Dodging the dagger in the limited time left would have been an impossible task, even with his newly stabilised fifth stage cultivation.
Thus Kade went with the only option he had that would prevent it from carving a hole through his neck and leaving Aurora in the hands of this twisted creep.
Thankfully his staff was still in his outstretched arms as he’d been attempting to blast Edwin away with his initial charge, and he whipped it back into the path of the oncoming weapon.
Unfortunately it didn’t make it in time to completely deflect the dagger, but he’d managed to strike the handle with enough force that it buried itself into his left bicep rather than his vulnerable neck.
He ripped the thin blade from his arm and repeatedly struck it with the Resonant Echo Staff until the dagger exploded into metal shards that flew in every direction.
Edwin had demonstrated a capability to control his many daggers at range and Kade had no desire to leave one lying around that might come back to bite him in the ass later on.
Each member of their expedition had a small bottle of minor healing pills, so he took the bottle from his spatial ring and hurriedly uncorked it before tossing one down his gullet.
While it wouldn’t be potent enough to completely heal the deep gash in his arm, which was already bleeding profusely and leaving a scarlet stain on his saffron coloured robes, it would help to clot the blood and allow him enough use of his bicep to wield his staff against his opponent.
“It seems you have a little skill, since you were able to dodge the
Kade wasn’t particularly well acquainted with Edwin Stye, though he knew the two of them joined Mystic Solar Valley around the same time, Edwin was a talented disciple who only barely missed out on the inner sect during the previous round of examinations.
This meant they were in different classes whenever the elders taught and Edwin wasn’t the type to go out of his way and socialise with those disciples he deemed unworthy to be around.
It mattered little; even if the two had been best of friends prior to this encounter, Edwin’s despicable behaviour towards his fellow disciples and the indiscriminate slaughter of his own allies was enough to deem him a target in Kade’s eyes.
“You’ll soon find out just how skilled I truly am, vermin. Scum like you who disregard their allies and treat others like dirt don’t deserve to wear the robes of Mystic Solar Valley,” Kade replied.
Not waiting for a response, he dashed towards Edwin, making sure to keep a watchful eye on his surroundings in case there were any more hidden daggers for his opponent to send flying his way.
The boy dashed backwards madly, hopping from foot to foot on long, slender legs that gave him a powerful jump.
While increasing the distance between the two of them, Edwin made a few hand seals, before taking two daggers from his belt and tossing them at Kade.
The trajectories were fairly easy to discern, the two daggers moving much slower than the previous one had been and he was able to deflect both with an elegant twirl of his staff.
Resuming the dash towards the frustrating long-distance fighter, Kade was surprised when he heard something whistling through the air and ducked just as one of the daggers he’d knocked away sailed over his head.
It rapidly lost velocity before coming to a halt in mid air, before spinning one hundred and eighty degrees and accelerating in his direction once more.
Swivelling his head, he was able to spot the second dagger zooming back from where he’d smacked it, whipping it away once more with his staff before pivoting to block the other blade.
Edwin cackled from across the cavern, another dagger already in his hand as he prepared to launch a decisive strike while Kade was distracted with the homing blades.
“It seems you aren’t able to contend with the
Kade didn’t respond to the childish jabs, simply continuing to advance on Edwin while twirling his staff around to deflect or block each time the two daggers flew at him.
He nearly lost an eye when a third dagger suddenly appeared from thin air in front of his face, but was able to knock it over his head as his staff was already moving in that direction.
The third dagger was clearly not one of the homing ones, as it simply lay there on the moss after he’d battered it away.
Against an unprepared opponent, this strategy of Edwin’s would be extremely harrowing and be likely to guarantee victory, but thanks to the Resonant Echo Staff, Kade was unfazed.
On his fifth time blocking the first dagger, he struck it with a little more force, which combined with the amplification of the staff shattered the weapon, shards of metal scattering across the cavern.
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Edwin’s second homing dagger met a similar fate soon after and Kade couldn’t help but grin a little upon seeing his enemy’s shocked expression.
Just that short moment of indecision after his sure success strategy was countered was enough for Kade to close the gap between them and make his first strike of the battle.
DONK!
Wanting to make the most of the opportunity, since Edwin was sure to flee once again as soon as the chance arose, Kade swung with both hands clasped around the end of the staff giving him maximum power as the metal cap at the other end smacked into his opponent’s head.
Now that he’d achieved another breakthrough, the difference in their cultivation was not that great and Edwin would be hard pressed to escape from Kade’s furious assault.
Following up from the initial blow which had been partially nullified by some kind of protective charm that had cracked and fallen to the ground once used, Kade pulled the staff back and then thrust it at his opponent’s chest.
