The next night, Charles re-entered the gambling house.
The atmosphere inside changed instantly as he stepped in. The gamblers stopped talking, their eyes staring at him with a mixture of fear and respect.
He walked straight to the informant's table, ignoring everyone.
He said nothing. He simply placed the Tenryou Commission samurai badge on the table.
The clink of metal on wood sounded so loud amidst the silence.
The informant stared at the badge, then looked back at Charles's fox mask. His narrow eyes widened momentarily in admiration. He then chuckled softly.
"A clean job," he said. He pushed a rolled-up map tied with a purple silk cord across the table. "As promised."
Charles took the map and tucked it into his robe. He turned to leave.
"Wait," the informant said. "What are you really going to do once you arrive in Inazuma City?"
Charles stopped at the doorway but didn't turn around.
"That's none of your business."
The informant smiled. "I see."
…
Prok. Prok. Prok.
The echo of that sound bounced off the ice walls, sounding like dry bones clacking against each other.
Everyone in the cave—Keqing still panting, Haoyu wiping sweat from his forehead, Isabelle checking her bowstring, and Louis smiling in relief—immediately turned toward the source of the sound.
At the cave's entrance, where the shadows of stalactites met the dim light from outside, a man appeared.
He walked slowly, his steps casual as if strolling in a palace garden, not entering a monster's lair. The hood of his robe covered most of his face, but beneath the shadow of the fabric, a smile was clearly etched—a smile that didn't reach his eyes, the smile of a predator who had just found an open sheep pen.
It was Jason!
"Good. Good," his voice flowed, smooth yet sharp, like silk hiding a dagger. "That was an entertaining show. Truly a captivating dance."
He stopped at the boundary between light and darkness.
His eyes, hidden under the hood, swept over their faces one by one, assessing, weighing, and selecting.
Then, his gaze stopped on Keqing. His smile widened.
"We meet again, Lady."
Keqing's body reacted before her mind could process the threat.
Her Aetheresthesia screamed again!
In an instant, she enveloped her body in purple lightning.
Zzzt!
She vanished from where she stood, leaving a sharp trail of ozone, and reappeared right in front of Jason, her sword swinging in a horizontal slash intended to decapitate.
However, Jason didn't blink. He didn't raise a weapon.
He just smiled.
He tilted his body slightly backward. The movement was minimal, almost lazy, but calculated with precision. He became as thin as a shadow.
Keqing's sword blade, infused with deadly lightning, only sliced through empty air in front of his nose, cutting a few threads from his hood, but not touching his skin.
Keqing's attack was dodged with ease!
Too easily!
Realizing her attack had failed, Keqing didn't force it. Her instincts screamed to retreat. She jumped back, creating distance, her eyes narrowing sharply.
At that moment, Jason laughed.
"My turn," he whispered.
Without warning, he charged.
He exploded forward like a starving beast escaping its cage. His sword, a serrated blade, spun wildly in his hand without rhythm, without recognizable technique. There was only naked, chaotic killing intent.
Keqing prepared herself. She tightened her grip on her sword, ready to meet the storm.
But Jason wasn't targeting her!
He suddenly veered sharply at the last second, bypassing Keqing as if the girl didn't exist, and charged straight at the Anemo Vision holder—the man who had just survived the Golem.
"Huh?" Keqing's eyes widened. She hadn't expected this.
She thought Jason would focus on her!
The Anemo fighter, still exhausted, tried to lift his greatsword to block.
But he was too slow.
Too tired!
Jason burst into laughter as he swung his sword.
TRANG! TRANG!
Each of his attacks was desperately parried by the Anemo fighter, but the power behind Jason's blows was unnatural. He pushed the poor man back, step by step, until his back hit the ice wall.
"Weak! Weak! Weak!" Jason taunted between his strikes.
At the end of that brutal dance, the Anemo fighter's defense shattered.
His sword was flung away.
And with one cruel sweeping motion, Jason decapitated him.
SPLAT.
Blood splattered onto the white ice wall, painting an abstract of death.
The head rolled on the floor.
Jason stopped, his breath heaving with excitement, his tongue darting out to lick his dry lips.
Keqing, Haoyu, Isabelle, and Louis froze. Shock paralyzed them for a moment. They had just witnessed the person they saved being slaughtered like livestock.
Jason gave them no time to grieve.
He turned, his mad eyes now locked on Keqing again. "Now... you!"
He leaped forward, his blade sweeping the air with uncontrolled fury, each swing as if wanting to tear the fabric of reality itself.
Keqing was ready. Her body was fully infused with purple lightning.
She was ready to cut down this madman!
