The Graceful Cut

The Guildmaster made tea at his leisurely pace and gave one to Lorn.

"Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 so fast," he said.

"Thank you. But it's really not something to be proud of."

Lucas shrugged silently at the remark.

"Your skills changed quite drastically these past two weeks," he continued. "Can I see your status?"

"Sure."

Lorn felt Lucas's spirit wrapping around his head, before feeling something pervasive shifting through his head. Shaking off the feeling, he looked at his own status as well.

[Name: Lorn Ashin]

[Title: N/A]

[Spirit Partner - Sybil Plath (E)]

[Spirit (E): 1896 + 672]

[Strength: 8.4]

[Dexterity: 7.8]

[Stamina: 12.4 + 10]

[Agility: 8]

[Intelligence: 15.76]

[Willpower: 72.4 + 5]

[Sense: 32.4 + 15]

[Faith: 7.8 + 5]

[Charisma: 21.6 + 5]

[Boon: Enhancement; Manipulation; Specialization]

[Innate skills (generalized): Nimble hands Lv.6; Flexible Body Lv.5; and 25 others.]

[Enchantment Skills: Strengthening Lv.9 (STR, AGI); Rejuvenation Lv.5(STA); Acrobatic Sense Lv.6 (DEX); Phylactery of Nature Lv.5 (WIL, STA); Draconic Vitality Lv.3(STR, STA)]

[Manipulation Skills: Point of Gravity Lv.7 (WIL); Gravitational Pull Lv.4 (WIL); Gravitational Push Lv.6 (WIL) Spirit Absorbing Fog Lv.4 (WIL, SEN); Fog Creation Lv.4(WIL); Hub of Consciousness Lv.6 (WIL, INT); Mental Inducement Lv.7 (WIL, INT); Motor-skill Manipulation Lv.5 (WIL, SEN); Spirit Burst Lv.5 (WIL)]

[Specialization Skills: Spirit Visualization Lv.5 (SEN); Focused Spirit Meditation Lv.8 (WIL); Probability Alteration Lv.3 (FAI); Twin Prosperity Lv.5 (SEN); Visions and Whispers Lv.6 (SEN, WIL); Imperceptible Spirit Lv.6. (SEN); Halo of the Leader Lv.5 (CHA)]

[Temporary Skills: Graceful Cuts Lv.5 (SEN, CHA); Four-Strike Counter Lv.1 (WIL, CHA); Seizure of a Moment Lv.2 (WIL, CHA)

Lorn was proud of his Status screen. It felt good to look at.

He was first concerned about his soaring Willpower stat, but he stopped acting stupid. His stat reaching the heavens was a good thing. And with the Ring of Rhy'kan's passive effect, Lorn's lowermost stats weren't really being left behind either. 0.2 points wasn't much, but it was still something.

If it wasn't for that, his Dexterity and Agility would still be hovering around 3 or 4 points. And his Faith stat would still probably be zero.

Overall, it was a great status screen. Lucas, too, seemed impressed by it. Even though he could only see the stats and not the skills and their levels, he could see how much effort Lorn put in these past couple weeks.

"It reminds me of my younger days," he said, smiling. "Back then, I was obsessed with power. I would seek out anything that might help me become just a tiny bit stronger. I barely did anything else. I was always called a lifeless tryhard." He smirked, looking at Lorn. "Looking at your status screen, I'm feeling something similar."

"I didn't know you could make jokes."

"Sadly for you, it isn't a joke. Mm… But I wonder… what do you do back in your own world?"

"Sorry?"

"On Earth, what do you do?" Lucas sat down, sipping his tea. "Here, you're the embodiment of hard work and efficiency. But I'm curious what you do back there."

"I rest and enjoy myself," Lorn replied. "Eat well, watch some movies maybe, play games, and go meet my girlfriend."

"Nothing else?"

"Nope. There's no reason to. In a sense, the One World is my job. I can try my best here and take a proper break back there."

"…"

Lucas seemed amused by the idea.

"What?"

"Nothing. Since you're so excited to be a tryhard here, let's start our session. Your task will be the same as last week. Are you ready?"

Lucas got up and so did Lorn.

The two walked to their respective spots, and Lorn prepared his skills. He activated his three base skills and while making his spirit imperceptible; he prepared a certain skill.

"Let's begin."

With Lucas's declaration, Lorn immediately used Graceful Cuts. He held the sword high and slowly performed a downward slash.

It took Lucas 0.5 seconds to understand what Lorn was trying to do. At the 1 second mark, he was already controlling his soul to use a skill.

Lorn wondered what it would be. Recognizing the soul's movement, his face turned into a grimace. The memories of his suffering under Lucas's torture were coming back to him. His legs suddenly turned wobbly, but he managed to keep himself in check.

At the 2 second mark, Lorn felt Lucas's skill on his left shoulder. Relentlessly, his brain pulsed with unbearable pain, spreading panic in his mind.

