Chapter 762: Old Habits

The Ashcoil was no fool.

It knew it had played around too much and now death was knocking at its doorstep.

To an Old Lord that’s been sealed for aeons, the title of an Apostle was still something rather new to them.

But what little information it did have was that the Apostles are the left and right hands of the divine!

Retainers of the divine throne!

Now that the Apostle was here, the Ashcoil decided to accept this defeat and cut its losses.

It would rather miss out on a meal than its life!

Face of a Hundred Beasts – Undead Lycoris.

Despite the gravity bearing down on the beast, tubes erupted from its body, spraying out a red cloud that hid its form.

*BANG!!! Even so, Shiera’s sword slash struck true! Bisecting the body of the Ashcoil in an instant.

However, Shiera only frowned.

“This one’s an annoying one.” She could tell that her strike didn’t kill the beast. No, whatever it did at the end allowed it to leave with its tail tucked between its legs.

“Arax!”

“No can do. It’s already fled deep underground, scattering itself into countless tiny pieces. Unlike you, I don’t have ‘Vision’ so I can’t tell which one’s the real one.” Arax hoisted his shield onto his back as he crouched near the corpse of the Ashcoil.

Scattered along the ground was a layer of small crimson seeds that birthed a strange withered spider lily.

Apostles they may be but this beast was truly a slippery one, splitting itself into countless pieces and making it difficult to track down completely without just tearing their surroundings to oblivion.

“Give some of the samples to Lisa, she’ll be able to track it down.” Shiera sighed, sheathing her blade.

Turning to Gwen, she was about to say something when her eyes drifted over to Kaia.

“Eh?” Blinking her eyes, the Apostle froze.

When?

How long as she been here?

The moment she arrived, her Vision encompassed the entire area, making sure there were no one hiding while watching the scene.

And yet, there was a girl in front of her. Blatantly obvious through normal sight yet her Vision didn’t pick up on the girl at all.

How was this. . . possible?

*CLANG!!!

Shiera unsheathed her blade in an instant and slashed horizontally! Yet at the final moment, Kaia created a pillar of ice, protecting her neck.

“Aunty!” Gwen shouted out in shock but Shiera didn’t respond.

Pivoting on her ankle, she slammed her foot into Kaia’s stomach, sending her body crashing through several trees.

“Gwenny, please be a dear and step back.” Shiera furrowed her brows.

Suspicious. Too suspicious.

Never in her life has she seen anyone capable of dodging the detection of her Vision and yet this anomaly was standing before her. Next to her darling niece as well.

She needed to find out the truth. How was this girl capable of doing such a thing.

“Oi. . . Oi! Do you just attack people out of nowhere?! What the f*ck did I do?!” Kaia’s voice shouted back as she pulled herself from the rubble.

Blood poured from her wounds as she glared at the Apostle.

“Hou~ A sturdy one. Let’s see if you can keep evading my Vision.”

Taking a step forward, her Vision expanded, locking onto the area around Kaia as goosebumps appeared all over her arm.

“So we’re doing this then!?” Gritting her teeth, blood converged before solidifying into a frozen arrow.

Jumping back, Kaia’s figure began to blur but Shiera was faster.

She appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the arm.

*BANG!!!

Throwing Kaia over her shoulders and into the ground, Shiera lifted her heel, preparing to stomp down when Kaia’s body began to fade away with a smirk.

“Illusions.” Expanding the boundaries of her Vision, Shiera’s eye twitched slightly upon realising she couldn’t find Kaia.

Vision, the strongest perception technique she created to augment her martial arts. A perception technique that allowed her to capture every single detail within an area without issue.

Every lifeform, every anomaly. Yet she couldn’t find Kaia?

“Dad! Stop aunty please!” Gwen panicked.

“Is she the stray cat I heard so much about?” Arax ignored her plea for the moment while keeping his eyes on Shiera.

“Yes! Why is aunty attacking Kaia?!” Gwen was confused.

Suspicious Kaia may be, it shouldn’t warrant such a reaction from Shiera.

“You don’t understand Gwenny. Vision should be able to detect anything and everything. I’ve tested this extensively through the many years I’ve been around- There!” Noticing a shift in movement near the trees, Shiera unleashed a slash that tore the land in half.

“How strange is it really for the next generation to surpass the old?!” Kaia shouted back, firing an arrow that Shiera parried with ease.

Now that Kaia was fighting back, her presence was beginning to solidify itself once more. And more than that, she could sense Kaia’s boundary, the Absolute Zone.

A foundational technique required to master the Vision.

But this was no ordinary Absolute Zone.

No, it was something far. . . older. A prototype of sorts.

When teaching her techniques to people, Shiera noticed an issue. The burden it placed upon the user’s mind. Prolonged use of the Zone revealed flaws that couldn’t be avoided unless they had superior regeneration.

