Chapter 356: Souvenir
The green light that had been spreading across Rhys’s forearm suddenly erupted.
Tribal patterns blazed to life across his entire body, swirling spirals that created pathways beneath his skin. The tattoos spread from his hands up his arms, across his shoulders, crawling up his neck and face.
Wind howled through the garrison with enough force that nobles stumbled backward. The carefully controlled magical illumination flickered as raw power disrupted the flas.
Rhys stood at the epicenter, his winter-ice eyes now glowing with the sa verdant light that pulsed through his tattoos.
Jack’s vision filled with system notifications blazing in crimson text
[WARNING: POWER SPIKE DETECTED]
[ANALYZING...]
[Rhys Luffiel - Level 26]
??[Strength: 45 → 120]
[Stamina: 45 → 120]
[Agility: 72 → 147]
[Vitality: 95 → 170]
[Endurance: 60 → 135]
[Magic: 125 → 200]
[Mana: 2,320 → 4,850]
[HP: 9,500 → 17,000]
[SPIRIT MANIFESTATION: MYTHICAL-RANK WIND SPIRIT - SYLPH]
[THREAT: STAGE 1]
Jack’s eyebrows rose fractionally as he processed the numbers. A seventy-five point increase across all stats. Rhys’s magic had jumped to two hundred, almost matching Jack’s own base magic stat.
’Interesting,’ Jack thought, red lightning crackling more intensely around his fingers. ’This might be a good fight. I can finally let loose.’
The wind died to manageable levels as Rhys straightened himself. The green tattoos pulsed in rhythm with the wind.
"Let’s try this again, Kaiser," Rhys said, his lips curving into a smile that didn’t quite match his usual expressions. "Without you getting lucky."
"Lucky?" Jack’s grin widened with genuine amusent. "Is that what you’re calling it? I seem to rember you on the ground after one technique. Thunder Clap, wasn’t it?. Your face was in the dirt so fast I almost felt bad. Almost."
He clamped his jaw until a vepped in his neck, his nose wrinkling as if he’d just tasted sothing bitter. The green tattoos flared brighter in response to his emotional spike. Wind swirled around him in visible currents, lifting dust from the garrison floor in spiraling patterns.
"Talk all you want," Rhys replied, as he raised his twin daggers. "Actions matter more than words."
The speed was dramatically different from their previous exchanges.
His right dagger thrust toward Jack’s throat. Sothing was different about the attack. The air around the blade shimred strangely, and Jack’s enhanced perception could tell sothing was wrong.
Jack swayed left, the dagger passing inches from his jugular. But even missing the actual blade, he felt the wind displacent. A cutting pressure that would have opened his throat if he’d been fractionally slower.
"So he incorporated wind into his blade to extend the range of the attack," Jack deduced.
Rhys pressed the attack with escalating aggression. His daggers beca silver blurs, each strike carrying that edge that made defense more complicated than simple blocking.
Left, right, overhead, low, the combination flowed effortlessly. Anyone could see how much Rhys had trained.
Jack continued to evade, his movents minimal and precise. Each attack narrowly missed him, and Jack carefully observed every fractional hesitation that revealed Rhys’s intentions.
"Still dodging," Rhys observed, his breathing perfectly controlled despite the assault’s intensity. "Afraid to actually engage? Or are you waiting for daddy’s divine blessing to save you again?"
"Just curious," Jack replied nonchalantly. Ducking under a horizontal slash that would have opened his throat. "Wondering how long it takes before you run out of tricks. So far, I’m counting... one? The wind thing is cute, but if that’s all you’ve got, this is going to be disappointing."
The provocation had the desired effect. Rhys’s green tattoos glowed brighter, reflecting his emotional state.
His left dagger thrust forward in a feint, drawing Jack’s attention, while his right hand pulled back for a devastating follow-up strike. At the mont of impact, compressed air exploded from the dagger’s tip with concussive force that made the garrison’s stone floor crack.
Jack had already moved; the sonic boom passing through space he’d occupied a fraction of a second earlier. The shockwave hit the wall behind him with enough force to crater the reinforced stone, sending fragnts scattering across the floor.
Several nobles scread, diving for cover as debris shot up. Servants scrambled to create protective barriers between the audience and the fighters, their expressions shifting from excitent to genuine concern.
"Better!" Jack called out with genuine approval. "Sonic enhancent. You’ve been practicing. Still not enough, but definitely an improvent from last ti."
"Stop. Talking," Rhys snarled, his composure fracturing further under Jack’s systematic dismantling of his pride.
He spun, both daggers tracing diagonal arcs through the air that released concentrated blades of wind. Visible crescents of green energy that shrieked toward Jack with speeds that made them nearly impossible to track.
Jack’s right hand moved in a blur, red lightning exploding from his palm to et the wind blades head-on. The techniques collided in midair, green and crimson energies tearing at each other with forces that made the ambient air scream in protest.
The explosion sent both fighters skidding backward, their boots scraping against the stone as they fought to maintain their balance.
When the dust cleared, Jack was grinning like a madman, red lightning crackling more intensely around his entire body.
Rhys stood across from him, green tattoos blazing, wind swirling in visible vortexes around his fra.
"Now we’re getting sowhere!" Jack said enthusiastically. "Wind blade projection. Ranged attacks. You’re actually making
pay attention. Keep going! Show
what else Sylph taught you!"
Rhys’s eyes snapped wide at the casual use of his spirit’s na. "How do you..."
"Know about Sylph?" Jack interjected with a sneer. "Please. You think manifesting a Mythical-rank wind spirit in front of so of the strongest people in the world is a smart idea? The green tattoos are basically a neon sign saying ’I have a wind spirit contract.’ Not exactly subtle."
The observation drove deeper than any physical attack could have. Rhys had thought his trump card was secret, mysterious, sothing Jack would have to puzzle out through combat. Learning that his opponent had identified it imdiately was a blow he hadn’t prepared himself ntally for.
"Besides," Jack continued, twisting the knife more cruelly. "Mythical-rank contracts are rare enough that anyone with half a brain can identify the major spirits by their manifestation patterns. Green tattoos, wind manipulation, mischievous energy signature? That’s Sylph. Congratulations on making such an obvious power-up choice."
"Shut up!" Rhys roared, his control shattering completely.
He threw his right dagger with force that made the weapon hum through the air. But instead of a simple throw, wind currents wrapped around the blade in spiraling patterns, accelerating it to speeds that broke the sound barrier.
The sonic boom echoed through the garrison like thunder, and the dagger scread toward Jack’s chest with enough force to punch through reinforced armor.
Jack’s hand snapped up, catching the weapon between his palms. He made the impossible look mundane. Red lightning crackled around his fingers, and the dagger stopped dead. Its montum absorbed completely despite the wind enhancent still trying to drive it forward.
"Impressive velocity," Jack observed, examining the blade with academic interest. "Wind acceleration, rotational stabilization, sonic enhancent. You’ve put a great deal of thought into this technique. But it is still pretty easy when your opponent telegraphs the throw with about three seconds of leeway."
He released the dagger, letting it clatter to the floor between them. "You’ll want that back, right? Or should I keep it as a souvenir?"
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