[Location: Space-Time Chamber]
[?:?? ??, ??? ??, 134827, AP]
Inside the spacetime chamber, the atmosphere pulsed with palpable tension. Nepheria's senses were heightened to their limits, her movements a blur of calculated precision as she raced to evade Eve's relentless assault. Kilometers away, Eve slashed her hands, sending forth streams of pressurized wind that created shockwaves, rendering Nepheria's ears useless to the deafening cacophony. Each swing tore at the fabric of reality, shattering it like fragile glass.
Nepheria focused on herself, with every fiber of her being concentrated on harnessing the essence, the primal force that bounds the universe together. She channeled it with precision, allowing her to slip through the temporal fissures created by Eve's assault.
Suddenly, as Nepheria attempted to wield the essence once more, it failed her. She was struck by the reality-breaking pressurized wind, creating an explosion that shattered the very fabric of existence around her. Yet, miraculously, she survived, seemingly untouched by the devastating forces. It was as though the winds that could rip the fabric of reality could not harm her at all. In truth, she had perished, only to be restored to life by Eve's essence. Nepheria's existence in the spacetime chamber was entirely at Eve's will.
"Huff, huff, huff, huff. This is too much. Can't I have a little break?" Nepheria said as her breath grew ragged as moments passed. Nepheria's breath grew even more ragged, her body straining under the unrelenting exertion. Yet Eve did not stop as she brought up her hands again to fire another slash at her as Eve hands slashed down as it created a highly pressurized air that even created a huge crack in reality as more and more came after Nepheria.
"No, after all, you can still talk. You need to learn it instinctively if you want to master it swiftly. The fastest way to learn how to use essence is to pressure you to the point where your emotions go awry. Perhaps, if you're fortunate, you might even create an artifact in the process" Eve said as she threw another slash at Nepheria, who was trying her best to dodge it. She luckily dodged it but failed to dodge the other incoming as the barrage of pressurized air and cracked reality ripped her body apart, only to be restored in an instant.
"You know, I just used a sufficient amount of Essence that should actually just create a scratch for those who wield it. Yet here we are, and it's taking this long" Eve remarked, her voice tinged with a hint of frustration and disappointment, but Nepheria knew that all of those sounds of frustration and disappointment were a lie. To her, it seemed to be more of an insult, as she knew that her growth was very monstrous, even compared to the fastest learners of Essence. It was all thanks to her remembering a part of her past life as an Essence user.
"Shut up. I know that anything other than Essence can't hurt an Essence user, but for you, who has mastered using Essence against a novice like me, it's like you're wielding a cheat code, especially with your foresight" Nepheria retorted as her gaze fixed on Eve, with a bit of discontent, but she still understood that everything that Eve does is actually the most optimal and fastest way for her to learn using Essence at its fullest.
"Then look at the future. Are you daft? Essence is the very foundation of existence. It's only natural for those who can control it to foresee what's to come. Even your magic can do that. Don't tell me you've forgotten how to use it to peer into the future" Eve explained, her tone slightly mocking, as Nepheria seemed to just remember that she can actually do it, although it's not as true that she can actually look at the future. As she suddenly remembered, Eve is a book that knows the true future, so any future that Eve sees will be false.
"What's the use of peering into the future if I'm convinced you're just going to rewrite it?" Nepheria shot back, a note of bitterness in her voice. Eve, hearing this, covered her mouth in surprise as she looked away.
"Tsk" Eve clicked her tongue in response, but too bad Nepheria heard her.
"Hey, I heard that! As I thought, you're trying to bait me into a trap—ahhh!" Nepheria's voice echoed through the chamber as she suddenly plummeted into a concealed pitfall, her yelp cutting off abruptly as she fell face first, as Eve appeared above the pitfall she had created, and looked at the semi-conscious Nepheria as she had actually given the pitfall the effect of making who fell from it semi-conscious.
"Heh, to think you'd fall for the most basic of traps" Eve declared with a smug grin, her satisfaction evident in her tone. She looked down at the pitfall, an amused glint in her eyes, as she looked at Nepheria, who was slowly using her essence to protect herself from the effects of the pitfall.
"Wha- What happened?" Nepheria groaned, her head throbbing as her consciousness slowly returned, as she looked around to see she's in a hole of bended space, as she looked up to see Eve's smug face.
"You fell for my trap, dumbass, and it's time for your level 2 training" Eve stated as a matter of fact that she had fallen from her trap, and she is now starting her second level of training.
"What? There are levels?!" Nepheria's eyes widened in disbelief. She never even thought that there would be levels in Eve's training at all.
"Yes, and you'll be here for about eight more levels, meaning you have at least ten levels of training to finish," Eve replied, her tone unwavering, while Nepheria said she was afraid of the fact that there would be more training for her. She thought she had done pretty well, but it seemed like there were actually more difficult levels.
"Is there any way to lessen the number of levels?" Nepheria implored, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice, as she wanted to at least lessen the training.
"No. Now get up, unless you want to explode" Eve warned, her tone leaving no room for negotiation as she snapped her hands as Nepheria readied herself for whatever was coming at her, but there's none. She could not feel it, but suddenly she felt something. She did not know what it was.
"What?" Nepheria's eyes widened in alarm, but before she could react, there was a sudden, blinding flash of light, and then...
Boom!!!
The chamber was filled with a deafening explosion, sending shockwaves rippling through the spacetime fabric. Moments later, the smoke cleared, and to everyone's surprise, Nepheria stood, unharmed, amidst the aftermath.
"Tsk. looks like you still have a long way to go" Eve said as she raised an eyebrow, seemingly unimpressed.
Nepheria, her ears ringing from the blast, could only stare wide-eyed at the smoldering remnants of the explosion. The level of her training ahead settled upon her like a heavy shroud. This was no ordinary endeavor, and it was clear that each level would be harder than the last. The path to master essence was a dangerous one because every growth is a tribulation. If you did not succeed in surpassing your past self in controlling essence, you might lose yourself and your entire existence might split, but Nepheria was determined to grow as much as she could.