The thermodynamic arrow of time seemed to have stopped. The atmosphere froze instantly.

  Visually, the girl wore a white shirt and long batik skirt of Purwokerto High School uniform. But Gio knew, it wasn't real matter. It was pure projected consciousness. A spiritual Ophema body.

  They were standing in the exact same domain. Both of them stood completely motionless.

  Erinn was still trapped in a loop of questions that contradicted her knowledges on spiritual beings. Demons were parasites. They invaded human consciousness, subtly hijacking the host's neural system. They didn't just "project" out of a body like a Spirit User.

  "How is this possible?" Erinn thought. Confusion mixed with high alert.

  Gio slowly turned his head sideway. The only person he could rely on in this situation was his cousin, Arua. However, he had ghosted, nowhere to be found. Not on the bench, not by the broken-down bike. He even left his open bag and tools scattered in the dirt.

  Gio's eyes widened beneath the cloak's hood. Cold sweat began to drench his chest. "He... ran away?!"

  Before Gio could process the betrayal, Erinn skipped the interrogation session and took pre-emptive action.

  Her right hand raised. The surrounding Spiria particles began to vibrate, responding to Erinn's Psion-waves information. She reconstructed her stored non-physical pseudo-spiria, manifesting it straight into a weapon.

  A straight blade formed. A Spathion—Byzantine Empire double-edged sword. But this wasn't steel. It glowed with the luminescence of a hundreds-watt spotlight. Not a laser sword or a lightsaber, though.

  Erinn began to step forward slowly. Her cold gaze locked onto Gio's neck. Her hand swung down, gripping the Spathion with its blade facing the earth. The tip dragged across the dry dirt, leaving a scorched line and a sharp hiss.

  "W-Wait! Calm down!" Gio exclaimed, his voice muffled by the hood's mask.

  Negotiation denied. Erinn showed no signs of cooperation. Her face was flat, devoid of emotion. As she walked closer, she activated a material transmutation Nexus—a clothing modification technique commonly mastered by Spirit Users.

  The batik uniform dissolved, replaced by a gleaming woven textile.

  Now, Erinn wore a white combat dress. A high-collar silk tunic spanning neck to wrists—elegant but reinforced. The lower half of the tunic split at both hips for mobility, revealing matching white trousers underneath. Modest and tactical. No skin exposed except for her face and hands.

  Pure gold accents manifested at vital points. Flower-petal pauldrons, intricately carved vambraces, and a laurel wreath crowning her blonde hair.

  In this domain, she was no longer the school's primadonna. Erinn was a Valkyrie—an angel of war descending from the heavens to punish sinners. Contrast with Gio: a demon wrapped in a pitch-black, baggy Moon Knight-like cloak with only his eyes showing. An epic visual duality.

  Seeing the approaching threat, Gio switched to combat mode. He form a solid stance and raised both arms.

  Mental focus sharpened as he recalled the atomic structures Arua had taught him. Nexus activated: Three-layer Sandwich Composite Material.

  This domain still obeyed the first law of thermodynamics: energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. Every Nexus required a mass-energy source, with preferences varying for each entity. For Gio, who was accustomed to grounding system, he already familiar with earth composition.

  His Psion-waves compiled the information, transmuting minerals and silica into equivalent-mass gauntlets. Solid matter rendered over his hands, forming through layer-by-layer construction like a 3D printer.

  Layer one: a one-centimeter polymer elastomer acting as a heat insulator and shock absorber. Layer two: a high carbon steel shell for mechanical defense. Layer three: pure copper plating, utilizing the Skin Effect Principle, became a literal highway for high-frequency electrical currents.

  Composite gauntlets equipped. Heavy, solid, lethal. The perfect trade-off between mechanical strength and electrical conductivity.

  Distance between them continued to shrink. Seven steps. Six steps.

  Whoosh! Erinn dashed. Absurd acceleration, deleting a five-step gap in a blink. Her luminescent Spathion thrust straight for target’s heart.

