clashes creating thunderous impacts that echoed off the reinforced walls.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the span of ten seconds, fist and sword met over a hundred times. Each collision sent shockwaves through the ancient stone as two forces that operated beyond normal physics tested each other's limits.

But Klaus still wore that dissatisfied expression. From his perspective, even Nicholas's enhanced speed appeared sluggish—impressive by normal standards, but hardly challenging for someone who had achieved the Singularity Principle.

BOOM!

Their final clash sent Nicholas skidding back twenty steps, his boots carving furrows in the stone floor. Instead of looking defeated, he straightened with anticipation that spoke to reserves still untapped.

"Good!" Nicholas called out, his voice carrying excitement rather than exhaustion. "Let's increase the tempo a bit more."

Nicholas raised his sword above his head, energy gathering around him like a storm preparing to break.

"Fifth Gate—Opening."

The sphere formation in his torso added another brilliant point of light.

"Sixth Gate—Opening."

"Seventh Gate—Opening."

Seven luminous spheres now formed a perfect vertical line from Nicholas's forehead to his stomach, each one pulsing with barely contained power. Then, impossibly, they began to merge.

The transformation was spectacular. Lightning didn't just crackle across Nicholas's skin—it became his skin, replacing flesh with pure electrical energy that turned him into living thunderbolt. The ground beneath his feet cracked and smoldered as power leaked from his enhanced form, and the very air around him seemed to catch fire with displaced energy.

This wasn't enhancement anymore. This was metamorphosis into something that transcended normal human limitations entirely.

For the first time since the fight began, Klaus felt his enhanced senses register genuine threat. The being standing across from him no longer resembled the curious young man who had asked probing questions over tea. This was a weapon forged across multiple lifetimes, refined through repeated death and rebirth into something capable of challenging even transcendent opponents.

A small smile finally appeared on Klaus's lips.

"Yeah," Klaus said, settling into a combat stance that acknowledged worthy opposition. "That's starting to look like a proper warm-up."