The Author's Viewpoint-Chapter 88 - Burning the Rulebook

When someone awakened as a Gaia Awakener and reached the first stage, Gaia Novice. The Gaia Force would begin to form a core within their body. This core became the foundation of their power, granting a boost to their physical strength, speed, and endurance. It was the starting point, the moment they stepped beyond ordinary human limits.

Upon advancing to Gaia Apprentice, they gained an elemental affinity, allowing them to access elemental skills. However at this stage, their control remained internal. Their abilities were limited to use within their own body. Still, it marked a critical transformation, a shift toward deeper mastery.

This pattern continued with each breakthrough, each stage unfolding new characteristics and unlocking new capabilities. The life of a Gaia Awakener was a steady climb toward power.

When an individual reached Gaia Guardian, they finally crossed the threshold into external elemental manipulation. They could project their force outward, wielding their element in combat with devastating effect. From this point on, they were recognized as formidable fighters.

But if we skipped several stages forward, there existed something far rarer, something that only a handful could ever attain:

Gaia Wings.

These weren’t just decorative symbols or visual enhancements. They were a manifestation of pure elemental mastery, forged from raw energy and attuned completely to their user. Most often, they only appeared when someone ascended to Gaia Archon.

Elincia had reached that stage. She had Gaia Wings. And yes. She could fly.

Then, it happened the moment Tave was slammed brutally into the ground. So hard he genuinely thought his ribs had shattered. Pain lanced through his side like molten glass, and for a second, he couldn’t even tell if anything inside him was still in one piece.

And seriously. Elincia was really that merciless.

His body refused to move. It wasn’t just pain, it was like something inside him had locked up. His limbs screamed in protest, and yet, the seconds kept ticking by. He was running out of time.

He had to launch his final move, now! Or the challenge would be over. And Tave... Tave couldn’t give up. Not here. Not when he was this close.

Then, cutting through the haze of pain, a voice growled in his mind.

"Utterly disappointing."

He knew that voice. His Relic.

"Is this all you can manage? You talk so big. And this is where you fall?"

The tone was ice and fire both, laced with contempt. It pressed down on him, like weight on a cracked rib.

"Shut up," Tave muttered through gritted teeth. "If you want to see me suffer more, then lend me something. Anything. You’d enjoy watching me get eaten by Rift monsters more than seeing me die here, right? At least that’s a more spectacular ending for you, isn’t it?"

"You really think I’m stupid enough to fall for such a pathetic trick?!"

"Then tell me what you want! You want a powerful master, don’t you? Then lend me your power! Let me take every reckless decision I have to if that’s what it takes to grow stronger! You know more than you let on!"

Silence for a beat. Then. "Reckless fool... You really make me work harder than I should."

"Good. Then do it."

The voice snarled again, louder now, full of reluctant fury.

"Fine. If you want to gamble with your body like trash. Then I’ll feed you fire like it’s your last breath."

Heat flared suddenly inside his chest, scorching, wild, pure. His limbs twitched, and power surged through the pain.

"You’ll burn up from the inside if you overdo it. So go ahead. Take it. Use it. And try not to die, idiot."

And with that, the fire awakened. Raw, hungry, searing. His Relic had finally given in.

And Tave grinned through the blood in his mouth. That’s more like it.

[ The Flamebound Seraph has granted its user access to Gaia Wings. ]

Tave allowed himself a faint smile. His guess had been right. Kaelira, the spirit within the Relic, truly could awaken Gaia Wings if she deemed her wielder worthy enough. And this? This was one hell of a gamble.

A Gaia Guardian with access to Gaia Wings? The entire world would turn upside down trying to uncover how he did it. Or worse, they’d hunt him for it.

Well... he was already a marked man in this world. Might as well be professionally wanted.

His body launched upright, rising like fire from the ashes. He could feel it now. The force coursing through him, the pull of energy behind his back, and the movement of the wings like they were an extension of his own body. Fluid. Responsive. Alive.

He smiled again, calm, and sharp. As the wings beat once behind him, faintly transparent and just wide enough to frame his upper body.

But they were enough. More than enough.

He burst forward with explosive speed, grip tightening around the hilt of his blade. And with a blaze trailing in his wake. He readied another strike.

Tave could feel it. The explosive synergy of Fire, Shadow, and now the Wings surging through his body.

