The Broken Halo

”I hope you have not become rusty and weak.”

Sonya’s smile widened as the stone beneath her bare feet gave a quiet groan.

Simon watched her raised fists, then glanced toward Akaza.

Akaza remained beside the wall with his arms folded.

”Just as we said earlier, there should be no excessive usage of one’s affinities,” he said. ”No artifacts, no other techniques that we didn’t agre upon, and Blackmoon limits his absurd physical strength to yours. You are practising the Broken Rhythm Art, not competing to see who can destroy another rented room.”

The wind gathered around Simon’s limbs dispersed, and the pressure spreading through the floor around Sonya also faded.

Sonya lifted her chin.

”This Honourable has never destroyed a training room.”

Akaza looked at the long crack running across the wall behind her.

”You definitely have a poor memory.”

Before Sonya could tear another stone from the floor and throw it at him, Simon moved.

His right foot struck the ground.

Bang!

He crossed the distance with a straight punch aimed at Sonya’s face.

His shoulder turned, his waist followed, and his demonic energy flowed through his arm in one smooth sequence.

Sonya sensed the attack and shifted her head aside.

Whoosh!

The punch passed her cheek, then Simon’s arm relaxed.

The movement that should have ended suddenly lost its tension. His shoulder dropped by less than an inch, his elbow loosened, and his fist accelerated again from a distance too short for an ordinary fighter to produce much force.

Sonya raised her palm.

BAM!

The second burst struck her guard and pushed her half a step backward.

Her smile disappeared.

”You started before I was ready.”

”Your enemy won’t wait for you to finish talking.”

Sonya scoffed.

”I’m a girl. That is no way to treat a girl.”

Simon’s left fist was already moving.

Sonya slipped beneath it and drove her own punch toward his ribs. Simon read the pressure entering her front foot, the turn of her waist, and the small tightening in her shoulder.

He stepped back far enough for the punch to miss.

Or it should have.

Sonya interrupted the rotation of her waist halfway through. Her arm slowed for a fraction of a heartbeat, then her rear foot pressed down and sent another burst through her body.

Her fist travelled several extra inches.

Simon twisted.

The knuckles brushed his shirt before passing him.

Sonya clicked her tongue in annoyance.

’I still can’t believe that he has gotten this proficient with the Broken Rhythm Art.’

The Broken Rhythm Art was a martial art technique that did not control time. It did not bend space and neither did it create an illusion like Simon’s Hollow Sky Eyes.

Its mechanism was much simpler.

Every fighter possessed a rhythm.

Before a punch arrived, the fighter’s weight would shift into a foot. Their waist would turn. Their shoulder would move. So would their muscles tighten, and their demonic energy would flow into their arm.

Experienced fighters did not wait for the fist to touch them before dodging. They read those signs and predicted where the attack would go.

That prediction was what kept them alive.

The Broken Rhythm Art turned this ’precognition’ against them.

Its user began a genuine attack and allowed the opponent to read it correctly. The fist was not a feint. If the opponent refused to move, it would hit.

But the moment the opponent committed to a dodge, the user broke the natural sequence of the attack.

It could either be a pause, a sudden relaxation, or a change in acceleration.

The defender dodged the attack their mind had predicted, while the real strike arrived later than he or she expected.

It was like walking down a familiar staircase and discovering that one step was lower than every other step. This sudden discovery can lead one to stumble and sometimes fall if they were not careful.

Nothing had pushed the person, and the staircase had not created an illusion.

Their body stumbled because it moved according to a rhythm that suddenly changed.

That was why Simon had once been certain he dodged Ormon’s attacks the first time he sparred with Ormon. He truly had dodged the movement his mind predicted, but he simply had not dodged what came after the rhythm broke.

Sonya rushed forward.

Her fist came toward Simon’s chest. It slowed, then accelerated.

Simon did not retreat.

He slapped the punch aside before the broken beat could form and drove his elbow toward her shoulder.

Sonya bent at the waist. The elbow passed above her, but Simon halted it and snapped the same arm downward.

She rolled beneath the descending strike and swept her leg across the floor.

Simon jumped.

Sonya rose with him, her fist cutting toward his abdomen.

He blocked it with one forearm.

BANG!

Both slid apart.

Akaza’s eyes followed them without blinking.

Knowing how the Art worked did not make it easy to deal with.