  Gio crossed his gauntlets to parry. It was eerily quiet; no clank of metal clashing typically heard in action films. When Erinn's light-blade hit Gio's steel, it just let out a soft hiss—like water hitting a hot frying pan.

  The sword tip deflected upward, failing to penetrate. But that was just the opener. Erinn flicked her wrist, converting thrust momentum into a slashing combo. She rained attacks from every angle: vertical, horizontal, axial, diagonal. Fluid but explosive.

  Gio held the line. His hand-eye coordination running at max clock-speed, desperately blocking every incoming light-streak.

  But Gio was losing ground. Every clash didn't just scratch his gauntlets. The heat from that blade was extreme enough to melt copper in milliseconds. Terrifying energy transfer. Gio's gauntlets began to erode, leaving red trenches and exposing the inner layers.

  "This is bad! My gauntlets will not last ten seconds more." He had to drop the defensive mode.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Just as Erinn swung a vertical slash from above, Gio clapped his palms together, catching the light-blade. The sword stopped dead.

  Gio attempted to channel his electricity into opponent's weapon. But nothing happened. The electricity didn’t flow; the sword was a perfect insulator.

  Gio improvised. He used the weapon lock. Erinn was still tightly gripping the sword's hilt. Gio pulled the blade toward himself. Erinn stumbled forward, her defense wide open.

  Smack! An electrified right hook smashed into the girl's left cheek. Heavy impact. The combination of steel gauntlet and high-voltage discharge created a severe damage. Erinn's slim body launched backward, flying several meters before crashing into the dirt.

  She lay motionless. "S-Sorry!" Gio blurted out. His 'guilty conscience' kicking in mid-deathmatch. He was still hesitated between offense or defense, not wanting to show his opponent that he was dangerous.

  Gio stepped back with heavy breathing. He glanced at his human body still sleeping under the tree in Proteum, then back to Erinn. "Should I return to my body now!? Do I have the time!?"

  Time calculations flashed in his head. Re-entry into the physical body required eleven seconds. The distance between him and his vessel was about four meters.

  "It’s not enough. She could attack me in the middle of transfer." He had to ensure his opponent was completely down or had surrendered before initiating the transmission.

  However, before Gio could draft Plan B, the blonde girl twitched. It wasn't a normal get-up motion. Erinn's upper body glided upward, like invisible strings were pulling her from the sky. Like a marionette doll.

  Gio shivered. Erinn stood perfectly straight. Her grip on the Spathion hadn't loosened; the light hadn't dimmed. She turned her head slowly, razor-sharp glare locked on target.

  There was a faint reddish post-impact mark on her left cheek. However, no burns, no bruises, no blood. Gio gaped beneath his hood. "That attack should have been enough to knock a person out!"

  Gio missed a critical variable in his enemy data: Passive Protection Nexus. An invisible, exotic meta-material skin-suit. Thin, insulator, distributed impact energy well enough.

  "Metal and electrical element..." Erinn murmured. Her blue eyes scanned Gio's weapon. "Level Seven? Maybe higher. Guess I should take this seriously."

  She changed tactics. The Spathion in her hand dissolved, fading out like a graphic asset dropping to zero opacity.

  Slowly, both of Erinn's feet lifted off the ground. She levitated, ascending smoothly into the air.

  "S-She can fly?!" Gio panicked.

  Three spatial distortions popped up around her, spawning ranged weaponry: medieval-era Persian Composite Bows. The material looked like semi-transparent yellow amber, but definitely wasn't. They orbited Erinn like satellites, synced directly to her thoughts without the need of physical touch.

  The girl hovered in mid-air, backlit by the blinding light of the afternoon sun behind her. She looked majestic, yet intimidating.

  Gio gulped hard. His win probability plummeted to near-zero. Facing an enemy with Aerial Superiority and ranged attack while stuck as a Melee Unit? That wasn't a fight. That was suicide.

  His fighting spirit collapsed. Current Objective updated from [Defeat Enemy] to [SURVIVE]. Without wasting another second, he spun on his heels and bolted, sprinting away from the arena and dive into the maze of residential alleys.