This wasn’t something that could, or should be controlled so easily. Flying through the air required mastery, precision, and balance. But with adrenaline spiking and his focus sharpened to its limit, Tave felt every inch of his body responding as one. It was as if he had become part of the very energy that flowed through him.

He could sense everything around him. The shift of air, the twitch of muscle, even the faint change in Elincia’s expression as she prepared to block.

He twisted mid-air and redirected his slash. Fast, precise. Clang! Elincia blocked it.

Another strike. Blocked.

Again. Blocked!

Tave darted to the right, then left, swinging from every angle, forcing her to react, to guard, to engage. Elincia met every blow with fluid efficiency, her left hand moving so fast it blurred. Still, Tave pushed, desperate to force an opening. Anything.

But it still wasn’t enough.

He swept his blade in a wide arc toward her waist, and Elincia, unfazed, reached to catch it. Tave snapped his sword back, twisted, then slashed upward in a surprise feint.

Elincia leaned back just slightly, the tip of his blade missing her by a breath.

She moved her body forward just a bit. Tave faltered. His balance slipped for half a second.

And she struck. Her arm lashed out, a flat swing aimed at his side. So fast it was nearly invisible.

Tave reacted on instinct alone, launching backward, flames and shadows trailing behind him, just in time. The wind of her attack sliced past his face.

He didn’t stop. He couldn’t. He surged forward again, sword glowing bright. Striking, clashing, diving in again and again, brutal and relentless.

He needed an opening. Just one. One second. One moment.

"Five," Elincia’s voice rang out.

Tave gritted his teeth and pushed harder, feeling his blood pump like fire, his wings propelling him forward. He slashed again. Blocked. Dashed left. Countered. Circled right. Nothing.

Even attacking someone who barely moved was this difficult.

"Four! You lose. Useless."

He growled, refusing to slow, refusing to give her space. She moved again. This time not to defend, but to attack.

Her hand swept toward him, fierce and blinding. Tave barely pulled back in time, spinning to avoid the blow that would’ve flattened him instantly.

"Three," she counted, her voice lazy, dismissive.

Still, he didn’t stop.

He had to close the gap. He had to get close enough. So close she couldn’t slip away again.

On the sidelines, the forest elves watched, already shifting in their seats.

"It’s over."

"Exactly what we expected."

"Two," Elincia said, and Tave still hadn’t landed a single hit.

Not one.

Just as Elincia inhaled to speak the next number, Tave saw it. That moment. That breath.

And he moved.

With a sudden burst of speed, he shot forward, his left hand extended, arcing behind Elincia as if aiming for another feint. She didn’t flinch. To her, it was just another useless strike through empty space.

But in that blink of an eye. She sensed it.

The fire. The wrong kind of fire.

Tave’s left hand wasn’t just bluffing. It carried something.

Soul Fire!

And it wasn’t aiming to wound. It was aiming for her hair.

Elincia’s eyes widened. "You little bastard!" she snapped, furious and caught off guard.

And in the very next heartbeat the training room exploded.

A surge of raw energy blasted out from her body like a detonation, a ripple of Gaia Force that shattered the air around her. Tave was thrown away, hurled backward by the sheer pressure.

His body slammed into the ground hard. Then bounced once, twice, before skidding across the floor, tearing up tiles in his wake.

Around them, the training room was in chaos. Shockwaves from Elincia’s outburst ripped across the space, knocking furniture aside and sending loose debris flying.

The forest elves at the edges raised their arms to shield themselves, gritting their teeth as the blast wave hit them full on. Even the reinforced walls groaned in protest.

And there, at the center of it all. Tave lay sprawled on the ground, unmoving but conscious, his breath ragged, his body aching.

No, he didn’t land the hit. But Elincia broke her own rule. She had used Gaia Force, just for a split-second, to stop the Soul Fire from touching her hair.

Her. Hair.

Tave couldn’t help it. He smiled, faint and crooked as he stared up at the ceiling.

So that was it. That one trait. That one weakness.

Elincia, the sixth-strongest person in the Vensalor kingdom, would rather break her own rules than let someone mess with her hair.

And that... that was how Tave won this fight.

Well... sort of.

Now the only question was.... What the hell was Elincia going to say after that bold, thoroughly disrespectful stunt?