However, mid-charge, Jason suddenly twisted his body in a joint-straining way, changing his attack direction ninety degrees.
He wasn't attacking Keqing!
He was attacking Louis!
Louis, standing frozen beside Keqing, was completely unprepared. He thought Keqing was the target. His eyes widened as he saw the serrated blade coming toward him. He had no time to dodge. No time to scream.
SLASH!
Jason's sword blade cleaved Louis's neck. Deep and fatal.
Blood spurted. Louis staggered back, his hands clutching his opened throat. Keqing let out a stifled scream. Isabelle covered her mouth with her hand. Haoyu stepped forward in panic.
But Louis didn't fall.
He stood there, staggering, his eyes bulging wildly as he stared at his comrades.
No more blood flowed from Louis's gaping wound... it closed. Flesh and skin knitted back together at an unnatural speed, leaving a smooth neck without a single scratch.
At the same time, thin, glowing red threads of blood exploded from Louis's body. The threads shot through the air like snakes seeking prey, and snatched Haoyu, who stood closest to him.
ZRRAAAK!
At that moment, Haoyu suddenly clutched his throat.
He choked. His face paled instantly. Fresh blood gushed profusely from between his fingers pressing his own throat. His eyes stared at Louis with disbelief, full of questions and betrayal.
He fell to his knees, then collapsed forward.
Dead.
Haoyu was dead.
He had died with the exact same wound that should have killed Louis.
It was Vicarious Mortality!
Louis's passive skill had activated!
An ability that manipulated the laws of death; when the user received a fatal attack, the wound would be forcibly transferred to the nearest teammate.
And the price of Louis's salvation was Haoyu's life!
The silence that descended in the cave was colder than any ice.
Louis stood trembling, his hands feeling his intact throat. He stared at Haoyu's corpse, then at the pale faces of Isabelle and Keqing.
"I-I..." his voice was hoarse. "Sorry... I..."
He laughed. A broken, fragmented laugh, full of guilt but also a disgusting relief. He was still alive. That was what mattered most to him.
Isabelle stared at him. She stepped back, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. "You... what have you done?" she whispered.
Then, her gaze turned to hatred. She drew her bow, not toward Jason, but toward Louis. But her hands trembled too violently. She redirected it toward Jason, the source of all this.
Jason laughed uproariously. His voice echoed madly. "Amazing! Amazing! So there's a rat among the lions!"
He didn't care about Isabelle's arrow. He dodged the shot easily, slithering like a snake. Then he charged again.
His target was still Louis.
"Let's see how many lives you have stashed in your pocket, Rat!"
JLEB!
Jason stabbed Louis's heart.
Once again, Louis didn't die. The wound in his chest closed instantly. The red threads appeared again.
And Isabelle screamed.
The archer girl clutched her chest, coughing up blood, and fell to the ground. Her heart stopped beating, sacrificed to save Louis!
Keqing saw it all. Her sharp mind pieced together this horrifying puzzle in an instant.
At that moment, an explanation clicked in her head.
Louis was a Player.
And his skill was trading lives!
Jason realized this too.
And he liked it. He laughed even harder, his eyes gleaming madly. He raised his sword again, ready to kill Louis for the third time, curious who would die next.
Louis could only stand there, laughing hysterically between sobs, unable to move, unable to fight.
Knowing Louis's skill, Keqing wouldn't let Louis die.
Not because she cared about Louis—at this point, she might hate Louis more than Jason.
But because she knew, if Louis died, she would be the one to die next!
She was the last sacrifice left within the skill's radius.
She didn't know how wide the skill's activation radius was!
She had no choice!
Keqing dashed forward.
As Jason swung his sword to decapitate Louis, Keqing's sword blocked it.
CLANG!
Sparks scattered. Keqing stood in front of Louis, becoming a living shield for the man. Her face was cold, but her eyes burned with restrained anger.
"You..." she hissed at Louis without turning, "don't die. Or I'll kill you myself in a way you can't avoid."
Then she stared at Jason, challenging the madman.
"Step over my corpse first," she said flatly.
Jason grinned widely, showing his teeth. "With pleasure, Lady."
…
Charles stepped out of the gambling house, leaving behind the stifling clamor and the curious stares.
He walked down a narrow, dark alley, where the only light source was red paper lanterns hanging from low roofs, their dim glow barely piercing the shadows.
The night air in Ritou felt cold and damp, carrying the sharp scent of sea salt and the faint smell of spilled sake from nearby taverns.
The sound of his calm footsteps on the wet stone pavement was the only noise accompanying him.
