Supreme Monarch

'What is the meaning of this?'

Tyler's mind almost went blank at this sudden realization that defiled everything he thought he knew about his ability.

How was it even possible? Well, to be honest, if he had actually thought about it seriously while considering every single possibility, he surely would've figured it out. It had always been weird how he could always use spells beyond their limits and any normal person would've made the simple connection especially when they had an ability that could do something similar.

However, ever since he woke up from that ridiculously long nap, he had immediately been thrown into the thick of things and always had something to worry about, never finding the time to actually sit down and think. Truth be told, it was a miracle he had gotten this far without getting himself killed or making a huge blunder that would bring down the wrath of the entire continent on him. He needed to be extra cautious no matter what.

Of course, he couldn't completely blame himself though, as he never knew his ability could affect his body at all. As far as he knew he had always only been able to use the ability on others and not himself. Moreover, being asleep for more than 1000 years had more than damaged his mana body by infusing him with mana but had also affected his mind.

Not only was he not able to fully control his emotions, but his thinking abilities also seems to be a little affected. Still, it seems the underground lake or whatever it was had done more to him than he thought and he needed to figure it out as soon as possible.

'I should make a note to visit that place and investigate soon.'

While Tyler felt perplexed about the situation that surrounded his ability. He didn't really have the time to think about that right now as Kal's weapon was only an inch away from Nadine's shoulder blades.

[Potential Nreak]

Since his ability was already active, he found it a lot harder to control it, and as he literally had no time to think about anything else. While his ability had never required much mana, to begin with, Tyler had never felt the man leave him whenever he would use the ability so he assumed the ability did not use any mana.

However, with his usual method of using the ability just by activating it gone, he had to think logically so he quickly stirred the little mana he could within such a short amount of time and aimed it at Nadine, hoping she would be able to avoid the incoming blade with her improved physique which would put her on an equal playing field with Kal.

However—

Nadine who was about to close her eyes out of fear from the incoming blade, suddenly paused as she felt a surge of warm yet chaotic energy invade and stir up her mana body for only a moment, and then— it shattered.

*Boom!

"Huh!"

The entire group of spectators who stood at one end of the hall to watch the match and had all flinched when they saw Kal's attack about to make contact due to them already being a part of Nadine's rapidly growing fan club, all suddenly had slacked jaws. What they had expected to see had failed to happen and what they saw shocked them to their cores as they all exclaimed in unison.

"Oh lord, what just happen."

"I have no clue."

"This is absurd isn't it."

"Damn, just what is this!"

The sight before them was indeed very strange as their vice guild leader, a full-fledged demon who was a freaking Tier 4 magic swordsman and had held the advantage during the entire fight while already having his opponent pinned down was now suddenly lying face down — on a crater that had just appeared on the ground—unconscious.

There was no way these men who had all sparred countless times with him and knew just how strong he was wouldn't be surprised. Hell, even Tyler had a dumbfounded expression on his face. He was quite lucky no one was staring in his direction and his hood covered the majority of his face.

That was a tier 4 magic swordsman they were talking about. That man could face a thousand, not a hundred thousand ordinary fighters and still come out unscathed. There was no reason why Nadine who was only at the peak stage of Tier 3 would be able to knock him out in a single blow.

Even if his ability had been a success, Nadine should only be at the peak of Tier 4 right now and while she would have the edge against someone still only at the basic level of Tier 4, there was no reason why she should be able to do that to Kal. Besides, like a magic swordsman, Kal's physiques was already at the peak stage of Tier 4 so something like this definitely shouldn't have happened.

while Tyler had not been using a 100% of his magic sense in order to use his ability, he has still seen what had happened with his enhanced vision.

•••••

Kal's two-handed long sword was just about to reach her skin when Nadine suddenly felt a huge burst of energy within her. The energy then had a ripple effect that instantly pushed her past her limit. The bottleneck she had always felt had suddenly been utterly destroyed and power she had never felt before flowed through her.

Everything instantly felt calm and the attack that was aimed at her now suddenly seemed incredibly slow compared to what it had been. Well, no, it wasn't slow at all, in fact, it should be moving at an even greater speed than before but she had just suddenly become faster. Fast enough that the man before her now appeared to be moving in slow motion.

