The Primal Hunter

Caleb stared up into the air as he felt the pressure upon him from the rain as well as the auras of the two men fighting. He still stood tall, more for show than anything else, as he really wanted to just sit down and take a breather, but as the Judge of the Court of Shadows, he had to keep up appearances.

Carmen was sitting on the ground unbothered. There weren’t that many more around as pretty much everyone else had left, leaving only himself, Carmen, Sylphie, Eron, Reika, Maria, and one or two more who had managed to resist the wave of arcane energy earlier. Even people like Sultan had played it safe and left.

Up there, far above, flashes pulsed through the air every time their attacks clashed, a glowing figure of pink-purple energy flying and teleporting around at incredible speeds. On his trail, following him closely, was a swordsman only really visible due to the huge shockwaves of power every swing of his sword sent out. If this duel truly had any meaning besides a bet, Caleb truly didn't know. Perhaps it would be a momentous battle that defined Earth's destiny to come, or maybe it was just two people having a blast, with no real meaning besides their own personal ones.

As he stood there, Caleb had a theory about what the old man had done but no way to confirm it. If his theory proved correct or not didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things because today had made one thing absolutely clear to every single faction of Earth who knew anything about the multiverse outside of their own isolated planet.

These weren’t just the two strongest people on Earth. Caleb had access to information spanning much of the multiverse. He knew the standards of geniuses, and he did not have a shadow of doubt in his mind that both his brother and the Sword Saint were monstrous geniuses on a multiversal scale.

He looked at Eron, who stood and paid attention to the fight in odd ways as he seemed to stare at things no one else could see. Caleb shook his head.

First two ridiculous Bloodlines… and now we may even have a Transcendent.

Jake spun in the air as he blocked the blow of the Sword Saint with his scimitar, launching himself back as he rapidly swapped to his bow and fired an arrow.

Still spinning, his foot touched down on a constructed platform as he teleported away, as he fired a near-instantly channeled Arcane Powershot towards the Sword Saint. The swordsman reacted as expected by deflecting the first arrow and dodging the second as he chased Jake closely.

Clashing once more, Jake shot his palms towards the Sword Saint as both exploded with arcane energy, and as both flew away from each other, he raised his hand and rapidly constructed a long spear-like mana bolt which he naturally threw.

Sadly, it did nothing as it was cut in two, both sides flying around the Sword Saint, and even when they exploded, they only hit the constructed barriers of rainwater already covering the Saint’s sides.

Jake took the opportunity to swiftly check his notifications as curiosity got the better of him.

*Skill Upgraded*: [Arcane Limit Shatter (Ancient)]--> [Arcane Awakening (Legendary)]

[Arcane Awakening (Legendary)] – Arcane energy runs through your veins and body as you embrace the duality of stability and destruction. Revolve, empower, and infuse your stamina with your arcane affinity, making it far more potent while significantly increasing stamina expenditure. Arcane Awakening has four forms. Balanced Form increases all stats by 30% and deals no damage or results in any period of weakness afterward. Destruction Form increases Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower by 50%. Stable Form increases Vitality, Toughness, Endurance, Perception, and Willpower by 50%. During a stable Arcane Awakening, your body is covered by a faint barrier of arcane energy at all times, while all your attacks are infused with a slight amount of arcane energy while embracing destruction. Fully awaken your arcane energy to enter Arcane Awakening Form for a boost of 60% in all stats at the cost of severe loss of health every second and a period of weakness after use. During this time, you benefit from both the traits of embracing destruction and stability.

That entire description made a lot of sense to Jake as that was precisely how he felt it work. Needless to say, he was currently in what it called Arcane Awakening Mode. The fissures on his body were leaking pure arcane energy and dealing damage to him, and every single blow he made was infused with even more arcane energy.

His stamina was draining fast along with his health, but even so… it was stable. He did not lose more health the longer time passed, and the health loss was within an acceptable range. Jake had to admit he had surprised himself with the sudden upgrade, but he also knew why he had gotten it.

affinity had always been linked closely to his Bloodline and his instinctive control of mana. So to impose his affinity upon stamina was only a logical next step, and when he found himself pressed by another human, his Bloodline truly got unruly as Jake’s

prestige or anything else stupid like that. He just wanted to win because he was a selfish and arrogant asshole who really

tricks?” Jake asked, not even a second having

Sword Saint said with a smile. “And I do believe it would be more reasonable for me

we’ll just

the Sword Saint teleported up to him. Turning in the air, Jake prepared to fire

couldn’t expect was

Jake grimaced in pain – yet not a single drop of blood was spilled. Not even the Sword Saint could cut the mighty boots. It still hurt like hell, and Jake was

that Saint failed to respond as he did the redirection-block again. By now, the Sword Saint could easily tell the difference between explosive and stable arrows,

his Arcane Awakening suppressed the Summer Rain effect allowing Jake to be slightly faster than his opponent, but it was a close race, and firing arrows while moving

occasional glancing arrow, leaving minor cuts. Minor cuts that became not that minor when factoring in the poison. Even though Jake had to admit his poison did not prove as effective as he hoped as the

own healing too. He activated his oft-forgotten leg enchantment as he dodged another crescent wave of water, feeling the warm glow pulse through him, granting him a good portion of vital energy. It wasn’t

each other again, as the game of cat and mouse continued, Jake happily kiting and avoiding the swordsman, while his opponent did

up with a potshot as the old man used another skill

“Thousand Droplets.”

appeared to see the Sword Saint had teleported to the exact same place as Jake was read flawlessly once more. His scimitar appeared as he blocked two blows, but Jake was taken by surprise when the third came. The Sword Saint’s blade moved in a

the Sword Saint had expected Jake to be distraught. What he probably hadn’t expected was Jake gripping his sword-bearing wrist as Jake placed

of the Malefic

offensive skill was activated. The passive current of water covering the Sword Saint’s body offered no resistance as

stomach, sending him flying downwards. That was some jiu-jitsu shit right there, Jake grinned as he stabilized, teleporting away to dodge a follow-up

that one on top as he began infusing his gloves with mana while drawing his bow once more.

were within a shrinking sphere. It grew smaller and smaller every second, as faint cracks of space began reaching them while up in the air, it beginning truly evident when a

stopped, no

will end in:

was literally falling apart around them. Instead,

to dodge with. Unfortunately, this meant it didn’t take long before he once more found himself in melee. The

shot them apart as Jake’s hand was faintly bleeding as a bone or two had broken in it, but the glove was still intact courtesy of the enchantment, making it incredibly durable when infused with

teleported and appeared right in front of the swordsman, who now truly was beginning to look like the same old man. Jake punched forwards, making the man block with his blade, as Jake kicked

as he blocked with his mask, sending himself spinning as he used

reached the ground. Then, a string of arcane