Not one second into the tracing of his fake arrayment, Nolan dashed behind his opponent so quickly that the flustered man had completely lost sight of him. Still, he instantly reacted by relying on his spiritual sense, and turned to block Nolan’s attack with a sword that he had hastily taken out of his spatial bag. The arrayment disrupted, his defensive slash was met with empty air, as Nolan had immediately dashed behind him for a second time, so quickly that he left behind the slightest of afterimages. Firmly wielding the bone sword in a two-handed grip, he cleaved downwards with all of his strength, rending the man’s sword from his hands and slicing deep into his shoulder.

His opponent jumped backwards, visibly astounded. Even though he was directly experiencing it, it seemed that he couldn’t believe that somebody in the middle levels of the Profound Entry stage could possess such power, that they could move so quickly that even those in the later levels of the Integration stage wouldn’t have been able to accurately respond. He leapt to the side in an effort to create some space, but then half of the twelve needles that Nolan had summoned embedded themselves deep into his body. He had been too distracted by the unexpected urgency of Nolan’s onslaught to properly react to the surprise attack.

As the poisons of the needles and the bone sword began to take effect, Nolan jumped skyward as quickly as he could. In the next instant, he kicked off of a platform of spiritual energy and rocketed downward, his vision a complete mess of blurred background. He closed his eyes and relied solely upon his spiritual sense, willing the needles to rip themselves free of the disbelieving, delirious man’s body and then directing them in such a way that left him but a single path of escape.

“Fuck you!” screamed Nolan, as he descended upon the desired spot with the bone sword’s essence fusion effects activated in full, the deathly aura cloaked in a curtain of emerald energy as he unleashed his strongest version of the Emerald Thorn Piercing Technique upon his unprepared opponent. With a blinding flash of green light and the cold sweep of a petulant aura, his attack exploded forth with more force than the explosions brought about by his barrels of gunpowder.

The old man had been preparing a dome-like barrier arrayment while he’d been fleeing, and he managed to conjure it just in time to take on the brunt of Nolan’s savage assault. A great crescendo echoed throughout the fields as the barrier arrayment was completely crushed, and so strong was the resultant windstorm that a massive cloud of dust came to life with Nolan and the old man at the epicentre. The robes of every disciple in attendance, as well as May Asten’s, whipped about violently.

Coughing in the midst of the smoke, Nolan encased himself in a globe of spiritual energy and then funnelled all of the contaminated air out of the small sphere. He stood atop a last-minute platform of spiritual energy, above a sizeable crater that was deep enough to bury a raised ranch home, and wide enough to contain three of them.

The old man’s corpse lay at the bottom of the hole, shredded to pieces as if he were an ordinary person that had been subject to a rain of machinegun fire.

First thing’s first…

He snatched up all of the old man’s belongings, or at least tried to, but they were forcefully pulled away by an unknown force. Sensing what had happened, he was at a loss. May Asten had stolen his hard-earned spoils under the cover of the natural smokescreen.

Momentarily enraged, he recalled the free show that he’d been given earlier and inwardly shrugged. What mattered most was that he had survived. As he nodded along in a self-convincing manner, the hazy clouds were quickly cleared away by a sweeping stream of wind. May Asten had stood up from her seat, floating in the air with a covetous gaze, a hungry expression on her gorgeous face. All of the disciples were slack-jawed, as if they had just witnessed the defeat of a grizzly bear at the hands of a legless ant.

“Um,” Nolan said to the area at large, which had gone utterly silent. Noticing that the other fights had stopped and that just about everybody in the area had turned their attention onto him, he forced a cough. “Now that that’s over, I guess I’ll head back to town.”

Nobody said anything as he hastily took his leave, patting himself clean from some of the leftover debris. As he sprinted towards Elmer with eager steps, he left dozens of stupefied onlookers rooted in place like the trees that dotted the landscape. He felt May Asten’s eyes on him all the while, though rather than maintaining his tension and staying on high alert, he melted into his memory as his face began to heat. This was the first time that the Millennial Ring had failed to stem the tide of an implicating rush of emotion.

He met up with his friends a short while later, and was surprised to learn that they had witnessed his fight from atop one of the higher roofs in town. Apparently, hundreds of people had done the same after they had heard the deafening sound of his attack, only to see him running backwards while brushing some dirt from his shoulders with an absentminded smile on his face.

After explaining the bizarre turn of events to the others, they continued to walk around with an eye for the town. By the time midnight rolled around, they had seen all of the sights that Elmer had to offer, which included a bustling dock, an auction house, and a gaming hall where people gathered to gamble on cards and dice rolls. They eventually retreated to the nearest inn in order to retire for the night, though not all of them were ready to pack it in. Only two rooms had been available, so the guys had taken one and the girls the other. Since this was the case, Nolan couldn’t get any privacy with Nyla, so he wasn’t in any rush to follow her to bed. He wound up hanging out with Ian and Lyra in the common area after everyone else had retired for the night.

“That’s one thing I miss about Shain and Shery,” said Lyra, after stifling a burp. “They could always keep up with us.”

Nolan cocked an eyebrow. “Weren’t you like twelve when you left the valley?”

“I was thirteen.” She finished her drink with an exaggerated gulp. “And I bet I could still outpace you back then.”

“Why, did you used to drink fast or something?”

She slammed her cup down. “Why didn’t you let me fight that girl? We could be drinking rich man’s ale right now.”

“What, five golden cards per cup isn’t expensive to you?” said Nolan.

“I just want to know how it tasted. At a hundred spirit stones per barrel, it was almost guaranteed to be great, right?”

“Tell you what,” said Ian. “If we run into that girl again, I’ll take all of her ale.”

“Will you, really?”

“Of course! Just leave it to your brother.”

“You can’t go out and rob people, man. We’ve got a reputation to build up, and I want it to be a good one.”

Ian glanced at his green sleeves. “You literally just killed someone.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Enjoying a strong buzz, Nolan chuckled a bit and then shrugged. “Well, that guy came at me, not the other way around. Just leave that girl alone, and then next time we find some awesome ale, I’ll buy you both as much as you can drink.”

Clinking their cups, each of them took a hearty gulp.

“That’s why you’re the best sect master around,” said Ian. “You’re so good to your grand elders, how could we ever leave your side?”

“I’m touched.” Nolan stood up and then stretched his stiff limbs. “Gotta go bleed the lizard. Where did you say the bathrooms were?”

“Bathrooms?”

“Where do I go to pee, man?”

Pointing, Ian said, “There’re some chamber pots in the room at the end of that hall. I just went in the alleyway, though, because they smelled terrible.”

“Alright, well, I’m gonna head to the lake, then. I’ll be back.”

“Sure you don’t want my brother to go with you? The last time you left to go pee you were forced into a death match, so…”

“Why don’t you come with me?” he said slyly.

Ian gave him a prodding push. “Go on, already.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be back, then.”

He stepped out into the warm summer night and began heading westward at a brisk pace. Though it was late, the streets were almost as busy as they had been earlier in the day, though most of those in sight appeared to be locals.

Man, he thought, picking up the pace. I don’t care about your unspoken rules. I’ve got litres in this bladder and it’s about to blow.