Chapter 240 - Did you plan on killing me just now?!
From the expression on Kurono Shinguuji's face, Roy knew she was surprised he had dodged that last shot.
Her ability to appear and disappear was usually enough to catch any opponent off guard.
However, Kurono hadn't expected Roy to conjure a magical defense barrier like Aeriel to nullify her bullet's effect.
"Chairwoman, what was that technique just now?" Roy asked curiously.
Kurono had vanished from his vision entirely. Roy was certain it wasn't just sheer speed; there was another factor at play.
"It's a footwork technique called Trackless Step," Kurono didn't hide anything and told the truth.
"Could it be the signature art of the God of War, Torajirou Nangou?" Ayase exclaimed from the stands.
"Correct," Kurono nodded.
"The God of War's signature technique?" Roy's mouth twitched into a happy smile.
The title alone carried immense weight; not just anyone qualified to be called a God of War.
But what made Roy truly happy was that Trackless Step was a physical art, not a Noble Art unique to a Blazer.
This meant that even without spending Dimensional Points, Roy could learn it.
"Boy, do you know that your current expression is really infuriating?" Kurono said, seeing Roy's eager smile. "Grinning like that in the middle of a fight..."
Roy's smile was charming, but Kurono was past the age of being swayed by a pretty face. More importantly, the roles had reversed.
As the examiner, she should have been the one casually testing Roy, forcing him to reveal his skills step by step. Instead, Roy was putting immense pressure on her, forcing her to use her trump cards just to keep up.
"Sorry, I just get excited when I see something new," Roy said, his apology sounding entirely insincere.
"Tsk!" Kurono clicked her tongue.
"Let's go again, Chairwoman. Combining Trackless Step with time manipulation is a dangerous combo," Roy said, activating his Omniscient to analyze her movements while refreshing Aeriel.
"You really know how to provoke a woman," Kurono said, her competitive spirit ignited.
She activated Trackless Step again, vanishing from Roy's sight. Avoiding his direct line of vision, she aimed Propator at his blind spot.
But before she could pull the trigger, a familiar blade wrapped in emerald wind slashed toward her arm.
"So fast...!"
Startled, Kurono aborted her attack and retracted her arm, barely avoiding the slash. She felt it clearly: Roy's speed had increased again.
He was accelerating to match her Trackless Step.
"Is it because of the wind?" Kurono guessed quickly.
"That's right. Aeriel doesn't just create a barrier; it significantly boosts my speed and agility," Roy admitted openly. For a blazer like Kurono, hiding such obvious mechanics was pointless.
"A very practical ability," Kurono commented. An art that provided both defense and a massive stat boost was something many Blazers would envy.
Kurono took a deep breath and pointed Propator at herself.
BANG!
She used Clock Crisis to accelerate her own time again. She knew that Roy's current speed was enough to counter her footwork, so she had to be faster.
Although excessive time acceleration drained her stamina rapidly, she just needed to land one hit.
Losing to a student during an entrance exam would be too embarrassing to bear.
With her personal time accelerated further, combined with Trackless Step, Kurono became even harder to catch. Even with Aeriel, Roy was nearly hit several times.
"No, it's not just the footwork. Her breathing rhythm has changed too," Roy observed.
As Kurono flashed in and out of his vision, Roy analyzed her every move from her breathing to her muscle tension. Finally, the trick behind Trackless Step became clear in his mind.
Roy lost sight of Kurono again.
But this time, instead of looking for her, Roy swung his sword toward an empty space on his left.
The blade cut through the air, forcing Kurono to materialize in a cold sweat. That was exactly where she had planned to land.
If she hadn't stopped mid-step, she would have walked right into his sword.
"You cracked my Trackless Step?" Kurono asked.
That strike wasn't luck, he had been waiting for her.
"Not cracked. Just learned," Roy grinned.
"Learned? You..."
Kurono's eyes widened. Before she could finish her sentence, Roy vanished from her sight.
It was the exact same phenomenon. Roy was using Trackless Step.
To learn such a complex technique in the heat of battle, in less than a minute... his talent was terrifying.
Roy had analyzed the essence of the technique: Trackless Step wasn't about moving faster than the eye could see. It was about deceiving the brain.
By combining breathing techniques with specific footwork, the user blends into the background noise of the opponent's subconscious.
Even if the opponent's eyes see the user, their brain filters the image out as irrelevant information, creating a pseudo invisibility.
To counter it, one must force their subconscious like transparent realm or abandon the five senses.
"Chairwoman, don't get distracted."
Roy's voice suddenly whispered in her ear. Kurono's scalp went numb as she felt a gust of wind against her neck.
The same technique, in different hands, had vastly different power. In Roy's hands, Trackless Step was even more potent than in Kurono's.
Even though she knew how it worked, she couldn't track him until it was too late.
Unable to dodge, Kurono gritted her teeth.
Noble Art: World Clock!
A sphere of black and white distortion expanded from her body instantly. Ascalon, carrying the emerald breeze of Aeriel, hit the time stop barrier and frozen, unable to advance an inch.
Having blocked the fatal blow, Kurono immediately retreated, canceling the sphere.
"You brat! Did you plan on killing me just now?!" Kurono panted, her breathing ragged. That last desperate defense had consumed a significant chunk of her stamina.
"I just knew the former World No. 3 wouldn't go down that easily," Roy smiled.
"I appreciate your trust," Kurono said sarcastically, her face sullen. If she hadn't used her trump card, she might have lost her head.
"Chairwoman, what is my current rating?" Roy asked.
"Except for Luck and Mana Capacity, I give you an A in everything," Kurono evaluated honestly. Without measuring instruments, she couldn't accurately gauge his mana reserves or luck.
"Mana Capacity?" Roy nodded slightly. "As a Blazer, the most intuitive way to show mana capacity is to display the scale of one's magic, correct?"
"That's right," Kurono nodded.
"In that case..."
Roy raised his hand.
Above him, dozens of dazzling magic circles ignited the air, flooding the arena with immense pressure.
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