Gotcha bitch!

Nolan experienced a rush of triumph so powerful that he let his ego get the jump on him. His sword met empty air as the armoured figure abruptly disappeared as if he were just a figment of his imagination.

Seriously? That was literally a blink!

Nolan stood in place, alert and poised to strike. The man had disappeared without any warning, which as far as he knew was impossible for any martial practitioner regardless of level. How did he—

Instinctively reacting to the chill that ran down his spine, Nolan mimicked a limbo stance and leaned as far back as he could, a bright steel blade passing over his chin in such close proximity that several premature hairs slowly fell to the ground below as he fell back into a transitional roll. He kicked off of the soft earth and flew high up into the air, his mind whirling as he contemplated a possible killing move that he could carry out on the young man before him.

Even as his mind worked in rapid sequence, his opponent leapt after him with such speed that his figure began to blur. Thinking quickly, Nolan conjured two barrier arrayments back to back, each strong enough to hold back cultivators at the peak of the Profound Entry stage. His attacker shattered these them like boulders through breaking glass. Searing silver bit into his forearm as he punched out with instinctive desperation.

A terrible pain erupted on his right side, though he only paid attention to the warping cage of his attacker’s helmet, which bent horrendously as his gauntleted fist deformed it into a discomforting mess of blood and mishmashed steel. He watched the man plummet downward as he followed the force of his punch, the terrible thud of impact barely audible amidst the noises of nightmare that haunted the land.

Although he’d nearly died just a minute ago, Nolan felt exhilarated as they spiralled downward. Considering the bloody and turbid backdrop from his aerial view, he found a brief instant to marvel at the ways in which his life had changed since the days that he’d spent with his siblings in the suburbs of Collinsville.

The man crashed to the ground and rolled free from the devastation that Nolan’s Essence Fusion slash wrought upon the cultivated earth, the very soil seeming to lose its life force as the crops around it began to wither. A talisman plastered upon his left palm, he fired off an energy sword so as to drive his opponent to a specific spot, a tactic that played out terrifically well. As soon as the man touched down upon the rugged soil where Nolan had driven him, he poured all of his strength into a powerful manifestation of the Emerald Thorn Piercing Technique. Countless thorn-like blades of projected inner essence bore down upon the young man, each one over half a metre in length with the thickness of a man’s wrist.

Are you kidding me?

Somehow the youth was able to avoid the deadly projectiles as if he’d calculated the trajectory of each one in an instant, something that would have been difficult even for Nolan. The shocking development left him unprepared for the sudden ambush that he suffered at the hands of a second young man that materialized right behind him, a terrible slash that dug deep into his left shoulder.

He ignored the searing pain of the preemptive strike and focused entirely on the needles around him. He managed to puncture directly through the left and right calves of the first and second attackers respectively, both of them to falling back for a moment.

What happened just now was terribly fortunate on your part. I’m surprised you were able to manage two martial skills at once.

Nolan stood in front of his enemies with a focused gaze. Upon hearing Uncle Grey’s voice he secretly thanked every god in existence that he had learned the Emerald Skin Technique, and that he had been able to activate it whilst simultaneously maintaining the Tranquil Void Step. The defensive martial skill made the difference between losing a shoulder and receiving a deep laceration below his shoulder blade.

His initial opponent removed his dented helmet to reveal several centimetre-long scars on his slightly swollen and flushed face. The young man was quite handsome, enough so that his injuries didn’t mask the fact from those around him.

“Wow Maxus, you really took a beating.” The other youth stared over at his companion with bright blue eyes and a mischievous smile. “Perhaps there’s something wrong with my spiritual sense, but this boy seems to be at the fifth level of Profound Entry. There’s no way that’s true, right?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Maxus. “We’re leaving.”

“What, because of the poison in our legs? If I’ve already sealed off the contaminated blood then there’s no way that you haven’t as well. That’s Lord Zaro’s sword, or at least it was. If we take it—”

“You won’t be taking anything.” Two of Nolan’s needles had been coated with some of his deadly poison, the two that had managed to puncture through his opponents’ legs while defending against their joint attack. Based upon their dialogue it didn’t seem as if the deadly coatings had done much damage.

Ian’s aura became unstable at the same time as two bright flashes of blinding light momentarily caused many in the heart of the havoc-ridden field to shut their eyes or turn their heads. His friend was up against a handful of powerful fighters, some of them possibly disciples of the Bloodhand Sect if Nolan’s current predicament was any indication.

Uncle Grey! What are their cultivation levels?

