Chapter 21 – Reflection vs Redirection

THE LIVING LABYRINTH

Two figures stood in sharp contrast.

Velka Sahrin. Composed. Unflinching.

And someone else — cloaked in wear and dust.

A boy, stance uneven,

Seren Vael.

The display name hovered beside him on the screen, but even then, most spectators didn't recognize it.

"Who's he supposed to be?"

"Looks half-dead already."

"No faction's gonna bother. She's just cleaning up."

"Poor kid… of all people he encountered her"

The image jolted as the enchanted feed paused briefly from sheer light distortion.

A moment frozen in tension.

Velka's spear — blunt-first — hovered inches from Seren's spine.

"That was fast. Did he even see her?"

"Is it over already?"

And then—

He moved.

A CRRRRAAAKKK—

His foot slammed into the stone.

And the world around them broke.

A deafening crack-crack-CRUMBLE echoed out from beneath his boots. Stone ruptured. Dust exploded outward. The ground beneath them lifted, fractured like a jagged blossom — a full 7-meter radius rising in broken slabs.

The floor lifted in jagged shards, some small, some the size of doors. A wave of pressure knocked loose debris across the path.

Velka's strike veered wide as her footing buckled — legs sliding on unstable terrain.

"Ah—!"

She clicked her tongue, trying to balance — too late.

Seren eyes locked onto hers—calm, resolute.

"You were right about one thing… I'm not fast."

"WHAT?!"

Gasps echoed through the crowd.

"That's… him?! That scrawny guy?"

"No way. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week!"

"I thought he was limping earlier."

Did he blow up the floor?!"

Velka flinched — her footing thrown. She backstepped, bracing with her spear against the surge.

Chunks of the floor hovered, then spun.

Seren continued his words,

"It's not about being fast."

"It's about knowing when to move."

Faint pulses of kinetic charge glowed around each one — like suspended comets waiting for a trajectory.

The wind picked up, caught in the shifting resonance storm.

The lifted stones, now hovering midair in shards and slabs, glowed faintly.

Each one pulsed with faint kinetic charge,

Then—

BANG — a shard zipped sideways across the corridor, bouncing off a wall like a wild ricochet.

FSSSHK — another curved low, dragging sparks across the floor.

CRACK — a spinning rock flew toward the far arch, slicing through a trap glyph and detonating it early.

The entire corridor — 13 meters wide, long as a bridge path — became a storm of erratic motion.

Dozens of stones floated, hovering midair, humming with faint kinetic energy.

She twisted — fast, almost inhuman — but not fast enough.

A hiss of air. A sharp line of red.

One shard sliced just past her upper arm — a narrow cut along the tricep.

She landed, stumbled once, then steadied — hand briefly pressing to her sleeve.

Fingers came back slick. Red.

A heartbeat of stillness.

Velka low, more to herself, "…You actually drew blood."

"Wait—he did that?" someone gasped.

"She's bleeding—did that thing hit her?"

"No way… that little guy hurt Velka?"

The floating rocks launched — not randomly, but like darts guided by invisible lines of force. Not powerful enough to shatter barriers, but controlled, quick,

"He—he filled the rocks—he charged them?!"

One younger viewer gasped, face almost pressed to the viewing glass.

"Wait—who is this guy again?"

And Then moment Velka moved, the world seemed to split.

"So you do bite back."

Seren one hand braced on the floor,

"Only when someone swings first."

Three silhouettes shimmered forward — mirror-like doubles of her dashing through the corridor from three different angles. Each one carried that same quiet intensity. Each one held a spear.

Seren narrowed his eyes.

They looked like her. Moved like her.

But—

He didn't feel anything.

There was no shift in pressure. No sound of breath. No resistance in the air. His mind flickered with instinct — not calculation, just a sharpened gut response.

No weight. No presence. No mass.

They were made of light.

And light couldn't stab him.

His foot scraped slightly along the stone, just enough to angle his posture. He didn't swing. Didn't move. Just turned.

His gaze flicked behind him.

And there she was.

Velka Sahrin — the real one — stepped from the light like it had been holding her place. Her form sharpened into existence from thin gleam alone.

She didn't attack.

She just blinked once and stepped back.

"...Huh," she said softly. "You noticed."

"You saw through the clones. Not many do."

Seren didn't answer.

She retreated three long paces.

