As Alex’s sword slammed onto the young man’s head, the young man suddenly reacted, twisting his head at the last moment.
The sword passed through empty space, while the young man himself jumped backward to get away from where Alex had been.
Alex watched in clear awe, unable to understand how the young man had dodged. His attack should have landed, considering his current invisibility. The young man could not have seen his attack. And yet, he had clearly dodged.
How?
Alex stared at the young man, whose face was full of confusion. He looked around, seemingly searching for something.
Alex jumped right back, trying to attack him again, this time from a blind spot. And as his attack came close, the young man still managed to dodge it at the last moment.
The young man moved further away, this time crying out loud, “Brother Jianyu! He’s invisible.”
Jianyu acted immediately, striking his whip at a location close to where Alex was. The dirt flew into the air in a cloud, covering him. As the dirt stuck to him, Jianyu acted again.
The whip came for Alex, who fought back instantly, using the power of his sword and Qi to attack it. The two attacks physically clashed, creating a massive shockwave that created another crater in the compound.
Alex was thrown backward, where he flew through the sky for a second before landing close to Goyin and Xichen.
He looked back at the two women. “Are you two alright?” he asked in a hurry.
Xichen nodded. “You?”
“I’m fine.”
“Your sword!” Goyin pointed.
Alex frowned and looked down, only to find that the blood covering his sword had cracked, and his sword itself was bent at an angle.
‘Shit!’ Alex thought. He tried to bend the metal back into place, but it was far too weak. It had been created with not just a weaker metal but with a very low tier of skill as well.
Alex thought of still using it, but he knew he couldn’t. He tossed it to the side and created a sword out of blood. Until he got his own back, this would have to do.
“Brother Jianyu, his techniques are weird,” the young man said, walking up to the man.
Jianyu nodded. “I thought he fought like Death, but he’s different. He has quite a lot of tricks that I’ve never seen before,” he said, turning toward the young man. “Are you alright? You’re sweating.”
The young man touched his forehead, finding slight perspiration on his skin. “That tracks. I thought I was going to die. If not for this array, I would’ve died.”
Jianyu nodded. “Maintain focus. Don’t let him scare you.”
The young man nodded and dashed forward.
Alex stepped forward as well, Sword Domain fully materializing around him. It was only a small radius, but as long as he could get close to the young man, he hoped to be able to kill him.
As the young man came for him, Alex prepared his sword strike. Qi filled his blood sword, and he applied his technique. When the young man arrived close enough, Alex dashed forward, entering the range.
Endless Severing Strike
A sword slash, unimaginably thin, released from his sword. A strike that was pretty much invisible to even stronger spiritual senses struck toward the young man, to completely cut him in half.
However, at the last moment, the young man’s entire body twisted, spinning out of the way of the attack, before delivering a strike at Alex’s chest.
Alex took the hit to the chest, his blood robe cracking in multiple places while a deep gash showed on his chest.
Alex fell to the ground from the strike, but that wasn’t all. The whip came next, aiming for his head.
Alex didn’t even have the opportunity to do anything as it struck his head. In the next moment, his mind went blank.
The young man stopped, stepping back in slight surprise.
“Weird,” he said. “I thought he would be stronger.”
“He was stronger,” Jianyu said. “You nearly died there.”
“I would’ve survived that, surely,” the young man said. Although, he didn’t fully trust his own words.
“You survived thanks to the array,” the middle-aged man said. He looked toward Goyin and Xichen, whose eyes were fully wide in shock. “These are the Sunwarden chief’s daughter and granddaughter, aren’t they? Did he come to rescue them?”
He turned around. “Chief, you should get them back to the—”
A wave of gasps caught the man by surprise as he looked for the source of everyone’s surprise. Turning around, he too was caught by surprise.
Alex’s brain matter flowed back into his head as it all fully healed. Then, he slowly rose back from the dead.
He stood up straight, staring toward the two Extolites who were in disbelief.
“How… how did you do that?”
Alex ignored their question, taking a deep breath instead. “I thought I would surely have won in that clash, but you still dodged it somehow,” he said. “I forgot. I’m not fighting two men, but rather over a hundred.”
His eyes moved toward the people in the formation behind. “If you all do not wish to die, you should leave right away,” he said. “I will not spare anyone who stands in my way.”
Jianyu stepped forward. “You have a lot to say for a man who already died once,” he said. “How many times can you come back to life?”
Alex’s eyes moved toward Jianyu. “So it really was the array that helped you dodge my attacks. Can you see the future? No, that shouldn’t be it. You must have sensed me and my attack instead. These arrays are truly quite fascinating.”
Jianyu scoffed. “Don’t blame us for using what we have.”
“I don’t,” Alex said. “So don’t blame me for using what I have either.”
He took another deep breath and reached for that which he could not see. It wasn’t completely ready, but it was usable.
So, Alex grabbed onto it and used it.
He used his Blood Origin.
