Luthor took a slow breath and lifted his hand.
A faint shimmer rippled around him as he activated the first spell.
"Gravity Magic: Anti-Gravity Shift."
His body lightened instantly. His feet rose off the ground in a gradual, controlled ascent, cloak drifting weightlessly behind him. The motion was steady, practiced — the movement of someone who had repeated this spell thousands of times and mastered every nuance of it.
Then his expression sharpened.
This time, he raised both arms. Mana pulsed outward in a wide ripple that swept across the entire arena, a clear prelude to the Alderay family's feared signature technique.
"Gravity Magic: Gravity Field."
The spell expanded at once.
A dome-like distortion spread from Luthor's position, the air inside compressing as if squeezed by unseen hands. The boundary shimmered faintly, marking the exact range of the technique. Inside the dome, gravity no longer behaved naturally — it bent at Luthor's will.
Here, he could raise gravity, lower it, twist its pull to the sides, or apply crushing pressure directly downward.
Everything within the field — stone, earth, air, and opponents — fell under his control. The stronger the mana he supplied, the heavier the gravity became.
He began with a straightforward approach.
"Two times."
The ground beneath Nova darkened as the dust flattened into the stone. The air near the arena's front rows thickened subtly, making even bystanders shift uncomfortably.
Nova did not slow.
He continued running straight toward Luthor, Ven-Drive gun raised, firing upward with precise bursts of mana-infused shots.
Luthor drifted higher and angled his body just enough to avoid the shots, floating with smooth, practiced ease.
"Three."
Gravity deepened. Nova's steps grew heavier, but he maintained his pace without hesitation.
"Four."
This time, Nova felt the pull clearly. His knees dipped, boots carving grooves into the stone as the weight latched onto his body. Even then, he raised his gun and kept firing.
Luthor's brows tightened.
"Five."
"Six."
Each increase thickened the pressure. Nova's shoulders stiffened as he pressed forward, breath gradually growing heavier.
"Seven."
His boots sank further, cracking the stone beneath him in spiderweb patterns.
Finally, Luthor clenched his fist.
"Eight."
The force slammed down like a falling mountain.
Nova halted completely. He didn't collapse, but his body froze mid-stride, locked in place by the crushing weight pressing from every angle. His arms trembled as he held himself steady, the Ven-Drive gun lowered a fraction as he absorbed the overwhelming pressure.
High above him, Luthor exhaled shakily.
Sweat rolled down his temple. Raising gravity to eight times normal inside a full Gravity Field was brutal. His mana drained at an aggressive pace. Worse, he had to maintain Anti-Gravity on himself at the same time — or else he too would be slammed into the ground by his own spell.
His mana was burning twice as fast. But this tactic was one the Alderay family had used for generations. Everyone in the kingdom knew about it, but none had ever solved it. The only answer was overwhelming strength…
Down below, Nova lowered his head, breathing slowly, deliberately. His arms trembled under the intense pressure, the sleeves of his clothing creaking lightly as the weight strained the fabric.
"This is a little troublesome," he muttered under his breath.
It seemed his rank had become his greatest restriction. With his combat strength of mid 2nd rank, he could go toe to toe with Magic Knight Captain–rank figures but he would eventually be defeated by them if he only used his Grimoire magic.
The reason was simple — his raw physical stats, durability, stamina, muscle strength, bone toughness, and internal energy capacity were all still stuck at the ceiling of the 3rd rank.
He could fight like a 2nd rank thanks to skill and magic. But his body could not keep up with prolonged clashes against true captain-tier monsters, unless he used Ven-Drive and Omnitrix.
In fact, he had reached the peak of the 3rd rank long ago and could break through to the 2nd rank anytime he wished. But he had been suppressing the breakthrough intentionally.
All because he wanted to use a skill he earned from Soulless: Legacy Unbinding.
A skill capable of unlocking hidden latent potential. Triggering secondary awakenings and forcing evolutions under specific conditions.
