Just like his Dadi, everybody was fragile and weak. He saw their faces. He heard their prayers. No matter how illogical it was, Kazi Hossain wasn't able to stop himself from answering those prayers. He healed everyone he could, the Divine Rain pouring down harder and harder until the stench withered away.

All except Jack.

“I was wondering when you would show up.” Slow footsteps followed the voice of the Ripper. He was very calm and cool, his golden rapier scratching the ground and the flesh of the corpses. A piece of his mask broke. “Such optimism. Such power. This rain…is it your doing? I’m shocked. An A-class skill? Or S-class? Regardless, manipulating clouds is as hard as establishing an octa-circle.”

Casting Divine Rain drained over half of his mana. Kazi didn’t move, however, kneeling and looking down at Marta with a smile. “I’ll be back,” he said.

The blonde's tears mingled with the rain. “Please don’t die…”

Both her arms and her legs had been taken from. Rage boiled inside him yet he simmered it down to nothing but kindness. For Marta, he had to be, wiping her tears with great affection. “I won’t. I promise.”

As soon as Kazi rose to his full height, Jack stopped and tilted his head. “What’s up with your eye?”

‘That sword…it’s as powerful as Jack himself,’ Kazi noted. ‘Too powerful, maybe. Is that why the city is messed up?’

His surroundings were indescribable. Several sections of the city walls were collapsing while the buildings were nonexistent. A couple of wooden planks and stone bits stood amongst the ash. He assumed much of the cinder were corpses turned to nothing. His left eye identified that none had survived. All of them were murdered and incinerated, save Sun-young, Marta, Jules, and Matty. Four survivors amongst thousands.

A tragedy.

‘Equip.’ In his left hand, he summoned Arboreal Guardian’s Spectre. His mana surged through the weapon and then—snap! The staff broke into three pieces.

Jack laughed. Kazi paid him no mind.

‘I figured as much. I felt it before but…I’ve gone way past normal Flow of Mana.’ He readied Stormedge, going into an Ochs Stance, raising it up and to the side of his head. ‘But this blade…this blade can handle it. Thank you, Husnü.’

Jack stood there with no form. His black aura spoke for itself. “I’m ready for your futile attempt,” he seemed to say.

His legs tensed up. He was going to be charging at him with everything he had, no holding back. He blasted towards him like a laser beam. Jack arrived in a split second and there was a moment where his eyes took in his form. He shifted from lax to alertness, his rapier clashing against the forward curve of Stormedge.

Instantly, Kazi noted Jack’s rapier was far superior to his own. In fact, if he got a full swing in, Kazi suspected he could shatter Stormedge.

He wouldn’t let that happen. This battle was going to happen as he foresaw it. His eyes narrowed in on the tension on the left side of his body and the way Jack held his sword solely with his right hand. Mana continued to flow through him, his two-handed grip and initial speed having given him an advantage.

‘There!’

The moment he tried to push back, Kazi jerked himself forward and bashed his head against his mask. There was a minor tremor in the ground and Jack staggered back. Distance was created. Kazi lifted his blade and uttered, “Fire Dart.”

From the edge of his sword, a concentration of fire appeared and flung towards his opponent. Just as he anticipated, he slashed it apart.

“Fire Dart, Fire Dart, Fire Dart…!”

What remained following the barrage of fire attacks was smoke. He shot out a couple additional Fire Darts throughout the area, breaking all standing objects that could cast a shadow. The smoke spread and since Jack had no visual aid Kazi deactivated Mana Flow entirely, funneling his mana into Stormedge, and then throwing the sword. ‘Super Spark Strike Thrown!’

His sword parted the smoke and came a hair’s breadth from hitting his shoulder. In the brief moment where he was torn between looking at the sword and him, Kazi ran with Mastered Flow of Mana at full throttle.

Jack’s mask spun back at him and his golden rapier sliced him in half. Glancing down, blood splattered out, his legs left behind. Kazi fell to the ground with a deafening thud, seeing a pool of blood.

