Caleb stared up into the air as he felt the pressure upon him from the rain as well as the auras of the two men fighting. He still stood tall, more for show than anything else, as he really wanted to just sit down and take a breather, but as the Judge of the Court of Shadows, he had to keep up appearances.

Carmen was sitting on the ground unbothered. There weren’t that many more around as pretty much everyone else had left, leaving only himself, Carmen, Sylphie, Eron, Reika, Maria, and one or two more who had managed to resist the wave of arcane energy earlier. Even people like Sultan had played it safe and left.

Up there, far above, flashes pulsed through the air every time their attacks clashed, a glowing figure of pink-purple energy flying and teleporting around at incredible speeds. On his trail, following him closely, was a swordsman only really visible due to the huge shockwaves of power every swing of his sword sent out. If this duel truly had any meaning besides a bet, Caleb truly didn't know. Perhaps it would be a momentous battle that defined Earth's destiny to come, or maybe it was just two people having a blast, with no real meaning besides their own personal ones.

As he stood there, Caleb had a theory about what the old man had done but no way to confirm it. If his theory proved correct or not didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things because today had made one thing absolutely clear to every single faction of Earth who knew anything about the multiverse outside of their own isolated planet.

These weren’t just the two strongest people on Earth. Caleb had access to information spanning much of the multiverse. He knew the standards of geniuses, and he did not have a shadow of doubt in his mind that both his brother and the Sword Saint were monstrous geniuses on a multiversal scale.

He looked at Eron, who stood and paid attention to the fight in odd ways as he seemed to stare at things no one else could see. Caleb shook his head.

First two ridiculous Bloodlines… and now we may even have a Transcendent.

Jake spun in the air as he blocked the blow of the Sword Saint with his scimitar, launching himself back as he rapidly swapped to his bow and fired an arrow.

Still spinning, his foot touched down on a constructed platform as he teleported away, as he fired a near-instantly channeled Arcane Powershot towards the Sword Saint. The swordsman reacted as expected by deflecting the first arrow and dodging the second as he chased Jake closely.

Clashing once more, Jake shot his palms towards the Sword Saint as both exploded with arcane energy, and as both flew away from each other, he raised his hand and rapidly constructed a long spear-like mana bolt which he naturally threw.

Sadly, it did nothing as it was cut in two, both sides flying around the Sword Saint, and even when they exploded, they only hit the constructed barriers of rainwater already covering the Saint’s sides.

Jake took the opportunity to swiftly check his notifications as curiosity got the better of him.

*Skill Upgraded*: [Arcane Limit Shatter (Ancient)] --> [Arcane Awakening (Legendary)]

[Arcane Awakening (Legendary)] – Arcane energy runs through your veins and body as you embrace the duality of stability and destruction. Revolve, empower, and infuse your stamina with your arcane affinity, making it far more potent while significantly increasing stamina expenditure. Arcane Awakening has four forms. Balanced Form increases all stats by 30% and deals no damage or results in any period of weakness afterward. Destruction Form increases Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower by 50%. Stable Form increases Vitality, Toughness, Endurance, Perception, and Willpower by 50%. During a stable Arcane Awakening, your body is covered by a faint barrier of arcane energy at all times, while all your attacks are infused with a slight amount of arcane energy while embracing destruction. Fully awaken your arcane energy to enter Arcane Awakening Form for a boost of 60% in all stats at the cost of severe loss of health every second and a period of weakness after use. During this time, you benefit from both the traits of embracing destruction and stability.

That entire description made a lot of sense to Jake as that was precisely how he felt it work. Needless to say, he was currently in what it called Arcane Awakening Mode. The fissures on his body were leaking pure arcane energy and dealing damage to him, and every single blow he made was infused with even more arcane energy.

His stamina was draining fast along with his health, but even so… it was stable. He did not lose more health the longer time passed, and the health loss was within an acceptable range. Jake had to admit he had surprised himself with the sudden upgrade, but he also knew why he had gotten it.

From the beginning, his arcane affinity had always been linked closely to his Bloodline and his instinctive control of mana. So to impose his affinity upon stamina was only a logical next step, and when he found himself pressed by another human, his Bloodline truly got unruly as Jake’s excitement and competitiveness grew to new levels.

Not a single part of him wanted to lose. Not because he would lose out on an item or prestige or anything else stupid like that. He just wanted to win because he was a selfish and arrogant asshole who really didn’t like the thought of losing to another human around his own level.

