“Get away from me!” Lyra summoned the last flicker of will and shoved at him, only for Kael to catch wrist. The fiery contact ripped a shiver through body, proof that whatever drug had slipped was seizing control.
Kael’s laughter rang, low and triumphant. “Haha, the powder took effect! Relax, my dear, I promise I will treat you with the utmost care!”
When wanted to hold Lyra in his arms, a gold sword light split the courtyard like lightning. Slash! Blood spurred. One of Kael’s arm was severed.
“Argh!” His howling tore through the sky. Kael stared at his severed arm in disbelief. Jared stood behind soaked in blood like a Bloodbane God from depths of hell. He had spent most of his energy on the previous attack. His murderous intent did not decrease.
“I told you. If you touch her, you die!”
Shaking, Kael stared at the stump where his arm had been, terror and hatred warring In his eyes. “I’ll kill you!”
Clamping his remaining hand around his sword hilt, unleashed glacial sword energy that froze the courtyard in a shell of time.
Jared no longer cared about dying. He stepped through the killing frost, each footfall leaving a charred print as the internal flame inside slipped its leash.
Kael snarled, “Did you think I was the same man you faced three days ago? My father has gifted me the Glacial Adamite Technique! Tonight I will carve you into pieces!”
He drove the Glacial Sword Art to its peak, a storm of ice arrows pelting Jared like a winter hurricane.
Jared did not dodge. Dragonslayer Sword flickered, sketching a shield of interwoven scarlet and cobalt flames. The internal flame fused into a powerful shield. Every ice arrow that struck hissed once, then vanished as harmless vapor.
Kael’s voice cracked. “Impossible!”
The Glacial Adamite Technique was said to freeze an earthly immortal’s spiritual energy. Yet, It was harmless to Jared.
The answer was simple. Jared’s fire nascence burned with a positive energy so absolute that glacial energy could not survive its touch.
“Die!” Jared roared. He vanished, reappearing beneath Kael’s guard. Dragonslayer Sword ripped upward in a fiery arc.
Slash!
Steel rang again. With a crisp, merciless snap, Kael’s second arm spun away in an arc of dark blood.
“N-No!” His howl splintered the Sword Sect courtyard, the sound rising like a wounded beast denied mercy. He stared at the bare, twitching stump of his shoulder. Only then did terror crawl through him.
He tried to run, yet his legs buckled beneath that fear. All could do was watch Jared’s blade inch toward his throat.
“Jared, spare his life!” Corin yelled. “If you kill him, Lester will retaliate with a fury we can’t survive!”
Jared’s eyes stayed glacial. “Master, humiliated the Sword Sect. I can’t let slide!”
“I understand your rage,” Corin said. “Lester has gathered dozens of sects to attack the Sword Sect. If you kill Kael, they will have a reason to start a fight.”
As sect leader, Corin bore every disciple’s future on his shoulders. One impulsive execution, and the Sword Sect could be erased from the map.
Jared clenched the Dragonslayer Sword. His knuckles blanched, the metal vibrating with his suppressed wrath. He glanced at the unconscious Lyra and then at Kael’s hate-contorted face. Murder bloomed inside like weeds after rain.
“Leave to me…” Corin sighed, flicking sword energy that slammed Kael Into darkness. “I’ll strip his cultivation and let taste a living death.”
Disciples hurried off to carry Kael. Corin knelt by Lyra, brows knitting. “That aphrodisiac powder is vicious. Without swift treatment, foundation could be destroyed…”
