A True Spear Knight dashed across the night. His steps might have sounded heavy to Theron, but this was already a mere fraction of his true weight hitting the ground.
The reflective blues of the moon danced across his armor, mixing it into a dark hue that made him look like the depths of the ocean in the night.
His Third Eye flashed and his eyes flickered with surprise.
Theron was… coming toward him? What was he doing?
The shock wasn’t just his own. Everyone that had the senses to pay attention from a distance was doing so. But the problem was that they were finding it more and more difficult to keep track of Theron until he seemed to vanish beneath the rain entirely.
However, the sight of it had been clear enough.
Theron was most definitely attacking on his own. Was it a facade? A fake?
Theron should be at First Resonance, and an enemy capable of wearing 50% Silver Grade Ebonstone Armor had to not only be at least in the Fifth Resonance, but if they were, they had to be elite in strength at that tier.
This particular True Spear Knight was actually in the Sixth Silver Resonance, but that only made him even more difficult to deal with.
Danger suddenly shook the True Spear Knight’s mind. He hurriedly rotated, pinning his spear’s body to his hip and spinning in a wide arc. He didn’t have the time to feel out exactly where the danger was coming from, but this defensive maneuver should give him just enough time.
Tap.
Something collided with his back. As light as a feather, it almost felt like someone was knocking on wood rather than attacking him.
He hurriedly spun back, only to sense another tap, and then another.
Finally, he spun for a fourth time and saw the vague outline of a figure. He stood there, just outside the range of the spinning spear tip.
The True Spear Knight roared, lunging forward.
Theron, however, lunged toward him as well, rotating in the air.
The spear missed by a hair’s breadth. As though they had coordinated one another’s attacks to perform an intricate dance of life and death, the spear passed over the back of Theron’s head as he spun parallel to the ground, the black just grazing against the split between his shoulder blades.
Theron’s blades spun as his body rotated, and suddenly it felt like a cyclone of water droplets had formed in the air.
Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi.
They collided against the black armor in a pelting avalanche, relentless, but mediocre. The True Spear Knight couldn’t even feel a single thing.
But that was why his death was so shocking.
There was a burst of water at the opening for his head. Like a spiked shackle forming around his neck, it all burst, shards of water forming as though blue icicles ripping through his flesh and bone.
Theron had already vanished before the body hit the ground.
…
Chi.
Rain fell heavily from the skies as Theron’s blade glided along the edge of the True Sword Knight’s.
Chi. Chi. Chi.
A burst came from the gauntlet along the True Knight’s armor, his bone shattering to ash as the limb fell limply to his side.
With one side completely unprotected, he couldn’t do anything as his neck was cut clean in two.
Theron continued to rush by him as though he wasn’t even there, reaching out and grabbing the reins of a steed that rushed by at the same moment. With a leap, Theron was already on its back again, rushing off into the distance.
**
Three True Knights, three kills. Each one happened swifter than the last, and the harsh reality was that most couldn’t even feel what happened.
It was like Theron vanished from his horse’s back for a small instant, and then came back soon afterward. But by then, three of those that had been aiming for him had already died.
What the hell happened?
Was it a facade? Or was Theron far stronger than any of them had thought?
…
The Bordeaux Clan members frowned.
“Did any of you catch that?”
“Did he get masked by someone?”
“No, I think we’ve been tricked.”
“Tricked how?”
“He’s more powerful than we—.”
A head fell.
The eyes of the Bordeaux Clan members suddenly widened as their eyes opened wide, but all they saw was flashing blades.
Their last thoughts were that of confusion. Wasn’t Theron riding on the horse in the distance now? Was there really someone else?
But then they saw those cold blue eyes, indifferent to life and death. They watched as he ducked and weaved beneath their blades, his steps sure and powerful, and yet not leaving even the slightest dent in the moistened ground beneath him.
Theron’s dagger ripped into a belly and cut across, disemboweling them.
With a flicker of his wrist, the bloodied mess flickered upward, slapping against the eyes of another Bordeaux.
Blinded, they flailed out and pulled on their Third Eye. But this only confused them further.
There was still nothing there at all.
Chi.
His head fell from his shoulders.
Theron leapt backward, dodging out of the way of a heavy spear that crashed into the ground. The earth trembled and formed a wave, not from Earth Mancy, but pure strength alone.
It didn’t even faze Theron. He seemed to have seen through it before it even took shape, his eyes flashing with a dense pulse of Mana.
[Pressure Burst].
BANG!
The wave of earth exploded out, reversing directions in an instant. The moisture content in the soil was far too high right now. Trying to use it to attack Theron was like giving him another weapon.
Now, the shield that should have blocked his eyes blocked theirs instead, stone pelting against them.
Cries of pain echoed before they came to sudden stops, lines of a beautiful blue streaking across the air and reaping a life with every swipe.
Theron came to a calm stop, soil and rain falling down around him in their own sort of hail.
He exhaled a breath, a steamy white pooling across the air.
It seemed his body was warmed up now.
SHU.
He vanished once again.