“What do you mean when he vivisects me for my healing physique?” Jack asked Zachias in his mind. “I thought that is just something my body does on its own.”

Janus was holding his cane out in front of him like a sword in his right hand while stalking forward slowly with a smile full of malice.

“Your healing physique is essentially an inherited technique that automatically uses your qi to repair missing or damaged flesh” Zachias said with exasperation. “If Janus can discover how your body does that, he could eventually learn to use that power himself.”

Jack projected his aura and manifested his qi. Brilliant blue lightning arced out from all over his body and touched down on the white marble floor.

“So anyone who finds out about my physique will immediately try to strap me to a table and cut me open? That would have been good to know ahead of time.”

As Janus was walking towards him, Jack started stepping to the right, trying to find a good angle to attack. Janus changed direction to stay in front of the ancient looking pedestal. This behavior intrigued Jack.

Was he guarding this old rock? Jack was starting to develop a theory of why Janus was known as the Roman god of gates and doors.

Suddenly, Janus lunged at him and tried to stab Jack in the gut with his thin black cane. Jack stepped to the left and tried to counter attack with his spear. Janus recovered quickly and batted his attack away.

Jack grimaced and almost lost his grip when the cane made contact. The impact rattled through the spear and made his hands go numb. The shockwave was so strong that Jack stumbled and was forced to dive forward and roll before Janus could take advantage of his loss of balance.

He came back to his feet and spun around to meet Janus' next attack. Jack used his only advantage against the ancient warrior, his speed.

Lightning coursed through his veins and overcharged his muscles. It greatly sped up his reaction time as well. He was just able to avoid the majority of Janus' attacks without directly clashing with his overpowered cane.

Jack felt like he was trying to walk through a rainstorm without letting a drop of water touch his body. He zig-zagged between every swipe of the cane, ducking and twisting, contorting his body to avoid the bone-crushing force.

Despite the fact that Jack was one wrong move away from total annihilation, he actually felt better than he had since before Arthur was taken.

In the moment, Jack could finally let go of the worry that he felt for his friends and family. There was only the next dodge. If he took one wrong step, Janus would tear him apart.

Most people probably would have felt panic in such a situation, but not Jack.

It brought him a calmness that he couldn't describe. He thought that this was probably because at least he was moving. At least he wasn't sitting around meditating while his friends and family were in peril.

There was a purity to the moment that gave Jack the clarity that he needed, and he realized something about himself.

War was his peace.

He was the type of person who had to be moving towards a goal. He had the kind of focus that few people could understand, and that was the greatest power that a person could have. There was no resource more precious than their attention. But that power could also be a crippling weakness.

The fire of greatness could scorch a person from the inside if they were unable to tame those flames.

But here in this huge mansion basement, fighting an ancient warrior who was a second away from crushing him, Jack found the peace that had eluded him up till now.

His awareness seemed to expand. He could feel Zachias' presence in his mind much more clearly, and Jack could also suddenly sense the unstable mind of Janus a few feet in front of him.

Jack didn't know if this would help him in the fight, but he was still excited to have opened his mind's eye.

He had transformed his spear into a staff that he was spinning around in a defensive pattern using Janus' momentum instead of trying to stop it.

Still, every glancing blow with the cane carried a staggering amount of force with it. Eventually, Janus would get a lucky hit or wear Jack down enough to subdue him.

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Jack was fighting a losing battle and he knew it.

“You do not stand a chance” Zachias unhelpfully declared. “He is stronger, more advanced, and more skilled.”

“Then help me” Jack pleaded. He would rather tell Zachias to shove it, but he knew that if he lost here, his people would be done for.

Zachias was quiet in his mind for a moment as he considered the situation. Jack worried that the big blue warrior would take Janus' side, but he eventually acquiesced.

“Fine” he said. “If you will allow me, I can show you how to win this fight.”

“I won't give you control of my body” Jack perfunctorily responded. He could feel Zachias' annoyance through their bond.

“You will not be giving me control” he snapped. “I will provide you with mental suggestions. All you have to do is follow those instructions.”

“That's it?” Jack asked skeptically. “You don't have some great power to loan me?”

“To defeat a stronger opponent, requires greater skill” Zachias sagely answered. “I cannot magically give you that skill, but I can show you what to do next.”

“Fine” Jack relented. He prepared himself to follow Zachias' lead.

Janus was closing in again with his cane in his right hand. He swung wide from right to left. Jack was preparing to roll under the swipe, when Zachias' suggestions intruded into his line of thinking.

