"With my Bloodbaths...I'll kill you for the sin of killing our brothers!" Kreuger declared.

Wow...he pulled his daggers rather quickly, huh? Jack thought as he continued smiling.

"Wow, Bloodbaths...is that the name of those blades?" Jack asked. "Sounds rather menacing."

"Shut up and draw your weapon," Kreuger demanded.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll get to that. But I have a question first," Jack continued. "You seem to have all the time in your hands with how comfortable you were on that bench. There's no way the clan master would allow you to leave, right?"

Kreuger's eyebrows became furrowed, and an annoyed frown was formed on his face.

"You must have left the Idaten Nightfall Clan. Did you leave because of our master's torturous training methods?"

"Shut up!" Kreuger said as he charged up to Jack, clearly having enough of his talk. With one of his bloodbaths, Kreuger tried slashing him. Of course, it was not successful, as Jack simultaneously pulled knives from his hoodied jacket and parried Kreuger's sudden assault.

Jack's block didn't daunt Kreuger as he swung rapidly. Jack also matched his assaults, parrying each of his attacks. Due to the resisting forces, sparks emitted from their blades with every clash.

"Haha! Your skills are way better than back then! You've been training!" Jack commended in a condescending tone while smiling. "But we both received the same training from Master...and inherited the same blessing!"

Kreuger didn't respond, but from his furrowed brows, it was obvious that he was annoyed by Jack's incessant rambling.

As they continued parrying each other, Kreuger suddenly attempted a knee strike to Jack's gut. While Jack was full of smirks, he was focused simultaneously, blocking Kreuger's knee strike by lifting his knee.

Almost instantly after his knee strike was blocked, Kreuger turned it into a high kick to the right side of Jack's face. Jack quickly blocked it with his right arm, which meant one less arm he could use to parry Kreuger's knives, even if only for a split second.

Kreuger immediately took advantage by using one of his bloodbaths to disarm Jack by knocking the knife out of his left hand and then thrusting the other bloodbath toward Jack's face.

Narrowly, Jack leaned back to avoid it, and before Kreuger could adapt, Jack thrust his free arm, causing a hidden knife to propel from his sleeve toward Kreuger. Of course, it failed to hit as Kreuger tilted his head to the side. However, the knife grazed his cheek, causing Jack to draw first blood.

"Tch!" Kreuger uttered as Jack simultaneously pulled another knife from his coat in quick motion.

"Your skills are good, but it seems I can injure you with these knives!" Jack said as he continued slashing. Kreuger matched his speed like before, but this time, Jack was increasing his slashing speed more and more.

Surprisingly, Kreuger was keeping up, but when it seemed like he had a chance, out of nowhere, another knife flew from Jack's sleeve. Although Kreuger deflected it, that messed up his flow, allowing to Jack follow up...and follow up he did.

Jack immediately delivered a powerful kick to his gut while slashing him across his left arm simultaneously, causing blood to flow.

"Ugh!!!" Kreuger uttered as he was sent numerous meters away while rolling across the ground. Quickly, he stopped himself by planting his blades into the ground.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Wow, I never expected you to keep up with me at this speed," Jack said. "You might be faster than that Lancer super soldier."

"Damn it...you're so full of tricks!" Kreuger yelled with visible annoyance. Strangely, the damage he sustained on his left arm that was slashed by Jack no longer bled.

"Too bad for you that we have the same skills...and I'm a bit better than you than them," Jack said. "You're gonna lose and die, ya know."

Silence filled the air as Kreuger didn't respond. Strangely, however, he began to smile.

"We have the same skills...?" Kreuger asked. "...Don't make me laugh."

Suddenly, Kreuger's skin started to turn red, much to Jack's surprise. From the top of his face to the tip of his toes, Kreuger's skin developed a slight red shade.

"Crimson Haematic Scales..." Kreuger said. "Enough warming up...this fight's just getting started.

What? That's not the inherited blessing we received. Jack thought. Without wasting a second, Kreuger rushed Jack once again. He engaged Jack in close-quarters combats with his blades again.

Upon parrying the first slash, Jack noticed something different - his knife sustained cracks. Not only that, but Jack's arms slightly trembled from the force.

That striking strength...what the hell? Jack thought, with Kreuger slightly smirking as he also noticed the cracks.

Instead of parrying the rest, Jack began weaving Kreuger's knife slashes.

Sleight of Hand! Jack thought as he delivered an immensely quick stab to Kreuger's chest. Much to Jack's surprise, the knife shattered upon impact.

Did he get tougher? Jack thought. It's like fighting the super soldiers over again.

"Haha!" Kreuger laughed.

Suddenly, Kreuger delivered a strike that Jack couldn't avoid - he had to block it with his other knife. Like the prior knife, this knife sustained cracks after he parried it.

Is he faster, too? Was he holding back his speed cause he was trying to test mine?

At this point, he had Jack on the backpedal. With every attack Kreuger did, Jack would have to avoid them. Due to Kreuger's increased speed, Jack had to focus on avoiding and didn't find the chance to take out another knife. When Jack had to block, his knife sustained even more cracks.

With only three to four parries, Jack's knife was on the verge of shattering. Both Jack and Kreuger knew the knife could not take another...and so they thought, that's what happened.

Upon parrying Kreuger's strike, Jack's knife immediately shattered. Kreuger went right through and struck Jack right on his upper arm. Immediately after the blade made contact, Jack jumped back. The damage was sustained, as there was a large gash on Jack's arm.

"Bloody hell, you're strong, but that's not enough--" Before Jack could finish speaking, the gash wound immediately began swelling up, much to his surprise and Kreuger's excitement.

"Huh--"

Suddenly, the blood that leaked from the gash wound exploded into a large pool of blood. With that, Jack's hand and parts of his upper arm fell to the ground.

What...what the hell was that? Jack wondered.

"Huh...that was...unexpected..." Jack said as he looked at the stump of his arm that remained. The stump still leaked an unusually excessive amount of blood. "I see...that you have another power...but you're not the only one with two blessings."

Suddenly, Jack's arm began to regenerate. From the bones to the muscles to the flesh, Jack's arm was back to normal...good as new, and it only took a moment to heal. His unblemished hand was completely visible, as his sleeve was torn apart by Kreuger's attack.

What? Regeneration? Kreuger thought as he had a shocked expression. Suddenly, he began to chuckle once again.

"Regeneration...that makes sense now, haha!" Kreuger said as he continued to chuckle. "No wonder you were able to single-handedly murder four thousand of your fellow brethren..."

"Heh,"

"Before I kill you...I want to know...why you could do something as unforgivable as that," Kreuger continued. "I knew you were a screwed up bastard, mate...but what you did twelve years ago...was unforgivable..."

Hearing that, Jack began to rub his chin with his newly reformed hand. After thinking about what to say, Jack simply smiled.

"Hmm...what do you think, Kreuger? I just love to kill." Jack responded, which caused Kreuger to frown. "But maybe you could ask the master...if you're so adamant to find out."

Hearing his response, Kreuger exhaled loudly. Suddenly, from the inside of his cloak, knives came out. It seemed like they were floating in the air, but they weren't. On the hilt of the knives, thin red rope-like strings were attached to them - the strings were blood.

The blood strings were also coiled around Kreuger's fingers and his upper arms.

"Wow, mate, you said I was the one with tricks, but look at what you're doing." Jack teased.

"Shut up...I've had enough of your talking," Kreuger curtly retorted. "I'm going to kill you now."

Heh, I guess you would have tricks, too. Jack thought. After all, that's some of the things we've learned as assassins trained by that bugger.