Rethara Gravien was very bored.
As she walked aimlessly around the arena, looking for a good opponent, Rethara reflected on the occurrences of the past week, and how everything had changed so suddenly.
A week ago, she had been powerful. She had spent decades trying to reach the peak of this world, but just before reaching it, she encountered a wall she could not pass, a foe so powerful she could not help but despair. Despite her extensive knowledge, combat experience, and her slew of magical artifacts, she was like a helpless child in front of this incredible power. Her diamond-rank sigil realm could not help her against this foe, and she had no choice but to accept her death.
When she breathed her last, she thought it was the end. Rethara was plunged into darkness, her consciousness floating in a black void. But then came an indistinct whisper, and Rethara's memory became hazy.
Suddenly, Rethara awoke in a bed, sweat dripping down her forehead, confused and disoriented. After a moment, she was able to gain her bearings and figure out what had happened.
She was alive again, and her consciousness had returned to her body. That is… her past body. She had returned to her past self, when she was only 20 years old. Back before she had become one of the most powerful beings in this world. Back before she found the ancient tomb that changed her destiny. Back before… the Empress had destroyed everything she loved and cared about.
Rethara stood up and walked around, but her body felt clumsy. After having trained past her limits, she found herself back in a body that had barely undergone any training at all. Her body did not feel responsive, and her supply of internal energy felt pitifully lacking.
This did not make Rethara feel dispirited, however. [I have been given another chance, an opportunity to do what I could not last time. I cannot let such a wonderful gift be wasted.] Her naturally calm demeanor broke into a smile of excitement and anticipation.
She swiftly set out to move around in a more open space, and soon arrived at the arena. She had not used this arena much in her past life, due to her weak ability at the time. She was still at the mid-slate sigil realm at 20 years old, indicating just how slow her progress had been before that incident. Now, though, she went to the arena for an opportunity to stretch her muscles and refamiliarize herself with her body.
Rethara was no longer the shy introvert she had once been. After experiencing countless bloody battles and life-and-death encounters, joys and sorrows, the quiet, friendless girl that was often overlooked by the people of the academy had become someone unafraid, confident, and with a thirst for the excitement of combat. She had been in many battles, and she had come to truly enjoy them. The rush of adrenaline, the feeling of her muscles being pushed to their limits, the sweetness of victory, the thrill of narrowly avoiding death or defeat, it had become something she could not live without.
So Rethara challenged some random students to a friendly match… and ended up very disappointed. The students she fought against were complete novices, at least from her perspective, and she didn't even need to use her favored weapon, the broadsword, to annihilate whoever she faced. Even as she was still acclimating to her current abilities, nobody could even touch her. She started using a rapier to face her opponents, hoping that this handicap would make the matches more interesting, but it made no difference. The people near her sigil realm were too weak, and those far enough above her realm were unwilling to fight. After all, there was no benefit to beating a mid-slate realm cultivator, even if they were a strong one. On the other hand, losing to someone at that realm would be pure humiliation for them, and they would surely be mocked mercilessly by their peers if that happened.
Unable to find a good match, Rethara spent some time practicing her favorite sigil, the gravity sigil and its variations. One of the main limitations in this world was knowledge. In theory, even someone at the lowest slate realm could create a high-level sigil if they were aware of how to cast it. The main constraints were casting time and sigil realm. A slow casting speed made complex, higher-level sigils impractical in a combat scenario, and a low sigil realm limited the amount of internal energy that could be used to make a sigil. This meant that, even with ample time, someone with a low sigil realm would likely be unable to complete a high-level sigil without running out of energy before they finished.
Rethara was still able to cast the gravity sigil, however. This is because of the efficiency of her sigil creation. When a sigil is formed, most of the internal energy poured into it is actually lost into the surroundings. With decades of experience, Rethara was able to prevent nearly all of this leakage, allowing her to create sigils with a much smaller pool of energy than others.
Rethara snapped back to the present, then sighed. Five days after her 'reincarnation,' Rethara found herself walking through the arena once more, hoping to find an opponent who could challenge her. She had accrued a bit of a reputation among the lower level cultivators, and few people were willing to face her once they heard of her track record.
She was truly quite bored. She had never been one to sit around and quietly train, preferring to temper herself against strong opponents, but she couldn't find anyone to face, frustrating her. [Maybe I should find some wild beasts or something to fight,] she thought, but she was hesitant about the idea. After all, she preferred to fight humans, who could be more creative and flexible in their thinking than most low-level beasts.
Hearing a repeated striking sound, Rethara lazily shifted her gaze over to look at the source… and froze.
A distance away, a young man was striking a training dummy repeatedly with a pair of ethereal claws, occasionally pausing with a contemplative look on his face. Rethara felt her hands trembling as she looked at his distinctive purple eyes, unable to contain her emotions.
[Is that… Nadran?]
Rethara's breathing grew heavier as she saw his face for the first time in years. She managed to calm herself physically, but was unable to calm her emotions internally. [Let's think this through. He looks younger than when we first met, but he looks exactly like what I'd expect a younger Nadran to look like. He looks the right age, too. But, what is he doing at the academy? He never attended the academy, he was too slow in his casting speed, and his sigil realm was too low for him to be accepted. How could he be here?]