“Got any more tricks?” Jake asked, not even a second having passed since their last clash.

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” the Sword Saint said with a smile. “And I do believe it would be more reasonable for me to ask that question.”

“I guess we’ll just have to find out!”

Jake nocked an arrow as he stepped down at the same time, dodging the expected slash just in time as the Sword Saint teleported up to him. Turning in the air, Jake prepared to fire the arrow as he saw the Sword Saint point his sword straight at him, having predicted Jake’s move one step ahead.

What he couldn’t expect was Jake’s method of blocking.

He raised his foot as the blade extended and slammed into the sole of his boot, sending him flying back as Jake grimaced in pain – yet not a single drop of blood was spilled. Not even the Sword Saint could cut the mighty boots. It still hurt like hell, and Jake was pretty sure he now had internal bleeding in his foot, which wasn’t that big of an issue as that was where blood was supposed to be anyway… right?

Getting more space between them, Jake fired another Arcane Powershot at the surprised Sword Saint. It was understandable; comprehending the comfy boots was not a simple matter after all. Not that Saint failed to respond as he did the redirection-block again. By now, the Sword Saint could easily tell the difference between explosive and stable arrows, making it harder for Jake to bait him into blocking over dodging.

Jake kept shooting as they flew around a while longer. The shield from his Arcane Awakening suppressed the Summer Rain effect allowing Jake to be slightly faster than his opponent, but it was a close race, and firing arrows while moving did naturally slow him down.

Yet Jake still thought he had a great advantage as he managed to land the occasional glancing arrow, leaving minor cuts. Minor cuts that became not that minor when factoring in the poison. Even though Jake had to admit his poison did not prove as effective as he hoped as the constant current of water running across the Sword Saint’s body washed it away instantly, and the rain slowly healed him as they fought. The man was still slowly and surely losing health, but not as fast as Jake would have liked.

Ah, but Jake had his own healing too. He activated his oft-forgotten leg enchantment as he dodged another crescent wave of water, feeling the warm glow pulse through him, granting him a good portion of vital energy. It wasn’t that much, but it helped to keep him going and offset the health-draining effects of Arcane Awakening.

They engaged each other again, as the game of cat and mouse continued, Jake happily kiting and avoiding the swordsman, while his opponent did all he could to try and lock Jake down and land duel-winning blows.

Dodging a blow, Jake tried to follow up with a potshot as the old man used another skill as the rain around him moved.

“Thousand Droplets.”

Knowing what was coming, Jake swiftly teleported to the side and appeared to see the Sword Saint had teleported to the exact same place as Jake was read flawlessly once more. His scimitar appeared as he blocked two blows, but Jake was taken by surprise when the third came. The Sword Saint’s blade moved in a circular motion, and Jake felt like his wrist was nearly twisted off, and at the same time, the Saint moved in and jabbed his wrist as the scimitar shot out of his hand and down towards the ground.

Without a weapon, perhaps the Sword Saint had expected Jake to be distraught. What he probably hadn’t expected was Jake gripping his sword-bearing wrist as Jake placed his palm on the Sword Saint’s chest.

Touch of the Malefic Viper

A pulse of pure toxic energy was emitted as Jake’s perhaps most potent offensive skill was activated. The passive current of water covering the Sword Saint’s body offered no resistance as he made contact, sending the energy into his opponent.

The swordsman reacted fast as he used his free hand to grab Jake’s clothes and moved his feet as suddenly Jake found himself upside down with a foot smashing into his stomach, sending him flying downwards. That was some jiu-jitsu shit right there, Jake grinned as he stabilized, teleporting away to dodge a follow-up attack from the Sword Saint, who now had a dark green glowing handprint on his chest.

Jake came out of that one on top as he began infusing his gloves with mana while drawing his bow once more. A few Splitting Arrows later and plenty of explosions, Jake found a new issue creeping up on him.

Faint pulses of space mana reached them as the arena was shrinking. The destruction of Yalsten had encroached upon the Mistless Plains as if they were within a shrinking sphere. It grew smaller and smaller every second, as faint cracks of space began reaching them while up in the air, it beginning truly evident when a large crack suddenly appeared between them before quickly mending itself again.

Both of them stopped, no doubt both checking the countdown.

