Chapter 835 (2/2)

Unfortunately, that also meant that Randidly could feel his own senses dulling. He was more prepared for this contest due to the benefits of his Skill, but he also had to endure without air. In addition, there must be an energy deprivation portion, for it to work so quickly. Now it would be a matter of endurance between them…

...with the edge Randidly had being Rejt.

But as Randidly turned to Rejt, he froze. His friend was just standing there, his large body covered in scars. His face was inquisitive, as if listening for something that was just out of earshot.

“Rejt,” Randidly began, but then he heard it too; the soft rustling of leaves.

Randidly knew that sound.

“So an image could be like this…” Rejt murmured. He raised his hand and a light wind circled around his fingers. “So understated. So distinct. And to think that the image could hate this man so dearly that it could persist without the individual who created it…”

But there wasn’t much time to question the fact that Rejt was touching upon what was clearly Versault’s image. Aegiant once more arrived, burning with the heat of a fading sun. Randidly spread his hands, pressing with every ounce of his Willpower to strengthen Extinguishing Ash, Devouring Storm. Beside him, Rejt raised his hands and gestured softly.

There was a rustling of leaves, and Randidly could see the autumn wind dragging the dried leaves across a worn game trail. When the blow struck Aegiant, it wasn’t enough to stagger him, yet still, Aegiant stopped to stare in shock at Rejt.

Apparently, Randidly hadn’t imagined the similarity.

Before Aegiant could decide to switch targets, Randidly gripped Acri with his good hand. As far as he could tell, because he had used the System template of himself as a base, his arm wouldn’t heal as long as the Domain was active. And even if it would heal while he wasn’t using it, Randidly sensed there would be… consequences to his arm when he activated the Domain.

So he would need to practice using a spear with one arm at some point.

I just wish it wasn’t now.

Spear Advances, Ash Trails.

Although it was dumb, Randidly rushed forward and crashed into Aegiant’s shocked form, smashing him backward. Randidly’s Health was knocked down to three hundred by the heat and proximity, forcing him to scramble backward before he lost any more. The point was to distract Aegiant, and it seemed to work excellently.

But there was also a strange and unlooked for benefit; after striking Aegiant, Randidly felt the sensation of being able to tighten the grip of Breath of the Spear Phantom while Aegiant was weak. Which he did.

As Aegiant snapped back to himself and gnashed his teeth, Rejt struck again.

Two extremely towering blades of wind smashed at Aegiant, this time with enough force to actually give him pause. Randidly’s eyes burned emerald as he tightened his Breath of the Spear Phantom like a python around Aegiant, slowly crushing his ability to resist.

Aegiant smashed again and again at Breath of the Spear Phantom, with enough force that Randidly knew Aegiant had been sandbagging in his attempts previously. But the shock followed by the blow had given Randidly and opening. And now he shamelessly leveraged that.

“The wind is the edge of something so large that it would crush the world,” Rejt said, speaking as if reading off of a scroll. “But since it is but the edge, it is limited. But in limits, it finds strength. It can do so much that nothing else can. It can brush. It can surround. It can avoid. And most of all… it can cut.”

There was a dull roaring as the wind began to whip around the surrounding area, blowing the edge off of the heat from Aegiant. Aegiant looked around with crazed eyes and gnashed his teeth once more. Then Aegiant’s hands when to his chest and he physically pounded at his ribcage, urging his lungs to resume function.

For a moment, Randidly could see the images that Rejt saw. The howling wind, the vast sea of air currents that covered the world, the endless strength of the air…

But he also saw the ramrod-straight figure standing behind Rejt, putting his hands against Rejt’s back. Versault looked grimly over at Randidly and nodded an unwilling recognition. Then the spirit’s gaze turned to Aegiant.

“Sever,” Rejt and the spirit of Versault whispered at the same time, and the sky fell and split Aegiant in half.