Jake stood with his eyes open wide in shock as he was blinded for a moment. Not only were his eyes blind, but so was his sphere. He saw nothing but pure energy as it washed over him, but only for a moment before a figure appeared before him.

Long black hair flowed through the air from the power exhibited from the man’s body, a bare chest of muscles with not a single wrinkle or sign of weakness in sight. If not for the all-too-familiar wounds Jake knew he had caused himself, he wouldn’t recognize the person before him.

For who now stood there was a man no older than himself, a sword in hand as he pointed it skywards. He looked up towards the sky that was now filled with clouds that had occasional holes to let sunlight through.

The Sword Saint looked down, and what met Jake was not the same sunken eyes he had stared into so many times before, but two deep blue eyes that were in no way natural. Jake narrowed his gaze as he bent his knees, ready for what was to come.

“I have been blind for too long,” the Sword Saint said as he smiled at Jake. “Thank you. Now… this is presumptuous of me to ask… but-“

“Come.”

Jake didn’t need to say more as the swordsman grinned with a childlike smile that fit his younger appearance far more. Then, just as Jake thought it was kind of funny, his danger sense suddenly exploded as he raised his blade on instinct and blocked.

Just in time, too, as he felt an impact upon his blade stronger than even the blows from the Monarch of Blood. He purposefully lifted himself off the ground and allowed himself to be blasted back, giving him a chance to stabilize as he felt a faint pulse of mana behind him as the figure of the Saint appeared.

Teleportation?

Jake could see no other way to move that fast. He himself spun in the air and landed while facing the Sword Saint, instead teleporting himself backward the moment his feet touched the ground. The swordsman didn’t teleport again but merely stepped on the ground too as the soil was ripped up, and he flew towards Jake as his blade cut upwards.

Stronger. Faster. What did he do?

He naturally didn’t get an answer as he was forced to dodge the swing of the sword. Jake barely managed to slip by it, but it turned in the air at an impossible angle. Once more, he avoided it by a hair’s breadth only due to his near-precognitive intuition and danger sense.

How and why the man had transformed, Jake didn’t fully comprehend. Did he suddenly gain a skill upgrade that allowed him to change? He had already ruled out the Saint awakening a Bloodline as he didn’t feel anything… so what else was there?

Jake blocked with his scimitar as he was blasted back again. Without even being sure how it had happened, he got a slash on his arm, and he gritted his teeth as he landed, kicking up the soil.

It doesn’t matter now…

He wouldn’t figure it out just by asking himself. Instead, he would just have to ask the old man after their duel. The Sword Saint had changed, but the situation hadn’t… they were still just two humans fighting, one of them suddenly getting an unexpected powerup.

Mana condensed all around Jake as he stopped holding anything back. Pride of the Malefic Viper activated as he took dominion of the area around him, and his wings appeared and began pumping out poison mist. He also didn’t hesitate to begin using poison on his weapons.

Surprisingly enough, the Sword Saint stopped when he saw Jake apply his poison, patiently waiting for him to be done. They exchanged looks, and Jake saw the absolute confidence in the face of the man. Jake felt his own heart beat faster as his excitement grew.

He pointed towards the Sword Saint as his arcane bolts appeared, and the formerly old man reacted by disappearing. Jake felt the movement of mana on his right as he fired his bolts that way, and just in time to hit the appearing form of the swordsman. However, he failed to do anything as the bolts were all simply cut in two and failed to explode.

Jake used Gaze of the Apex Hunter to avoid getting hit as he teleported back, drawing his bow as he fired off a Splitting Arrow. Once more, the sword simply swept to the side, and as all the arrows exploded, not a single trace of the explosion managed to reach his opponent.

Not that Jake was in any way discouraged as he teleported again just in time to avoid the Sword Saint appearing. Twisting in the air, he drew the bowstring and felt time slow down as arcane energy revolved around him.

Arcane Powershot was released, and he didn’t wait to see it hit before he nocked another arrow and prepared to repeat the attack. He saw the Sword Saint appear, and, to Jake’s surprise, he didn’t even try to dodge the arrow. Instead, he simply pointed his blade forward, and in a move that left Jake completely dumbstruck, met it directly with the tip of his blade. The Sword Saint barely made the two weapons touch, and with a slight movement of the wrist, redirected the arrow and made it whistle straight past him to hit a hill far in the background.

