Elizabeth’s gaze sharpened as she spoke again, her voice lowering just enough to carry weight while still sounding calm, "I sensed a gaze that was lingering on me for the whole duration that I spoke in the stadium, at first I was confused since everyone was watching me through the live stream, but there was one gaze that felt different, it was direct and steady, and it was coming from this shop itself, that is why I thought you were inviting me for a talk. Was it not you, Mr. Shopkeeper....?"
The silence that followed was eerie.
The surroundings fell into a quiet stillness, the air turning heavy as if waiting for an answer, with only the faint ticking of the clock echoing softly through the four walls, filling the space between them.
"Miss Elizabeth, you must have some sort of misunderstanding because—"
Before Ash could even finish his words, his [Predatory Senses] and [Hyper Intuition] suddenly flared without any warning, the shift so abrupt that even his thoughts tightened for a fraction of a moment.
His iris constricted instantly, and everything around him slowed down, the air turning dense, the faint movements in the room stretching as if time itself had been dragged apart.
What a crazy woman!!!
Ash thought as he saw Elizabeth already in mid air, her hands pressing against the counter with perfect control as her body twisted, her leg cutting through space with sharp precision, the force behind it not hidden at all, the distance between her strike and his head collapsing in an instant.
For a split second, Ash hesitated.
Should he move, or should he not?
What if she is just testing me and stops right before hitting me?
The thought flashed through his mind, followed by several others, each trying to read her intent, yet none of them held certainty.
But beneath all of that, a single arrogant and prideful thought arose...
Why should I even hide? Was I not thinking of a way to get close to her...? This works in my favor...
That single thought erased all hesitation.
And thus, he acted.
Energy surged through his limbs like a flood breaking its restraint, his Will power rising along with it, reinforcing his palm as his hands shot forward with blinding speed to meet her incoming kick, his movement precise and controlled, all of it happening within that same stretched moment where time itself felt slowed.
But just as his palm and her strike were about to meet, something happened that Ash had never witnessed before.
The moment their attacks came close, they did not even touch.
A violent pressure erupted between them.
-BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The air itself shattered with a deafening roar as an invisible force exploded outward, the counter beneath them shuddering like it was going to break but it held, thin fractures of space spread like a web as the space between his palm and her kick trembled violently.
-SHIRRRRNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A sharp ringing sound pierced through the air as their condensed Will collided without contact, the pressure so intense that the space between them warped slightly, as if unable to withstand the clash.
-CRRRRRAAACCCKKKKLLLLLLLIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arcs of raw energy crackled wildly between them, snapping and flashing like amber and golden colored lightning caught in a confined space, neither side giving way as the invisible clash continued for that brief yet stretched moment.
The floor beneath Ash feet trembled, the air pushed outward in waves, and the entire shop seemed to vibrate under the pressure of that single exchange. Yet not a single thing inside the shop broke or cracked.
Crazy!! What the hell is happening now...??!!! Why did my attempt to just stop her attack become a direct confrontation..??!!!
The pressure did not stop there, instead it pressed deeper into him, and Ash felt a sudden strain run through his arm, spreading throughout his whole body, and the very next second something inside him cracked under that force, a dull and heavy pain spreading through his muscles and bones as if his entire frame was being compressed from within.
For the first time since his body had been reforged, he felt it clearly.
He was injured.
And even as his body tried to resist, it was being pushed to its limits in a way he had not experienced before, the strain not coming from outside alone but seeping into him in a way that made it impossible to ignore.
The sensation was sharp but short, because almost instantly the Rune of Life flared up along with his various passive abilities, restoring what had been damaged, forcing torn muscles and strained fibers back into place, pulling his body back to normal as if nothing had happened, yet the feeling of that impact still lingered faintly in his mind, refusing to fade completely.
That was Will Power that injured me wasn’t it.?!!
Ash’s eyes narrowed slightly as that realization settled in, but he did not dwell on it as the timing was not right, because the pressure was not weakening and his body was still bearing an enormous amount of strain and damage, and only he knew the reason why he had not yet been flung backwards under that force.
If Snow had not brought that Rune to me...my shop would have certainly been destroyed by this insane pressure.....
Ash thanked Snow in his heart, a brief but genuine thought passing through his mind even in this moment, but at the same time he knew clearly that he was losing, because the pressure from Elizabeth was continuously increasing, while from his end it was not rising at the same rate due to the difference in their strength.
As if I will back down now!!!
His Will power surged to its limits, condensing into his palm as his control deepened, and at the same time, energy surged again from his heart, flowing back into his limbs in a steady and forceful stream, reinforcing his strike as he pushed forward against that resistance with even greater intensity.
The pressure rose instantly.
The space between them distorted more.
The crackling sound grew sharper as arcs of energy flickered wildly in that narrow gap, each passing moment feeling heavier than the last as if even the air between them was being torn apart under that force.
Ash lifted his gaze.
And looked directly into her eyes.
And what he saw made his focus sharpen even further.
Elizabeth’s expression had completely changed, her eyes wide open, her pupils trembling slightly as they remained locked onto him, and even her lips had parted without control, as if her mind had not yet caught up to what she was witnessing.
There was no calm left in her face.
There was no control.
Only pure disbelief.
The kind that appears when something stands in front of you that shatters your understanding of the world, something that does not fit into anything you knew or expected.
And even as that disbelief showed clearly on her face, her power did not weaken, because Ash could feel it just as clearly as his own.
She was increasing her strength.
"Why are you creating a scene in my shop, Miss Elizabeth?? Is this how the Transcendent Circle behaves, attacking anyone on sight without any consideration of the surroundings, or is this simply how you choose to test people now..?? What exactly makes you different from a group of lunatics..??"
Ash’s words echoed like thunder through the shop, his voice deep and cold, carrying a sharp weight that stood in complete contrast to the easy and friendly tone he had used just moments ago, making the shift feel even more striking as it filled the space between them.
Elizabeth’s pupils quivered slightly as those words reached her, the faint tremble clear for that brief moment, but that very reaction pulled her out of her disbelief, and in the next instant, with a sudden burst of controlled power, she flipped backward in mid air and landed lightly on the ground with perfect balance.
And just like that, the pressure disappeared.
The invisible clash vanished.
Even the thin fractures in space that had formed between them faded away as if they had never existed at all.
The surroundings fell into silence once again.
"So much for being a normal shopkeeper, huh!!"
Elizabeth mocked his earlier words and behavior, her tone steady on the surface, but inwardly her thoughts were far from calm, because everything she had just witnessed refused to settle properly in her mind.
How did my probing turned into the Clash of Wills?? And How the hell did he use his Will power even without awakening his Soul Flame? How can that be even possible? His Will Power is only slightly more than a normal person, but how was he able to contend with my Will Power???
This does not make any sense, although I only used less than 5% of my full power, but a normal person cannot withstand even that!!!!
With her ability at the Celestial rank, a realm that stood beyond the God rank, even a fraction of her strength was not something to be taken lightly, because after a certain point, the difference between realms became so vast that it could no longer be measured in simple terms.
And Elizabeth was not wrong to be shocked.
Although Ash’s own abilities had played a role in allowing him to stand against her, the most crucial factor behind that moment was something else entirely.
It was the passive ability of the last rune that was present in Akumia that Snow had brought for him.
****