One moment Adam and Zenon stood facing each other across the chamber, the next the distance between them ceased to matter.
Adam's fan snapped open.
Zenon turned a page.
The floor beneath Adam suddenly moved sideways directionally more than physically.
His body should have crashed into the wall instantly but instead cherry blossoms bloomed from movements.
There is no use. The microscopic currents created by Zenon's vector distortion feeds my mechanism itself. Adam thought.
Thin Runic spores scattered earlier through the room suddenly began glowing. Petals unfolded into existence around Adam like instincts finally became visible.
A hundred petals spiraled beneath his feet.
He stepped on them in midair like stairs.
Zenon's eyes narrowed.
"What are you planning?"
Adam swung before the sentence finished. The petals accelerated violently scattering everywhere.
Razor-thin cherry blossoms crossed the room fast enough to split reinforced flooring, each petal adjusting trajectory through surrounding motion like predators born from momentum itself.
Zenon calmly flipped another page hurriedly doing a barrier spell. As Zenon threw a page in midair, the petals suddenly turned.
They aimed back at Adam. Adam for a moment showed an amused expression.
"You are really outstanding."
Zenon sighed.
Adam twisted sideways through his own attack.
Using his own attack to stop his own attack. How ironic.
The longer the battle continued, the worse Adam became.
Zenon understood which was why he planned first. A page tore loose. Three black arrows glowed.
Suddenly Adam's perception tilted.
Up became left.
Forward became downward.
His own consciousness redirected violently.
The fan slipped slightly.
Zenon had his notebook slammed shut against Adam's jaw with terrifying force.
Adam staggered but he was still smiling.
"You have always fought like an office worker with anger issues."
Zenon adjusted his sleeve calmly. Adam suddenly vanished from the sight.
Petals exploded around him in spiraling formation, feeding on every previous motion accumulated throughout the fight.
Zenon immediately understood.
"You are trying to stack kinetic bloom."
"Congratulations, You have studied."
Cherry blossoms rained like execution. Zenon ripped off six pages simultaneously.
Each one of them had arrows pointing different directions.
Adam stepped through petals suspended in midair.
Zenon redirected momentum itself, changing attack angles before the pedals reached.
A kick came, Zenon redirected its force left side by slicing one page with a finger.
Adam spun mid-motion and used the altered trajectory to launch himself harder instead.
Zenon turned another page wasting no time.
Adam's next step changed direction instantly.
The decision of where his body intended to move got altered midway.
His footing shifted left without permission.
Adam reacted immediately. The fan opened halfway.
Cherry blossom petals formed from accumulated movement already existing in the room.
The petals darted and clustered into rotating lines around him.
A petal platform formed under Zenon's foot midair.
"Watch your steps, blind guy."
Zenon tore another page free.
"Watch where are attacking, dummy."
The paper dissolved. Suddenly Adam's perception split.
Three attack paths appeared in his mind simultaneously, all feeling equally real.
He is forcing conscious direction interference.
Adam swung the fan.
Thousands of petals accelerated. Each petal tracked micro-movements already committed to by Zenon's muscles.
If Zenon intended to dodge right, those petals would intercept it before the action finished.
Zenon calmly redirected vector priority. The petals suddenly lost forward meaning. Their momentum leaned sideways.
Entire attack patterns collapsed into harmless spirals.
Adam was desperate about the outcome.
" Once I get to stab your ankles, you will see how worse it goes. "
Zenon threw another page in the midair and sliced it.
The force redirected upward which split the ceiling above them in a straight line.
The clash stopped for the first time.
Not because either side had weakened because both finally understood something uncomfortable.
The chamber already carried too much accumulated motion.
Adam's petals had spread into thousands, resting across walls, drifting through air, embedded into broken flooring.
Zenon's arrows remained suspended like quiet instructions waiting to interfere with reality again.
Adam exhaled escalating anyway.
