[Defeat your future self from fifty years later. Time remaining: 20 years 165 days.]0

Just because I had landed an attack didn’t mean I had inflicted any real damage—in fact, I hadn’t even managed to leave a single wound. It simply meant that, for the first time in my countless attempts, I had succeeded slightly. Soulbound had grazed his shoulder, barely scraping across the rim of his armor. Regardless of how pointless the strike had been, it was enough to leave me oddly satisfied.0

I had unleashed a Heart Sword in our previous duels, but he had brushed aside every attempt without the slightest resistance. When our Heart Swords had clashed prior to this instance, he had always reacted too quickly for mine to even factor into the equation. This time had been different because I had chosen to take a risk. I had been willing to sacrifice a blow for a blow.0

Of course, that success didn’t come without effort.0

It had taken me five long years just to block his flood of Heart Swords and close the distance so I could strike him directly. Even now, I could still tell that he was holding back to simply humor me, but progress was progress.2

During those years, my mastery of Thunderbird had also evolved. Divinity, mana, and causality could now flow through my inner circuits with refined precision, interlacing in harmony rather than colliding. Even the movement of that power had changed. In the past, when I had forced that current to accelerate, it would carve me to shreds slowly but surely, leaving behind deep, lingering damage.0

Now, I didn’t feel any pain...0