Chapter 97 - 96: The Prince Who Dreamed of Heaven
Steel met spirit.
They drove him back with perfect rhythm, one shadow, one spear. Skitz vanished and reappeared, bleeding him with every flick. Lumberling closed in with crushing thrusts, each one breaking through defense after defense.
Nie Fenghun staggered.
"I am destined to trample the weak!" he roared. "To carve a path with blood and fire! You... you are just another stone in my ascent!"
Skitz scoffed. "Is he seriously monologuing right now? I don’t even know what he’s saying, and I still want to hit him."
Lumberling stepped forward, calm and deadly. "No. He’s just louder than most."
Nie struck again.
A flurry of palm strikes blurred through the air, aimed at Lumberling’s throat, heart, and solar plexus with surgical precision. The movement was fast, flowing, strange, more dance than duel.
But Lumberling had fought monsters that twisted through trees and men who struck from shadows. His body moved instinctively now.
He ducked the first, turned with the second, then caught the third against the haft of his spear. The counter came without thought, a sharp thrust low and upward, straight through Nie’s shoulder.
Steel met flesh. Blood hissed out.