Zafer was left speechless. He didn’t know what event Hydra was referring to.
He clenched his sword, but Hydra disappeared, appearing in front of him only for a split second, before sending him straight through the wall of a nearby house.
The collision only decreased Zafer’s speed by a tiny bit, and he continued to roll on the ground towards the edge of a cliff.
At this rate, he will fall into the lake!
He dropped his sword and pushed both his hands into the stony ground, using his grip to decrease his speed as much as possible.
However, the moment he touched the ground, his whole body got redirected sideways, crashing into another building’s wall.
This happened due to Zafer’s inexperience.
He quickly stood up on his feet, pulling himself together, but Hydra was already in front of him again!
He grabbed Zafer by the neck and pushed him against the wall.
Although Hydra wasn’t as tall as Mio or the Priest, there wasn’t much Zafer could do to free himself in this situation.
His A-6 grip was too weak to crush Hydra's arm which was embraced with the Miyalin armor.
As usual for this part of the Arena, there was no one else around, and someone like Zafer might fear for their life, but he knew Hydra would never kill him.
He was perhaps the biggest sadist among Nubians, and torturing young freelancers like this was what entertained him the most.
Hydra carefully used just enough of his strength to make Zafer feel helpless, but also not to break him apart.
The only thing Zafer might worry about was getting kidnapped because of the Axe 33.
However, that won’t be happening either.
He wasn’t sure how Skank found out that the axe was with him, but it was obvious that he was perhaps the only one aside from Tori and Akumi who knew this.
Despite Skank and Hydra serving the same faction, this didn’t mean they got along well, so there was no need to worry about Skank ever telling Hydra or anyone else about Axe 33’s whereabouts.
Whatever rune the Axe 33 possessed that Skank was after had to be something rare.
“So, who is the strongest now? Say it”, Hydra choked him even harder.
Unfortunately for Hydra, Zafer still had an ace up his sleeve.
He opened his palm, activating the second rune of Wiza’s iron sword.
Devotion.
This was the equivalent of the Void rune but for non-Miyalin weapons.
The sword sensed Zafer’s call and started accelerating on its own, dragging itself on the ground until it hit a random stone which made the sword fly upwards.
Nevertheless, the Sword was still accelerating toward Zafer’s hand, and if it continued this trajectory, it would pierce both Zafer’s and Hydra’s heads.
None of them had helmets, and this was where Zafer had an advantage due to his secondary anomaly, the Almighty Eye.
The sword stab should definitely kill Hydra, but not Zafer. His anomaly will save him.
This was a very risky stunt that no man could predict.
Even after killing Hydra, Zafer’s training would not end, but he could always find someone else to spar with.
Most of the paladins possessed the Repeater anomaly anyway, it was just that Hydra was the fastest one.
He was also a sinister adult member of an enemy faction and getting rid of him would bring fame to Zafer.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as that.
Hydra slowly turned around facing the sky, accurately sensing the location of the sword despite being blinded by the sun.
He stepped slightly to the side while still holding Zafer against the wall.
Zafer creeped out.
Only a couple of seconds have passed since he activated the Devotion rune! How could Hydra sense a sword that was mid-air?!
Zafer had never met someone whose sixth sense was sharper than his own.
This was ridiculous for a human!
The sword was falling faster and faster. There was no way to stop it at this speed.
Its blade penetrated Zafer’s head, nailing it to the wall behind it.
Or so it seemed.
Everything turned black, and a loud explosion blasted Hydra away from Zafer into the ruined old buildings.
Rocks got scattered in all directions and started falling all around.
Zafer opened his eyes, blood leaking from them, trying to spot Hydra in a mess through the dust.
Despite him piercing his own head, the impact still hit Hydra who was only a bystander.
He got blinded, and his anomalous stamina pool was drained by a certain amount.
This was due to how this A-11 repelling technique worked.
The stronger the threat was, the bigger the repelling effect multiplier was, and since this would have been a certain death for Zafer, its impact was maximal.
The last time this happened was when Arcanie threw a knife at him, but the only reason it didn’t instantly kill her was due to Zafer holding back.
However, Zafer did not hold back now, and even though Hydra wasn’t the one who activated the anomaly, he still experienced almost the same intensity of repelling Arcanie did then.
Nevertheless, there he was.
Standing up, pushing the rocks and rooftop parts off of him.
Zafer’s heart skipped a beat.
Hydra didn’t seem to even get a headache!
This guy’s anomalous pool is way bigger than Arcanie’s! He was a monster!
Zafer wasn’t sure if vast anomalous stamina was something usual for Repeater users, but it was still outside of what he expected.
“You know I can see if you have Almighty Eye, right?”, Hydra straightened himself, “I just didn’t expect it to be this powerful”.
Aside from experienced paladins being able to tell what runes were implemented into a weapon just by one glance, they could also suppose what anomalies someone possessed.
For example, if one used no potions, they probably had the A-7 Repeater anomaly, and if they had wounds or callouses on palms, it was most likely the A-6.
Anomalies like Almighty Eye didn’t have a specific indicator, but after years of experience, an experienced paladin like Hydra learned how to recognize it.
He just knew when he saw it.
It was a dark everlasting chasm whose opening was a pupil.
However, there was also something else that Hydra spotted in Zafer’s eyes.
It was as if something was staring back at him from that very abyss.
Was it some sort of a unique A-11 technique that only Zafer had?
He didn’t know, and it wasn’t even important.
Vroom.
A Miyalin axe appeared in Hydra's hands. Its blade was stuffed with 10 colorful strings.
This meant 10 runes.
That was a strong weapon, easily worth more than 2 million units.
