UNLIMITED SPEED

Shock and excitement filled Noah's mind at the turn of events, but also pain. His palms had gotten charred, but in their grip were his daggers.

The black daggers buzzed and palpated with power, giving rise to the black and purple mist that always exited their structure.

'I actually pulled it off,' Noah praised himself while trying to keep the daggers in his grip. Both weapons felt heavy after absorbing the peak of the middle stage. It had started to become evident to Noah that his limit didn't go past that stage.

Having plunged the daggers into the bolt of lightning on a whim, Noah had placed all his bet on that instinctive action, and it had succeeded. However, his arms were barely holding up.

More than half his sleeves had disappeared and they revealed black skin. His armor had shattered upon impact. The smell of burnt meat flowed into Noah's nostrils and he felt both grossed out and amused to find that the aroma was enticing. But the pain he felt removed that detail.

"That was unexpected," Lady Sarah exclaimed, amused. "How much can that weapon of yours take," she wondered out loud, raising her arm again as it began to crackle.

Needless to say, Noah's expression turned grim. He would never be able to handle another one. His daggers could, but he felt certain his arms would turn to ash if such happened.

Notwithstanding, he had a plan.

His healing had kicked in, but due to the intensity of the damage going past his muscles, it would take a while. Thankfully Noah could move his arms to some point by the time she launched another bolt.

The entire room fell into pure chaos as the inscriptions on the walls flickered to no end. The mass of dense electrical energy more than ten times the size of a grown man; barreled towards Noah at frightening speeds that normally would be un-followable for the average tier 3 experts. But Noah wasn't average.

'I would dodge if the power of the attack wasn't this much,' Noah thought. He feared dodging would cause an explosion, one that could render him useless for a few seconds. Enough time for Lady Sarah to strike.

Due to her movement speed being almost on par with his, Noah understood that moving around would only put him at a disadvantage, she could even cast two of those spells, but she didn't. At least not yet.

Feeling his already half-burnt hair begin to catch fire as a result of the heat the bolt was capable of, Noah crossed his daggers beneath his arms and executed two horizontal slashes that converged to form an X.

Two slashes containing just as much power as the bolt coupled with their withering ability ate through the mass of dense energy, and when they reached its core it destabilized and detonated.

A wave of individual sparks washed over Noah, but his new illusory armor protected him from most of their destructiveness.

A few seconds had to pass before the explosion died down, and Elder Sarah didn't hesitate to speak when she saw Noah in one piece.

"I told you you'd survive," she announced raising her arm.

Experiencing pain in all areas of his body, Noah struggled to keep his daggers up, and he soon lowered them. Most of his hair had been burnt off, but he still had whole sections in one piece.

His hands had gotten better but his face featured burns, he had no eyebrows, and his formerly plum lips had holes in them and bled. In essence, he looked bad. On the verge of collapsing.

Fortunately, his healing had kicked in, but after healing so many times, his stamina had begun to wane.

"Don't tell me you are going to pass out after merely two attacks?" Sarah's face twisted reminding Noah of Rena's words about him losing in two exchanges.

A smile broke on his face at that point, but he knew he wasn't done yet, and his rapidly getting better state proved it.

Lady Sarah allowed Noah to heal fully. She was reckless, but she didn't want to kill the interesting man before her.

"He'll be the best if gets better," she thought allowing sparks to crackle on her still raised arm.

"You should move," her words resounded in the room. "You're fast enough to reach me before my attack, but you're scared of what I'll unleash if such happens, and you should, but you'll die if you don't move," she advised unleashing two lightning bolts at once. Proof that Noah truly had no chance against her if she decided to go all-out.

The sight of the bolts put Noah in a tough spot, one that forced him to take her advice.

Empowering his body with the speed force, Noah turned into a yellow streak as he curved to totally dodge the bolts.

Seeing Elder Sarah's figure in sight, he decided he would try his storm spell against her. He knew she wouldn't take damage, but he had to keep things fun. Coupled with the small hope he had of hurting her.

A magical circle expanded beneath her feet, and in the span of an instant, a river-like mass made purely out of erratic electrical energy exploded forth in the room covering a radius of 50m.

This small range was of course Noah's doing, he didn't want to get caught up in his spell.

Notwithstanding, lightning bolts flew out of the incredibly loud and dense storm before him. And he had to reconsider his decision of utilizing that spell.

"That tickled," Sarah's voice rang out behind a shocked Noah, and her fist smashed into his side crushing the bones relatively close to that position and damaging his kidney.

Blood tried to flow through Noah's mouth but he crashed into his storm before such occurred. Thankfully, his empowerment allowed him to remain mostly unhurt.

Dispersing the storm after piercing it from side to side, Noah smashed into the wall and it once again remained undamaged, which meant more pain.

Coughing blood, Noah tried to get back on his feet, but a black sole filled his field of vision.

A sickening crunching sound escaped Noah's face as Lady Sarah crushed his nose, front teeth and cracked a bit of his forehead digging a few millimeters into his face.

Blood flowed out of that injury as Noah lay limp and unmoving.

'Is he dead,' she wondered carefully removing her feet from his bloodied face. However, Noah's figure exploded into a crackling mess before she could complete her action.

The explosion managed to push Elder Sarah away. And out of the storm of lightning bolts came large spears made out of densely packed air. They numbered thirty.

"Oh! you're a dual affinity holder. I guess that forces me to show you some of my tricks too!" she announced, her gorgeous face featuring an excited grin.

Spreading her arms horizontally beside herself; her limbs suddenly caught fire, and spears made of orange flames formed out of her flaming arms to shoot toward Noah's incoming spears. The entire mansion shook from the blinding power released after the collision.