The first enemy was a young man with pale skin and red hair. He charged forward and threw a punch at Verus while his companion launched a skipping side kick straight at Warin’s chest. As the Warrior began to wake within him, Verus ducked beneath the punch and pushed forward to throw several of his own punches. Off to his left, Warin managed to deflect the kick headed his way.

Verus’s foe tried to counter his punches by shielding his head and reinforcing his arms with earth ki, but Verus simply added some void ki to his hand as he attacked. This created enough suction for him to pull the surprised enemy disciple off balance and open a hole in his guard, allowing Verus’s next punch to land right on his nose. This was a technique he called the Empty Grasp.

The redhead stumbled back before throwing a furious glare at Verus. He then fixed his guard and launched a flying knee strike right at his opponent’s face, but Verus saw it coming.

As the knee slammed into Verus’s raised guard, he vanished. It had been an afterimage. Verus had already used Vanishing Feather Step to slip to the side. As his opponent stumbled, Verus slammed a ki-empowered scythe kick right into his ribs. The young man was knocked sideways as he gasped in pain, and he stumbled as he tried to catch his breath. Verus didn’t let him. Using his momentum, he flowed into a skipping sidekick that smashed his foot right into his foe’s gut. This time, the redhead was sent flying backwards, and collided with the disciple Warin was fighting. Both of them were knocked over and ended up rolling across the ground.

“Very nice!” Warin laughed.

“It was nothing,” Verus replied as he looked around.

Escora was still fighting the staff wielder, although they’d moved further away. Her opponent’s staff was now glowing green as wood ki was channeled through it. This allowed the enemy disciple to use it to block Escora’s water whip and also control the wood to some degree. The staff seemed to bend and elongate every time the tanned woman struck, making her strikes hard to predict and forcing Escora back. Thankfully, Verus’s ally seemed to be quicker on her feet and in no danger of being overwhelmed any time soon.

Verus didn’t have too much time to look around though. As Warin’s opponent climbed back to his feet, another disciple of the Crimson Lotus Sect burst through a cloud of smoke and charged him. Alarmed, Verus drew his blade and readied himself. Not only did this new foe have a sword of his own and look like he knew how to use it, but a quick scan of his spirit revealed him to be at the Tempered Realm.

The Crimson Lotus Sect disciple was dressed in a grey martial artist’s robe with a black belt and he had a shaved head, like Verus’s own. He didn’t have the demeanor of a temple ward or monk though, so it was probably just a fashion choice. Many people in the empire had shaved heads since it was considered a sign of humility and dedication.

Verus’s attacker leapt forward with startling speed, and their blades met with a crash that sent a shiver down his arm. Verus immediately found himself being pushed back by his foe’s superior strength. He’d expected that though, so he smoothly twisted his blade around in a maneuver that redirected most of his opponent’s force to the side.

Surprised, the Crimson Lotus disciple almost stumbled for a moment before catching himself and raising his guard again. There was contemplative expression on his face now. “You’re not bad. Maybe this won’t be a waste of my time after all. You’ve obviously have experience with the blade.”

“Less than you’d think,” Verus replied before deflecting and dodging a series of quick probing cuts. He had no other option but to trust his instincts now, even if he didn’t understand where they were coming from. His battle focus and the Warrior had been only minimally active before, but now they were roaring to life, almost eager to meet this challenge.

Several more vicious slashes came Verus’s way, forcing him to parry and duck under them before pushing his opponent back with a quick slash of his own. Verus focused on keeping his mind clear, and his blade seemed to move on its own, guided by the Warrior. It flashed through the air to meet his opponent’s with near perfect timing and precision. Verus even found himself using sword techniques he didn’t recognize and didn’t remember learning. That was confusing, but he deliberately tried not to think about it. Now was not the time. He didn’t want to end up with a length of steel through his chest.

There was an excited smile on his opponent’s face now. “You really are good, although I don’t recognize your style. It’s not any of the famous sect techniques, or I’d recognize them. It’s a shame you can’t give me a real challenge since you’re not at the Tempered Realm.”

“I agree,” Verus replied sourly before focusing on fighting again.

The swordsman chuckled as he stepped back. “Regardless, now that our blades have been introduced properly, it’s time for me to get serious.”

Verus watched warily as his foe’s spirit flared with power and a grey aura appeared around the sword he was holding. It was metal ki, and it gave off a very dangerous aura which put Verus on edge. He could almost feel its sharpness on his skin.

Instinctively, Verus cycled his own ki in response, and activated the blade reinforcement technique he’d used before. Human ki slipped into his blade, making it an extension of himself and strengthening it. It wasn’t nearly as flashy as his opponent’s technique, but it was better than nothing.

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“My name is Ensis Ucro. I practice the Way of Deadly Steel, and nothing can stand before my blade,” the Crimson Lotus disciple bragged as he moved to attack.

“My name is Verus Windward,” Verus replied politely as he readied his defense.

Hesitant to meet his foe’s glowing weapon head on, Verus focused on trying to dodge and deflect. This worked for the first few slashes, but then he was forced to block the fourth attack. The power of the blow pushed him back even as he felt the grey ki slice into his own blade, disturbing the reinforcing technique he was using. Intuitively, Verus knew that his blade was about to be sliced in half by the metal ki, so he doubled down on his reinforcement technique and pumped as much ki into it as he could. He’d barely succeeded in keeping the technique active as the swords finally bounced apart, and the effort took a lot out of him. It didn’t look like Ensis was straining at all though. Reinforcing your sword with metal ki seemed like cheating.

