Chapter 354: Literally, Breaking His Wind Laws
The ground around us cracked and smoked from the impact. A crater spread beneath my feet, dust swirling in the air. And at the center of it, Malcolm Holt groaned, slowly rising to his feet.
His face twisted in fury.
His black robes, once neatly pressed, now hung tattered and scorched. He was lean and tall, his silver-streaked hair was frayed. His eyes locked onto mine, rage brewing behind them.
"You dare..." he hissed, wind spiraling around his body. "I’ll make you regret interfering."
From above, Gary Field descended, landing beside me with a heavy thud. He was broader in build, bronze-skinned with close-cropped hair and sharp brown eyes. His spear spun once in his hand before settling in a firm grip.
He gave me a side glance. "Nice entrance."
"I try."
Malcolm growled, his body rising slightly into the air as violent winds began to churn around him. The dust vanished in a swirl, blown away by the pressure.
"You’re both dead," he said coldly. "I won’t be kind today."
"Don’t remember asking," Gary replied, stepping forward. His aura expanded—dense, crushing, like invisible walls forming around him.
"Let’s finish this."
I scanned both of them.
[Malcolm Holt - Level 253]
[Gary Field - Level 247]
Gary shot forward, spear aimed like a bullet.
Malcolm met him head-on, a burst of spiraling wind forming a drill at his palm. The two clashed midair, steel against storm and the shockwave blasted through the nearby ruins. I stood back, observing for a moment.
Wind twisted, pressure crushed, and I saw the way their powers pushed and responded to each other. Not just raw strength. There was technique, movement, layers of intent behind each attack.
I narrowed my eyes and activated my domain.
’[Absolute Domain].’
A violet shimmer expanded around me, unseen by all but me. Inside it, everything slowed just enough. I focused and whispered under my breath—
"Right to Insight."
Essence patterns lit up.
I could see it. The interactions. How Malcolm’s wind didn’t just push, it sliced and scattered.
There were edges in his gusts, and I caught the undercurrent of another law: distortion. His wind wasn’t natural. It twisted perception, bent momentum, redirected force. And he fused that into every strike.
Gary was fighting smart. His spear thrusts bent air ahead of them, compressing the air to give his attacks more force. Pressure built with every jab, like a dam threatening to break.
I raised my hand, gathering crimson fire into my palm and launched a fireball at Malcolm mid-dodge.
He barely veered out of the way, but the flicker of annoyance in his eyes was worth it.
He snarled and shouted, "I’m going to tear you apart first!"
He swiped a hand through the air and the air in front of him cracked.
The wind screamed. A crescent blade of twisting distortion, half invisible, half silver light shot toward me.
I caught the movement and responded instinctively.
I raised my hand and said, "Sovereign Reversal!"
A small violet portal opened midair, sucking the crescent blade into itself and dissipating it with a shimmer.
The generator core thrummed with new energy.
"Nice trick," I muttered. "Let’s see how it works."
I mirrored his movement, one hand across the air, channeling my own Essence. But this time, I used my insight. I mimicked the angle, the movement, and the fusion of wind and distortion I had just seen.
I narrowed my eyes, studying Malcolm’s movements. His wind wasn’t just slicing, it was bending reality. A layer of distortion sat beneath each strike, twisting the force and direction.
The first time I tried to copy it, I failed.
I commanded the Essence. I followed the trail of runes dancing in the air, letting them guide me as I searched for the path he used to bind wind and distortion together. Bit by bit, I understood the nature of his fusion.
Essence answered my call.
A crescent formed, faint at first, then solid, glowing with spiraling violet light.
It wasn’t perfect. But it was sharp. And real.
The second attempt was closer. The crescent actually took shape, hovering briefly before it cracked apart and exploded in a harmless gust.
But I was learning .
Inside my domain, the world slowed, and with Right to Insight active, the unseen became visible. Runes danced through the air like floating script, whorls of Essence binding wind and distortion laws in a spiral pattern.
I traced them mentally. The way his power fused—wind rotating clockwise, distortion pulling inward at the edges. A compression, then release. The structure wasn’t complicated. It was precise.
The third time, I followed the pattern exactly.
Essence churned around my arm, thick and alive. Violet winds swirled around me, sharpening into a blade of bending force. It rippled unnaturally, twisting vision as it spun forward.
A crescent of violet light tore through the battlefield.
Malcolm reacted instantly, spinning midair and hurling a gale downward to counter it. The clash cracked the air, scattering dust and pushing him back a few meters.
His eyes widened for the first time.
"You... copied me?"
I exhaled.
"Maybe."
Gary didn’t miss the opening.
With a grunt, he surged forward. His spear shimmered with dense pressure, each footstep pressing the ground flat beneath him. With a roar, he launched an amplified thrust, the very air around Malcolm buckling inward from the force.
Malcolm answered with a spiraling cyclone but Gary’s spear shattered through it. A sharp edge of metal nicked Malcolm’s shoulder.
Blood sprayed across the air.
The Holt grandmaster stumbled back.
I surged forward, the world blurring around me. In a blink, I was at his side.
My fist twisted back, Essence coiling around it and then I drove it into his ribs with all my weight behind it.
There was a sickening crunch as the bones gave way. His body folded around the strike, eyes bulging in shock.
A heartbeat later, he shot sideways like an arrow, crashing through the remains of a stone wall. Brick and dust exploded outward in a cloud, the sound echoing over the battlefield.
Malcolm rose again, coughing. His silver-streaked hair was a mess, clinging to his face. His chest heaved as he glared at me, murder in his eyes.
"You little—!"
He didn’t finish.
Gary swept in from the left, I from the right.
Together, we launched a storm of attacks. Gary’s spear danced with precision, every strike infused with crushing pressure.
I interfered.
Each time Malcolm raised his hand to summon wind, I extended my will into the flow. The runes of command I’d glimpsed earlier shimmered faintly in my vision, and I wove my Essence through them, fraying the structure of his techniques.
His gales twisted off course. Cyclones broke apart before they could form. What should’ve been slicing gusts became scattered breezes.
Gary’s spear lashed out again and again, meeting far less resistance. His strikes dug into Malcolm’s body and defenses, cracking through layers that should’ve held.
Malcolm’s expression shifted from fury to disbelief.
He understood.
I was unraveling his law as he cast it.
Malcolm tried to push back, fury giving strength to his movements, but we didn’t give him space to breathe. His attacks grew wilder, more reactive.
"You Holt bastards have had your time," Gary growled after one of his strikes and prepared for a final attack.