The Last Dainv

The park erupted into chaos.

Kyle blinked across the battlefield, daggers glinted in the morning light as multiple flashes of blue displaced him throughout the battlefield at large. Clyde provided him backup cover as he shot at anyone who got too close to Clyde or Gale out there in the field. Rachel lunged low at a nearby Jiuling operative. Her fist clanged against swords and bullets.

Jeanne made the whole battlefield a mess by shooting thermite bullets that traced around trees to chase fleeing Path agents or Jiuling. Marine, on the other hand, kept whispering multiple sigils all at once to provide area slows and speed increases to her comrades.

And then there was Gale, who was focused on the single entity he either needed to kill or get the cure from.

Yuxuan's jian swept horizontally at his neck.

Gale spun sideways, his feet leaving the ground. The tree that Yuxuan's earlier deflections had cut through was falling, and Gale used the tumbling trunk as a foothold. One push off the bark sent him launching back at Yuxuan, Erebus already mid-swing toward his opponent's exposed flank.

Yuxuan predicted the trajectory.

His jian came up in a circular motion, meeting Erebus at an angle that redirected the blade's momentum instead of stopping it cold. The deflection flowed seamlessly into a counter, his sword curving inward toward Gale's torso in a slash that would have opened him from hip to shoulder.

Phase Defense activated at the point of contact.

The jian passed through his body.

Yuxuan's smirk grew as he backpedalled slightly. "Even more interesting, Dark Hunter."

Erebus lengthened. Swing horizontally towards Yuxuan's chest.

The response was as though he'd predicted the strike. His body twisted sideways at an angle so sharp that it caused Gale to raise his eyebrow. Erebus' sharp point passed through the side of Yuxuan's ribs just centimetres away. In that same motion, a jian snapped forward at his forehead.

But it was a feint.

Presence Between telegraphed to him the real attack. Phase defense had already activated on his head, but he was too late to activate it on his stomach.

Yuxuan's leg came up in a snap kick that caught Gale in the stomach before he Phase could fully form. The impact folded him in half, sending him skidding backward across the grass.

Gale recovered his footing and charged back in.

Erebus shifted into a shorter blade for close quarters. He thrust at Yuxuan's throat, but the jian was already there to parry. The blades locked for a split second before Yuxuan disengaged with a spin that turned into a diagonal cut.

Phase Defense. The blade passed through his shoulder.

Gale countered with an upward slash. Yuxuan leaned back, the edge of Erebus missing his chin by a hair. His jian swept low, aiming for Gale's legs. Again, Phase defense activated exactly where the blade passed through.

Yuxuan pressed forward. Two thrusts with two slashes. To top it off, a spinning cut that transitioned into a palm strike. Each one was met with phased defense except the palm strike, which connected to his chest.

It was fast. This was also his first time fighting someone with actual close combat skill, especially with a sword.

Yuxuan was the better swordsman. That was clear. His techniques were more focused purely against other humans. His own techniques? They were more general and more against beasts and monsters.

The way he used Dainv Combat Arts was too predictable against a human opponent.

Gale gripped Erebus even tighter. Presence Between integrated. Billions of shapes and patterns formed across his skin. The morning light turned into a slightly dark forest in shades of light and darkness.

Erebus suddenly turned into a mace. One swing, and Yuxuan was thrown off balance, making him back off.

Erebus lengthened. One swipe diagonally. Blocked by Yuxuan. Suddenly, Erebus once again turned into a sledgehammer. This time, his opponent dodged instead of meeting it head on with his jian.

Erebus turned into mist again, this time a short sword. Gale pressed forward quickly in a flurry of strikes.

Once again, he got the advantage by continuously changing the shape of Erebus into a multitude of weapons he was familiar with.

Weber Balista materialized in his left hand. Trigger squeezed. One twhip.

Yuxuan sommersaulted sideways backwards. While he was in mid-air, Gale lengthened Erebus once more and swiped at where he would land.

However, swinging his jian sideways allowed Yuxuan to redirect his landing, causing the swipe to miss completely.

"Getting better, Dark Hunter. But that's not enough!" Yuxuan shouted, launching into another assault at Gale.