Instead of rolling, Jack fainted slightly to the right and then spun back to the left, avoiding the end of Janus' cane by the smallest margin.

Following the warrior’s instructions, Jack turned his spin into a reverse kick with his right foot that landed on Janus' solar plexus, knocking his center of gravity out from under him.

Jack followed this kick by stabbing with his spear to catch Janus while he was falling backwards. Janus batted the spear off to the side again, but this time, Jack used the momentum, turning his spear into a naginata and spinning around to attack Janus from the other side.

Zachias was doing more than just suggesting to Jack how to move his body. His directions were much more comprehensive than that.

He also showed Jack exactly how to wield his chakra and manipulate his qi as well. Every single action was meticulously coordinated between his chakra, his qi, and his body.

Jack was absolutely astounded by the depth of knowledge that Zachias displayed. His lightning qi swirled through his body like never before. Every muscle was filled with the perfect amount of energy to maximize his strength and speed without overly straining them.

The fighting style that Jack was being shown was so much more intricate than he would have ever expected or even believed.

Not only that, but Jack instinctively understood that this was nothing compared to what Zachias was capable of. He was showing Jack the smallest sliver of his actual knowledge, and even that sliver was on the verge of overloading Jack.

It forced him to acknowledge the scope of Zachias' skill. Every time he had obliterated them while sparring in the simulation, it wasn't just because he was so much more powerful than them.

He was just that much better at fighting than Jack and his friends. Zachias could destroy them even if he had half their power. Such was the overwhelming skill that he possessed.

Janus noticed the difference in Jack's fighting style immediately. It would have been impossible not to. Gone were the jerky and panicked motions that Jack had been showing up till now.

Every swipe of Janus' cane was avoided by a hair's breadth. Every counter attack was masterfully calculated.

Still, Janus was confident that he would win in the end. He had been training in martial arts for thousands of years, and he was fighting a weaker opponent who hadn't even touched the Spirit Realm yet. His maniacal smile never waivered.

Jack followed every instruction that Zachias provided as fast as he could. His concern that the big blue warrior was trying to take over his body was quickly forgotten. If he missed one step in this dance, the fight would be over.

At a crucial moment in the fight, when Janus was about to break through Jack's guard and land a crippling blow to his head, Zachias instructed Jack to manifest his qi in an intricate fractal shape that formed a hollow sphere around Jack's body.

Following this particular instruction was the very limit of what Jack was capable of. If it were any more complex, Jack would have stood no chance of completing it.

Instead of smashing Jack's skull in, Janus' cane landed on the sphere made of lightning which absorbed the force of his attack and redirected it right back at him.

The cane was blasted away and Janus staggered backwards trying to hold onto his weapon and catch his balance. Janus' unbalanced smile turned to a look of wide-eyed surprise.

"A reflection fractal?" he questioned. "How is this possible?"

Janus looked at Jack with renewed interest and tilted his head to the side. His surprise quickly turned to revelation and then an even wider smile.

"I sense a second presence within your mind. You have an Inheritance don't you?" Janus laughed hysterically. "You are an absolute treasure trove. This might even be enough to end my exile."

“Are you ready to finish this?” Zachias asked coldly in his mind.

“Don't forget that we need him to talk before he dies” Jack answered just as cool.

Janus composed himself and held his cane out in front of him before he stepped forward to engage Jack once again.

The wild eyed, ancient warrior swung his cane over and over trying to bring Jack down. Zachias showed him exactly how to step and how to channel his qi to dodge Janus' attacks while moving as little as possible.

He had Jack turn his weapon into a simple staff and move in close to Janus. It was a risky move, as Janus certainly had the advantage in close combat with his shorter weapon.

The risk was worth the reward, however, as Janus overcommitted on one attack and Jack stepped past his swing with his right foot and placed it behind Janus' knees. At the same time, Jack hit him in the chest with his staff and swiped Janus’ legs out from under him.

Jack rolled Janus over in the air and made his staff take the form of a wicked scythe which he placed just under Janus' neck.

Janus was barely able to catch himself before he fell onto the scythe blade neck first. When he did, Jack's right foot came down on the madman’s right hand, pinning it to the ground while his left foot landed on Janus' back, keeping him from rolling away.

All he had to do was pull back on his scythe and Janus' head would roll.

"Now" Jack said with absolute authority. "I believe you owe me some answers."