“3… 2… 1… go!”

Octane and Finn took off at the exact time, dashing through the wide Alcina Plains. The strong wind was against them, which hindered them both, but even so, Octane immediately created a gap between himself and Finn. He was like a gush of wind on his own, pushing back against the greater current.

A mere ten seconds later, Octane had reached the finish point. Shortly after, Finn arrived as well.

“Not bad,” Octane said, patting his friend’s shoulder and glancing down at his stopwatch. “15.24 seconds. I was 9.59.”

‘Isn’t that just a little more than the world record…?’ Finn thought in his head. ‘Octane’s this fast without the help of his Angelica… he could definitely become an athlete — that is, if the Ghosts hadn’t dragged him into this mess.’

“You definitely can’t be said to fit the Daredevil Angelica perfectly, but you’re not completely hopeless either,” he continued, sinking into thought. “That rules out teaching you Tier 3 Abilities directly, but what should I teach you instead? Hm…”

According to the book Iris and Finn had read the night before, the Daredevil Angelica wasn’t just speed focused. The core of its powers was ‘pushing limits’, providing users with high-risk but also high-reward Abilities. If that’s the case, then…

“Are there any Abilities that can greatly enhance my reaction speeds?” Finn asked. Since he was blind, a boost in reaction speed could save his life in crucial situations.

“Reaction speeds, huh… there is one, but it’s a Tier 3, so not happening,” Octane waved off his suggestion with ease.

“Teach me,” Finn insisted, not backing down. “Like I said… at least let me give it a shot.”

Octane eyed Finn for a brief moment, then sighed.

“Fine, fine… but before I teach it to you, just know this: every Ability in the Daredevil Angelica has repercussions.”

Finn knew this already, but he listened anyway.

“The super speed that I like, for example, could end up killing me if I don’t control it right,” Octane continued professionally. “In your case, this reaction time Ability will do exactly what you wanted — improve your reaction speed by a lot — but at the same time, it shrinks your area of awareness down to a tiny radius around you, meaning you won’t be able to anticipate any ranged attacks at all until it’s too late. Do you still want to learn?”

After some brief hesitation, Finn nodded. “Ivis can take care of the ranged enemies. I trust her to do that.”

“Alright then. If you say so.”

Having been granted approval, Finn activated his Daredevil Angelica, causing a green glow to arise from his body. He wondered if he could use multiple Angelicas at once — he’s tried in the past, but never succeeded.

[You can, Finn~] Zelestria answered in his mind. [Just not yet.]

‘Not yet…?’

[Mhm~ As long as you keep slaying Ghosts and harvesting their Souls though, you’ll be able to in no time. So, keep going, darling~]

‘… I see.’

“Okay, Finn, listen closely,” Octane said, interrupting his thoughts. “The Ability’s name is Devil’s Timing. It’s a skill that can be activated instantly, unlike most other Abilities which all have cast times ranging from really short to long.

“The good thing about the Daredevil Angelica is that all the Abilities in it are pretty easy to use, no mana control, circulation, or any of that. All you have to do is think the Ability’s name in your head while you have the Angelica active, and that’s pretty much it. Give it a try.”

Finn did as told, furrowing his brows in concentration.

‘Devil’s Timing.’

Immediately, he felt as if the darkness around him amplified, somehow, with the exception of a meager five inch radius around his body. Everything seemed to slow down and the sound of wind grew louder and clearer, allowing Finn to perceive every swish and swoosh of it with ease.

“Oookayyyy, Finnnn. Iiiif youuuu diiid iiit cooorreeectlyyy, myyy voiiice shoould souuund slooooow toooo youuuu,” Octane said in a weird, distorted tone. Strangely, Finn could pinpoint the exact location where his voice was coming from, unlike normally where he could just identify the direction and give a rough estimate of the distance.

Finn nodded. “It does.”

“Goooood. Tooooo ennnnd the effeeeeect, juuuust thiiiink theeee Abiiiliiityy naaaame aaagaain,” Octane continued in that same slow-mo voice.

‘Devil’s Timing.’

Finn’s surroundings instantly went back to normal. The sound of wind faded away to the background once more, and the darkness of his blindness was spread out evenly again.

“I can’t believe you actually got it,” Octane sighed. “Maybe you do have talent for the Daredevil Angelica after all. But anyway, how did the Ability feel, as a blind person?”

“… Quite useful, actually,” Finn replied. Since he could for some reason detect the extremely low-frequency sound Minor rank-and-file Phantoms made, Devil’s Timing would help him determine the exact location of his enemies — almost like a radar in his head, but also making everything around him seeming to slow down.

“I have a question though.” Finn furrowed his brows in thought.

“Yeah?”

“Why did your voice slow down there…? As in, what’s the theory behind this Ability?”

“Ah, I was confused about that when I first learned this Ability too,” Octane chuckled. “Basically, it’s not the outside world that’s slowed down. It’s you who began moving and reacting faster.”

“Huh… I see.”

In conclusion, this Ability had a relative effect. In reality, Finn was just moving faster compared to the flow of natural time, but from Finn’s perspective, everything has slowed down, thus providing him with the upper hand in combat. But that leads to an important question.

“What’s the cooldown on this Ability?” Finn asked. He knew Shapeshifting didn’t have a cooldown since it wasn’t meant to be used consecutively anyway, but this was different. He wanted to know the cooldown so that he could decide how sparingly to use it.

“Glad you asked,” Octane replied with a grin. “You see, Angelicas need a certain amount of time between using the exact same Ability as your previous cast, and this time is different depending on which Ability we’re talking about. As a general rule of thumb though, Tier 3 Abilities like Devil’s Timing have cooldowns of a minute.”

‘A minute… 60 seconds.’

“But just keep this in mind — cooldowns aren’t your biggest concern right now,” Octane continued as a friendly warning. “Tier 3 Abilities use up a lot of mana, so D-Class Hunters like us should use them sparingly.”

Finn actually had an immense mana pool thanks to the sheer amount of energy and power in his Ghost blood, but there was no point arguing about that here.

“Is there anything else you have to teach me?” Finn asked Octane, who rubbed his chin in thought.

“Hm… not really. All the other Abilities I know are related to superspeed one way or another, which I doubt you would want.”

“Yeah… no thanks. I’ll just end up crashing into a wall.”

“Exactly,” Octane said with a grin, then turned away from Finn. “If you want to head back first, go ahead. As for me… I’m gonna go for a quick jog, heheh!”

“Uh, wai-“

“HELLLLL YEAH! THIS FEELS AMAZING!”

Finn tried to stop him, but he had already dashed off far away into the lush green plains, grass swaying violently side by side from the roaring winds. Very soon, his figure was nothing but a tiny dot in the distance.

‘I do want to head back first, Octane, but…’

Finn sighed in resignation and sat down on the grass, letting the cool breeze wash over him.

‘… I don’t know how to get back up to the teleporter.’