Erebus changed into a thick sword that blocked the jian. But the point of the jian used the flat as a foothold to launch Yuxuan up into the air.

Gale tried to jump upwards, but the jian was already launched downwards at him.

Blocked.

The jian fell down beside him, and Yuxuan landed in front of him.

Erebus turned into a sword once again. Gale lunged.

All Yuxuan did was smile as he extended his palm towards the jian on the ground.

Presence Between caught the movement of the sword behind him already. It moved on its own, its point to the back of his head.

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Phase defense activated, and the jian passed through him back into Yuxuan's hand.

That was Gale's chance. Instead of trying to kill Yuxuan, he went for the weapon instead. And that's what he did as an overhead strike was deflected by Yuxuan.

Again, he struck. Deflected again. And again. And again.

Using his speed to not allow Yuxuan a turn, a flurry of strikes rained down from Erebus against the jian. Even though it was deflected each time, one of these days it would dull and crack.

For tens more strikes, the jian didn't crack as it was enveloped with a thick ether, though, they called it Qi.

And finally, one more strike caused a ringing sound on the jian and a slight crackling noise from where he had hit.

Yuxuan disengaged suddenly, putting several metres between them. He looked down at his jian and his smirk wiped disappeared from his face. "What are you?"

Gale shifted Erebus back to its standard length. "None of your business. Give me the cure for what you did to my friend."

Yuxuan laughed. "Remind me who?"

"Lily Grace."

"Ah, yes. The Blue Witch that fell into a trap."

"Give the cure or you die right here."

"Die? Who?" Yuxuan laughed again. "Me?"

Gripping Erebus even more, Gale really wanted to kill this fucker.

"There is no cure, Dark Hunter." Yuxuan smiled, then held up his sword, coating it with an ever thicker amount of Qi.

A massive fireball erupted from behind Yuxuan, launching him towards Gale. Opportunity presented itself. Erebus swung at the body mid-air. But Yuxuan had already twisted his body to control his direction.

Rachel charged in. Fist wound up. Her whole body turned with the punch.

Jian blocked the punch. Yuxuan's feet skidded against the ground. Counterattack aimed at Rachel's neck.

Gale met the counterattack with his own blade, slamming it downwards. A punch to the face sent Yuxuan flying backwards.

Rachel crouched low. Lunged down to match Yuxuan's speed mid-flight. A single punch upwards launched him straight up into the air.

Gale and Rachel jumped upwards to meet Yuxuan at the apex of his arc. However, a yin yang symbol appeared in the air.

Yuxuan moved his palms in a circular motion. The sudden gravity-less field caused Gale to become destabilized. And then suddenly, his palm extended outwards, causing compressed air to blast everything around him to fly away.

For Gale, this was the worst result. His body was hurled down to the ground, and his back hit the ground, causing him to cough blood. Meanwhile, Rachel had managed to explode the air in front of her to meet the compressed air head on.

As Rachel and Yuxuan landed, she followed him closely, fighting close instead of letting him use his sword. Her gauntlets sent a flurry of blows against the inkling of crack against his sword.

Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal. And soon enough, Rachel's plan worked. Gale could see the sword starting to glow red and then orange, where it was now bending slightly sideways.

Yuxuan tried to disengage, to create distance for his sword techniques, but Rachel stayed in his face. Her footwork was relentless, cutting off every angle of retreat, forcing him into a corner between two fallen trees.

Gale saw the opening.

While Rachel occupied Yuxuan's sword arm with another barrage, Gale closed the distance from his blind spot. Erebus shortened into a dagger. One thrust, aimed directly at the gap between Yuxuan's ribs.

The blade sank into flesh.

Yuxuan's eyes widened as Erebus punctured his lung. Blood sprayed from the wound when Gale twisted the blade. The man's knees buckled, his Qi flickering as his concentration shattered.

Gale pulled Erebus back for the finishing blow.

A hand grabbed his wrist.

The grip was like iron wrapped in silk. Gale tried to pull away, but his arm wouldn't move. It was as if his entire body had been frozen in place by something far beyond physical strength.

An old man stood beside him that hadn't been there just a moment ago. There was no signature that tugged at him, no scent or anything. He simply appeared like a ghost.