He stopped under a lantern, then with a slow motion, he took out the rolled map he had just obtained.
He unrolled it, the smooth parchment feeling cold in his hands.
On it was drawn a beautifully detailed map of Inazuma's coast, with secret paths and small notes written in elegant script.
He traced the map with his finger, searching for the route promised by the informant.
However, as he saw the main path clearly stretching from Ritou to Inazuma City, a frown of confusion formed on his brow hidden behind the mask.
His once upright body now slumped slightly. He tilted his head, staring at the map once more, then looking toward the main road visible at the end of the alley.
A silly and annoying realization began to creep into his mind. Actually… I don't need a map to get there, he thought, his own voice mocking in his head. I just need to keep following this main road, and sooner or later I'll arrive in the city. How foolish of me. Why did I bother doing tasks for those bastards? Fighting thugs, ambushing caravans… all for information that's right in front of me.
He sighed deeply. My fault for forgetting where Inazuma City is.
His clenched hand crumpled the rolled map slightly, before he roughly rolled it back up.
He walked to a pile of trash in the alley corner, where flies buzzed softly over rotting food scraps, and without hesitation, he tossed the valuable map into it.
He no longer needed it!
After walking for a while, he finally emerged from the suffocating labyrinth of alleys and reached the beach's edge.
There, the night sky stretched vast above him, clear and cloudless.
The full moon hung in the sky like a giant silver lantern, its soft rays dancing on the calm sea surface, creating a path of light that seemed to stretch straight to the horizon.
He stared at the moon, his fox mask slightly lifted.
In the midst of the night's silence, amid that eternal beauty, all his fatigue and frustration seemed to evaporate.
What remained was only a genuine smile, the first in what felt like a long time, etched on his lips behind the mask.
"This time," he whispered to the gentle sea breeze. "I will truly meet you, Ei."
…
Keqing's breath was like shards of glass piercing her lungs each time she drew it in.
TRANG!
The clash sounded deafening, echoing off the ice walls like a death knell struck relentlessly.
Jason charged again, and again like a storm of swords without rhythm, without pattern, only with a pure desire to destroy.
Keqing raised her sword, her arms screaming in silent protest. Her muscles felt like they were burning with acid, trembling violently under the burden of the ceaseless attacks.
But she couldn't fall. No. She must not fall.
Behind her, staggering like a ghost who had lost its grave, stood Louis.
This parasite's life was now bound to Keqing's.
Every time Jason swung his bloodthirsty serrated blade, Keqing had to twist her body, placing herself between the blade's edge and Louis's neck.
She was dragged half a step back. The heel of her boot scraped the ice floor, creating a small groove that marked how hard she was fighting to hold her position.
The friction sent a numbing vibration up to her teeth.
"Move aside, Miss! Let me split that rat!" Jason roared, his mad laughter spraying with saliva.
Keqing didn't answer. She had no breath for words. She blocked Jason's sword blow with her bent elbow, holding back the madman's weight pressing down with his entire body.
Jason's face was so close that Keqing could smell his foul breath.
As the pressure grew heavier, as her knees began to buckle and nearly touch the cold floor, a tempting whisper appeared in Keqing's mind.
Use it.
Her thoughts drifted to the skill she possessed. Temporal Siphon. The ability to steal time, to freeze seconds and reverse the situation.
If she used it, she could end this in an instant. She could decapitate Jason before the man could blink.
But her cold rationality soon slapped her back to reality.
No.
The risk was too great. Her body was already at its limit.
Using time manipulation in such a shattered physical condition was tantamount to suicide!
Her internal organs could burst from the chronal pressure.
And if she died from her own skill's backlash... then everything would be in vain.
For her, that power was a double-edged sword.
A blade sharper on the side facing her own neck!
"Argh!"
She growled low, a sound more like an animal than a human.
With the remaining strength gathered from the pit of her stomach, she jerked her sword, pushing Jason back.
Jason staggered, but only for a moment. He grinned, showing his yellow teeth.
Keqing tried to use that pause to catch her breath, but Jason gave her no such luxury.
The man leaped again, this time with a vertical attack aimed at splitting Keqing and Louis at once.
Keqing stood tall again, closing the gap. She dragged Louis slowly backward with her left hand, while her right hand danced with the sword. Her movements were chaotic, no longer possessing the grace of the Yunlai Swordsmanship she prided herself on.
For her, this was a dirty street fight, a fight for survival where the beauty of technique held no value!
Meanwhile, behind Keqing's back, Louis trembled.
His wild eyes stared at the girl's back. He saw how Keqing's purple robe was beginning to tear here and there, how blood was seeping from countless scratches.