Once more, they made eye contact as Jake fired a second Arcane Powershot while also giving a look of pure respect. Blocking his arrow that way wasn’t something he had seen coming at all, and it quite frankly looked cool as fuck. Of course, Jake would have to make sure the Saint couldn’t repeat the same trick for the next one.

The Arcane Powershot tore through the terrain, and Jake used Gaze without any hesitation or restraint as he didn’t break eye contact. The old man froze completely as the arrow approached. Yet at that very moment, the world responded as rain condensed to revolve around his outstretched blade, making it move even if the man’s body couldn’t.

It was another neat unexpected trick… but Jake’s Arcane Powershot was not weak either. The Sword Saint only partly blocked it as the arrow exploded upon impact with his blade, sending the swordsman flying back from the blast.

He elegantly floated through the air and landed on the ground, clear marks present on his arms and chest from the explosion – a bit of poison also mixed into the wounds.

Stronger… faster… but not that much more durable, Jake concluded.

Jake also began theorizing the Sword Saint’s skills were somehow limited as he had yet to see many used so far besides the teleportation and a few tricks with his sword. No shitty water magic like before, that was for sure.

Both of them moved again as Jake teleported to avoid another swipe of the blade as the Sword Saint appeared right in front of him. He felt as his own body was filled with power from Limit Shatter, and he was stronger than before for sure… about as strong as he was versus the Monarch of Blood, perhaps. The difference was that Jake didn’t get any benefits from Big Game Arcane Hunter at all, and of course, one other tiny detail.

The current Sword Saint was stronger than the vampire. The only aspect he wasn’t superior in was durability and means of attack. Jake only had to repeatedly dodge the blade of his opponent and look for openings as he believed that the Sword Saint couldn’t use all his ski-

“Thousand Droplets.”

Jake’s eyes opened wide as he quickly summoned a barrier of arcane energy and readied himself with his scales as he dodged backward, unable to teleport as the attack had already arrived. He barely managed to raise an arm to cover his face as he felt like hundreds of tiny stabs hit him and sent him flying back, leaving dozens of trails of blood in his wake.

He had miscalculated… perhaps been baited in as Jake recognized his fuck-up. His entire body hurt, but now was no time to wallow as he made a platform of mana below his feet to teleport away just in time to avoid the Sword Saint appearing behind him.

Another teleport later, and he had gotten some distance as he condensed bolts of mana along with orbs that he sent flying all around him to make them explode. He didn’t expect to hit, just buy enough time to consume a health potion as he felt his damaged body heal. Coupled with the damage he took before the Saint transformed, it was needed.

It was also only now that he really noticed he was actually losing a bit of health from Limit Shatter. It was subtle and not much, but it was there. Compared to the Sword Saint, his boosting skill was clearly far worse. The formerly old man hadn’t used any boosting skills as far as Jake could tell… or, well, he probably had; Jake just couldn’t detect it because the man was overflowing with power. Or was the transformation a boosting skill? If it was, that would be wild.

Stopping his wastage of mana by trying to hit the teleporting Sword Saint, Jake began firing arrows again, alternating between explosive and stable ones, while also tossing in the occasional Splitting Arrow to try and hit his foe.

Jake decided to try and mix things up as he attempted to use his Pride of the Malefic Viper to exploit a weakness. He tried to attack the man’s feeling of responsibility towards his family and how he was gambling a divine item on their duel in an attempt to get an opening. It was a trick that would likely have worked before, but now…

The moment he attacked with Pride, an illusory sword flashed in his mind as he felt backlash and was forced to stop right away, still feeling a slight headache. He was lucky that he didn’t dodge attacked based on conscious thought because if he did need to think, then his failed attempt would have cost him an arm.

Continuing to dodge back, Jake felt himself pressured as he found fewer and fewer chances to counter. He tried different things, but the only real method he had to make openings was Gaze, preferably coupled with large explosions. His poison mist even proved ineffective as the god damn rain suppressed it.

Yet, despite it all, Jake felt a rush he hadn’t felt since that first night. It spoke to a particular part of him to battle a human on his own ‘level’ in ways battling a beast or monster simply couldn’t. He reveled in that feeling, and he felt the heartbeat that only came when Jake – and thus his Bloodline – was truly excited.

He pushed himself with everything he had as they exchanged blows, but no matter his excitement, one thing was clear – the Sword Saint was coming out on top. Their positions had reversed completely, with Jake now trying to adapt and find a way to fight back.

