Jack noticed Nova’s expression and could guess what was going through his friend’s mind.
He absentmindedly said, “No way… he isn’t seriously trying to fight that construct bare handed… right?”
Erevan heard him, and his gaze narrowed. At this point, he didn’t know what else could give Nova enough confidence to disregard his weapon and use his bare hands against a level 100 construct.
The construct might have been from an average person of his civilization, but its strength was still comparable to that of an average genius from a civilization undergoing the trial inside the Lesser Orange portal.
It was nothing to scoff at.
In the middle of the room, Nova tightly clenched his fists and took a step forward, lightly pushing off the ground.
In an instant, he stood in front of the construct, his fist already on its way toward his opponent.
Contrary to its predecessors, the construct stood perfectly still, it had one hand on the sword’s hilt and the other holding the sheath.
Only when the fist was mere centimeters away did the construct finally react.
At that moment, Nova saw a flash, so fast it made people wonder whether it was real or simply their imagination.
Puchi!
A burning sensation spread from his hand all the way up to his elbow.
When he looked at his arm he saw a series of crisscrossing wounds that spread across his arm. Some of the cuts went between his fingers, sending sharp jolts of pain coursing through his body.
Despite the pain, he didn’t stop his punching motion. The force compressed the air until a loud bang rang out, yet he hit nothing.
When he looked closely, he noticed the construct had taken a single step to the side, dodging his punch by the tiniest of margins.
‘Eh? It managed to cut through my skin?’ he exclaimed inwardly.
After a few seconds, he realized the wounds weren’t closing, and another wave of surprise hit him.
‘That flash not only cut through my skin, but it’s also slowing down my regeneration.’
As Nova’s thoughts reached that point, he arrived at the only answer he knew.
‘Was that Force? For it to slow my regeneration while the opponent being at Grade 0 means it used strength capable of crossing grades… the only explanation I can think of is Force.’
Nova could feel a strange power lingering in the wounds, fending off every attempt his body made to heal itself, as if that precise spot had been claimed as its territory.
It took time to explain, but all of it happened in just a couple of seconds.
Outside, the construct moved.
It took a small step forward, and another flash was reflected in Nova’s pupils.
As soon as he saw it move, Nova hastily pulled back with a short jump but it was already too late.
A moment later, cuts sliced through the robe he was wearing and settled across his chest, opening wounds the length of a finger but only as wide as a cicada’s wing. The cuts so thin that they were impossible for a normal eye to detect, but the few droplets of blood forming on his chest were clear proof he had been struck.
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Nova’s face slowly shifted into a frown. ‘How did it reach me? I thought I was out of the sword’s range.’
Before his thoughts could continue, the lithe woman suddenly took another small step, and, once again, a flash followed right after.
More prepared than before, Nova’s eyes widened as he tried to catch the blade’s trajectory and, for a moment, he saw a black blur rush toward him.
He tried to dodge, but he had just put his weight down to sidestep when he felt the fabric of his robe split, then his skin followed.
A few droplets of blood trickled down his chest.
Nova’s teeth gnashed together. By now, he was used to pain far worse than this, but whether it was because the cuts were so thin or because of the Force imbued within them, the burning sensation they produced was more annoying than painful.
It was akin to a paper cut. It didn’t hurt much, but the burning sensation that followed was one of the most annoying feelings.
He could also tell that the cuts hadn’t gone very deep, only slicing through a few layers of skin before exhausting the power behind them.
To the side, Slade commented, “Just this?”
Jack frowned at those words but didn’t say anything. He looked at his friend and thought, Why are you still fighting bare handed? Take out the spear, you idiot! Can’t you see even the array is toying with you?
He knew there was no point in saying it out loud. If Nova didn’t want to do something, nobody would be able to make him change his mind. Even more so if he had a motive behind his actions.
Beside him, Erevan was also silent, his eyes glued to the figure in the middle of the room.
Up ahead, Nova and the lithe woman had already gone through dozens of exchanges, and his robe, as well as his body, was now covered in cuts. Some strands of his pitch black hair littered the floor as well.
Despite all of this, he had yet to land a single hit on the construct.
Such a situation where the gap seemed insurmountable and injuries kept piling up would have driven the majority of people to despair, but Nova’s eyes still burned with the same fighting spirit he’d had at the start.
No.
It had grown even stronger.
The more the woman swung, the more he managed to see. This prompted him to continue, open his eyes wider and follow the sword wholeheartedly.
By now, he could already catch sight of the blade. It was still blurry, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t need a perfect picture, so long as he could understand the general direction, he would be able to dodge it.
What still baffled him was that he’d made sure the distance between him and the sword was greater than its length, yet it reached him flawlessly. The situation forced his eyes to focus solely on the blade, tuning out everything else.
Even the lithe woman’s figure slowly disappeared from his vision.
His eyes remained unblinking, locked on the sword.
He didn’t know when, but at some point he caught the slightest movement, minute, almost invisible at that speed. Then, he noticed the blade sliding out of its sheath before it was swung at him.
In the span of time between the blade leaving the sheath and returning, he managed to catch a glimpse of it.
‘Is that Force? So that’s how it is,’ Nova thought, his mind seeming to slow to a crawl.
The blade’s silhouette was enveloped in what looked like a silvery light, extending beyond the physical sword as if it were a sheath, but unlike any ordinary sheath, this one was sharper than the blade itself.
Just that one glimpse made him feel a prickly sensation in his eyes.
Nova watched the blurry sword move and instinctively dodged, moving far enough that even the silvery glow couldn’t touch him.
Once he did, his focus faltered for an instant, and time seemed to resume.
He stood there, eyes still fixed on the sword, which seemed never to have left its sheath.
Taking in the construct fully, he realized it had truly taken a step forward, meaning what he witnessed earlier wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.
Though, this time, no burning pain greeted him. Not even a strand of his hair was harmed.
“He dodged it…” Jack murmured in a daze.
Erevan said, “The only question now is: will he be able to fight back?”
Jack whispered, “Even if he can’t fight back bare handed, he only needs to take out his weapon, and it’ll be over.”
“True, but…” Erevan nodded toward Nova and continued, “do you think, with that expression, he will do that?”
Jack’s eyes swivelled back to Nova and caught the grin on his face. A bitter sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head. “You’re right.”
Slade heard their exchange but chose to stay silent.
Nova was grinning from ear to ear. His fists were clenched tightly and his body trembled minutely from time to time.
He looked at the construct and, in the heat of the moment, despite knowing it was an inanimate object, he said, “Thanks to you now I know my body’s limits. That means…there’s no need to hold back any longer.”
He took a deep breath and—
Boom!
An explosion rang out in the room as a blood red aura engulfed Nova’s body from head to toe.
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