And for himself — the original owner —
the benefits were even more significant.
Nova shook his head, let's think about that later, and focus on the duel first. Then with an exhale, he issued a silent mental command.
The Ven-Drive reacted instantly.
The gun in his hand rippled like liquid metal, shifting shape as it surged up his arm. It spread across his torso, down his back, wrapping tightly around his legs. Plates unfolded and locked into place with sharp, synchronized clicks, forming the familiar black armor streaked with pulsing crimson veins.
The arena erupted the moment the armor fully formed.
Shouts, cheers, and stunned murmurs filled the stands as the red glow crawled across the armor surface.
Luthor's expression darkened.
Of all things, this was what he didn't want to see again.
He had watched the earlier match. He had seen what happened the moment Nova got serious. Arden in his strongest form had been dismantled in a matter of moments once Nova got serious and used that armor.
The arena was still echoing with cheers from the armor's appearance when another detail caught Luthor's attention. Strange markings began to surface along the plates of Nova's armor. They appeared slowly at first—thin, faint lines curling beneath the crimson veins—before sharpening into clear, deliberate shapes. The symbols spread across the surface like a forming network, each rune pulsing softly in intervals.
Luthor's eyes narrowed as the full pattern came into view. His brows drew down, and confusion replaced the earlier confidence.
"…Runes?" he muttered, genuinely unsettled. "Why are runes showing up now?"
What unsettled him even more was what Nova did next. Nova lifted one foot off the ground and tested a small hop. Then another. Afterward he rolled his shoulders and stretched both arms lightly, almost lazily, as if eight-fold gravity no longer existed around him. Moments ago, the pressure had immobilized him completely. Now he moved like someone standing in normal weight.
Luthor's stomach tightened at the sight. He knew exactly how much mana he was pushing into this field. At eight times gravity, even trained knights struggled to remain standing. Yet Nova looked as if he was simply warming up.
In the noble viewing section, the reaction was immediate and far louder. One elderly noble—a specialist from a family renowned for artifact creation and rune engineering—rose from his seat so abruptly that his monocle nearly fell off. He pointed at Nova's armor with a trembling hand, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Those markings—look closely! Those are gravity runes!"
Several nobles leaned forward at once. Others exchanged confused glances.
The rune-expert continued before anyone else could speak. "These are not simple symbols. They are gravity runes— the runes which Alderey family guards more fiercely than their vaults! No other noble house has access to these inscriptions, not even replicas!"
Another noble frowned, unconvinced. "Surely they can't be identical. You must be mistaken."
"I am not mistaken," the expert snapped, his voice sharp with certainty. " They are gravity runes. But they may be little different from those in Alderey family, as you can see confusion on Luthor's face. But I am sure that those runes on Nova's armor are anti-gravity inscriptions designed to counteract Luthor's field."
A wave of murmurs rolled through the noble stands.
"So he's neutralizing the gravity entirely?"
"He broke free from an eight-fold field…"
"A boy outside the Alderay lineage, wielding runes only the main family should know—how is that possible?"
"That armor… what exactly is it?"
Meanwhile, below them, Nova flexed his fingers and adjusted his footing as though merely getting comfortable. Not a hint of strain remained in his posture. The crushing weight that should have pinned him had vanished completely.
Luthor exhaled slowly, sweat dampening his forehead despite the anti-gravity spell sustaining him in midair. What he saw confirmed every word the nobles were saying. Nova had walked straight out of the trap that no one else had ever broken.
And if Nova was no longer restrained…
…then the fight had shifted into very unfavorable territory.
Because Luthor knew better than anyone that his Gravity Field was not meant for equal confrontation—it was meant to suppress, restrict, and control. If Nova had bypassed the suppression entirely, then this was now a fair fight.
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CHAPTER:- [144 - TEASING THE GRANGER] IS AVAILABLE ON MY P@TREON