Jack was jolted back into his body the next instant, barely able to process how fast his body knitted itself back together now that his senses were back to normal. In his mind, he had already visualized the position of the undead creature well in advance. His eyes closed shut, he used the full extent of his sensory abilities to plot a course- pivoting on his right foot, before channeling all the Qi in his body into his sword arm and then swinging with everything he had.

He took a breath in relief when the sword made contact with an equally robust material, struggling to compete with it in strength for a few seconds before Jack felt no weight on the opposing end. He opened his eyes just in time to see the undead creature crashing into the rippling barrier of energy with a loud bang.

‘Be relentless.’

Jack no longer bothered to close his eyes, channeling Qi to his feet before releasing it half a second later.

‘Control the momentum.’

The trick he’d learned earlier had come in handy- Jack had used his Qi to propel himself forward, falling to the ground like a meteor descending upon the Earth with his sword held forward.

‘Faster. Go even faster.’

Near the end of his descent Jack channeled one last burst of Qi into his legs, letting out an adrenaline filled scream before he crashed to the ground, carrying a tremendous amount of momentum with him.

Jack braced himself as he crashed into the undead creature’s left bicep with his sword tip held forward, causing a proper shockwave to emanate from the sight of impact. The shield remained unchanged, but Jack could feel the platform tremble for a second before it subsided. He’d originally aimed for the head, but it was hard to accurately pinpoint a target midair.

This time, Jack felt the impact too as a powerful shockwave ran through his body as he landed, but he ignored it. He angled his gaze towards the undead creatures arm while avoiding gazing at its third eye, knowing that he had definitely pierced through something. Black fluid was leaking out from the spot where he had cleanly stabbed the creature through skin, muscle and bone.

‘So you do bleed, motherfucker.’

“Krrraaagh!” The undead creature screamed, perhaps in an attempt to distract Jack- he wasn’t sure if this being was capable of feeling emotions or physical pain, but it had displayed a high level of intelligence earlier.

It swiped at him with his right claw, but Jack was prepared as he withdrew his sword to parry the claw. Sparks flew out as its claws grinded against his mottled sword, and Jack took the opportunity to drive a Qi infused kick to its lower abdomen- sending it careening towards the shield once again.

For the first time since Jack had set its eyes on the undead creature, it looked vulnerable. His opening attack had wasted its left arm from the looks of it, since it was hanging limply to the side, and his kick had sent the undead creature involuntarily sitting on the floor, leaning against the shield barrier.

Jack knew that this was the golden opportunity he was waiting for, so he moved like lightning, channeling Qi in his sword arm with a crazy fervor.

The undead seemed to realize its aim, shutting its third eye just before Jack made contact with his sword. Jack had already memorized the location of the eye, so at this point no petty trick or illusion would distract him from his target.

Jack drove fast and true to his aim, striking the shut eye with clinical precision. Sparks rang out as the sword clashed with the eye slit, instead of the clean stab Jack expected- in his mind, he was hoping to impale the undead creature’s brain at the same time.

Jack had already extended himself, so he barely had time to block the miasma infused kick heading for its abdomen. A clang rang out as his sword came into contact with the powerful kick, and he was pushed back a few meters unwillingly. A quick glance at the creature’s forehead surprised Jack- the third eye was nowhere to be seen, only its eerie red eyes that stared back at him, devoid of any emotion.

Had it imploded its own eye to distract him? Why? Jack didn’t understand, but the next moment it channeled black miasma into its right hand. He kept his gaze on it, ready to dodge or counter the miasma attack. Except the attack never came. The black flames of burning miasma transmuted the flesh on his hand, leaving a slit that was half the length of its palm. The next moment the slit opened, and Jack found himself staring down a yellow eye that he was but all too familiar with.

‘Don’t panic. Ambushes don’t work twice.’

Jack tried to reassure himself as he once again faced down twelve illusions, not knowing if the real body was within them or not. Interestingly all the hallucination-clones, as Jack liked to call them, all sported the wounds he had left on the original body, and they were healing.

Of course, if he had magical healing powers, his opponent had to have them too.

‘I’m missing something,’ This was a thought that had been running through his mind since the beginning, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. Jack started retreating, trying to buy some time to think. He knew that he couldn’t stop the undead creature from healing, and even if he could, what would be the point? He couldn’t pierce through its forehead, his sword wasn’t sharp enough. There had to be something else. The legacy skill had saved his life, and without the sword he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the undead.

What about the scroll then? Why read him a scroll that he would forget immediately after? Jack had been trying this entire time to remember, even if it was a single alien word, but his efforts were futile.

‘Wait.’

Back when Jack had unfurled the scroll, the text that formed in the air was colored golden. That was definitely not a coincidence, meaning that it was likely that the brilliant golden entity that had rewarded him with the scroll. Jack’s eyes widened at the implication- earlier he would not have understood, but after coming in contact with the threads of time that saved his life, he was very sure of his hypothesis.

The golden energy was unmistakably an alternate form of energy much like ‘Time’ was. That much though, had been obvious. However, if they were both forms of energy could his Qi be used as a substitute for the golden energy?

Jack might have forgotten the words the chanting voices had said, but his increased thought processing skill let him memorize the characters used in the innermost concentric circle’s layout. The moment he tried to recall them though, all one hundred and twenty symbols flashed in his mind, and Jack knew he was on the right track.

