Jared chuckled, low and almost pitying. “Vanish? I believe the ones who should disappear are standing right in front of me.”
A vein pulsed in Jaehaerys’ temple. “This is internal Celestial Palace business. Meddle, and you will suffer for it.”
“Internal business?” Jared’s laughter carried iron beneath velvet. “You betray your own master and still dare hide behind protocol? I’m here to clean house for the Palace.”
Brennan, second of the hall masters, threw his head back and roared. “You?! Boy, you don’t even know how to spell the word death!”
“Let’s find out together,” Jared answered. Power spilled from him in a ringing wave, rattling the chains that bound the Celestial King and dimming the torches as though they feared his light.
Jared was only Human Immortal Realm Level Three, yet the pressure he exuded eclipsed many who had clawed their way to level nine.
Jaehaerys stood at Heavenly Immortal Realm, Brennan at Human Immortal Realm Level Nine. Even so, both men felt an unexpected weight pressing against their lungs.
“Interesting,” Jaehaerys muttered, a spark of genuine intrigue flickering across his face.
“Impressive talent for one so young,” he admitted. “But rescuing anyone from us is still far beyond you.”
“Try me.” The last syllable had barely left Jared’s lips before he blurred forward, a streak of silver in the smoky light, aimed straight at Jaehaerys.
Caught off guard by the sudden lunge, Jaehaerys hastily wove a hand-seal. A column of divine force thundered from his palms toward the charging youth.
Boom!
The two forces collided, hurling a shockwave through the hall that rattled iron sconces and sent dust spiraling from the rafters.
Stone tiles fractured like thin ice beneath their feet, spider-web cracks racing outward in every direction.
Jared skidded back three paces before steadying. Jaehaerys slid only one, yet surprise widened his eyes.
“Not bad,” Jaehaerys conceded. “You actually withstood my first strike.”
“You’re no slouch either,” Jared replied, brushing a speck of dust from his sleeve. “But this was only the opening act.”
He shot forward again, faster, every movement a blade of intention.
Sword intent blossomed around him—countless arcs of gleaming energy spiraled outward, each one honed to lethal clarity, converging upon Jaehaerys like a storm of living steel.
Jaehaerys’s face drained of color. In one frantic motion, he summoned a defensive technique, and a translucent golden barrier bloomed around him like a hastily raised citadel. Light rippled across its surface, desperate to blunt the razor-thin sword energy Jared hurled forward.
Clang, clang, clang!
Each invisible blade slammed into the shield, ringing out with the clarity of struck crystal.
Under the relentless barrage, fractures spider-webbed across the barrier. Hairline at first, they deepened, glowing white against the gold.
“How can this be?” Jaehaerys gasped, panic overtaking pride. “You’re only Human Immortal Realm Level Three. Where does such power come from?”
“Nothing is impossible,” Jared said, his voice cold as winter steel. “And today marks your end.”
With that, he drove harder. Sword energy multiplied, a torrential downpour of gleaming arcs that hammered Jaehaerys’s shield until chunks shattered away like ice in spring.
Jaehaerys fought to reinforce the failing wall, but every pulse Jared unleashed tore another piece loose.
A jet-black beam suddenly split the gloom, Brennan’s sneak attack.
“Coward,” Jared spat. He pivoted, meeting the darkness with a single backhand slash that burst into sparks, swatting the ambush aside.
“Jaehaerys, together, we finish him now,” Brennan urged.
Jaehaerys nodded once. The two hall masters lunged, twin storms converging on one target.
Death Gorge erupted in strobing light. Waves of force ricocheted off jagged cliffs.
Jared, outnumbered yet unbowed, wove through the onslaught. His footwork flowed, his blade found every seam in their defenses with surgical certainty.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rolled across the canyon. Boulders vaporized, and the valley floor cratered into gaping pits.
Not far away, Morcant Crowhurst, elder of the Malevolent Path Hall, watched with idle fascination, hands clasped behind his back, clearly content to let the three bleed each other dry.
