The sword shadow struck home-yet the sword failed to pierce. Jared’s face went rigid. The Dragonslayer Sword was a spiritual sword, able to cleave iron like warm butter; stone should have crumbled. Instead, the blade skidded off as if striking tempered steel.
While shock jolted through him, the statue’s sword darted for his abdomen. Jared kicked off the floor, flying backward. But the stone golem burst forward with uncanny speed.
Thud!
He landed dozens of meters away, only to feel fresh warmth spilling down his chest-another wound, shallow but bleeding freely.
“Damn it, what is this thing?” He could not stop the curse. I’m supposed to be untouchable in the Third Heaven, yet I can’t even handle a lump of rock? Is someone controlling the golem, or has it developed a will of its own?
He wiped blood from his chin, eyes hardening. “The Nine Shadows sword technique…” It was time to call on his trump card. Matching sword for sword, Nine Shadows was perfect-because it gave him eight extra blades on demand.
One breath later, eight perfect duplicates of him fanned out, encircling the statue. The stone golem showed no flicker of emotion.
Emotion, after all, required a heart. It simply shifted stance-and its swordwork changed again. The pattern grew eerie, the sword intent harsher, as though the very air had turned to knives.
Jared felt as if he had plunged into an ocean of blades. From every direction, the stone golem’s sword shadows stabbed, slashed, pierced. He had eight bodies, yet each clone was already straining to parry an unending flood of strikes.
For an instant, a chill far colder than the bleeding cuts slid down his spine. There are only eight of me-yet it feels like that statue fills the entire hall, thrusting a sword through every inch of space at every single heartbeat…
His mind whirled, searching for a crack in the impossible onslaught, even as each shadow clone fought desperately merely to stay whole.
Jared muttered through clenched teeth, “Why does that brute always find a way to nullify me?”
He could not fathom it. Even when he unleashed Nine Shadows with the Dragonslayer Sword, the stone golem still pinpointed a flaw and ripped his move apart.
Running out of strength, Jared was forced to recall his shadow clones; each one drew upon the same reservoir of power, and that reservoir was draining fast.
“Fine, let’s settle this head-on!” he roared, gathering every last shred of energy. A monumental arc of sword energy swept from his blade, howling through the hall and tearing the air itself.
The stone golem sensed the incoming force and raised its own sword to meet him.
Boom!
A deafening blast rippled outward. The shock wave flung Jared clear across the marble floor, he landed hard, the impact rattling his bones.
He pushed himself up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and locked his gaze on the stone golem, eyes burning with unbreakable resolve.
Once more, he charged. The Dragonslayer Sword whirled faster and faster, weaving a lethal web of silver light.
The golem answered stroke for stroke, its granite blade forming a seamless curtain that no wind could slip through. Steel rang against stone in a ferocious exchange.
In the blink of an eye, they had traded a hundred blows. Chest heaving, Jared staggered back a step.
“I’m calling a time-out. How about we both catch our breath?” He forced a grin, panting.
In truth, he had almost nothing left in his body, while the golem, being lifeless stone, possessed no concept of exhaustion.
Yet, to Jared’s surprise, the golem actually lowered its sword and became perfectly still, as though his suggestion were an order it must obey.
Delighted by the unexpected reprieve, Jared pulled out a handful of pills and shoved them into his mouth without ceremony, letting the medicinal warmth race through his body.
Everett skirted around the inert guardian and hurried to his side. “Mr. Chance, are you all right?”
“I’ll live. But that stone freak is downright uncanny.” Jared exhaled a long, shaky breath and cursed.
