The transformed Nicholas moved like liquid lightning, his crystalline sword tracing arcs of pure energy through the air. Each strike carried enough power to level buildings, yet Klaus found himself genuinely smiling for the first time since their sparring began.

Not because Nicholas posed a serious threat—from Klaus's enhanced perspective, even the lightning-wreathed figure moved in slow motion, each attack telegraphed seconds before execution. But the technique itself was flawless.

Klaus deflected a devastating overhead slash with his forearm, the impact creating a thunderclap that would have deafened normal humans. Nicholas flowed immediately into a lateral cut that should have been impossible to execute from his previous position, yet the movement looked natural as breathing.

"Much better," Klaus said, catching the blade between his fingers again. This time, lightning actually managed to sting his enhanced skin. "Your form is remarkable."

Nicholas didn't waste breath on conversation. He pulled back and launched into a combination that showcased years of refinement across multiple lifetimes. Each movement built upon the last, creating a sequence that eliminated wasted motion while maximizing destructive potential.

Klaus parried with increasing appreciation for his opponent's skill. The speed difference remained insurmountable—Klaus could have ended the fight at any moment—but watching Nicholas's technique was like observing a master craftsman at work. Every stance transition was perfect, every sword angle optimal for the intended strike.

"Lightning God Style: Third Form—Heaven's Judgment!"

Nicholas leaped skyward, his lightning-wreathed form rising nearly to the training ground's vaulted ceiling. His crystal sword gathered energy until it resembled a miniature star, then he plummeted downward with force that would have cratered normal stone.

Klaus met the attack head-on, his enhanced fist colliding with the blade in mid-air. The explosion of conflicting energies lit up the entire chamber, casting dancing shadows on walls that had witnessed centuries of similar clashes.

When the light faded, Klaus hovered in the air beside Nicholas, both of them floating through mechanisms that transcended normal physics. Nicholas's lightning aura had dimmed slightly from the exertion, but his expression remained focused and determined.

"Your endurance is impressive too," Klaus observed as they drifted back to the stone floor. "Most enhanced fighters would be exhausted by now."

Nicholas landed in a crouch, his sword held defensively as he analyzed Klaus's movements for any sign of fatigue. Finding none, he straightened with the patient resolve of someone accustomed to facing impossible odds.

"I've learned to pace myself," Nicholas replied, electricity still crackling across his transformed features. "When fighting gods, efficiency matters more than raw power."

The casual reference to fighting deities made Klaus pause. Either Nicholas possessed imagination that bordered on prophetic, or his mysterious past held experiences that defied rational explanation.

Nicholas attacked again, this time employing a fighting style that emphasized unpredictability over raw speed. He would vanish mid-strike, reappear at impossible angles, use the training ground's architecture to create leverage that shouldn't have been possible. Each technique spoke to combat experience that exceeded what any single lifetime should provide.

Klaus found himself impressed despite the vast power differential between them. Nicholas fought with the desperate creativity of someone who had faced superior opponents repeatedly, learning to compensate for disadvantages through pure skill and tactical innovation.

"Lightning God Style: Fifth Form—Chain Lightning Massacre!"

Nicholas's sword became the focal point for a technique that turned the entire training ground into a weapon. Lightning arced from his blade to the walls, then ricocheted back in patterns that created a cage of deadly energy around Klaus's position.

Klaus admired the tactical thinking—rather than relying on direct attacks that couldn't penetrate his defenses, Nicholas was attempting to overwhelm him through environmental manipulation that offered no escape routes.

Unfortunately for Nicholas, Klaus's enhanced capabilities included spatial awareness that allowed him to predict the lightning's trajectory with perfect accuracy. Klaus moved through the electrical storm like he was dancing, each step precisely calculated to avoid contact with energies that could have seriously injured even enhanced opponents.

"Clever," Klaus said as the lightning cage collapsed around empty air. "But you're still thinking in three dimensions."

Klaus demonstrated by stepping sideways through space itself, emerging behind Nicholas with displacement that suggested casual manipulation of fundamental physics. Nicholas spun to face him, but Klaus had already moved again, appearing at a different angle entirely.

"When you truly transcend normal limitations," Klaus continued, his voice seeming to come from multiple directions simultaneously, "concepts like positioning become suggestions rather than constraints."

Nicholas's response was immediate and telling—instead of trying to track Klaus's impossible movements, he closed his eyes and extended his enhanced senses outward. Lightning energy spread from his position like radar, mapping the training ground's dimensions while searching for Klaus's actual location.

"Interesting adaptation," Klaus said, materializing directly in front of Nicholas with applause that echoed off ancient stone. "You're learning to fight opponents who operate outside normal tactical frameworks."

Nicholas opened his eyes, and Klaus saw something new in their depths—not frustration or despair, but the cold calculation of someone revising strategy based on new information.

"I've had practice," Nicholas said simply.

The next exchange pushed both fighters to demonstrate capabilities they had been holding in reserve. Nicholas's lightning form began executing techniques that bordered on reality manipulation, his crystal sword creating effects that challenged Klaus's understanding of what enhanced human ability could accomplish.

Klaus responded by finally employing a fraction of his true speed, moving fast enough that even Nicholas's enhanced perception struggled to track his movements. Yet somehow, Nicholas adapted—his defensive patterns shifting to account for attacks that arrived faster than thought itself.

"How?" Klaus asked after a particularly impressive defensive sequence that should have been impossible to execute. "Your reaction time isn't fast enough to counter attacks at that speed."

Nicholas smiled through his lightning-wreathed features. "I'm not reacting to your attacks. I'm predicting them."

The answer revealed combat philosophy that transcended normal enhancement techniques. Nicholas wasn't trying to match Klaus's superior capabilities—he was attempting to outthink them, using experience and pattern recognition to compensate for insurmountable physical disadvantages.

Klaus felt genuine respect for his opponent's tactical approach. Most enhanced fighters relied on superior strength or speed to overwhelm opponents. Nicholas was demonstrating that intelligence applied correctly could challenge even transcendent power, at least temporarily.

But Klaus also recognized that Nicholas was approaching his limits. The lightning aura was flickering now, maintaining its intensity only through effort that spoke to reserves being rapidly depleted. Whatever enhancement techniques Nicholas employed, they demanded payment in stamina that even his impressive endurance couldn't sustain indefinitely.

Nicholas seemed to reach the same conclusion. He stepped back, his crystal sword held in guard position while his free hand moved to his chest in gesture that suggested preparation for desperate gambit.

"One more technique," Nicholas said, his voice carrying weight of decision that would determine the confrontation's outcome. "Something I've been saving for opponents who can't be defeated through conventional enhancement."

Klaus watched with interest as Nicholas's fingers traced pattern across his lightning-covered torso. What Klaus had initially assumed was decorative scarring revealed itself as something far more sophisticated—geometric designs that had been carved into Nicholas's flesh with precision that spoke to artistic skill combined with arcane knowledge.

The marks began to glow.

Not with Nicholas's familiar blue-white lightning, but with golden radiance that suggested energy drawn from entirely different source. The light spread outward from each carved symbol, creating networks of illumination that transformed Nicholas's body into living mandala of geometric power.

Klaus felt his enhanced senses register something that transcended normal magical enhancement. Whatever Nicholas was activating operated according to principles that predated current theoretical frameworks, techniques that belonged to traditions spanning multiple civilizations.

As the golden light reached critical intensity, Klaus spoke a single word that carried recognition earned through lifetimes of accumulated knowledge.

"Rune Arts."