“Ooh! What is with that look? Someone is mad!”

Jack’s whip sword uncoiled itself as he fed it his mana. The whip glinted as it slithered around him like a viper waiting to strike and the metal made screeching noises as it grinded against the tree bark.

“I’ll try and keep your face intact,” Jack said slowly. “An open casket is a kindness that I wouldn’t deny you.”

“So, now you are dropping all pretenses,” said Knife-girl as she took a ready stance. “You know what? You pissed me off the moment I met you. Acting all high and mighty. Don’t know why you bother. You are just like the rest of us now!”

“That may be true, but I’m not running around with untied shoelaces,” said Jack pointing at the girl's feet.

The statement was so random that Knife-girl actually looked down. “What? I don’t have any shoelaces.”

Jack had swung his whip the moment the girl had dropped her head. The steel snake flashed forwards towards her in fury with the full intention of slicing the girl apart.

“Ahh!” Knife-girl screamed as the blade bit into her shoulder. It barely chipped her and she was already dodging out of the way at near superhuman speed.

Jack was gritting his teeth in frustration. ‘Damn, Warriors!’

The girl danced away as the whip followed her, deftly dodging each and every one of his slashes.

“Son of a… !” the girl cursed, clutching her bleeding right shoulder. The blade didn’t reach deep enough to tear muscle but the arm was leaking like a faucet despite It being a shallow cut. The girl channeled her mana to the injured area to stop the bleeding.

“So much for noble propriety! You guys are just as sneaky as the reavers.”

‘Why... can’t... I... HIT HER?!’ Jack swung his whip again and again but the girl was always one step ahead of him.

“Or maybe it isn’t the nobles? Maybe it’s just you.”

Jack's eyes turned red as he swung his whip more forcefully, but the girl dodged out of his slashes like a floating butterfly. He was nowhere close to hitting her as he was a second ago.

The air was filled with the sounds of bending and flexing steel as Jack's whip doggedly followed Knife-girl’s every move. She had to keep being on the defensive as Jack’s furious strikes chased after her relentlessly. He tried trapping and boxing her in but the nimble vixen always managed to escape just at the last second.

“Mutter F**ker!” Sweat trickled down Jack’s forehead as he felt his aura being drained rapidly. His heart was beating wildly in his chest like it wanted to break free. The furious pace he was setting couldn’t be kept up for long. He still had an exam to finish and expending all his energy here would be extremely foolish.

‘Calm down and think.’ Gasping for air, he tried to control his raging heart. His attacks slowed down as his mind worked overtime. He needed to come up with a new strategy to deal with the situation. He really couldn’t keep spending mana like this.

“Losing steam, Mister noble?” The girl’s laughter echoed through the forest. She bent, twisted, and then flipped upside down as she dodged the whip sword. The movements were smooth, fluid, and fast with no intervals between each subsequent action. Her hand disappeared into her sleeve for a brief second and a knife came flying at Jack.

“Tch!” Jack clicked his tongue as he watched the glowing blade coming at him. With a flick of his wrist, the sword whip rotated and twisted mid-air to knock out the thrown knife in a deafening clang. Knife-girl used that opportunity to disappear into the trees but not before throwing three more knives at Jack.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

His sword arm shook with the force and his eyes widened with shock.

‘What ridiculous power.’ The thrown knives had a lot more strength behind them than normal, and the girl’s hands had been glowing every time she made the throw. It appeared the longer she charged the blades the faster and more powerful the strike would be.

There was a whistling sound in the air as more knives rained down on Jack. Dodging and blocking the blades he leapt away from the tree that he had been standing on. Jack swung his whip at Knife-girl but now she was too far away for the whip to reach. The girl was now circling him while throwing her knives in a constant stream.

‘She figured out my range,’ Jack realized. He dodged more blades as he tried to get closer to Knife-girl but the vixen always managed to stay barely out of his reach. Two meters to be precise which was exactly his blade length.

‘Scheiße!’ He could feel the initiative of the battle shifting in the girl’s favor. His whip could never reach her while she could attack him with impunity. Her longer range gave her the definite advantage.

Sweat dripped off his forehead onto the side of his face. The chance of victory was getting further away by each passing second. He had made a mistake in letting up his attacks and now he was stuck in a cycle of her kiting him while his attacks fell on empty air.

