Five Torturous Hours Later...
Miya, heavily panting from her constant use of mana to heal herself up while Vōniur, who isn't exhausted, stood few feet from him.
How... is he not tired? His stamina must be infinite if he isn't tired.... I'm exhausted.. Miya's tired thoughts stayed as she takes a deep breath.
While still in Vōniur's domain, he stood there with a smile.
"You're pushing yourself you know? Pushing your limit that is. Don't worry, you've adapted a lot against me. You're pretty strong for a girl like you. Maybe you'll end up like Karlie." says Vōniur as he brings up Karlie.
Miya continues to pant heavily from exhaustion and takes another deep breath to calm down to use up all of her energy.
I've adapted.. to so many of his attacks but yet... I can't figure out how to break out of his Mirror of Disappearance domain.... almost all mirrors are broken either from heavy steps or the weight of my body being slammed on to them or against them... and the constant healing is exhausting as hell. Miya remains exhausted as she makes her katana disappear with a wave of a hand like a magician.
"Oh? Well, you're really intere-" Vōniur was cut off completely as Miya had copied his [Eternal Gates] technique.
"Let's see if you like your own attacks being used." says Miya as she sends large holy-light beams towards him.
It started clouding up the entire domain, then the domain cracks and shatters completely.
Vōniur had disappeared when the smoke cleared up. Miya's eyes widened in shock as she glances around.
"Pretty good. Not only you can copy techniques, but you can even use them at max power. But my illusions are much stronger." says Vōniur as he appeared in front of her, but she doesn't know about the imaginary and illusionary clones.
What—? There's more than one.. this won't be fun, if I'm struggling with the real deal, how can I deal with his clones? Miya started analyzing the clones, but soon, she realized they aren't real, but they look exactly identical and is as strong as the original.
"Dammit... I'm totally fucked here.." says Miya, worried for herself as the clones attack at the same time.
The clones then puts Miya in an infinite time cycle of everytime she sees her fate during her fight with him.
What? An infinite loop of fate? Damn... I see, it's showing me every outcome of this fight. I'm not winning this fight, not even one... her mind started to race a bit.
Miya started to adapt, but yet, she couldn't find a way to break it. The ability [Fate Cycle of Infinite Outcome] is known to trap one into a film projector-like state, showing them an infinite amount of different outcomes of the fight.
Miya had been shown death each time it changes. Showing her death in every other timeline against him and other ways.
She continues to adapt, but it was like her brain ans body malfunctioning, causing her to drop to her knees.
I'm losing it... i can't win... this is impossible! Miya shouts at herself in thoughts, until Vōniur had snapped his finger, destroying the trap completely.
"It's all a funny and dreamy concept to me. They're all silly imaginations that were to wish to come true. There were no timelines in which you win besides one. Now this will be the second timeline that might change the outcome." says Vōniur as he puts on a genuine smile.
Miya had collapsed, still floating in space with him. The illusionary clones had disappeared.
"You know Miya... I did what I had to do to find myself a good challenger, I was bored out of my mind... until you came along." says Vōniur as he sits criss-crossed while floating in space, waiting for Miya to wake up.
"I underestimated you, your determination is immensely high.. I can see why you tried to stop me for those long... torturous hours. We can continue our match after you wake up." Vōniur adds on as he summons a coffee table and a pot of tea.
He sat down on the lawn chair as he pours himself a cup of tea.
Vōniur took a sip of his tea and had placed down his cup of tea on the table. The warmth was permanent. He continued drinking, while thoughts of loneliness pops up in his head. He felt misunderstood.
Twenty Five Years Ago...
A young Vōniur had awakened all of his abilities. Most citizens in his village hadn't liked him.
"That kid... his powers, if not controlled, he can kill us all..." the villagers whispers to others as Vōniur walked inside his home.
"Please... I promise I can control it... I'm scared, and even if I can't control it, I can't help it. I don't know how to activate my abilities yet, and I'm scared..." says a young Vōniur, murmuring and scared.
He trembled in fear, being misunderstood as he always tried to convince the other villagers that he can control it. But it all failed.
Each time he tries to deactivate and activate his abilities, it all leads to destruction and casualties.
"That ten year old... look at him, we can't even trust him to be outside because of his supernatural abilities!" says the villagers whispering and shouting across the village.
It started Vōniur as he started bursting into tears.
Ten Years Later...
Vōniur, who had turned twenty years old, had roamed through the abandoned lands after achieving immortality multiple times.
He sees his old village, all destroyed, until a coin had fallen from the sky.
Vōniur picked up the coin, thinking it was good luck. He then flips the coin.
After some time of trying to find an opponent worthy to face him from months on end, he hadn't found any. He was getting bored.
That was until he noticed Karlie Katagari, the first woman samurai of the Katagari family.
Karlie glanced at him and Vōniur smiled. His smile was fake, all that negative thoughts filled his head.
Minutes later, Karlie had killed Vōniur countless of times, with him constantly regenerating and resurrecting himself.
"You're an interesting man... your doubts of being alone is over, just remember you have me from now on ok?" says Karlie with a smile, and he smiled back.
"Yeah... of course Karlie, you're the first one to ever win against me. Everyone else died because I'm too strong." says Vōniur as he chuckled.
Karlie chuckled as well.
"Well, I'll be leaving, nice meeting you." Karlie says as she disappeared.
Vōniur sees her leaving, he smiled. It wasn't a fake one, it was his first and genuine smile. He hadn't gotten bored from challenging others and doing things to attract ithers.
His craving for a challenger was finally satisfied.
Back to the Present...
Vōniur had finished his tea as he floats in space with Miya still.
Miya had slowly woken up and finally got herself to stand up even though she's in space.
"Hey Miya, you're awake." says Vōniur as he puts his tea cup down with a smile.
Miya glanced over and her eyes widened and quickly pivoted herself backwards.
"Ready to continue?" he says as he snaps his fingers, making the set disappear.
"What happened! What did you do to me!" Miya shouts as she's still confused and disoriented.
"That... was the [Fate Cycle of Infinite Outcome], it was a trap I created via fusing both [Fate Manipulation] and [History Manipulation] although, I made copies of them to make this one." says Vōniur with a smile.
"...that's cruel, even for a guy like you... although, I should give you some credit, for pushing me to the limits I mean." says Miya as Vōniur's eyes widened, expecting for Miya to misunderstand him, thinking he's full of malice.
His malice side was just fake, a way to hide everything.
"Is that so? Well... I'm glad then, really glad actually. You're the second who didn't jump to conclusions." he says as he chuckles nervously.
"Well then, you know what? Change of plans. I won't be fighting you anymore. You can take this win. See ya later then, Miya Katagari." says Vōniur as he disappears, appearing into his domain.
Miya notices him disappear as she sighs in relief. Relieved that she was pushed to her limit, maybe even beyond it. Her growth was increasing drastically each fight. Miya noticed this immediate change.
She chuckles.
"That guy... he was.. strong, overpowered as hell, but a good opponent, although he could've ended me at the start." Miya murmurs to herself as she chuckles quietly.
She then started flying back to Earth, that she was flying 190 times the speed of light. She had made it to earth within a milisecond, noticing her speed difference.
All that adapting during that fight... made me faster, a lot faster even... I'm happy... Her mind were filled of joy.
Vōniur, who is sitting in the Mirror of Disappearance, sat there, watching everything. He watched as he smiles, glad he helped her grow stronger than before.