If a fighter reacted too early, the user could suddenly change the timing of the attack and catch them offguard. But if the fighter waited too long to make sure of the attack, the first strike could hit before they had time to dodge.

Broken Rhythm forced an opponent to choose between two dangers.

Move early and risk dodging the wrong attack.

Move late and get hit by the first one.

Simon approached Sonya again, and his right shoulder shifted.

Sonya sensed the punch coming and waited for the break.

The fist struck her forehead.

Tok!

She took one step back and faced him.

Simon lowered his hand.

Sonya rubbed the spot on her forehead and frowned.

”You didn’t break your rhythm.”

”No.”

”You attacked normally because you knew I was waiting for you to change the timing.”

Simon gave a small nod.

That was another danger of the Broken Rhythm Art.

Once an opponent understood how it worked, they naturally became cautious of every pause, change in speed, or sudden extension. But that caution could also be exploited.

Sometimes, the best way to use Broken Rhythm was not to use it at all.

Sonya clicked her tongue.

”So annoying.”

Simon moved before she finished speaking.

His fist shot toward her chest.

Sonya stepped aside, but Simon relaxed his arm halfway through the strike.

The speed of his fist dropped.

Then...

Bam!

His shoulder and waist suddenly pushed forward together, giving the punch another burst of speed.

Sonya caught his wrist before it reached her.

”Got you.”

She pulled him toward herself and drove her knee upward.

Simon shifted his hip aside, and the knee missed his stomach.

Sonya’s leg immediately dropped, and a fist came toward his ribs instead.

Simon blocked it with his forearm.

Bang!

Both of them separated.

Akaza watched from beside the wall with narrowed eyes.

He understood the basic principle of the Broken Rhythm Art, but unlike Simon and Sonya, he had only recently begun learning it properly. There were moments during the spar when even he could not immediately tell whether an attack had followed its normal rhythm or whether Simon or Sonya had broken it midway.

His eyes moved carefully between them.

’A shame I couldn’t learn from their Master. I wonder if he...’

While Akaza was lost in his thoughts, Sonya rushed forward again.

She threw a straight punch toward Simon’s face.

Simon moved his head aside, and her fist passed him. But just as the attack should have ended, Sonya changed her rhythm.

Her arm relaxed for an instant before extending again.

Simon was already moving.

He ducked beneath the second burst and stepped inside her guard.

Sonya’s elbow descended toward the back of his neck.

Simon raised one arm and blocked it.

Bam!

Sonya immediately followed with another punch.

This time, Simon did not try to predict whether she would break the rhythm.

He struck first.

His palm knocked her forearm aside, and his right fist flew toward her shoulder.

Sonya leaned back, and the fist stopped short.

Her expression changed.

Simon had deliberately made her react.

His real attack came from below.

A short uppercut rose toward her abdomen.

Sonya twisted away before it landed properly, but Simon had already followed her movement.

His foot stepped between hers, then his shoulder struck her chest.

Bang!

Sonya stumbled backward.

Simon did not give her room to recover.

He attacked again.

A left punch.

Sonya blocked.

A right hook.

She ducked.

Simon suddenly slowed the hook halfway through.

Sonya sensed the broken rhythm and shifted backward in preparation for the second acceleration.

However... it never came.

Simon withdrew the hook completely.

Sonya’s brows rose.

By the time she realised what he had done, Simon was already directly in front of her.

”Little-”

His fingers stopped against her throat.

At the same moment, his leg hooked behind her ankle.

Simon pulled, and Sonya’s balance disappeared.

Thud!

Her back struck the stone floor.

Before she could rise, Simon’s knee pressed lightly against her abdomen while two fingers remained against the side of her neck.

The room became quiet.

Sonya stared upward.

Simon stared down at her.

Several seconds passed.

Akaza finally spoke.

”That’s over.”

Sonya’s face slowly darkened, then Simon removed his knee and stood.

She remained on the floor for another moment before sitting up.

”You used a portion of the Broken Rhythm Art to make me expect the Broken Rhythm Art.”

Simon extended a hand toward her.

”Yes.”

Sonya stared at the hand.

Then at Simon.

Then back at the hand.

”...Bastard.”

She ignored his hand, pushed herself to her feet, and quietly cursed underneath her breath.

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[A/N: Read the author’s note below. It’s VERY VERY IMPORTANT!]