Hearing what she said, Valdis nodded in response.
Nyxaria, seeing this, moved behind Valdis once again and said in a serious tone, "The entire creation process is going to hurt a little, but I need you to endure till I'm done."
Hearing the seriousness in her tone, Valdis took a deep breath and nodded. Seeing this, Nyxaria began.
The silvery blob that lay in the center of the space, unmoving, finally reacted. It flew from its position and stopped in front of Valdis.
Soon, Nyxaria's voice rang behind him: "We are starting the creation process now." As she said this, her body grew increasingly transparent, then faded into a dark shadow and merged with Valdis.
The silvery blob in front of Valdis then moved closer, wrapping around Valdis' body like a cocoon, leaving only his head exposed. Valdis didn't react as he expected something like this to happen.
Soon, the pain he had been waiting for arrived.
It felt like a million tiny needles were stabbing him. The pain was excruciating, but Valdis endured it with only a slight change in his facial expression.
Slowly but surely, the blob reduced in size as more of it kept fusing with him.
Although the pain from this fusion wasn't as much as what he felt during his awakening ceremony, it was still excruciating.
Soon, the entire thing had completely fused with him, leaving behind a slight silvery sheen on the surface of his skin.
It was at this point that Nyxaria's voice appeared in his mind.
"The first phase is complete, but the last part is where I need you to maintain consciousness throughout the process."
"Why do you sound like the next part is going to be exceedingly difficult and painful?" Valdis asked
"It is quite difficult for someone at your level to maintain consciousness while I rip out a part of their soul."
Hearing this, Valdis's eyes widened, but he eventually calmed himself and nodded.
Nyxaria saw this and began the last process of fusion.
She soon appeared in a dark space where the only source of light was a big blue sphere at the centre.
Seeing the big blue sphere, an expression of shock appeared on her face.
"This is the soul of someone still at the body refinement stage," she said as though she didn't believe what she was seeing at all.
"Not only is his body ridiculously powerful, but his soul is equally pure. The amount of soul power he will be able to unleash when he reaches the soul realm will be massive."
As she said this, she stretched out her hand as a thin layer of blue light covered her fingers. The blue light on her fingers gave off an identical feeling to the sphere in front of her, but hers appeared darker and more condensed.
Her fingers arrived before the blue sphere and pinched it, breaking off a tiny piece of it.
It was at that moment that Valdis felt as though his head had been hit by a massive hammer, and instantly his vision blurred.
One of his legs gave out as he fell to one knee, fighting to remain conscious as his head felt like it was being split in two, as darkness encroached from the edges of his vision, and it felt as though strength was being siphoned from his body.
Soon her voice sounded in his head again, and almost immediately his body returned to normal.
"The final process is complete. Now, I'm going to begin weapon creation."
Valdis nodded, and soon he felt something being secreted from his right hand. Looking at his arm, he saw the silvery blob being secreted from his arm.
The blob moved downwards, extended from his hand, and began raking the shape of a weapon.
First to appear was the hilt of the swords, which was pitch black, adorned by silver lines, and after that, the blade formed.
The blade had a single edge which had a dark lines along the sides of the blade. The blade itself was about ten inches, and the spine five millimeters thick. Towards the top of the sword their was a slight curve, which gave the sword an unnatural shape.
"I might not be as good as Magnus at blacksmithing, but I think I outdid myself today," Nuxaria said with pride.
'Magnus is that the second ancestor's actual name?" Valdis thought
Valdis, on the other hand, was quiet, eyes closed, and senses sharpened.
He slightly swung the sword, testing its weight with his hands.
Soon, he stopped, got into an attacking posture, and started practicing his sword techniques.
Nyxaria, who was watching this, fired for the first time since they met, had an expression of shock on her face.
"He's a little way from breaking into the grandmaster level. The only thing holding him back is his inexperience in actual battles," she said in a low tone.
After saying this, she quietly watched him access the capabilities of the sword, but after some time, she got bored with just watching him practice alone.
A thought seemed to have crossed her mind because her eyes gleamed as a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she looked in Valdis' direction.
Soon, Nyxaria stretched her hand, and a light, thin sword materialized in her hand. She gave Valdis one last look before her figure blurred out of sight.
Valdis, who was still immersed in his practice, suddenly felt a great sense of crisis. His eyes snapped open in alarm as he put his sword in the path of the expected danger.
Soon his sword clashed with another, and when he looked saw who held the sword. He looked confused.
"Well, you looked like you needed help, so I decided to lend you a hand," Nyxaria said with a smile on her face.
And before Valdis could respond, she moved again, swinging her sword towards his legs, and Valdis reacted immediately, creating some distance between them.
"Fast reactions, good, but I hope you can keep up." As she finished speaking, she vanished and instantly appeared in front of Valdis
Her rapier immediately flashed forward like lightning.
Valdis's body reacted before thought finished forming. His sword moved in a sharp arc—
Clang.
Steel rang throughout the space as the curved blade knocked the rapier aside.
But Nyxaria was already moving again.
Her footwork was fluid, almost dance-like. She circled him in a blur of black and red, the thin blade darting forward again and again.
Each strike aimed at a different point—shoulder, throat, ribs, thigh.
Precise.
Relentless.
Valdis stepped back once, then pivoted sharply, his sword cutting through the air in a clean diagonal slash.
Nyxaria leaned away just enough for the edge to pass inches from her chest.
"Too slow," she teased.
Her sword lunged again.
This time, Valdis did not retreat.
His sword snapped downward, knocking the blade aside before immediately flowing into a sweeping horizontal strike.
The curved steel sang through the air.
Nyxaria bent backward with impossible flexibility, the blade slicing just above her.
She twisted mid-motion, one foot pushing against the ground as her rapier flicked upward toward his wrist.
Valdis rotated his grip, pulling the katana back just in time.
The rapier's tip skimmed past his sleeve.
Fast.
Far faster than most swordsmen.
But the sword moved differently.
Where Nyxaria struck like lightning bolts—sharp and precise—Valdis flowed like a cutting wind.
He stepped forward now.
His blade flashed once.
Nyxaria parried.
Twice.
She parried again.
The sound of steel striking steel echoed rapidly through the courtyard.
Their weapons blurred between them—rapier thrusts meeting curved slashes, precise stabs deflected by sweeping arcs of silver.
Nyxaria's dark eyes gleamed with excitement.
"You're holding back."
"So are you."
She grinned wider.
Her foot slid forward.
The rapier lunged.
But this time it was not a simple thrust.
The blade twisted at the last second, slipping past the katana's guard and shooting toward his collarbone.
Valdis' eyes widened, his thoughts reacted immediately, but his body couldn't move fast enough.
And almost immediately, he felt a sharp sensation in front of his throat. His body froze instantly, and his eyes moved downwards to see the tip of her sword pointing at his throat.
He had a feeling that if she wanted, she could kill him instantly, regardless of any move he made to pull himself out of this situation.
After a few seconds, she pulled back her sword, and almost immediately, he let out a breath.
Valdis' gaze immediately drifted to the sword in her hand.
"You use a rapier?" he asked.
"Yes, but don't envy its speed; you can't have everything. What my sword lacks in power, it makes up for in versatility and extreme lethality," she said
Valdis nodded because he already knew a lot about that particular weapon. When he was searching for the perfect weapon, he stumbled upon the rapier and lost interest immediately, since it had little to no attack power.
Any pressure put on the sword would result in the blade immediately shattering, so the sword's offense lay mainly in thrusts.
"I love this sword regardless," Valdis said
"Do you have a name for the sword?" she asked
"Yes, Vesper," He replied