A burst of blinding bright light spread out in the place. The light coalesced in the Otherworlder’s palms, threatening to erupt like a raging volcano.

His hand was pointed straight at the stone sculpture.

It didn’t even take a second for Racques to shift his attention as he created a new platform near his feet and jumped in front of the Otherworlder’s palm with all seven of his poison orbs in front of him. Racques created as many more platforms right in front of him as he could in the split second of time to use as a shield.

The beam erupted.

Racques couldn’t even see the beginning of its spread when the beam of light crushed through his platforms. The seven orbs of poison all blocked the light for barely a second before disintegrating into nothingness.

“ACK!!”

An intense burning sensation struck Racques’ skin as his body was dragged far behind. After two excruciating seconds that felt akin to two hours, the constant influx of light finally stopped and Racques let out a pained groan. The shields and the orbs of poison had taken the brunt of the attack, and with him as another obstacle, the damage to the sculpture behind was minimal.

“You bastard...” words seethed out of Racques’ mouth. “You dare use such underhanded tactics?”

The Otherworlder ignored Racques’ words and only raised an eyebrow at his condition which was much better than he had expected. His bold expression hid the sweat forming on his face as the Otherworlder flicked the coin in the air again.

“Not this time! [Poison Magic: Poison Darts]!!”

Multiple darts of poison shot at the Otherworlder while Racques ran towards him again. The Otherworlder jumped to his sides and back to dodge the darts. Racques used the time to rush to the Otherworlder’s original spot and prepared another spell to attack the Otherworlder while eyeing the coin above.

“Just what in the fuck is in this coin—”

A sharp glint flashed in Racques’ eyes again! A thin strand of wire passed by mere centimeters away from his eyes, taking a few strands of hair along. The wire went away while pulling the spinning coin with it.

“I’ll be taking this back,” the Otherworlder muttered as he reached out his hand to grab the coin back.

Racques did not hesitate for a second as he bent down and pulled out two short swords strapped to his waist. The sharp blades were laced with potent poison on both sides. Racques swung them around with finesse, as he chased after the coin. His enemy had shown his prowess with magic, so he decided to overpower the Otherworlder in close combat.

The Otherworlder clutched the coin in his hand, not even glancing at which side was up. Instead, he waved his hands around to spread the wires.

Racques dived towards the Otherworlder. He brought one sword down from above. Sparks flowed out as it hit against a bunch of the Otherworlder’s wires.

With a grunt, Racques slashed at the Otherworlder’s stomach with the other sword. The Otherworlder twisted his body to the side and blocked it again with his wires.

Both of them back-stepped away from each other to catch their breaths before charging at the other again. Loud metallic clangs and small sparks flowed out as the intense clashing continued.

Stabs, slashes, twists, Racques danced around with his poison blades as he tried to attack the Otherworlder wherever his guard was down.

As the battle dragged on, their breaths became heavier and heavier. Both of them were soon reaching their limits.

“Let’s end this here...” the Otherworlder muttered to himself.

Once again, the two rushed toward each other. Racques brought both his swords in a slash from the right. The Otherworlder met it with a block with his wires. Expecting it, Racques kept one of his blades firmly planted right there as he pivoted to his left and raised the other sword towards the Otherworlder’s neck.

The Otherworlder ducked down and some of his strings towards Racques. He couldn’t block it with just a few strands, so he wrapped the wires around Racques’ arm. Without hesitating for a second, the Otherworlder used the remaining wires to tangle up Racques’ body. The wires coiled around his limbs and his torso, firmly enclosing him in their grasp.

Racques had been completely immobilized by the Otherworlder! He couldn’t move a muscle anymore... yet there was a smile on his face.

“This was my plan all along!” Racques cackled with a manic expression in front of the Otherworlder. [Poison Magic–"

In the middle of casting his spell, the crushing sensation of the wires disappeared from his body. Then, another blinding flash of light spread over the room. Racques’ vision was completely lost under the light. He was very confused by the sudden happenings when a sharp and powerful strike settled itself square in the center of his face.

A simple blob of light and then a punch to the face. Racques fell to the ground from the force of the punch and rolled over a few times. Not missing his chance, the Otherworlder pounced on the man, pummeling his face with kicks and punches one after another until blood oozed out of every orifice and his face was completely disfigured.

Only when Racques passed out did the Otherworlder stop and step back. He couldn’t kill him yet. There was a lot to learn from him. With a derisive scoff, the Otherworlder reached into his coat and pulled out a handkerchief. He wiped at his bloody hands while looking down on the fallen man.

“It was tails, you fool. I was gonna finish you with my own two hands.”