  Erinn didn’t let her prey escape. She shot forward, pursuing the demon from above. Her fingers danced like an orchestra conductor. The three orbital bows immediately went to work.

  Out of thin air, glowing arrows spawned and automatically nocked themselves onto each bowstring. Without being touched, the arrows drew themselves back, bending the bows and contracting the strings.

  Thwip! Triple shot fired. Terrifying velocity, more than enough to pierce flesh. Luckily, she didn't have John Wick's aimbot. The projectiles narrowly missed, stucked into the asphalt right beside Gio's heels.

  But that wasn’t an issue for Erinn. She had abundant ammo supply.

  Furthermore, physical analysis revealed an imbalance. Erinn's flight speed was approximately 1.3x Gio's max running speed. Mathematically, Gio would be overtaken in seconds if he ran a straight line. He could only hope in Newton's Laws of Motion.

  Gio had the traction advantage. Feet on the ground meant friction, allowing for instant, sharp turns. He penetrated from a front yard into another narrow alleyway with high agility.

  Meanwhile Erinn, airborne, had an inertia problem. Without significant air friction, she had to spam a braking Nexus for every hard turn, forcing her to drift in mid-air before re-engaging the pursuit.

  That micro-stutter was Gio's only survival exploit. Erinn continued to rain fire from above. Her fingers dancing, and her bows fired glowing arrows with an alarming fire rate—equivalent to a Semi-Automatic Crossbow.

  Gio was overwhelmed. His brain was forced to overclock, predicting three projectile trajectories simultaneously. But probability was a cruel mistress: nothing stays 100% accurate forever.

  He miscalculated several times. There were a moments he stopped when he should've rolled, and dodged right into the line of fire.

  Two arrows managed to pierced his Nisaga cloak. One grazed his right arm, leaving a thin, searing burn.

  But determination held firm. Gio continued to sprint in a zigzag pattern, randomizing his path to throw off his opponent's aim. But again, he miscalculated. One arrow hit him. No graze this time—the luminous projectile pierced straight through the back of his left thigh, shredding his hamstring.

  Gio's biomechanical balance collapsed. He stumbled, tumbling hard across the grassy dirt for several meters.

  The pain lagged. Heat came first. The arrow shared the same thermal properties as her blade. It didn't just tear the muscle tissue—it incenerated it.

  "Arghhh-!!!" Gio roared. It felt like impaled by a burning knife straight out of forge.

  But a leg wound wasn't enough to stop him. His adrenaline spiked harder than the evaporating blood. With no second thought, Gio gripped the arrow shaft and ripped it out. Burned flesh peeled off, but the foreign object was ejected.

  Before he could even breathe, three more arrows rained down. This time, they were all locked onto his position.

  Survival instincts kicked in. Gio slammed his right foot into the dirt, threw his body sideways, dodging just milliseconds before the three arrows impaled his previous spot.

  Gio rolled, carrying the momentum back to his feet. He bolted again, resuming his desperate sprint despite his left leg being nearly crippled.

  High above, Erinn kept up the chase, maintaining a safe altitude of over ten meters.

  Gio realized that this scenario was bad. Only a matter of time before his body was turned into a pincushion. "I have to do something!" he thought.

  First option: Iron spear. Create a sharp-tipped metal cylinder and hurl it toward her. "No. That’s useless," he argued with himself. "She can dodge it easily up there!"

  He needed an arena that nerfed his opponent’s advantages. A roof and walls. He scanned the map quickly without dropping his sprint.

  Target acquired: A standout residential building right off the village road. Modern two-story house, orange-cream walls. "That’s it!"

  Gio made his decision. He cut hard toward the house. Ignoring the front door, he leaped and crashed straight through the large glass window on the first floor.

  CRASH! Glass shattered as the demon breached the living room. Up in the sky, Erinn slowed down.

  This was a massive gamble. The sole reason he entered the building was an assumption that Erinn was a Precision Ranger, not a Demolition class. He bet his life she didn't have a massive AoE Nexus that could level the whole building. If he was correct, the confined space would turn into his advantage.

  But if his guess was wrong...

  Then he just locked himself in his own coffin.