“Control the flow,” Jake suddenly heard the Sword Saint say as he made a casual swipe to send Jake away. “You still underutilize your abilities. You already know your path of magic; make it so your body does too.”

Jake frowned as the Sword Saint didn’t attack again but looked back with scrutiny.

“If you do not overcome your limits, then this round is mine,” the Sword Saint empathized.

Lose?

The sentiment was not one he would even dare entertain. Jake felt his heartbeat speed up as he sped up his energy in tandem with it, and he didn’t wait for it to work but attacked, feeling every movement of his body.

With his scimitar, he engaged the Sword Saint in melee, the other party only parrying. “You also need to work on your swordsmanship,” the Saint cheekily said as he purposefully deflected Jake’s blade and kicked him in the stomach to send him back.

Jake got up right away and charged again. Arcane energy began revolving around him, making it momentarily looked like he was casting Arcane Powershot. It wasn’t entirely wrong, as the sentiment and mechanics were very much the same.

He felt his entire body as the energy ran through it. Stability within destruction. He needed destructive power while at the same time keeping it stable enough to not damage him. The energy began flowing faster and more directed, yet at the same time it seemed almost chaotic. Jake began taking damage as his body failed to endure his own energy, even more so than before. That is when a faint purple spark entered his inner energy.

The Sword Saint smiled as he looked at Jake. “Now embrace it.”

Like a spark had been lit, his invisible expulsion of stamina suddenly changed color as an explosion of pure arcane energy pushed back the Sword Saint, and Jake felt his entire body enter a new equilibrium. He stopped taking damage as the arcane energy revolved within, boosting him up while keeping him entirely stable.

*Skill Upgraded*: [Limit Shatter (Epic)] --> [Arcane Limit Shatter (Ancient)]

Jake felt himself be stronger in every way as he rushed forward with his scimitar, arcane energy, and dark mana revolving around it as he used Descending Dark Arcane Fang with his full power, making space vibrate in his surroundings as the weapon shot down like a-

*Cling!*

A casual swipe of his opponent’s sword sent all of the momentum of his attack barreling into the ground as he poked a hole dozens of meters deep into the soil while not even touching a hair on the Sword Saint’s body.

“Good!” the Sword Saint yelled as he swiped his blade up, making Jake scramble to block as he was sent tumbling back with a long gash up his arm. He spun around in the air as he rapidly fired two arrows at the Sword Saint, the first of which got blocked and the second one exploding.

A barrier of water summoned by his blade blocked it, but it gave Jake time to land and channel arcane energy as it condensed even faster than before. With arcane energy infused into his Limit Shatter, his connection to the affinity had grown even more as the magic became both stronger and faster to summon.

More than a dozen orbs of arcane energy appeared all around him as Jake took a single step forward – bringing all of them with him as the Sword Saint now found himself surrounded by the bombs. For a brief moment, their eyes met as an explosion rocked the area, with Jake already soaring into the air as he fired arrows down one by one, all of them exploding.

The onlookers were pushed back as arcane explosions stretched for hundreds of meters in all directions, Jake still feeling the Sword Saint in the middle of it. As a final attack, he aimed the bow down and began charging Arcane Powershot as all of the arcane mana in the bow was pulled out and formed an arrow. He took aim and fired it straight down as he prepared to Scorch the Plains in pure arcane energy.

With great speed, it descended and smashed into the ground.

--

Neil was looking at the fight, completely immersed and dumbstruck. Two humans who had both been introduced to the system for as long as he had were battling it out like two absolute monsters. Their exchanges were faster than he could see, and he and his party members became utterly aware of how far they had to go. All five of them wouldn’t even last a dozen seconds against either of them. What they were witnessing was the peak of humanity - Earth's humanity, at least.

He saw Lord Thayne use space magic and teleport forward as he brought the bombs tied to him along, as the entire area exploded. Neil was forced to summon barriers, assisted by Silas and others around him.

The more powerful people summoned their own shields or found ways to block it, but they were not gathered all together like before. Neil believed they could handle the fallout from Lord Thayne’s attack until suddenly, another arrow fell with incredible speed. He heard it explode as suddenly a wave of pure destruction headed towards him and everyone else.

Neil’s eyes opened wide as he heard the sound of people teleporting out in panic with their Hunter Insignias. Neil naively thought for a moment he could block it, but that thought was dispelled instantly when the blast got closer, and he activated his own Insignia to leave the Hunt.

Yet just before he disappeared, he heard a single word echo out from the epicenter of the explosion.

“Rainblade.”