The undead creature and his clones just looked at Jack from afar, about a third of their wounds already healed. They seemed perfectly content to wait and regain mobility of its left arm before going back to trying and killing him.

Channeling a thin stream Qi through his right index finger, Jack drew a symbol in the air as quickly as he physically could with a trail of blue Qi following in his wake. The symbol flashed two times, before abruptly solidifying.

Jack could hear a chanting sound in the background, the words barely registering in his mind before he forgot them. The solitary voice alone brought him a terrifying pressure, and he almost bucked under it. It felt as if the right side of his body had caught on fire, while the left side of his body was frozen behind a block of ice. But that wasn’t even the worst part- Jack felt an intangible pressure that seemed to come from all directions, yet no direction in particular at the same time. It felt as if the world around him wanted to crush him into a mist of blood, bringing him a terror that was hard to describe in words.

On the other end though, one of the clones in Jack’s field of vision shattered, and Jack felt his resonance with Qi deepen, a small part of the greater truth revealed to him. But it was not enough, not enough for him to harm the undead creature. He needed more.

‘Re…member…. the…objective…. this … is….the….real…..test,’ Jack felt his reactions slow down, but knew that he was going in the right direction. Though he said that, fear and indecision had frozen his right arm in place. This ability might be his only chance at piercing through the undead’s body, but could Jack survive going through this ordeal eleven more times without going insane? Could he afford to take that gamble?

“.....Fuck…. It…” Jack said out loud, his voice slow and raspy, as if each word was a struggle. There were twelve clones. The first layer of the concentric circle had twelve symbols. The chanting increased Jack’s ability to increase and utilize Qi. This was the way to beat the deadlock. And Jack was, for the first time, willing to bet his life on it.

‘Whatever happens, don’t stop,’ Jack said to himself as he took a deep breath, before drawing symbols with such speed and force that Jack felt his wrist dislocate and fracture itself.

Two, four, six, eight, ten… and then twelve. Jack braced himself for pain unlike anything he had ever witnessed before, pain that would destroy his capability to think, pain that would make him beg for death…. But none came. Instead of increasing, it disappeared all together.

Jack opened his eyes in surprise, only to see a thin layer of golden radiance around his body. His eyes were so wide they were on the verge of popping out, back drenched with sweat, hands bleeding from having dug his own nails in them and two tears streaming down his eyes.

“Thank you…. Thank you…,” Jack muttered in a dazed state, knowing that he’d guessed correctly. He wasn’t sure of the specifics, but he knew that he was being tested.

All the clones shattered at the same time, leaving only the undead creature standing in the center, both alone and from the looks of it, puzzled. What had once looked like such a terrifying creature now looked so…. pathetic.

Jack stood in the arena, the first layer of the chant rotating around him with him as the axis. Unbeknownst to even him, his green eyes had turned light blue, as he stared at the undead with hatred in his eyes. Irreconcilable hatred.

Jack was in a state where he was closer to Qi than ever before- earlier he was like a blindfolded man trying to pluck a fish out of the sea with his bare hands, the difference truly being so exaggerated. Now he could see the thin network of vein-like structures extending to every part of his body from the reservoir of Qi below his navel, like a small pond of liquid Qi where all Qi absorbed from the surroundings went to.

He took a deep breath in, and began absorbing the Qi from his surroundings. A large majority of Qi in the room responded to his call, flowing through his body at crazy speeds.

The undead creature seemed to realize what he was doing, and it broke out into a frenzied dash towards Jack, claws poised to strike.

In his present state, manipulating Qi for Jack was no different from breathing air or drinking water- it was simply natural.

‘Qi Blade.’ The skill that Jack had come to regret not choosing was cast with no difficulty, a sharp, edged layer of Qi manifesting around Jack’s new sword, giving it a meters worth of extra reach. However the amount of Qi Jack had channeled into the sword was so enormous that it just kept going, first five meters, then ten meters, twenty meters, finally stopping at thirty meters, before it started growing in thickness- all occurring in a matter of seconds.

The undead, who was only ten meters away from Jack stopped in its tracks, but it was too late. Almost nonchalantly, Jack swung the massive sword construct sideways, while the undead started to exude miasma around its body to shield itself from the impact.

Jack’s sword construct cleanly bisected the undead creature in half, causing its torso to fall forward while its upper body fell backward. Not done yet, Jack retracted his sword construct and slammed it down again, and then a third time- he wasn’t sure if a dead creature could die, after all. With each strike, a portion of Jack’s anger dissipated. Holding emotions and bottling them up in his heart wasn’t healthy, and in this twisted new world it was the only outlet he had. All the fear, anger, and despair the creature had brought to him was now considered paid back in full.

The undead burst into translucent black flames, and the first layer of the chant started spinning even faster, drawing the black flames towards it. When the black flames made contact with the chant, it was almost as if they were being purified, and Jack felt the familiar comfort of blue flames washing over his body, improving it immensely in all aspects.

Jack was about to take a breather and just wanted to scream out his frustrations, but a question arose in his mind.

‘What now?’

Jack turned his gaze to examine the two entities, hoping this nightmare was finally coming to an end. The shield around the arena dissipated, which was a good sign.

The next instant though, both the entities, as if they were finally in agreement for once moved in unison.

Towards him.

“FU-” was all the time Jack had to scream before both the entities slammed at him from either side without breaking the first layer of the chant, and then everything went black.