He had made a tactical error. He should have pressed the attack while he was able and looked for opportunities to breach her defense.

“Not so hot now, are you? You were talking so much shit earlier,” her taunting laughter echoed through the forest.

Fighting head on from this point on was foolish. He had to get her in range somehow. One second was all he needed and he would have her.

Just one second.

Now he had to figure out how to do exactly that. Swinging his whip at a tree in front of him, Jack channeled his mana into the flexible weapon to wrap around a tree branch. It secured itself on to the tree limb and Jack was swinging away from where he had been standing a second ago. A barrage of knives missed him as he made his getaway.

“Running away, are we?”

The wind whistled in Jack’s ears as he watched Knife-girl prepare her next set of blades. Her hands glowed as she touched her knives. She channeled her mana into the blades until they too started glowing. Once it reached a certain amount of power she threw it with her mana boosting its speed.

‘How many blades does she have?’ Jack wondered as he moved out of the way of the knives. She didn’t look like she would be running out anytime soon and Jack didn’t have the time to play a game of attrition. Soja and Tanner were still out there waiting for him.

“Keep running mister noble! Keep running till you can't no more!”

“Who's running?” Jack snarled.

“The coward in front of me, that's who!”

“You, ignorant, insignificant, little…” Jack’s eyes were bloodshot

“Don’t you mouth off to me,” snapped Knife-girl. “You are an over inflated ball of ego with nothing to back up your bluster. If you are so sure of yourself, fight me and win.”

Jack was grinding his teeth in frustration. The girl knew just how to push his buttons and her words were like a dagger to the chest. His rage was building up with every passing second and he didn’t know if he could hold back on using his true Gift any longer.

Jack’s heart was pumping hard. It rang like a gong in his head with every heartbeat like a silent alarm warning him of his diminishing aura. His chest was hot as his blood was lit aflame. His anger too was part of the problem as it certainly wasn’t helping him reign in the raw mana that was racing through his conduits. He had just about enough of this. Reaching for his vest he found the beast pill bottle. The pills piled on to his hands as he planned his next move.

Her movements need to be restricted somehow. Only a moment was needed. A single second for him to strike. The red pills glinted in a sinister light as they rested in his hands. The smoke could be used as cover while he attacked. This could be his only way to create an opening in Knife-girl’s defense, but he had to make sure not to get any of the red dust on him while he used it. That would make for a really, really bad situation.

“Stop running and face me, you coward!” Knife-girl yelled as she chased him. She had her knives ready and her arms raised to make another throw.

Jack waited until the last possible second before throwing the beast pill right at Knife-girl. The girl’s eyes widened as she recognized the red pill coming right at her. The pill exploded into a red cloud which hung in the air blocking the path that she meant to take.

Jack smiled grimly as he raised his whip to strike. He would slice through the cloud and catch Knife-girl off guard. The whip in his hands came down in a flash cutting straight through red dust cloud but his weapon met nothing but air. Jack’s eyes widened and the small smile playing on his lips was wiped clean as he completely lost track of Knife-girl. He couldn’t spot her anywhere with the smoke blocking his view.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he had completely missed that. He never stopped to consider that the smoke would obscure his view too. Where was his head today? He had been making poor judgment calls left and right.

“Oh?! You are planning to hide in the smoke now?” Her laughter came from his left and Jack quickly zeroed in the area where the sound was coming from. He raised his whip to strike.

“Now I see why they threw you out. A noble cosplayer. Who would want a delusional peacock beside them in the family photos.”

Something snapped. Snapped like a taut rubber band that had been stretched too far. There was a ringing in Jack’s ears and all he could see was red. He found himself rushing towards the smoke cloud roaring like someone possessed. He didn’t care if he inhaled the red dust. All he wanted now was to wrap his blade around that girl’s neck.

“Bingo! There you are!”

Jack’s eyes widened as three sharp glowing blades burst out of the smoke cloud aiming straight for his chest. Center of mass and impossible to dodge.

“Schei--”

The blades pierced his vest and there was a sharp metallic clang as the knives met solid steel. Jack was thrown bodily back to the branch that he had leapt from and was now desperately gasping for air, with the wind knocked right out of him. His lungs had nearly collapsed from the blow. It was his protective vest that had saved him in the end.

There was a large gash across his vest through which small overlapping plates of iron peeked through. The vest looked like it had caved inwards with the force of the blow, and there was the sound of metal scraping against metal every time Jack moved.