Rethara thought back to the Nadran in her memories, and could not reconcile it with the man she saw before her. This man had clearly casted a sigil he had never learned in her memories, and she could not wrap her head around what was happening. Also, there was something different about him, a sort of aura that made her ponder its cause.
Determined, she walked forward, hoping to greet him and find answers. She had yet to take a single step, however, before she paused again. [Wait… at this point in time, we've never met before. He won't recognize me, and I'll just be a random stranger to him.] She thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. [If that really is Nadran, if I challenge him to a duel, he should accept. I've been challenging people all this time, so this could be considered 'in character' for what people see me as. It shouldn't seem strange to approach him for that reason.]
Having made up her mind, Rethara approached Nadran once again, who had been so focused on his training that he hadn't noticed her watching him all that time. "It looks like you have some interesting technique there," she commented as she walked toward him. [An interesting technique I've never seen you use before,] she added in her mind.
Nadran looked surprised as he turned to face her, and he looked at her with a hint of suspicion. He stared hard at her, as though he was trying to figure out why she had approached him. Finally, he shrugged. "Well, it's a pretty unique weapon. Using something like a sword or spear technique with these claws would not work out too well. I've mostly just been figuring out how I could make effective use of their upsides."
Hearing this methodical response made her even more sure that this really was Nadran, and she smiled in response. [Well, he never was one to go with traditional weapons, anyways.] "Interesting," she replied. "It seems like you already have a better approach to melee combat than most of the students here. You know, it's often easiest to improve your skills by sparring against a skilled opponent. I am interested in having a small sparring match with you, if you're up for it."
Rethara tried to keep her voice as even as possible, trying to keep the bubbling excitement contained within her. [I hope I didn't overdo it there with the monotone,] she worried, but quickly pushed the thought away.
She could see Nadran's guard go up, and he cautiously replied, "…And why would you want to spar against me?"
"Hm, how should I put this," she replied. "I feel that out of everyone at the arena, you could give me the most exciting match." [That's technically true,] Rethara thought, trying to rationalize her response to herself. If he was anywhere near the level he was at when she first met him, he would be a better opponent than almost anyone else in the arena in terms of pure non-sigil combat ability.
Nadran paused to consider for a moment, then replied, "Well, as long as we don't go overboard and get injured, I suppose it couldn't hurt."
Nodding in satisfaction, Rethara led him to one of the arena platforms. [Let's see what level he's at right now,] she thought as she stopped across from him on the platform. She impatiently shooed away the referee who approached, not wanting any interference in this match. "There's no need to make this an official match, this will just be a bit of friendly sparring." She then turned back to Nadran, and, trying to conceal her rising excitement, said "Prepare your weapons, then let us begin."
She drew her rapier, then watched as Nadran traced a sigil in the air. The purple lines, that slow, hesitating manner of tracing a sigil, it was all too familiar to her. The sigil soon finished, and the translucent claws she had seen earlier materialized once again.
She stood still, rapier at the ready, waiting for Nadran to make the first move. He ran up to her and launched a direct attack, likely probing her defenses. She blocked with her rapier, pushing him back easily. She had always been focused on training her strength, even before her 'return,' and so even though she felt weak, that was only in comparison to her 'future' self. She was far stronger than her peers, and had spent the last few days training her strength even more in between her disappointing arena duels. After all, with enough strength, she could push through anything.
Nadran was clearly caught off guard by her unexpected strength, and stumbled backwards, off balance. She followed up with a swift overhead strike that was hurriedly dodged by Nadran. Rather than backing off, however, Nadran pushed forward once again, launching a barrage of attacks with his claws.
She blocked every strike easily, but her outer calm belied her inner excitement. [He is already much more capable than the others I fought at this academy. I wonder where his current limits are.]
They exchanged more blows, and Rethara could see the excitement growing in his eyes. He attempted a feint, but it was too obvious for her to fall for it. Instead, she swung her sword down, clashing against his claws directly. Nadran was pushed back several feet, rolling across the ground to absorb the impact before springing back to his feet. He rushed back in once again, continuing the fight.
Nadran dodged a horizontal sweeping attack of Rethara's, then attempted to strike before her attack had ended. [Good counterattack timing,] Rethara thought in praise as she saw his move. She instantly canceled her swing in response and brought back her rapier to block.
Nadran was pushed backward by the block, but he shifted his weight at the last second, using the force of her counter to spin himself around. He lashed out with a kick that was aided by his added momentum, and Rethara, who was not expecting him to pull off such a move, was kicked in the stomach. The kick pushed her back several feet, where she paused in surprise.
[It seems like his combat instincts are even better than when I first met him,] she thought. [How could his combat abilities have already reached this stage? It doesn't line up… Wait, maybe it has something to do with that strange aura he has? Has he had some encounter that strengthened him, something that didn't happen in my memories? This is exciting. Maybe he can follow a different path from last time, and become stronger than he was in my memories. In that case, maybe…]
"It looks like you are even more interesting than I expected," she commented aloud, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. "Well then, I guess it's time for the real fun to begin."
Rethara casually tossed her rapier to the side and rubbed her storage ring. She had won it three days ago in a bet with a very wealthy (but stupid) young marble-rank noble student, and had been using it to store her greatsword ever since. Now, wanting to test just how much Nadran had changed, she drew her sword, feeling its reassuring weight in her hands.
She lifted her greatsword up with one arm, pointing it at Nadran, then spoke up. "Let's see just how exciting this battle can become."