It is not only air, but mana itself trembles a bit as the glow of Medea’s blade forms a perfect, bright crescent that doesn’t fade, but rather, moves forward, approaching Novus at a speed he fails to respond to.

He starts to wonder when his suspicion started.

Perhaps it was when he noticed that faint, white glow given off by Medea’s blade. Perhaps it is even earlier than that, when she was already trembling from handling the exchange between the two of them. It might also be during the time when he felt something off with all his hits, as if the entirety of his effort is not being delivered as damage, some fragment of it being absorbed by something else instead.

Perhaps he doesn’t even have a suspicion at all, and he’s just being extremely careful with all the changes happening on the battlefield.

Yet even with all his suspicions, even with all his caution, even with him bringing his guard even higher than what the Verdant Expanse ever made him do, it all boils down to this single moment that he realized something.

He’s not fast enough to make it.

He can see it clearly, but he’s too slow.

He can see it clearly, Medea’s jet-black hair turning silvery white as she released whatever it is that she is storing within that glowing blade, the sleeves of her coat fluttering with the wind generated by her attack, her face sporting a confident smile, as if she’s well aware that even if he has a way to stop this attack, it would be after paying an extremely expensive price.

His instinct, honed by his repeated encounters with dangerous experiences despite his short time within the Evolution Domain, screams at him to move away, to try his best to avoid the attack that is clearly coming for his head. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

And try to dodge the attack he did, but to no avail.

"Hiss... ack..."

He can’t even form any coherent words as he finds himself down on the ground, his arms, or at least the stump where his arms should’ve been, lying flat and motionless along with him, his consciousness threatening to slip away as never in his entire life has he experienced something this exhausting.

"Damn it... Hey, why did you dodge? I made it so that it won’t hit you if you didn’t move!!"

"Hey!! Novus!! Snap out of it!!"

"Tsk... not when I finally find someone who can play with me..."

Hearing a panicked, feminine voice approaching from the distance, he wonders why it is that he is already well aware of who it is, his guard already down as he feels that this person wouldn’t take any advantage of him in any way during this time when he couldn’t even defend himself.

"Senior Medea... it’s your... win..." he said as he watched her rushing towards his side, immediately kneeling and taking a look at his condition, color being drained out of her panicking face as she finds no trace of the arms that were severed by her attack.

Had it been cleanly slashed, there’s a chance, no, it is certain that it will be reattached, except for when it is special magic that hinders regeneration and healing that causes the severing of the body part.

Her clan’s unique magic falls under such a category; however, it is not so hindering to regeneration-type magic that it will reach that point.

The problem is that his arms are not just severed, but rather, completely obliterated by that attack that she unleashed.

"Forget about winning or losing, that’s not important right now!! I... I am so sorry, Novus, I swear I will find a way to fix this... I swear on my family’s, no, I swear on my own name that I will make it happen!!"

Panic is still in her voice as she locks gaze with the junior that she grows truly familiar with during this exchange between the two of them, the guilt of cutting the path of yet another genius on the same level, possibly even higher than her, short, turning her eyes red as tears begin welling up in the corner of her eyes.

With True Immortal Blood kicking in and regenerating his body, even despite the hindrance that Blade Enhancement Magic imposes upon his damaged parts, Novus finally regains some semblance of bearing as he watches this seemingly strong, unbreakable senior gradually collapse because of him, because of what she did to him.

Yet another surprising part of her character, as he knows full well how intense the competition is within the academy’s premises. The surface might always look calm, with just occasional bullying that doesn’t go so far, but an opportunity to completely eliminate a possible competition is something that any student will refuse to let go of.

Admitting to his talent potentially surpassing hers, even swearing to find a way to help him recover to his peak after the debilitating attack dealt by her, he just couldn’t help himself from thinking that this lady, the eldest daughter of the Heavenblade Great Clan, is just far apart from the other students.

Not only in terms of her strength approaching absolute among her peers, but also her firm character as well.

’Well, she might be a bit too mischievous, but no one’s perfect, I guess...’ he thought to himself as he opened his mouth, deciding to speak in an attempt to comfort and prevent her from completely collapsing.

"Forget about it, Lady Medea, I am completely fine" he said, not realizing what he just called her, and it is such a good thing that he did, as even the lady herself doesn’t seem to realize that he, even if indirectly, acknowledged that she is a lady as well.

"No, you are NOT!! Who the hell tells someone they are fine when they have both their arms gone!" it shows that how he called her just went past over her head, her attention completely on the damage as he grasped his arms already grown back by the True Immortal Blood, her voice raised as she speaks, her panic making it not known to her that she is holding the body part she thought was lost on the process of defending against her attack.

"Rich for someone to say something like that when she’s holding those exact arms" feeling the strength of her grasp on his arms, Novus remarked, also telling her that he had completely recovered now, the lady pausing for a while as she couldn’t quite comprehend what he just said.

She pauses with her panic, then looks down, noticing what her hands are holding, before looking at him once again as she mindlessly agrees with his words.

"Yeah, indeed really rich, come to think of it, I thought my attack disintegrated your arms, so why... wait..." she nods, thinking with relief as there doesn’t seem to be any problem now, the damaged part is now back there, only.

Even in this world of magic, where the supernatural is treated as an everyday event, where reattachment of severed limbs is possible in mere seconds, it is still only through an extremely rare treasure that one can regrow completely obliterated body parts.

"Agghhh!!!"

And once again staring at the regrown limbs she is holding right now, only now did this fact sink into her mind, causing her to be thrown into a screaming surprise.