Each deployment was akin to a brutal session of abuse, thus she decided to modify it. To change the way the technique was done in order to make it safer for the user.

And yet! The way the boundary was deployed, the way it scanned the surroundings, the small difference in the Absolute Zone of the past and the Absolute Zone of today.

Difference that only the original creator would know! The same one that made the modification to make it safe.

“I’ll give you one chance. On account of the fact that you’re friends with Gwenny. How the hell do you know the pre modified version of the Absolute Zone. Something that should only be known by me. Everyone who knew this version died long ago.” Shiera asked as golden lightning crackled around her blade.

Dark clouds loomed overhead as a thick killing intent filled the area.

Gwen wanted to say something but froze.

Her aunty had talked about the old Zone when they were training but didn’t go into the details. Only that she had indeed modified the technique.

So now only one question remained.

How did Kaia know the old version?

“Don’t you think it’s possible that I figured out whatever this old version was and made it myself?” Kaia forced a smile.

“Bullsh*t. I might’ve believed you if your movements weren’t full of the habits that I developed when making the old version. Habits that I identified and removed for future versions.” Shiera cut Kaia off with a glare.

Her figure flickered as she appeared next to Kaia, slamming her foot against Kaia’s stomach as she crashed into a boulder that broke on impact.

“These habits aren’t something you can just gain from the development of this technique. They’re mine and mine alone to compensate for certain movements. You didn’t develop this technique at all.”

Wiping the blood away from the corner of her lips, Kaia glared at the Apostle. Her mind was turning as fast as it could, trying to find a way out.

“Don’t bother, now that I’ve got a lock on you, my Vision won’t miss the tiny shifts in your movement.” Shiera appeared in front of Kaia, lifting her up by the collar.

Kaia tried to fight back but golden lightning pulsed through Kaia’s body, paralysing her momentarily.

“One last chance before I silence you forever.” Shiera warned, conjuring a spear that aimed towards Kaia’s head.

If the answer wasn’t satisfactory, she’ll turn into a headless corpse.

Shiera would rather be sorry to Gwen than allow someone suspicious next to her!

“Three. . .” She started to count down.

Kaia glared back at Shiera. The golden flames in Shiera’s pupil burned bright as Kaia felt as though her lies would be seen through the moment she spoke them.

“Two. . .”

The spear started to rotate as energy crackled around its surface.

“One!” Clenching her fist, the spear shot towards Kaia’s head!

“OKAY I’M SORRY MASTER!!!”

*BANG!!!

The spear narrowly missed Kaia’s head, leaving behind a cut as a single scorching line could be seen behind her from the spear’s path.

“What?” Shiera blinked her eyes.

“I said I’m sorry master!” Kaia relented as tears began to form around her eyes. She gave up on resisting as she subjected herself to Shiera’s mercy.

Both Arax and Gwen froze hearing Kaia’s proclamation.

“I don’t remember taking a student like you.” Shiera frowned deeply but. . . Kaia wasn’t lying?

“Wha! How could you! You taught me in the past! You even attacked me first thing like you did before, saying something like I’m lacking a lot!” Kaia threw a tantrum, flailing her limbs around but Shiera’s grip didn’t loosen.

“Impossible.”

“I can prove it!” Kaia pouted in annoyance.

“Let me go and I’ll show you exactly what you did when we met! Hmph!”

Seeing the confidence in Kaia’s eyes, Shiera frowned and let her go.

“I’ll show you! How could you treat your disciple like this!” Kaia bit her lip as she created an ice blade.

Adjusting its shape a little, she closed her eyes and recalled the details on the blade.

Watching the ice blade slowly change its shape, Shiera felt a chill down her spine. Reaching into her personal vault, she pulled out an old broken weapon with the blade snapped in half.

But the guard. . . It’s exactly the same!

Opening her eyes, Kaia’s aura shifted. Sharper, lethal.

The border of her boundary expanded as she adjusted her posture and stance.

Imagining a shadow of herself in front of her, Kaia took aim. Her spare hand guided her blade-wielding hand as her figure flickered for a moment and appeared in front of the shadow that only she could see.

Adjusting her wrist, Kaia released a wave of slashes, shallow cuts that would expose the defences of her opponent.

After the slashes, she tripped the shadow up with a leg sweep before aiming the sword at where the throat would be.

“That’s what you did to me when we first met! And you said I was lacking a lot at this moment! How could you forget about me!?” Kaia pursed her lips tearfully.

Arax folded his arms. He was familiar with Shiera’s movements and that definitely felt like an abnormally accurate one to one copy.

Meanwhile, Shiera was silent.

‘Did I take a disciple?!?!?! Since when?!?!?! Did I forget her???”