Chapter 225: He Was Seventy Levels Above Me
A man broke out of the trees and landed silently among the corpses.
I looked at him.
His hair was stark white, a full beard hanging down to his chest. His skin was pale, his frame lean, even wiry—but he moved with the grace of someone younger.
He wore baggy black clothing that flowed with each subtle motion. Despite his age, he looked unshaken by the carnage.
He examined the bodies scattered around him, then slowly raised his head and met my gaze.
A smile crept across his face.
“Well, well. Isn’t this the great Billion Ironhart. I smelled blood, but I never thought I’d find you.”
“Thanks for the compliment, old man,” I replied flatly.
His brow twitched at the last words.
He raised his hands and summoned his weapon.
Twin sabers materialized—one in each hand—sleek and dark, the edges whispering with Essence.
He rubbed the blades together, metal hissing as he said, “I’m not an old man. This is a rare condition. Accelerated pigment loss. Makes me appear older than I am.”
I nodded. “Whatever helps you sleep better at night… old man.”
His smile vanished at my insult.
“You killed Holt blood. Even the Empire hasn’t grown that kind of spine. I’ll carve the lesson into your bones myself.”
My grip tightened on my staff as I met his eyes. His aura erupted.
Dense pressure filled the air, warping it like a heat haze. The trees behind him bent. Pressure radiated from his frame in violent pulses.
I activated [Psynapse Overdrive].
My will surged outward, rolling through the clearing like a tidal wave. The earth cracked at my feet. Dust and debris spiraled upward. My pressure slammed against his, forcing the man to take half a step back.
His eyes widened. He grit his teeth. Then—
His muscles flexed. His legs bent. In the blink of an eye, he exploded forward.
A blur.
I brought my staff up just in time to parry the first saber, the clash ringing out like thunder. The second came immediately after—he spun with terrifying grace, his blade slashing low.
I leapt back, but not fast enough. Blood sprayed as his saber grazed my side. Pain bloomed, sharp and sudden.
He didn’t pause.
He pressed forward, both sabers dancing in a rhythm far too fast for a man his age. I blocked one, ducked under another, and retaliated with a staff strike to his ribs. He twisted, dodged, and nearly took my head off with a horizontal slash.
Light gathered in my palm.
A shield bloomed in front of me just as his next strike landed. Sparks flew. The force sent me skidding backward.
I pointed my staff.
A beam of white-hot light fired at him. He pivoted, raising a saber to deflect but even he wasn’t fast enough to fully dodge. The blast caught his shoulder, sending smoke curling from his sleeve.
He growled and vanished again.
The next moment, he appeared to my right, both sabers flashing forward. One aimed for my head, the other for my ribs.
I reacted instantly.
[Seismic Burst].
Essence surged through the channels in my legs. With a violent blast, it erupted from the soles of my feet, launching me high into the air. His blades missed completely, cutting only empty space where I had stood.
As I twisted in the air, I pointed my staff down at him and fired a beam of light.
Whoooosh!
The beam ripped through space, aimed directly for his heart. Abe crossed both sabers in front of him just in time, and the beam slammed into them with a loud crack. He skidded backward from the force, his feet carving lines through the blood-soaked ground before he came to a halt.
I landed softly and didn’t waste a second.
[Absolute].
The world seemed to pause, holding its breath, as my will took hold of it.
“Fast,” I whispered.
The air shifted. My muscles tightened. Gravity itself seemed to lighten around me. I felt the boost ripple through me—my speed surged by nearly forty percent.
I bent my legs and blasted forward again with another [Seismic Burst].
The space around Abe warped as I arrived in front of him like a thunderbolt.
“Freeze.”
My command spread like a wave. Space constricted around him. Just as he was raising his saber to defend, his body stalled, just for a breath, a heartbeat.
That was all I needed.
I raised my staff high into the air.
“Blitz Hakai!”
The staff came crashing down like a meteor, the wind screaming around it. Air compressed, then exploded as it descended straight toward the old man’s skull.
But right before impact, his body glowed yellow.
“First Flash,” I heard him say.
He vanished—and the blast hit the ground.
BOOM!
The explosion tore the earth apart. A crater opened beneath us, trees ripped from the soil, and a wave of dust and wind rushed out in every direction. For a few seconds, everything went silent.
Then I saw him again, several feet away, staring at me.
His face had lost all trace of amusement. Calm and sharp now, his eyes studied me carefully. He reached up, grabbed his loose cloak, and flung it aside.
Now in just his pants, his body looked skeletal. His muscles were thin, clinging to his bones, and a few ribs were clearly visible beneath his skin.
“You used Essence just now, didn’t you?” he asked.
I stayed quiet.
“And you’re only level 96?” he added.
I shrugged.
He pointed one saber at the ground, speaking slowly. “It’s not even been half a year since the new batch of probationaries started. Yet you’re almost at level 100. You can use Essence. And you just survived the opening move of someone 70 levels above you.” His eyes narrowed.
“What are you?”
I smiled. “Not a traitor like you, that’s for sure.”
His eyes suddenly widened. Something clicked in his head.
“You have a talent,” he said, pointing his saber directly at me.
My heart pounded once but I kept my face blank, hiding any sign of confirmation.
He laughed. “Hahaha!”
His laughter echoed in the trees. He waved his hand, and a blue device appeared—round and blinking.
A communicator.
I acted instantly.
I pointed a finger and fired a beam of light at the device. The beam sped through the air and blinked into existence right in front of it but Abe reacted fast, blinking sideways with blinding speed.
My legs bent. Muscles coiled. Essence poured into my limbs. [Absolute] was still active—my body still enhanced.
[Seismic Burst].
The ground exploded beneath me as I shot forward. But I wasn’t fast enough, yet.
Mid-air, I activated it again.
BOOM.
Another blast of wind as I launched faster, accelerating again.
I pointed my finger and fired another beam, this time closing the gap faster than before. One hand aimed at the device, the other swung the staff at his head.
But I was still too late.
“I found him,” he said into the device.
Then my beam hit, shattering the communicator, tearing it from his hand. My staff crashed into the saber he raised just in time. The impact drove him to his knees, cracking the ground beneath him.
Fury exploded inside me.
I shouted.
“Ahhhh!”
I drove my knee into his face with all the strength I had left.
CRACK.
The sound was sharp and sickening as his head snapped back. His body flew through the air, blood spraying from his nose and mouth as he slammed into the ground and skidded across the forest floor.
But I knew this wasn’t over.
The man’s body rolled across the ground, but with a sudden leap, he was back on his feet. His nose was broken, several teeth shattered, and blood dripped from his mouth and face as he glared at me with pure fury.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!