Strongest Among the Heavens

Chapter 197: Final Slash

Jack and his very existence momentarily became dark and fell into the ground. Kazi blinked and said out loud, "What...?"

Beneath his feet, he sensed the shadows move. His ears twitched and Kazi swung his sword behind him while uttering, "Super Spark Strike!" Kazi missed by a hair’s breadth and in return received a poke to the stomach. A touch of golden metal. An attack that by any other weapon would be insignificant.

But the rapier turned the tiny poke into a stab that launched him into the city walls. He heard an audible crunch as his spine made contact. In an instant, Jack the Ripper had reversed his disadvantage.

Kazi heard maniacal laughter and looked up to see Jack aiming for his head.

’Magic Barrier!’

Upon brief contact, his spherical barrier shattered. It had slowed the rapier down by a fraction of a second, enough time for Kazi to swerve underneath the rapier, point a finger at the abdomen, and mutter, "Fire Dart!"

A guaranteed hit at point-blank range. Kazi anticipated smoke to erupt in his face and for Jack to be sent back. Instead, the Fire Dart whirred into the air and exploded meaninglessly. Jack had disappeared and promptly reappeared next to a piece of standing wood, emerging from the ground as if it had been inside it.

Kazi touched the bleeding wound from his stomach and healed it with a quick application of Divine Miracle Water. He barely registered the pain, thinking of the battle ahead. ’Jack is experienced enough to break out of any long-term clash. Then there’s the black lightning. I wasn’t able to get a full glimpse but judging by Jules’ condition it doesn’t stop with simple electrocution. There’s something else to it and I’m not keen on finding out what.’

Jack, if he wanted to, could fight with no flaws. He had the capacity to murder every single player without blinking. What held him back was his obsession with strong opponents; of fighting worthy opponents. If he went straight for the kill rather than wasting mana to make a show, Kazi would have arrived to see everyone dead.

’He’s probably going at about seventy or eighty percent. His mana is low but I suspect he has more than one trump card up his sleeve.’ Kazi narrowed his eyes, his mana returning to full capacity. ’I can’t let him use it.’

He tossed Stormedge to his left hand and summoned a Fire Ball in his left. He threw the ball of fire like a baseball, winding up his arm with finesse and the body scale of his weight. Jack chose to avoid it this time, seeing through his strategy to create smoke. The Fire Ball hit the piece of wood, burning it to cinders.

"Get ready, Kazi Hossain." Jack’s left hand which had been missing returned in the form of a black claw and expanded into a round shield. Strangely, other than the flow of mana going through the fake hand, Kazi didn’t pick a lot of mana inside him.

The guard of the rapier rotated.

He didn’t grow lax though. Kazi waited, placing both hands on the hilt of Stormedge. He eyed the swordsman, noticing his footwork. There was no doubt about it, he was trained in the art of sword fighting. Before, Jack had been lazy about it. Dismissing it as unnecessary in front of such weak opponents.

But not against Kazi.

His right foot led forward.

Kazi half-expected him to disappear. He didn’t. He crossed the distance between them with raw speed, a near blur despite being directly in his life line of sight. Kazi managed to parry the thrust aiming for his throat, funneling an equal amount of mana into his blade as he did his feet.

Stormedge suffered for it, a large chip breaking from where the rapier hit. The golden light retreated and returned in a lightning-fast thrust. One, two! Duck, back-step! Kazi jerked his head to the side and the rapier drew blood from his cheek.

’So it’s not just attack power! The rapier gives agility too! Must be a mode switch! Different stats for different modes! Here, he’s exchanged strength for speed!’ He wasn’t too surprised. Rapiers were supposed to be fast-paced weapons and given the weapon’s sheen and design he assumed there was another trick behind it beyond the black lightning and absurd attack power. ’And now I’m at a disadvantage!’

Every thrust was combined with a masterful burst of Mastered Flow of Mana. Coupled with the additional speed bestowed to Jack by the weapon itself, Kazi was relying on his own Mastered Flow of Mana and the increased reaction speed that came with it to dodge. Calculating, thinking, analyzing—and doubling on it.

A single thought was almost too merciful.

"Gah!" The side of his throat was cut badly and crimson liquid poured out. Jack laughed, the tip of his rapier constantly propelling towards the most critical points above his shoulders.

The Ripper was not going to stop until he was dead. There was no time.

Squelch—!

Blood gushed out as the rapier penetrated his shoulder. Not a millisecond was wasted as Jack tried to pull out and end him.

If only he could.

Kazi had timed his slower hand and the strike perfectly, grabbing onto the rapier and keeping it in place. The trap would last less than three seconds, with the predicted black lightning beginning to erupt. But Kazi was one step ahead and swung Stormedge down the X-mark Sun-young had made.

Whizz—!

His lightning sword missed and sliced through the air, the opponent having turned into an ashy mist and merging with the ground. Jack reappeared beside a broken stone wall with not a scratch on him. His trap was unsuccessful.

At least that was what Jack thought before he heard a huge volume of magic surging towards. On instinct, he summoned several dark tendrils from the palm of his artificial hand. "Black Despair—!"

Kazi didn’t bother dodging. The belt on his waist faintly glowed and the dark tendrils thinned out into little yards of strings.

"What—"

Jack wouldn’t realize that Kazi had seen through everything. He slipped into the shadows to escape, just like Kazi wanted. He travelled to the only remaining shadow in their immediate surroundings, just like Kazi wanted. He used a purely darkness-based attack in a panic, just like Kazi wanted.

The Ripper’s throat was ripped with no resistance, the blossomed source of life staining the curved Turkish blade. Jack stopped the gushing blood with his own hands and staggered as Kazi chopped off his left arm in its entirety.

"Gssshhk!" The serial killer didn’t even get to fall to his knees when the final slash was coming to him.