‘What—’

The vision was too vivid and he immediately backed off. A beat passed, with Jack waiting for him with his rapier high in the air while Stormedge returned to Kazi’s hands.

“Not going to come at me?” Jack lowered his rapier. “Wise move.”

‘What was that? A vision?’ His left eye burned and his mana reserves felt depleted.

[ New skill learned : Foresight ]

‘I don’t have time to read it,’ he told himself.

For the first time, Jack went into a fighting stance: two fingers forward and his sword parallel to it.

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“You remind me of someone,” Jack said, “and it's annoying me. I’m going to finish you here and now.”

Kazi’s mana reserves were utterly drained. Then, in an instant, it shot up to normal. Jack’s two fingers twitched.

“What…?”

All of it was recovered. All the mana he desired was back in his hands. Kazi’s left eye glowed brightly and he read the attributes listed above his head.

[ Name: Jack the Ripper

Level: 33

Class: Dark Sorcerer ]

‘Nearly half my level,’ Kazi thought. ‘This guy…how is he so strong?’

What flowed in his veins was mana thick enough that it was oppressive. He would have brought the entire army down to its knees. However, he didn’t. For an instant, he powered down, then powered back up when Kazi charged at them and their blades met.

He put everything he had into the clash. Super Spark Strike plus Mastered Flow of Mana—and all it did was put him on the backend. Kazi grit his teeth, pushing against the electrifying rush of magic. ‘It’s the rapier! We both have Mastered Flow of Mana but what’s different is the weapon!’

“You…!” The black dots in Jack's mask turned purple. “Infinite Blades of Darkness!”

Over his shoulder, a black sword started to materialized. Then another, then another, then a hundred. Jack broke away from the clash and signalled the weapons of darkness to hurl down at him. There was no time to summon the Magic Barrier. The weapons came hurling at speeds breaking the sound barrier and Kazi tried to dodge and block. He did his best, calculating the precise trajectory of the weapons and where they would end up.

Alas, his body was unable to catch up with his brain and a spear struck his leg. The damage wasn’t too bad, the damage mitigated by the Champions Belt.

“Got you!”

Then Jack swooped in, hiding under the guise of a dozen black weapons, and lobbed his head off with his rapier.

‘Huh—’ Kazi blinked, finding himself facing the array of black weapons again. ‘What the—? How am I here again? Why am I not dead?’

He deflected again, except this time, he knew exactly what to do. His brain memorized the precise angles and positions of the rain of weapons and defended accordingly. First, he pulled up Magic Barrier and had the sphere tank two swords. In the meantime, he slashed the empty air with Stormedge.

“Sacred Bulwark!”

And with the aid of his sword, he created a golden barrier to protect himself. It didn’t last very long but that was the point. He summoned another Sacred Bulwark and then another. “Sacred Bulwark! Sacred Bulwark!” It was a skill he made up on the fly, an imitation of the real thing that was sufficient enough to block five swords before breaking.

He kept creating, he kept blocking and blocking until the hundred-some rain of terror was over.

Jack might have worn a mask but there was no hiding the bewilderment. He didn’t say a thing, simply standing there and witnessing as Kazi regained all his mana in an instant. Unlike the vision, Kazi had no moment of weakness. He was full of raging mana and his sword ended up nicking his mask.

“Agh!” Jack’s previously lazy moves became orthodox and he met Kazi’s next strike with his full weight. No mana was added, he was fighting back through his weapon.

Crackle.

Jack shifted back as the triangular symbol in Kazi’s left eye became yellow.

‘Super Spark Strike!’

He sent his rapier away and went back to slice his mask apart. A flicker of mana surged and Jack leaped back, narrowly avoiding the supercharged blade. Kazi chased after him, swinging his blade for that fatal blow. Every time he went for it, a quick surge of mana surged through Jack and he scarcely dodged it.