“Why, you little…” Despite his injuries, his eyes were still bloodshot. Gritting his teeth he prepared to charge right back into the cloud when another blade came aiming straight for his head.

The knife sailed away just past his ear nearly taking a chunk of it away with it. The sudden blade to the face had sobered him up completely.

‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ Jack cursed as he leapt away from the branch that he had been standing on. His blind anger had cost him dearly. He wasn't certain but he was pretty sure that he had a broken rib. What was he doing by yelling and charging in like that? She had clearly been baiting him to reveal his position. In fact, she had been goading him from the start.

‘What the hell?! I goad people, not the other way around!’ Jack cursed his stupidity as he tried to get his collapsed lungs back to working order. Taking in slow deep breaths he managed to calm himself down. The intense pain in his aching lungs and tensed up diaphragm had brought him a sudden clarity. He was struck with the realization that he had been a complete and utter moron for the past few minutes.

He had to slow down and think. Really think. He had been led by the nose by Knife-girl up until now. He had been the one reacting. It was time that he took control of the game and he had to do it fast. Tanner and Soja were still waiting for him. Also, there was another even more pressing problem that was about to rear its head.

Near the edge of his hearing he could hear it. Thundering hoofbeats that were inching closer to them by the second. Dropping that last beast pill might have been a big mistake. He had to wrap this one quickly.

It was imperative that he finished before the herd got here. Knife-girl was crazy. She wouldn’t stop attacking him even in the stampede. The grim truth was that he would be at an even more of a disadvantage than he already was if he faced her in those conditions. Warriors were always much faster. The chaos would be to her benefit.

He just had to get her within his range even for just one second. One second would be all he needed.

“Where are you, Mister Noble? Come out, come out!”

“Scheiße!” Jack cursed. He really had been an idiot. She could easily take him and win and he had been barely holding on until this moment. The entire initiative had been with her this whole time. Fighting head on from this point on was not only foolish but suicidal.

Jack racked his head as his mind jumped from one plan to the next. No problem was unsolvable. There was always a way. One loophole, a single weakness. A little detail that could change the entire game. This is where Jack excelled. Finding that one loophole and exploiting that weakness was his specialty. The bringer of miracles his friends called him. He had been off his game for a while since Soja fell from that tree but that didn’t mean he was out for the count.

All the list of items Jack had in his possession flashed before his eyes. The beast pills, his whip sword, and his hunting knife were all he had to go up against Knife-girl’s unnatural speed. Slowing her down was the key, after which he would throw her off balance and get her in range. Just one second was all he needed.

“Off balance,” Jack muttered under his breath. An idea quickly formed in his mind and quickly took up all of his brain power. He could see it now in his mind. A path to victory.

“Found you!”

Jack looked behind to find Knife-girl chasing after him. She had finally circled around the beast pill cloud and was rushing towards him with knife in hand. She stepped off the branch that she had been standing on, leaping from tree to tree. Jack's eyes followed Knife-girl’s feet as it made contact with the branch.

“That’s it!” A confident smile returned to Jack’s face as his master plan was finalized in his head. It was juvenile and stupid, but it was him to a T. Jack turned around and looked at Knife-girl and flashed her his most infuriating and cheekiest, smug smile. Jack was finally back.

“What’s with that smile? You are awfully cocky for someone who is running.”

“Who's running?” asked Jack innocently.

“Who else am I talking to?!”

Jack just grinned and slowly took out a beast pill from his hands and showed it to Knife-girl. The girl’s eyes followed Jack’s arm as he casually tossed the pill off to the side. A smoke cloud bloomed where the pill hit the forest floor. He then took another one and tossed it to the other side.

Knife-girl looked aghast. “What the hell are you doing, Briton?”

“Nothing” Jack shrugged. “Just decided to start playing for keeps.”

Knife-girl looked nervous at all the scarlet clouds that were blooming around them. The two were zipping through the trees and their passage could be mapped out by the red smoke following them.

“Stop that!” the girl was looking uncomfortable. There was a rumble in the air and distant sounds of roaring bulls could be heard. With all the pills out like that, it would be attracting Mutated beasts nonstop. Even she would have a hard time facing that many wild beasts while fighting Jack.