Since Zafer activated his secondary anomaly without holding back, his anomalous stamina pool was almost fully drained, and as a result, blood was still leaking from his eyes.
On top of that, regardless of how much Hydra got hurt, Zafer was the one who started to experience a minor headache and dizziness.
He was in no state to fight, and his training was clearly over for that day.
Nevertheless, Hydra wasn’t done with Zafer yet.
A light flashed for a moment and a roar resounded.
It was a Purge rune, and it fell directly on Zafer, knocking him unconscious.
The Simple Physiology of Anomalies: Paragraph 4:
Each anomaly could be measured in intensity and stamina pool, both of which can be developed, except in the case of an euclid anomaly.
The stamina pool is in a strong coloration with intensity. Every human contained only one stamina pool, and not each for every of 3 anomalies. The stronger the output and the longer the time of an anomaly being activated, the more of the pool will get drained, and once it reaches a certain point, the user will start to overheat experiencing typical symptoms like bleeding from their eyes.
After this state is reached, not restraining from the further use of the anomalies can lead to a burnout, causing permanent and irreversible damage to the user (Head 21).
Zafer was climbing a cliff with his bare hands, using only his strong grip.
His eyes were already leaking drops of blood, but he wouldn’t burn out before reaching the top.
This was three weeks after Mio gave him the quest, and although he was trying very hard, the finishing line always seemed to move further and further away from him.
Aside from fighting Hydra at least once every day, Zafer was also doing all the other exercises Mio recommended him to do, like running, sprinting, doing push-ups and others.
Thanks to the money Wiza gave him from selling Tori’s axe, he had enough cash to buy himself food, rent a room in an inn, and purchase potions.
Nevertheless, since Zafer insisted on splitting the money 50-50, his savings were slowly decreasing.
Due to him being a Temper candidate, he could buy things with paladin currency, which were banknotes of a much bigger value, with no tax at all.
However, even then, his savings won’t last forever.
This day was particularly tragic since he lost his sword. One that Wiza gave him.
Although the weapon could regenerate and return to Zafer whenever he wanted, the principle of how it worked wasn’t that simple.
There was something called “weapon ownership”.
It was either determined by a special rune called Splinter or by who last held the weapon handle.
Wizaruth’s sword possessed no Splinter rune, so naturally the ownership was easily given to the Zafer by him simply taking the weapon in his hands.
Nevertheless, this also had a bad side, since anyone else could just take the weapon from him, and the ownership would be transferred to them.
This was exactly how Hydra stole Zafer’s weapon.
It wasn’t that he needed an iron sword or any of those 2 anomalies it possessed. He did it purely to bully Zafer.
And it succeeded.
The fact that Zafer knew Hydra didn’t need the weapon and still took it, hurt him more than losing it.
He was furious and couldn’t do anything but lay on top of the cliff completely wet, with dust and weed stuck to his clothes.
At least he was glad that Hydra didn’t take his scarf.
Someone approached him from behind.
“Uh… are you alright?”.
Zafer had no strength left to turn around or sit, but based on the voice he knew it was some young freelancer.
“Yes”.
It was quiet for a few seconds.
“I see you here every day… running, sprinting, and fighting that guy. Do you want me to help you?”.
Zafer straightened himself upwards.
He didn’t really need help since nobody was forcing him to spar with Hydra.
He did it to get stronger, but without a short-term reward, it became mentally exhausting.
Zafer turned around.
It was indeed a freelancer, no stronger or older than him.
“No thanks. I don’t want to defeat him”, he pushed the dust off his clothes, “I am just training”.
“Well then… can I train with you?”
Zafer contemplated for a moment.
The boy seemed really innocent and nice, which was most important since Zafer didn’t want someone to get in his way or to disturb him.
He could of course just decline, but Mio, who was far stronger than Zafer, took a whole hour trying to explain to him how Iron Fist anomaly and potions worked.
Who was Zafer to be so vain to reject someone?
“What are your anomalies?”
“A-11 as the primary and A-6 as a secondary”.
Zafer stood up.
Those were the same anomalies he had but reversed, except that Zafer’s Almighty Eye was a euclid.
If the two trained together, they could learn from each other!
“Sure. I’m Zafer, a candidate of the Temper province. What about you?”, they shook hands.
“Luch”.
Luch was a freelancer.
“Why do you want to train?”, Zafer asked.
It was important to know someone’s motives in order to approximate their determination.
“I need to get stronger for my loved ones”.
Zafer was caught unprepared, “what happened to them?”
“Nothing, but I can use my Almighty Eye to prevent them from turning in apparitions”.
Zafer frowned, “really? That’s possible?”
Luch nodded, “only if you possess the A-11. I was born for that purpose”.
Slowing or completely preventing someone else from turning in an apparition with the help of the Almighty Eye was indeed possible.
It was done several times in the past by very strong individuals.
“What about you?”, Luch returned the question, “why are you training”.
Zafer pondered to himself, “I just want to join Temper”.
“Why?”
“Well…”, he pondered even harder, “I’m in someone’s debt”.
He was referring to Semi, and although this was true, Zafer actually started training before even meeting him.
Zafer didn’t really consider his motive to be anywhere near as deep as Luch’s or Skill’s, who weren’t training for themselves, but for the greater good. For the altruism
This was the reason Zafer kept his true motive to himself.
Anyways, from that day on, both trained together during the morning.
Luch had to work much harder to catch up to Zafer and he also had a part-time job, which just showed his tenacity and motivation.
And while Luch worked afternoon hours, Zafer sparred in the Arena with young freelancers and, most importantly, with Hydra.
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