Rattled from the heavy strike to his head, Edwin, who was not the most skilled when it came to close combat, put up a weak guard with a dagger held in each hand to block the staff.
Against such a pitiful attempt Kade didn’t even need the boost from his weapon to break through, the blades of the daggers being smashed against Edwin’s chest as the staff struck directly onto his solar plexus.
The boy wheezed and crumpled as the air was knocked from his lungs, the devastating strike on one of the body’s weak points carried out to perfection by Kade.
Not letting up just because his enemy was downed, he followed up with a barrage of strikes; smashing the jaw, breaking his arms, pulverising both shins and walloping his thighs until they were a mess of blue and black welts and bruises.
THWACK.
CRUNCH!
SPLAT
Sickening noises echoed through the cavern as he went to town on the boy, unrelenting despite the rapidly weakening protests from Edwin.
Their clash culminated in a gruesome finale when Kade’s Resonant Echo Staff smashed into the side of Edwin’s head for the sixth time, bursting it like an overripe plum and showering him in bits of brain and shards of bone.
There was utter silence once his work was complete and Kade simply stood there, the ramifications of what he’d done sinking in once the adrenaline started to clear his system.
It was the first time he’d ever taken another human life and despite knowing that Edwin wholly deserved his bloody fate, that didn’t help him shake the overwhelming guilt that was building inside.
‘Stillness without form, strength without limit.’
Even attempting to chant the mantra of the 【Flowing River Art】did little to help, the pit of dread consuming his mind as he fell to his knees.
How would the sect treat him? From their perspective he would be the one who murdered his fellow disciples in cold blood.
Expulsion would be getting off lightly. For such a crime the offender typically had their cultivation crippled and was blinded before being exiled into the wider world.
Despite knowing that he was slipping into a spiral of panic and fear, he was unable to shake the awful feelings due to the guilt weighing down on his heart.
All of a sudden he felt a surge of warmth washing over him from behind as a pair of slender arms wrapped around his neck, driving away his negative emotions.
“Thank you,” Aurora whispered in his ear, a tear trickling from her chin onto his shoulder.
The injured girl had dragged herself over from the spirit well to where he was in order to help him out after seeing him fall to his knees.
They remained in each other’s comforting embrace for a few minutes and in that brief moment nothing else mattered to them.
Kade stood up, still feeling some guilt over the murder of another disciple, but thanks to Aurora’s assistance he’d managed to get a hold on himself.
Placing his arms on her back and under her legs, he hefted his Junior Sister into a princess carry, rather fitting for one of her stature, and leapt up into the tunnel to make his way out of the cavern.
She slapped his chest weakly in protest. “I can walk just fine, put me down,” she complained, but Kade could see she was in no condition to do so even after he fed her one of the healing pills.
Her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises from the intense fight she must have had with Edwin’s group while he was unconscious.
“Stop being a pain, you’d only slow me down otherwise. I’m just thinking of Catarina’s wellbeing,” he quipped.
“Oaf,” she retorted, but Kade could tell she didn’t mean it.
After their shared hardships in the spirit well’s cavern the two of them had grown much closer than before and their rivalry was bound to be much friendlier in future.
Having resolved the Anomaly, the spiritual beasts on the mountainside had stopped behaving so aggressively, hence the return journey was far smoother with the pair not encountering a single beast.
They must’ve spent a significant amount of time in the cavern, as the sun was rising over the distant mountains, bathing the surrounding lands in a blanket of gold.
Once they drew near, Kade began to slow down so he wouldn’t startle Helena with their approach through the trees.
Aurora tugged on the hem of his collar and muttered something, eyes drooping as the exhaustion of the day’s events caught up to her.
“Put me down, I don’t want to let the others see me like this,” she said.
Honestly Kade suspected she might fall asleep on her feet if he stopped supporting her, but she was an extraordinarily stubborn girl and he had no desire to go against her wishes, so he delicately placed her down, ensuring she was able to support herself before letting go.
Helena looked stressed, beads of sweat covering her forehead and chest as she wrung out a cloth and used it to wipe down Catarina’s limp body, but her face lit up when she noticed the two approach.
It seemed they’d managed to arrive in time, as he could see Catarina’s breath misting as it made contact with the cool dawn air.
“Oh thank god the two of you are back, I was beginning to worry. Did you manage to find something that can cure the venom?” She asked.
“Luckily there was a Three Purifications Lotus in the spirit well, it should be able to detoxify her system so she can recover on her own,” replied Kade, taking the herb from his spatial ring and grinding it into a fine powder.
After dissolving it in some water he fed the mixture to the unconscious Catarina and they all waited with bated breath to see the results.