Kaliyah's POV
“Too slow,” Calum sneered, sidestepping my attack with ease and countering with a vicious jab to my ribs. The impact was akin to being struck by a carriage, and I grunted in pain, staggering back and barely managing to keep my footing.
Before I could recover and lunge at him again, he was on me. His movements were as fluid as a river as he danced around me, landing blows and dodging my every attempt to counter. It was either he knew exactly what I was going to do before I even did it, or I was just too slow.
“Urghh,” I grunted as I tried to channel my mana into a more focused attack, recalling a technique from the previous Kaliyah's memories—an explosive burst of speed combined with a mana-infused claw strike. I launched myself at Calum, trying to execute the technique, bu