'Your hand's gone! Your hand's been cut off!' all the nerves in his body were seemingly shouting.

Lorn induced Tranquility on himself to calm himself down. He made sure to continue his Cut, and he made sure to keep his eye on his enemy.

At the 3 second mark, a part of Lucas's soul detached from the main body in the shape of a tentacle and headed towards Lorn.

Lorn responded by spreading his own soul all over the arena. The entirety of the space between the two fighters was covered by a gaseous substance. Lorn then controlled it all to conscript the tentacle approaching him.

This wasn't going to stop the tentacle, but it was going to slow it down by a second. Usually, it only took it two seconds to reach Lorn at this distance, but with the gas blocking its way, it took three.

And on the 6 second mark, the tentacle reached Lorn's left shoulder.

Here was the most dangerous part. Effect and Cause took anywhere from two to four seconds to materialize a Cause for whatever Lorn was sensing.

Lorn used Seizure of a Moment.

Time slowed down, stretching one second to two minutes. With this, the next five seconds will last ten minutes in Lorn's head. The first four minutes, Lorn spent preparing to induce Lapse on Lucas with almost all his remaining spirit.

Although his brain was almost two hundred times faster than reality, his spirit was that much slower in its movements. Add the fact that he was feeling the pain of dismemberment on his left shoulder, the process was a new level of hell he had to suffer through.

He felt like crying, knowing that only two seconds passed in reality.

But finally, the skill was ready. Lorn held onto it tightly, ready to release it at will in a millisecond. But he couldn't do it yet. He needed to save as much time as possible. He looked down and stared at his shoulder, waiting for the Cause.

At 6 minutes 22 seconds out of the 10 minutes that Seizure of the Moment provided him, Lorn saw a thin cut materializing around his shoulder.

Effect and Cause was taking effect.

Lorn immediately used the Mental Inducement he's been holding onto for the past two minutes. He gambled his all into this skill. He shoved unit of spirit he had left and with his spirit filling the entire space between him and Lucas; it had triple the chance of working.

Lorn didn't know how big Lucas's Willpower stat was, but if all this wasn't enough to for his Mental Inducement to work, there was nothing Lorn could do.

The shallow cut on his shoulder quickly became deeper and deeper. The mysterious powers of Effect and Cause were making sure that there was a reason Lorn felt like his arm was missing.

But just as the cut reached the halfway mark, it all abruptly stopped. The pain of dismemberment was gone as well, replaced by the pain of the deep gushing cut at his shoulders. Compared to the previous one, the second pain was almost liberating.

At the 9.5 second mark, Lorn managed to cancel Lucas's skill for the first time. Slowly, he directed his eyes at Lucas. Anticipation filled his head as he waited for his eyeballs to move and see Lucas.

The Guildmaster was stunned. A hazy look filled his eyes as he looked back at Lorn with confusion. The tentacle he had attached to Lorn was falling to the ground.

Lorn undid Seizure of the moment.

A second passed. And another. At the 11 second mark, Lucas regained his senses. At the 12 second mark, he seemed to finish assessing the situation. His soul performed a certain move, and the wilted tentacle reached for Lorn again, regaining its vigor.

At the 13.2 second mark, just as the tentacle reached Lorn once again, he felt the world disappearing from his senses. No pain coming from his shoulders, no sounds coming from the city, no sense of his own and Lucas's soul, no blessing of vision that he sometimes feared to lose, and no clothes sticking to his body.

It was weird. He didn't mind losing his hearing and smelling and even his sight, but losing his sense of touch… that really fucked him up.

We don't really notice it in our every day, but we're constantly in contact with something. The clothes we wear, the sweat on our skins… and even if you were standing naked after a shower, your feet still feel the cold air on your skin and the ground beneath your feet.

Losing all that so abruptly… it messed with something deep inside his head.

But that wasn't all. Lucas's spell wasn't something so shallow. It made sure that Lorn really, truly didn't feel anything.

The sense of his own body was ripped away from him as well. In this moment, he had no limbs, he had no organs, he had no bones, and he had no blood. It was a miracle that Lorn could have thoughts with a brain that wasn't there.

But this wasn't Lorn's first time going through this. Even if he wasn't feeling anything, the world was still continuing around him. He strengthened his grip on the Tantou he couldn't feel and continued his downward slash using a hand he couldn't sense.

In two more seconds, at the 15.2 second mark, Lucas's Effect and Cause would create a reason for Lorn not being able to sense anything. Perhaps he'll be crippled for life, the only choice left being his death.

And it was still five more seconds left until Graceful Cut's required 20 seconds…

At least, that's what Lucas should be thinking.

Lorn's senses came back to him in a tidal wave. His whole body felt dry and withered, an indication that he was suffering from spirit exhaustion.

He looked at Lucas. His priest's clothes were torn through, and Lorn could see a deep, gigantic cut etched onto his chest. The next second, countless tiny cuts appeared all over his body and started gushing out blood.