He maintained a calm train of thought as he panted with the Bone Sword raised steadfastly before him. The young man that had ambushed him during his fight with the other wasn’t equipped with the same sort of heavy armour that his companions wore but rather a fine black robe that was collared with golden lace and hemmed with vibrant filigree of the same splendid shade. The waist was tied with a black belt of tightly twined fabric.

The youth spoke to his colleague while regarding Nolan, an air of intrigue emanating from his handsome face. “Well isn’t this an interesting fellow? Have you ever heard of such an exaggerated battle power? To think that we would encounter such a thing.”

The other young man stared through his dark strands as a solemn gaze settled upon Nolan. “Our sparing you is no product of good fortune. If our master has taken an interest in you to such an extent then there is no doubt that a most damnable fate awaits you in the future.”

“He’s not usually this talkative,” said the handsome, blue-eyed youth. “He’s just mad that he had to let you beat on him to please our master’s curiosity.” He turned to his companion, the background constant with screams along with the occasional rumble. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Nolan hesitated as he returned the man’s stare with a calm one of his own. Evidently the two didn’t intend to continue on with the fight, but he still wasn’t sure whether or not they would allow him to rejoin the main battle.

“Enough Rane. Now that our assignment has been completed we have no business here. Let the locals sort things out on their own. The young man raised his arm and shot off a bright flash of red light that launched upward into the sky before blinking out approximately five hundred metres in the air. He left on that note, long hair trailing behind him as he disappeared into the distance at an intimidating pace.

“Hah, thank the gods that I didn’t get stuck with Rose’s boring task. Although I might have enjoyed accompanying her…” The young man’s thoughtful mumbles disintegrated as he dashed after his friend with a flourish of his rich robes. Half a dozen armoured figures detached from the greater body of fighting and followed after the one he’d called Maxus.

“WHAT IS THIS TREACHERY?” an enraged scream echoed across the land. “WE HAD AN AGREEMENT!” Also present within this voice was the tone of terror.

Nolan ignored bellowing complaints and immediately chugged down a healthy supply of Divine Spirit Water. He then quickly emptied the rest of the bottle over his left shoulder, which pained him greatly with every movement. He then tossed two blood breeding pellets into his mouth and leapt directly into the battlefield, specifically into the area where Ian was busy battling for his life against two fully armoured men with blotches of red paint staining both sides of their helmets. Hundreds of corpses lay throughout the area, which had become so saturated with blood that the ground had become an eerie mass of murderous muck. Only about a third of the original combatants remained, with a mere twenty soldiers still standing. This included the man that had screamed out earlier, who Nolan took to be Algrave. He and his companion wielded swords of some lustrous black mineral that seemed to cut at the air itself as they swung it at his friend with rapid abandon.

A hailstorm of emerald thorns preceded Nolan’s landing as he appeared directly between Ian and his opponents. His friend immediately closed in on the more powerful of the two, so he followed suit by pursuing the other Integration-staged warrior and unleashing a savage yet well-plotted barrage of formidable attacks. Algrave’s last remaining enforcer became too distracted with dodging all twelve of the needles that he had unleashed upon him and so became unable to fully guard against the Bone Sword’s biting edge. After a surging injection of inner essence, his weapon reached deep into his opponent’s exposed armpit with a succinct stab, which he followed up with a spinning kick that simultaneously allowed him to avoid the man’s desperate counterattack. The cool surface of his opponent’s blade skimmed by his head as he smashed his foot into the man’s breastplate, which crumpled around his ankle even as he flew dozens of metres away into the chaotic crowd.

Algrave’s aura completely vanished following a brief golden light and a gruff scream. As for the rest of the fighting, five more soldiers had died in the past several moments along with twenty locals, each one frightened and frantic.

Two large circles appeared around him and Ian as they hurried to recover their energy, each with a superior spirit stone in his left hand. Nolan never got a look at Algrave’s face, which was obscured by the black cage of his helmet, though he didn’t care to take a peek.

“You don’t have to cut all of your opponents in half,” he jeered.

“What will you have me do then?” Ian panted with a flash of perfectly straight teeth. “Stab them through the eye with a little needle, perhaps?”

“Not much of that left to do.”

Nolan killed the last remaining soldiers, a handful with the Bone Sword and the rest with his needles. With so many villagers distracting them, it was almost impossible to respond to his rapid and concise strikes. A horrified silence took hold of the field as the last of Algrave’s soldiers fell dead to the bloody dirt below, only the cries and screams of the wounded left to float around the blood-curdling scene.