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.

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,

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

tricks?” Jake asked, not even

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

just

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

couldn’t expect was Jake’s method

drop of blood was spilled. Not even the Sword Saint could cut the mighty boots. It still hurt like hell, and Jake was pretty sure he now had internal bleeding in his foot, which wasn’t that big of an issue as that was where blood was supposed to be anyway…

was not a simple matter after all. Not that Saint failed to respond as he did the redirection-block again.

a while longer. The shield from his Arcane Awakening suppressed the Summer Rain effect allowing Jake to be slightly

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 constant current of water running across the Sword Saint’s body washed it away instantly, and the rain slowly healed him as they fought. The man was still slowly and surely losing health, but not as

the warm glow pulse through him, granting him a good portion of vital energy. It wasn’t that much, but it helped to keep him going and offset

game of cat and mouse continued, Jake happily kiting and avoiding the swordsman, while

to follow up with a potshot as the old man used another skill as the rain around

“Thousand Droplets.”

to the side and 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 circular motion, and Jake felt like his wrist was nearly twisted

What he probably hadn’t expected

of the

current of water covering the

fast as he used his free hand to grab Jake’s clothes and moved his feet as suddenly Jake found himself upside down with a foot smashing into his stomach, sending him flying downwards. That was some jiu-jitsu shit right there, Jake grinned as he stabilized, teleporting away

bow once more. A few Splitting Arrows later

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 large crack suddenly

stopped, no doubt

will end in:

them had expected their duel to take this long, and neither had any intentions of stopping even if the world was literally falling apart around them. Instead, they merely acknowledged it as another battle factor and moved on

dodge with. Unfortunately, this meant it didn’t take long before he once more found himself in melee. The Sword Saint cut towards him, forcing him to sway and weave as he avoided the

he chopped towards the edge of the blade. An arcane explosion shot them apart as Jake’s hand was faintly bleeding as a bone or two had broken in it,

beginning to look like the same old man. Jake punched forwards, making the man block with his blade,

swiped his blade forward. Jake met it face-first – literally – as he blocked with his mask, sending himself spinning as he used the momentum to kick the Sword Saint on the chin,

out of his now broken nose as he reached the ground. Then, a string of arcane mana manifested and pulled the scimitar embedded in the ground towards