The clones behind him shattered into specks of brightness and were gone.

Then — movement.

No warning.

Light surged.

Velka lunged forward, straight and sudden, her spear held reverse — not to kill, but to strike something delicate.

The world blurred.

Seren barely reacted in time. His heel turned, knee locking down. A warm line cut across his face just beneath the lip. Blood didn't spill — but the sting was real.

He blinked.

She was gone.

Appeared again — at the opposite edge of the corridor. A full thirty meters away.

A pause.

She stood with a hand on her hip, exhaled once.

"That one wasn't ready," she muttered. "Still drifts."

Her fingers flexed on her spear shaft.

"Let's try again."

She vanished once more — and this time, her dash cracked through the corridor like lightning.

CRACK—

She reappeared near Seren.

Too fast.

He couldn't dodge. He couldn't even raise his arms in time.

But—

Her spear broke.

The shaft splintered mid-lunge, as if her momentum outpaced the weapon's structure. The edge never touched him.

He wiped the stinging spot beneath his eye with two fingers, then looked at her, unimpressed.

His voice was low. Dry.

"…Are you serious?"

His eye narrowed slightly.

"You're testing moves on me?"

"What am I, a practice dummy?"

Velka offered a shrug — not smug, just honest.

"You were convenient."

Seren let out a short breath.

"Glad I could help with your warm-up."

A faint glint of frustration passed her face.

"I said I was testing," she muttered again, lowering the broken haft. "I do have actual moves."

She didn't wait.

With her off-hand, she plucked a small stone from the ground and tossed it gently.

Seren's eye tracked it.

The rock bounced.

Then vanished.

Then appeared near the ceiling.

Then to the far left wall.

Then again behind him.

The crowd gasped as it blinked between corners like it was falling through portals.

But Seren watched it carefully.

No portals.

Just angles.

Just reflections. However not a single hit him, just barely.

Seren eye twitch, watching,

"she's bending it in angles like bouncing light, while still not reducing it's speed"

He exhales once, steady.

"You're copying me."

she answer. "It seemed like quite useful move."

She stepped again into the light and disappeared.

Seren tensed. — genuinely.

His boots planted firmly. Knees loose. Shoulders relaxed. The sting beneath his lip still itched.

Above, the audience in the VIP observation deck whispered.

"Is she's just playing with him?"

"That last move — it shaved air off his spine."

"Poor guy. He looks like he doesn't even know what's happening."

"He dodged that, though. Did you see that? He turned before she even appeared."

But most of the comments were quiet.

Pity. Amusement. Dismissal.

The only one watching from the faction was Naeren Solwyn, Vice Leader of Brindlewyn — arms folded, gaze sharp, saying nothing.

Back in the maze—

Velka's voice echoed.

"You're still holding up. That's rare. Let's see how long it lasts."

Seren didn't reply again.

He reached down and placed his hand on the ground.

Velka's movements changed.

Gone were the light-cloaked illusions, the vanishing spears, the glimmering misdirections.

She stepped forward—hands open, posture low.

No weapon.

Just fists.

Seren didn't even get time to brace. A blur lashed out toward his ribs.

Whump.

He twisted sideways, air rushing past his side as her strike grazed cloth — not skin. Another blow came for his shoulder. He blocked, barely.

Her palms were sharp. Clean. Not brutish, not wild — disciplined. Each one aimed to redirect, disarm, disable.

Seren jumped back. Eyes sharp now.

Hand-to-hand?

"No light tricks now. Let's see what your bones are made of."

Then it clicked. No light distortion.

This was pure combat.

No illusions. No tricks. Just speed.

Audience Murmurs – Upper Stands

"She's not even using her affinity now?"

"Why would she? Look at that footwork. Who taught her that?"

Another jab came — faint. He caught it with his forearm.

But the second one was real.

Thwack.

Right into his sternum.

Seren's boots skidded backwards. Not far, but enough.

Alright then, he thought.

He dipped low, redirection lines already gathering in his calves. His eyes met hers for half a second.

Then—

Spring Redirection: Highkick

He leapt. Body twisting, one leg arching overhead.

The kick came down in a sharp arc — not aiming for her, but for the ground in front of her.

Velka's wrist snapped up to block—

—but her body shifted away just in time, instincts flaring.

BOOM.