Jack shook his head and increased his speed. Knife girl raced after him as he flew through the forest jumping from tree to tree. This would all be over soon. He was on the lookout for a particular area where he could enact his plan.

“Stop running, asshole!”

He glanced behind to find Knife-girl still following him. The problem was that she was always out of his range. He had to reduce her mobility and get her to fight in a territory of his choosing and he had just the tool to force her to do so.

He tossed out two beast pills and rapidly changed his direction. The girl weaved her way in between the two blooming red smoke clouds and followed him.

“It's no use Briton! You are not gonna throw me off with your little smoke bombs.”

Jack's eyes darted around him looking for a particular tree with a sturdy branch. His eyes finally zeroed in on a tree on his left and quickly took off in its direction. Ignoring the whistling of blades chasing after him, Jack focused in on his chosen tree. Flying through the air he landed neatly on to the tree limb and jumped again while his whip uncoiled slightly and slashed underneath the branch he had just stepped off. The limb was almost cleanly severed with only a very small section holding the branch up. The trap was set.

He tossed two more pills. The smoke cloud covered the area leaving only one tricky path left to follow him. It was a tough one but he had faith in Knife-girl. She was fast after all. The girl followed him without even missing a beat.

Jack’s pupils dilated and his heart started beating loudly in his chest. His body was preparing for a fight. Everything around him shone in a sudden clarity as the sound of his rhythmic heartbeat thundered loudly in his ears.

‘GO!’

His whip flew out like a viper and wrapped around a tree in front of him. Terrible grinding noises came from the tree as the blade bit into the bark. Using the tree as a pivot Jack swung around changing his direction by a full one-eighty and now was flying straight towards Knife-girl.

The girl’s stunned face entered Jack’s vision as he charged towards her. His heartbeat had reached a crescendo and all outside sounds were muted. He watched her every move with focused intensity. Time seemed to slow down as the girl concentrated her aura around her legs to brace herself on the branch that she was jumping towards. Her hands glowed blue as she channeled her aura into the knife she had in her hand. She was going to make the throw as soon as she landed.

Jack’s eyes followed Knife-girl’s feet as she made her landing. There was a resounding crack as her legs touched the branch. The tree limb snapped cleanly off as soon as she made contact and with nothing to support her, the girl was a slave to the pull of gravity. Knife-girl was now falling with a panicked look on her face.

‘Checkmate!’

Jack raised his whip with grim satisfaction. He was within range with all the time in the world, and Knife-girl had nowhere to run now. It would take about two seconds for them to hit the ground and Jack only needed one. The extra time was a bonus, giving Jack almost a mini-vacation to finish his attack. The game was well and truly over.

The girl’s eyes grew serious as she realized her predicament. The hood of her short cloak flapped open and a braid of raven hair spilled out from underneath it. Her hands glowed blue and she pumped as much mana as she could into the blade that she was carrying.

“It's too late!” Jack swung his whip down intending to take off Knife-girl’s throwing arm. She still had a determined look in her eyes as she flicked her wrist and the blade spun out of her fingers. The knife was spinning in the air, glowing in a sinister blue light.

The hairs on Jack’s arms raised up as he sensed the amount of mana in the spinning blade. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the blade rotate slowly through the air until the knife was pointing straight towards him.

“Shit!” Jack changed his swing midway and put his whip sword in front of him as a shield.

Knife-girl had hidden the full extent of her powers till now. In a flash of blue light, the knife changed direction in mid air and flew right at him. The glow of the blade filled his vision in its entirety and he could barely lift his arm to defend himself.

Clang!

The full force of the knife tore through Jack’s throwing arm and the whip was ripped out of his hand. He had lost his only weapon.

Jack’s silver eyes met the girl’s hazel as they both fell straight towards the forest floor. Knife-girl hands darted into her sleeves and there was a glint of steel as another blade appeared in her hand.

Jack had a savage smile on his face as he channeled his aura into his legs. His beating heart was threatening to burst out of his chest but the crazy smile never left his face. This was do or die. A chance like this would never come again, and he was going to seize it with the ravenous hunger of his house’s spirit, the winged serpent.

He kicked out at Knife-girl as she raised her glowing blue hands.

“Not this time!”

His foot slammed hard into her abdomen and there was the sound of cracking ribs. Both came crashing to the forest floor with Jack’s foot planted in Knife-girl stomach.

Boom!