The old man wore simple blue lined white robes over a traditional changshan. His hair was black, tied into a long neat ponytail. His face showed clear signs of age, but he was not much older than mid 40s.

Mid-Harmonic.

It told Gale everything he needed to know about how to handle this opponent. Run.

He couldn't beat him on his own. In front of him was the elder they had talked about earlier.

Gale phased his entire body and flew backwards across the park. He landed just beside where Marine and Jeanne were in the backline.

Before he could look back at where the elder was, he had already disappeared.

Presence Between caught where the elder was. Kyle had defended himself against the elder, dagger raised. One flick of the elder's hands, and Kyle was sent spinning through the air, crashing onto the rooftop where Clyde was, who had been lining up a shot against the elder.

Marine started whispering a sigil. But the sigil shattered before it could form, and she collapsed on the ground, clutching at her stomach.

The elder had appeared beside her and then kicked her away towards the wall of a house.

Jeanne raised her own gun. An explosive round escaped the barrel. A single glint of silver came from the flick of the elder, and the round flew directly up into the air, exploding.

In the blink of an eye, Jeanne also collapsed where she was as the elder appeared beside her.

Rachel charged at the elder with both fists blazing, fire trailing behind her. The elder caught her first punch with his own jian, softly stopping it where her gauntlet touched its point.

When she tried to punch with her other hand, she was already flying towards a house, crashing into it and wrecking its wall. Gale pounced towards where she was, helping her stand up from the rubble.

In less than five seconds, the group had been completely dismantled.

The elder turned to face Gale.

"Whatever animosity you have with this foolish one," the elder said, his voice gravelly, "it is best you leave it be."

Gale let go of supporting Rachel by the shoulder and held up Erebus once again. Rachel's gauntlets flashed again with heat.

"He almost killed our friend. Where's the cure?!" he said.

"Your friend?"

"He poisoned one of ours. How can we just let him go?" Gale said.

The elder's expression didn't change. Not even a single sigh at his own disciple's atrocity. "As this foolish one's senior, I will be the one to deal with his punishment. You have my word that he will face consequences for his actions."

"Consequences?" Kyle spat blood as he struggled to his feet. "That's not good enough. There's already bad blood between us. That fucker has been dealing shit in Ann territory for weeks. You think we're just going to walk away?"

"I am asking you to give this old man some face," the elder said, increasing his signature output to create a sort of weight on everyone's shoulders. "Let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, this conflict will only cause more bad blood."

"You're one to talk of death when your disciple isn't fessing up with a cure!" Rachel shouted. "You just want us to forget that!?"

"I am offering to handle this matter internally. The Jiuling have their own laws. Their own punishments," the elder said, putting his hand behind his back. "Continue this fight, and more of you will leave harmed. Or worse. Is that what you want? Meaningless slaughter over wounded pride?"

Gale stared at the elder. True enough, they couldn't beat him with just them. This was his first time actually fighting people who fought other people for a living. And at Mid Harmonic, there was no way to stop that kind of beast. But they weren't the only ones here.

"We're not the only ones who want a piece of Yuxuan," Gale said.

Movement at the edge of the park.

The four Handgun operatives had regrouped. The one with the revolver had his hand fixed like it was new. Probably used a couple of gun syringes for that. All four of them had their weapons trained on the Jiuling group and Gale's group as well.

"We're not here for Yuxuan," the squad leader said with the pistol. "We're here for the contraband dust vial. Give it up, we'll leave quietly, and you guys can fight against each other."

The elder turned to face the Path agents. "Our reinforcements are already on the way. If you wish to press this matter now, come. It's not like we don't have disagreements as a whole anyway."

He raised one hand, palm facing outward.

"However, if you choose to attack, understand that no one here will leave with what they want. And that includes my side." His eyes smiled, yet his lips didn't. "Would it not already be a reward if everyone here walks away without bleeding?"

"Easy for you to fucking say when you've already poisoned one of ours, you fuck," Clyde shouted.

All three sides looked at each other. Neither lowered their weapons. Jeanne and Marine also got up from their collapsed states, both readying their guns and sigils.

On the other side, the Jiuling swordsmen formed a line in front of Yuxuan and the elder. Their jian swords were out in full display, though none had the same Qi coating their blades.

A standoff.