Frustration radiated from the Warrior, like it wanted to do more but couldn’t for reasons it didn’t understand, like it was reaching for something it something that wasn’t there.

“It’s curious. Going by your surname, you’re a ward of the temple. Who taught you then? You really are quite good. You understand that the way of the sword requires dedication, unlike most of our more spoiled peers.”

“Thanks, I really wouldn’t say I’m anything special though,” Verus mumbled in reply. Once again, he really didn’t have answers to give.

“How humble. Keep your secrets then. We will speak with our blades,” Ensis replied as he jumped back. The grey aura around his sword suddenly intensified and began wavering like flames.

The hair on the back of Verus’s neck rose as a wave of cold fear washed over him. He could sense something dangerous was coming, and a moment later he was proven right. Ensis took a deep breath and then slashed the air. A razor thin line of metal ki shot forth from his blade toward Verus. Almost invisible, it sliced through the air with incredible speed.

Rather than trying to block it, Verus quickly threw himself to the side. He was almost too slow. The edge of the metal ki sliced into his shoulder, cutting through his sleeve and into flesh without resistance.

Verus hissed in pain as he stumbled and turned to look at his arm. It was bleeding badly. The ki had cut deep, although his arm could still move. Glancing back toward his foe, Verus grimaced. Ensis was a far more dangerous opponent than anyone he’d ever fought before. Even disregarding his higher Realm, his technique and skill were a level above that of even Tellus. That metal cutting technique was also insanely deadly. He had to be using his sword to focus his metal ki into such a thin, sharp line.

Off the side, Warin was having trouble with his own fight. He’d been pushed back toward Verus, so now they were only a few feet apart. Escora’s battle was also still ongoing. As Verus watched, she hit her opponent’s exposed side with a water whip. However, the staff wielder’s skin glowed green as she used wood ki to toughen her skin, and then the welt left by the whip began slowly healing. It didn’t seem like their fight that was going to end anytime soon.

There was confident smile on Ensis’s face as he stepped forward to charge Verus again, but then they were both distracted by a loud boom. Over toward the main mob of fighting disciples, Highcloud flew out of a fiery explosion. He looked slightly singed, but not seriously wounded.

Igni was standing about twenty feet away from his opponent. He was grinning smugly as he looked up at Highcloud from next to a stone pillar. With a wave of a hand, he then summoned a long snake made from flames. It hissed and then shot toward Highcloud, who had to fly to the side and blast the snake apart with a bolt of lightning when it turned to follow him.

However, Igni was already summoning another two serpents. As his hands moved, they left trails of dark crimson flame in the air that swiftly took the form of snakes. Both ki constructs than swam toward Highcloud, who managed to destroy one with a bolt of lightning but then had to evade the other by flying away. The snake followed him, biting at his heels. As it closed in and exploded, he raised a shield of air, but was still knocked back several feet.

Verus was awe-struck by the power and skill of the fighters. Even Ensis looked impressed.

“I told you that you’d regret facing me, Highcloud,” Igni laughed.

“This fight is far from over,” his foe replied coldly as he cycled his ki.

The air around Highcloud began circling the flying disciple with increasing speed. A few moments later, the cyclone exploded toward Igni, who met it with a blast of fire. However, he was caught by surprise when the cyclone brushed the flames aside and continued toward him. There was quite a bit of water ki mixed in with the air ki. Igni threw himself out of the way, but the winds still tore into him, shredding his robe and cutting him in several places.

Flying up above, it was Highcloud that looked smug now, but that look didn’t last long. As the winds died down, Igni picked himself off the ground. There was a look of furious hatred on his face as he glared at Highcloud, and his spirit was burning like a volcano that was about to erupt. At the same time, flames rose from his wounds, burning a deep crimson.

“You’ll pay for that. You’ll all pay for that,” the Crimson Lotus disciple yelled as he threw both his arms back and then dragged them forward as if pulling on something heavy.

Two waves of intense fire appeared before the Crimson Lotus disciple and washed forward. One was aimed right at Highcloud, but the other flew in the general direction of most of the other Great Wind Disciples. Highcloud blasted a hole in the flames with a lightning before flying through it to safety. He then glanced toward the other wave, but then dismissed it. There was look of complete look of indifference on his face as he watched it fly toward his allies and followers.

Most of the fighting stopped as the other Great Wind Sect disciples scrambled to get out of the way of the roaring flames, alongside those enemy disciples had were also unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Various ki techniques went off as disciples dashed away, tried to cut through the flames, or raised protective shields.

A few second later, the wave of crimson fire closed in on Verus’s position. Ensis was already running away, but Verus couldn’t do that. Glancing back, he saw that Warin was right behind him. His friend looked exhausted from his own fighting, and he didn’t know any movement or defensive techniques.

“Get behind me,” Verus yelled as he turned to face the roaring flames. A wave of intense heat proceeded them, slamming into him.

“Don’t worry about me!” Warin yelled back. “Protect yourself!”

Verus ignored his friend's words and concentrated on defending as best he could by reinforcing his body and skin with as much ki as possible. A moment later, the flames washed over him, burning through his defenses and painfully searing his body. He screamed as everything began to go dark, consumed by hungry crimson power. The last thing he remembered was Igni’s hateful sneer and Highcloud’s utterly indifferent look.