"…You are impossible to fight when you start thinking. Gotta agree that."
Zenon adjusted the notebook in his hand.
"That is generally how thinking works. See? You are dumb to be a King."
Adam looked mildly irritated then the irritation disappeared.
"…Fine."
He lowered the fan. The petals around him slowed in their spot.
Adam spoke softly this time.
"Please forgive the inconvenience."
Zenon's expression changed slightly.
"Oh no. Seems like someone is angry."
A current of Runic Flow passed through the room.
The petals gathered near Adam's feet, formed lines instead of storms. They moved with purpose now, arranging themselves into geometric pathways that resembled flowing water.
A figure approached from the shadows.
An elderly man stood there carrying a staff in simple robes. The Old Man had weathered expression and heavy brown eyes.
Yet carrying the strange weight of someone who had once walked through impossible things and survived them.
"I am grateful you are here. Welcome, Saint Moses."
The Figure looked around once sighing.
"Every generation insists on summoning elders into arguments they could settle themselves."
Adam folded his arms.
"I could be merciful if you do what I want. You are one of the few Summons who are partially independent from Summoner's orders."
Zenon immediately replied,
"You opened with weather weaponization."
Moses glanced between them.
"You are both disappointing."
"…I suppose I should stop acting like fairness matters."
A glow of violet aura spiraled around Zenon as a second figure approached from the smoke.
It was tall, older, though difficult to place.
Dark clothing, quiet posture, observant eyes carrying the tired patience of somebody who had spent too much time watching people misunderstand holiness.
He looked at Zenon.
"You summoned me into a family disagreement?"
"Yes, Nostradamus. Shall we begin?"
Nostradamus looked toward Moses and smiled.
"It has been a very long time."
Moses nodded once.
"Long enough for these children repeating same mistakes again and again."
Nostradamus clasped his hands behind his back.
"Yes."
"They still confuse ambition for purpose."
Adam crossed his arms.
"Are you two going to help or just evaluate us?"
Moses looked directly at him.
"You summoned a prophet and a lawgiver. What exactly were you expecting?"
Nostradamus stepped slightly closer, studying the room.
"Interesting."
His gaze moved between Adam and Zenon.
"You fight despite not hating one another."
"It is a complicated matter" Zenon replied.
"No. Complicated things usually involve honesty. Honesty without conscience is mere bluntness. Morality without honesty is elegant self-deception."
Moses quietly rested both hands over his staff.
"This matter feels simpler."
Adam frowned. "How?"
"You are both afraid."
Zenon narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Afraid of what?"
Moses looked toward the untouched throne.
"That if one of you wins… something much larger loses."
Neither Adam nor Zenon answered because neither fully disagreed.
Nostradamus finally spoke again,
"Tell me, which of you still believes this conflict belongs to you?"
The silence afterward lasted longer than either expected.
Adam raised the fan again. The drifting cherry blossoms around him reorganized themselves through accumulated motion already present in the room.
Zenon quietly adjusted his grip on the black notebook, several marked pages lifting on their own as if already anticipating decisions yet to happen.
Neither man looked fully committed.
"There is still time to quit."
Zenon gave him a tired look.
"You know neither of us means that."
"Yes."
Then both stepped forward simply accepting what came next.
Behind them, Moses rested both hands over his staff, watching the two candidates with an expression carrying more disappointment than surprise.
"…Human beings. Even when they understand suffering, they continue toward it."
Nostradamus stood beside him.
"They are young."
Moses looked at Adam briefly.
"Young people mistake necessity for destiny. That kind of reminds me of myself."
Then his eyes lowered toward his own hand.
"I remember the sea splitting and mountains trembling when Faith became force. And this, this was not even close."
Not a fragment of what he once carried.
"Though, perhaps it is fortunate. Currently I am not even in half of my true self."
"You fear your own strength?"
Moses shook his head once.
"No. I fear what desperation makes men ask from it."