The wiry man continued to press Moon, not giving him any chance to take a breath or to reset his footing.

The strikes came at a pace Moon couldn’t slow down. Every parry took more of his energy than the previous one.

The wiry man’s strikes were heavy and well-timed, pushing Moon into positions his footwork couldn’t fully answer. His sword arm was slowly starting to fatigue from the constant shock that came of the parries.

Moon had long since stopped holding back against the wiry man. He was using his newly gifted B-Rank sword and its impressive effect of channeling most elements, including his lightning.

Lightning crackled along Moon’s blade as he drove a thrust forward, letting the current channel down the sword’s length.

The wiry man deflected the thrust with a downward parry, and the lightning that discharged along the impact only made him grin wider.

"Nice trick... Now do it again."

Moon ignored his mockery and changed stances. Lightning crackled in his off hand and shot from his palm, flashing towards the man in a blinding light that would have caught most Evolvers.

The wiry man ducked under the flashing lightning without breaking a sweat. Then he struck with a counter-punch that caught Moon across his ribs.

Moon’s eyes widened as the pain spread across his entire torso, the impact driving the breath out of his lungs.

Moon staggered several steps back, his boots skidding through broken stone before coming to a stop just ten meters away.

Dozens of meters behind him, Moon’s puppets were having a tough battle, slowly falling apart.

The four puppets were barely holding against eight elites. Moon risked a glance and caught the tallest one taking a gruesome strike across the shoulder, the shoulder plate cracking, blood soaking through his arms. Yet despite that, his face did not change, ignoring the pain completely.

The elites shouted at their controlled comrades, trying to break whatever hold Moon had placed on them.

"Marek, snap out of it!"

"What did he do to you? Marek, look at me!"

"Fight it, damn you!"

Their words were like pebbles against a brick wall. The puppets ignored them completely and swung back. Outnumbered two-to-one, his puppets were losing ground fast.

"You still have time to look around? It seems like I’ve been taking it easy on you." The wiry man’s strike came rushing for Moon’s throat.

Moon parried it, barely. His sword moving slower this time.

The wiry man saw it and grinned again, "Getting tired, boy? We’ve just started, don’t you dare give up on me now!"

Moon did not respond. He was too busy weighing his options, finding the best path to victory against the behemoth of a man in front of him, whilst revealing as little of his power as possible.

His mana reserves were still high and many of his powerful epic-rank skills remained unrevealed, skills Moon believed would prove vital to his survival in the chaos of this battlefield.

Going toe-to-toe with a fifty-acupoint fighter while his puppets collapsed behind him wasn’t a fight he could win. Every second in exchange range was a second his puppet line fell apart.

He needed to end this fast, or his puppets would die and he’d be swarmed.

Moon’s fingers tightened on his sword.

’I’ll have to use it.’

The wiry man came rushing again.

Moon met the blade with his sword. His weight dropped low and he swung upward, forcing the wiry man to give ground for the first time.

The rhythm of the fight suddenly changed.

Moon pressed forward now, his sword weaving in the air. The wiry man’s grin returned as he read the pace shift.

He liked pressure. Head-on battles were what he loved most.

His blade came up to answer every strike, and for a handful of exchanges the two of them stood toe-to-toe in the middle of the rubble.

Then the wiry man spotted an opening.

’There it is!’

Moon failed to read the distance, his chest hanging slightly forward on a downward cut. His left shoulder rolled into the man’s attacking range.The line to his left shoulder opened for a heartbeat too long.

The wiry man saw it and took action.

His blade rushed forward in a straight thrust, punching through Moon’s left shoulder in a single drive.

Ptui!

The blade tip exited through Moon’s rear deltoid, blood spraying down its length.

Moon’s face grimaced from the injury, his body jolting from the impact.

The wiry man laughed at his expression. "You’re dead, kid."

Moon’s sword came around at the same time, rushed from below, aimed at the man’s liver.

The wiry man’s off hand snapped into position.

Clang!

The two blades struck each other, the wiry man’s dagger stopping Moon’s blade an inch from the vital. The edges locked tight.

His grin widened as he pressed harder against Moon’s shoulder and twisted.

The dagger kept Moon’s counter frozen no matter how hard he tried.

"Your eyes are easy to read. It was so obvious that you were going for my liver. In your next life, try to hide your intentions."

Moon’s blood slid down the sword’s length, running along the flat and dripping from the blood-groove onto the rubble.

Moon smirked. "Oh yeah?"

His sword vanished from his hand.

A rune emerged where his sword had been. They’d been in his sleeve the entire fight.

The wiry man’s eyes flickered with sudden danger. A purple wolf exploded out of the rune at point-blank distance.

It was made entirely of lightning. The lightning raiju’s jaws were wide open on a snarl that carried the sound of crackling thunder.

The lightning raiju struck the wiry man squarely in his chest. The impact drove all air out of his lungs, but that was the least of his worries.

The wolf tore into his muscles, its jaws locking around his ribs, purple current pouring into his body through every point of contact. The wiry man’s mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out.