‘Keep the pressure going!’ Swing, slash, slash! ‘I think I understand! He’s limited by the mana of his body, thus he can only use careful and quick applications of Mastered Flow of Mana! His rapier, however, is S-class and he can often lean on that to fight without mana!’ He was Level 33 and underneath his black cloak he wore the Holy Knights’ uniform. ‘A rough estimate: the rapier is S-class, the mask is A-class, the cloak is B-class, and the Holy Knights uniform is also B-class.’

Whereas Kazi was Level 75, wielded an A-class sword, wore an A-class belt, had over a thousand points in deftness, and an infinite well of mana inside him. The odds were even, more or less, with each of them having their own unnatural specializations. Kazi could think, react, plan, and execute ten steps ahead on the fly while Jack possessed magical understanding amplified by experience and talent.

Suddenly, his vision trembled and Kazi saw a burst of black lightning and—

Death.

‘Another vision!’

Kazi immediately stopped chasing after him. Jack hit the city wall, his rapier crackling in a blue aura. His chest rose and fell rapidly, trapped between the city and Kazi.

But Kazi knew attacking would mean playing into his hands. ‘I’m seeing the future somehow. The real future, not some prediction. It must be the new skill: Foresight. Activation seems to occur when I start getting into the zone to try and predict his moves. On top of that, there are four conditions. One, I blank out during battle. Two, I get disoriented. Three, the vision is brief and from my ocular perspective; and four, it uses up a third of my mana for a single usage.’

“Not going to attack?” Jack taunted.

Kazi lowered his blade. Talking wasn't a waste of time in battle. In this case, to recover and plan, it was necessary. “Sorry about that. I'm still adjusting to this new eye of mine. I can only see a couple seconds into the future. If I had my old eye, I would be able to see ten seconds into the future. It's throwing me off.”

“Ha. What a pity indeed.”

‘Black lightning doesn’t seem to be the same as darkness. The Champion’s Belt won’t take into effect. But…that’s one of my advantages. Jack hasn’t landed a single darkness-based on me. He doesn’t know that those attacks will be reduced by ninety percent.’ A strange expression came over him, solemn yet not hungry for blood. A sense of rationality that ignored the battle instincts in him for the sake of mind games. His mouth opened.

“I know who you are.”

Jack stiffened. “What?”

“You were on the train but that wasn’t the first time we met, you know? I remember you. I remember you very well, Jack,” Kazi said, taunting him in a low voice, “and I think I can say a couple things about you. First, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re not a normal player like the rest of us. Yes, up until now, you didn’t operate with a class. You didn’t need a class because all the necessary skills were already engraved inside you. You, Jack the Ripper, are a former player that reincarnated on Earth and returned here.”

‘You have to be.’

“Your name, I know that too,” Kazi continued. “It’s quite the surprise to see a man of your stature acting like a serial killer. Marta would be disappointed.”

Jack didn’t speak. He must have been waiting for his mana to regenerate. Just as Kazi wanted.

Ten seconds passed and Jack began laughing. “Are you kidding me? Really? You fucking gods really aren’t as infallible as you say you are. Do you see this? He knows! He knows who I am!”

Jack laughed and laughed until he was sighing and giggling. Shoulders shaking, his black dot eyes stared right at Kazi. “Haa…I made a wish once to prevent anyone from deducing my identity. They can neither speak it, write it, or expose it. And if they do any of the following, they instantly forget my name and my identity. But you…” Jack raised a finger, chuckling. “You keep forgetting over and over and over again, and then in an instant, you deduce it again. I never expected a genius of your calibre to even exist, much less get in my way.”

The rain slowly stopped. Pitter-patter, pitter-patter…

“I’m going to kill you. You’re worthy—you’re more than worthy—but you’re going to get in the way of my plans.” Jack pointed his rapier at him. “It’s nothing personal. You are just too great, Kazi Hossain.”