The moment Seren's heel hit the ground, a blast wave cracked outward in a perfect ripple. The stone fractured. Pebbles jumped. A shockline hissed through the dust as a shallow crater formed between them.

Velka stood three steps back now, hand still raised, eyes flickering.

If she had blocked that, her bones would've groaned under the force.

She blinked—

And smiled.

Not wide. Not taunting.

Genuinely.

A smile like someone who just discovered something fun.

VIP Gallery – Whisper Screens

"Wait… did he just—?"

"That boy nearly broke her wrist. I saw her flinch."

"She dodged it, sure. But that wasn't luck. He planned the ground hit."

"Seren, was it? He's not as helpless as he looked before."

Velka lowered her stance.

No one had expected him to last this long.

And certainly not to fight back.

But now?

Now gasps echoed through the scrying crowd like a ripple through water.

The screen showed dust and blur and motion — two shadows weaving across stone like dueling storms. The light blurred around one. The stone cracked beneath the other.

"He's… actually fighting her?"

"That's that Dar'mora girl! I saw her in past, Velka! She took down fifteen in under three minutes—"

"And he's holding his own?!"

Inside the Maze –

The ground cracked beneath their feet.

Seren slid sideways, redirecting energy through the heel of his boot and launching into a vaulting spin-kick, angled toward her shoulder.

Velka's eyes shimmered gold. She raised her arm—not to block, but to counter.

Light twisted around her forearm.

Lumen Guard — a focusing technique. Her affinity surged, reinforcing muscle and bone alike, adding force behind her strike and resilience to absorb kinetic damage.

She struck upward, palm-first — the fingers laced with light, her wrist snapping like a whip.

Seren's heel and her palm collided mid-air.

The sound wasn't sharp. It was dense.

BOOM!

"That sound—did they hit each other?!"

"He matched her. He matched her!"

"That shockwave—did you see the floor?!"

Stone shattered. A full-blast shockwave rippled outward in a circle — a visible wave of force that cracked tiles and kicked up fractured stone between them.

Both were flung backwards — Seren skidding, one hand pressed to the ground to stop his momentum. Velka, heels dragging across stone, landed on one foot and crouched, the other hand bracing her fall.

A pause.

Dust drifted in the air.

Their eyes locked again.

Then—

WHIRRRRRRR—

The maze groaned.

Shifted like a beast turning in its sleep.

A high-pitched grind echoed through the chamber. The maze towering walls groaned like ancient tectonic plates, shifting with mechanical weight.

A wall slammed down between them.

No warning. No countdown. Just separation.

Coliseum – Audience

"NO WAY—"

"WHAT?! The maze split them apart?!"

"They were just about to—he had her on the backfoot!"

"Did you see that impact?! That wasn't luck. That was power meeting precision!"

"Who the hell is that guy?!"

Inside the Maze – Velka's Side

Silence.

Velka blinked once, chest rising softly from exertion.

The light in her arms faded. Her reinforced wrist trembled slightly — not broken, but tested. She looked at it. Then at the wall.

Still no sound from the other side.

She stepped forward.

Then slammed her hand against the new wall.

Crack.

A spiderweb of fractures split out from the point of impact.

She hit it again.

Velka stood still for a moment. Her fingers flexed at her side, faint gold still glowing along her knuckles.

Then—

Her eyes narrowed.

"…No."

She stepped forward and slammed her fist into the wall.

CRACK—!

Stone splintered like glass struck with a hammer.

Again.

BOOM.

She stared at it, breath ragged—not from exhaustion… but from anger.

"Of all times," she muttered. Her voice trembled with a strange mix of disappointment and agitation. "Now?"

She turned sharply, pacing once. Her spear flickered in and out of form beside her — not fully summoned, just ready.

A twitch of her eye.

A flash of gold in her fingertips.

"I was finally enjoying it."

She said it softly.

But the look in her eyes?

Was not soft.

The fight had started as one-sided.

Then it shifted.

And now—the entire crowd held its breath.

Dust blasted outward. Stone split. Two figures launched backward, both landing hard—neither down.

Seren's heel had met her palm. And held.

A few seconds ago, they'd all assumed the boy was about to get wiped from the board.

Now?

VIP Observer, factions leader deck - Naeren Solwyn, the vice leader of Brindlewyn leaned forward slightly, interested

"…He cracked her defense."

A silence followed.