With minimal movements, she avoided the attack like it was nothing. Her body seem to be in a state where she had absolute control over every fiber of her muscles, it was as though her body control had suddenly reached its peak. If she tried a little she could sense foreign mana that surged inside her mana body giving her strength beyond her wildest dreams and a newfound connection to the one she had pledged her loyalty to.

'What is this feeling. Is this lord Ty's ability? Such power. I can sense something else within this massive energy.,

Taking a look at the surprised face of the still attacking vice guild leader of the magic institute, who seems to have barely moved since she avoided his blade as he was still in the middle of that attack and seems to be trying something. Probably aiming to use a skill to cut off his momentum and increase his speed to match hers.

However, it was already too late as her gaze met his and her eyes suddenly flashed red in a dominating presence.

Immediately, Kal's body froze completely even though he was still mid-motion. Without a second thought, Nadine spun around and the back of her foot made a swift and impactful connection with the back of Kal's head, his eyes rolling back as his face was sent slamming into the hard marbled floor on an impact that created a mini crater in the ground and of course, he immediately passed out.

'Was that? Did she just use demon's might?'

Tyler's head was spinning as he could not fully comprehend what had just happened even though he had seen it with his own eyes. He quickly and silently cast the spell Placate on himself as he tried to think about it logically.

'What the hell was that? Was she always able to use that skill? No, no, it didn't mention that on her file so did she just learn it. How though? I created that skill myself so she shouldn't be able to just learn it right. Wait, did she just steal my skill through our brief connection.'

Thinking this, Tyler hastily retreated inwards and check his skills to confirm if it was actually stolen by Nadine but soon sighed in relief as he could sense that he still had it.

'So what just happened? Is potential break somehow able copy my skills and spells to those I use it on. How though, this had never happened before. Well, I barely had any mana before so that's probably why right? Damn, there's still a lot to my own ability I don't know about.'

"T-Th... The winner of the d-duel had been decided and by the agreed terms miss Lilith has been declared the winner!"

One of the guilds staff members awkwardly annoyed the winner of the match to the still dumbstruck spectators and the entire hall still remained silent for a while when suddenly, it was an uproar.

"Oy oy did that just happen."

"I can't believe my eyes either, she actually won against the vice." 

"Oh, my lord... This is amazing."

"what I match, I am in love."

"Oy hey what are talking about here, you already have a pretty wife at home. Leave miss Lilith for us singles."

"Shut up, I'll leave my wife this instance if miss Lilith agrees to even make me her servant."

"Oy young miss, come over here."

"Yeah let's go drinking and celebrate."

"Will you marry me. You can have my entire fortune."

"Miss Lilith don't mind him, he's broke. Please marry me instead, you can have all my savings."

Rants like that continued for quite a while and Tyler couldn't help but sigh. Their distracting words were interfering with his thoughts so he decided to put his questions on hold until he could fully research his abilities and find out from Nadine what had truly happened to her.

She was obviously not at the peak tier 4 standard when she had knocked Kal out so it seems his ability could push one by several tiers with his current mana body. However, he wasn't yet sure how long the effects would last. It would be a great thing if the time limit of 60 seconds had increased a bit but if it remained the same that was fine too. However, it would be sad that f it had grown shorter.

Tyler watch Nadine closely to observe the time as he counted in his mind. She kept breathing heavily as she ignored the uproar and walked towards her. Feeling something strange Tyler reach a hand to touch her head and was almost burnt.

Her skin felt like it had been lit on fire as her body looked a bit red. She was burning up. The sudden increase in power was a bit too much for her to handle and her physical body could not fully accept the change. 

Because the Kal's blade had given her a few scratches earlier, Tyler used that as an excuse to cast several healing magic on her which reduced the effect a little bit if that went on for too long, something terrible might happen. However, just as he was about to use the spell again, the effects of his ability suddenly stopped and her body began to cool down at a rapid pace.

'Wow, that was more than two minutes. I really have to be careful from now on.'

With Nadine finally feeling better she smiled at Tyler who, while he didn't know why, he still sighed in relief. Tyler saw the guild staff rush over to help Kal and one of them approached him.

"Mr. Lix, congratulations on joining the guild. As the vice had promised, you will be given the starting rank of 2 so please follow me for your guild badge and an explanation of our rules and Privileges for your rank and also how to rank up."

Nodding his head, they both followed the staff out of the room, completely ignoring the screaming spectators and the vice guild leader who was about to wake up after healing magic had been used on him.