Treasure Hunt will end in: 10:47

None of them had expected their duel to take this long, and neither had any intentions of stopping even if the world was literally falling apart around them. Instead, they merely acknowledged it as another battle factor and moved on as their clash continued, space shrinking evermore around them.

It did mean that Jake had less and less space to dodge with. Unfortunately, this meant it didn’t take long before he once more found himself in melee. The Sword Saint cut towards him, forcing him to sway and weave as he avoided the strikes until finally, one came he couldn’t simply dodge.

Jake moved his hand as it glowed with pure arcane energy as he chopped towards the edge of the blade. An arcane explosion shot them apart as Jake’s hand was faintly bleeding as a bone or two had broken in it, but the glove was still intact courtesy of the enchantment, making it incredibly durable when infused with arcane energy.

He chose to go against expectations once more as Jake teleported and appeared right in front of the swordsman, who now truly was beginning to look like the same old man. Jake punched forwards, making the man block with his blade, as Jake kicked him in the side.

Chasing him down, the old man countered as he swiped his blade forward. Jake met it face-first – literally – as he blocked with his mask, sending himself spinning as he used the momentum to kick the Sword Saint on the chin, sending him flying upwards and Jake downwards.

Jake accelerated his descent as he pushed blood out of his now broken nose as he reached the ground. Then, a string of arcane mana manifested and pulled the scimitar embedded in the ground towards him.

A crescent wave of rainwater severed the string before the weapon reached him, making it still be mid-air as the Sword Saint’s form barreled down towards him. Jake quickly recalled a similar situation he had once found himself in as he grinned and summoned the Pillar of Encumbrance.

With full power, he increased the weight and infused it with arcane mana as he swung it straight at the charging man in a strike that would no doubt leave him with more broken bones than not. It was like when Jake had descended towards the Altmar Census Golem, but the situations reversed, him now in the striking position.

His entire body moved as he swung the long staff as a tons-heavy pillar met blade.

Jake expected to feel a heavy impact when the two met, but instead, he felt like he hadn’t hit anything. Yet with his eyes, he saw the sword hit the Pillar, but somehow the old man merely moved his blade as the Pillar followed along with it, making it fly straight past him as Jake’s swing continued, sending him completely off balance.

What?

To make it worse, the old man was still headed towards him with full speed. Jake tried to teleport in that final moment but found himself completely restricted as suddenly the rainfall intensified more than ever more, pressing down on him even through the Arcane Awakening shield.

He saw the deep blue eyes of the Sword Saint as the blade was swung again, headed straight towards his chest.

Halfway through the swing, it suddenly slowed down. The raindrops around him seemed to almost stop in mid-air as they slowly descended, with even the movements of mana and space appearing to cease as Jake claimed the moment as his own.

Moment of the Primal Hunter

It was the first activation in a long time, and Jake planned on taking full advantage. The scimitar in mid-air was pulled faster towards him than before as he moved to attack. Yet at that moment, he felt faint movements of mana as the Sword Saint’s teleportation seemed to be automatically triggered.

Oh no, you fucking don’t!

Jake caught the blade as he swept it towards the body of the old man, the edge burning with pure arcane energy. It was as if the world itself then reacted as the slow rainwater between his blade and the body of the Saint became filled with mana as they impeded his swing. It was undoubtedly a defensive skill like Jake’s own Moment, but it was clear that the skill forcefully upgraded by his Bloodline came out on top. Everything was done to stop Jake’s attack as he finished his swing just as the Sword Saint was whisked away by his magic.

The old man appeared a few hundred meters away as time resumed, and he fell to his knees, grasping his side as he heaved in painful breaths of air – quite a bit lighter than before the teleportation.

Back at where Jake was, he stood with a bloody scimitar as a severed arm hit the ground with a thunk.

The Sword Saint had his entire left arm severed, and the scimitar had gone halfway through his chest, nearly bisecting him entirely before his own defensive skill had activated to save him with the teleport. A part of Jake was happy that the old man had shown him the respect of activating his Moment of the Primal Hunter, which was proof that he was taking the battle seriously and not holding back. Hence why he retaliated in kind, not holding back from performing potentially lethal blows. Also… Eron would probably help heal them if they really got close to dying. Probably.

Both of them met each other’s eyes as they knew the fight was entering the absolutely final phase as space continued to collapse all around them.

Treasure Hunt will end in: 4:47

The Sword Saint stood up as he lifted his blade while Jake summoned and nocked an arrow as the duel moved onto its final phase.