Clang! Steel slammed against steel, the collision booming so loud it rattled roof tiles and sent crows screaming into the twilight.
A brutal shockwave numbed Kael’s arm. His fingers almost lost their grip as stumbled three steps back, disbelief widening his eyes.
“How… How did your strength return so fast?”
Only three days earlier, Jared had coughed blood beneath Santino’s blows. For now to wield such crushing force defied every rumor Kael trusted.
It was that very injury that emboldened Kael to strut into the Sword Sect. But Jared pressed forward without answering.
Dragonslayer Sword carved a golden arc through the dusk. Jared used the Dragonslayer. Each swing burned brighter, as though wielded a piece of the noon sun.
Kael, sweating, poured every drop of spiritual energy into the Glacial Sword Art. Azure waves of sword energy crashed outward, coating flagstones in a sudden, glass-slick sheet of frozen ground. The courtyard floor flashed white. Frost bloomed ankle-deep, trying to lock Jared’s feet in place.
Jared snorted. “Child’s play…”
In the next instant, Blazing Stride ignited under his feet. He skimmed across the slick ice like a ghost, every landing flaring into a golden ripple that drove the frigid mist back.
“Glacial Sword Art! Frozen Land!” Kael roared and, with both hands, rammed his longsword into the frozen ground.
Steel rang, ice cracked, and power spilled outward in a brutal wave. Spikes of ice speared up from below, as sudden and numerous. In a heartbeat, they arched overhead and knit together, forming a colossal cage around Jared. its inner walls glittered with blue-white spikes.
“Hahaha! Jared, let’s see you slip away this time! This ice prison is created from my spiritual energy. The harder you fight, the tighter it freezes. Do yourself a favor and surrender while you still can!”
Corin and Flaxseed cried out in unison and lunged to help, only to be walled off by Kael’s armored guards.
“Let us through!” voices snapped, frustration ringing off the ice. Lyra, eyes blazing with worry, whirled past the guards. Her sword blazed with searing light as forced two men back and sprinted toward the cage of ice.
“Take her!” Kael barked. A sly gleam slid across his eyes as signaled the guards with a tilt of his chin. Two guards, both fifth-level Earth Immortals, abandoned their current foes and pounced on Lyra like starved wolves.
Their strikes were ruthless and precise, built not to kill but to capture. Lyra, a fourth-level Earth Immortal, managed only three exchanges before their combined assault drove backward.
One palm slammed into spine. Blood sprayed from lips as staggered, feet carving ragged tracks across the ice.
“Lyra!” Jared’s shout tore from the center of the prison. Golden sword light hammered the icy wall again and again. Each clash carved only shallow scars, white and thin.
“A wounded beauty is such a heartbreaking sight,” Kael murmured, strolling toward Lyra with a lecherous smile. “Jared, if you drop to your knees right now and beg, I may spare life!”
“You’re courting death!” Jared snarled. The fire nascence within roared free. Dragonslayer Sword blazed brighter than it ever had, red-gold flames licking its edge.
Boom! A single detonation rocked the lake. Fire erupted outward, and the ice prison flashed to steam, collapsing in molten shards around Jared’s feet.
Kael’s smug grin twitched. He had not expected such raw force. Recovering, snapped a jade vial from his robe and flicked it toward Lyra. “Since you refuse to comply, I’ll enjoy your woman first!”
The vial burst mid-air. A fine, colorless dust rained over Lyra and clung to skin. She inhaled only a breath before heat flooded veins. Clarity drained from gaze, and an unnatural flush warmed cheeks.
“That’s aphrodisiac powder!” Flaxseed gasped, trembling with rage. “Kael, you’re the heir of Sacred Sword Manor! Yet you stoop to filth like this!”
Kael licked his lips, desire darkening his eyes. “Against pests like you, why waste time on honor?!”
Kael stared at Lyra’s collapsing figure and walked toward her. “Lyra, since we tied in the duel, we’ll fight again in bed!”