Louis was terrified. He was very, very terrified.
The shadows of Haoyu and Isabelle's corpses, lying with bulging eyes, still haunted him.
Murderer!
Coward!
He wanted to run. His legs itched to turn and leave this struggling girl as the final bait.
That was his natural instinct!
But something held him back. Maybe it was the fact that there was no other way out. Or maybe, just maybe, there was a shard of shame sharp enough to pierce his thick conscience.
At that moment, he saw Keqing pushed back again, this time harder.
The girl coughed, blood splattering on the ice floor.
If Keqing fell, Louis would die.
The logic was simple.
"Damn... Damn all this!" Louis cursed with a trembling voice.
At that moment, Keqing dove back toward Jason, her blade spinning ferociously in a desperate attempt to push back the mad killer.
Jason, insane, no longer heeded Louis; he charged like a loose beast, his eyes fixed only on Keqing, his sword swings wild and aimed solely at slaughter.
He wanted to destroy this one troublesome obstacle.
Keqing pressed back, forcing Jason to retreat one step, two steps.
Now, Jason no longer thought of Louis—not even glancing at the rat. His back, or at least the side of his body, was wide open for anyone brave enough to exploit it.
And Louis moved.
Whatever impulse drove his muscles stiff with fear. His right hand, holding the dagger, rose. He didn't think of technique. He didn't think of strategy. He only thought of one thing:
I don't want to die.
With a broken and hoarse scream, Louis charged forward from behind Keqing's shadow.
"DIE!"
Jason, who was preparing to smash his sword into Keqing's head, was surprised.
Louis's dagger didn't hit the heart, didn't hit the neck. It only managed to stab into Jason's thigh, but that was enough.
"ARGH!" Jason roared. He jerked, his balance wavering.
Keqing saw the opportunity. Her sharp eyes caught Jason's moment of instability.
"Now!"
Without hesitation, Keqing threw her lightning stiletto right at Jason's face, then in the blink of an eye, she teleported there, slashing her sword with full force enhanced by Electro.
ZRAAAK!
The slash hit Jason's chest, tearing his robe and skin, sending him flying backward.
Jason landed awkwardly, rolling on the ice before finally stopping in a kneeling position. His hand clutched his charred and bleeding chest. His breath heaved, but his mad laughter didn't stop, only turning into painful coughs.
He looked up, staring at his two opponents.
Keqing stood with her sword drawn, her breath ragged but her eyes blazing with new determination.
And beside her, Louis stood trembling, holding the blood-smeared dagger, his face pale as if he couldn't believe what he had just done.
Two opponents.
One strong and dangerous, the other sly and unpredictable.
Jason's red eyes narrowed. His madness didn't erase his intelligence.
He was a hunter.
A good hunter knows when the prey becomes too dangerous to face alone.
He was injured. His stamina was drained.
And the element of surprise was gone.
He laughed again, this time lower, more raspy. He slowly stood up, taking a step back.
"Interesting... Very interesting," he hissed, blood dripping from the corner of his lips.
"The rat can bite after all. And the lady... you're truly stubborn."
He leaped back again, creating a safe distance.
"You win this time," he said, his voice beginning to echo as if coming from all directions. "But remember... shadows are in every corner."
Jason's body began to shimmer, his outline blurring. He was using his skill.
Keqing was about to pursue, her legs ready to leap.
But she stopped. Her body was too exhausted.
If she chased now, she might walk into a trap.
And she couldn't leave Louis alone.
Jason grinned for the last time, a grin promising future nightmares.
"See you in the darkness, Player."
And with that, he stepped back into the shadow of a giant stalagmite, and vanished.
Truly vanished. No footprints, no sound, no scent. As if he had never been there, and all the wounds and deaths were just a mass hallucination.
Keqing remained in a vigilant stance for several full minutes, her Aetheresthesia scanning the surroundings frantically, searching for signs of Jason's presence.
But her mental radar was silent.
The man had truly gone.
Slowly, very slowly, Keqing lowered her sword. The tip of her sword touched the ice floor with a soft ting. Her shoulders slumped. The adrenaline sustaining her evaporated, leaving bone-crushing fatigue.
She didn't turn toward Louis. She didn't say congratulations or thanks. She just stood there, staring at the emptiness where Jason had disappeared, surrounded by the corpses of her friends who had become victims of this futile battle.
Behind her, Louis collapsed to a sitting position, his dagger slipping from his hand.
He stared at his trembling hands, then laughed softly, a laugh that sounded like sobs.
He had survived.
Once again, he had survived.
…
A/N: Well, this story is getting more and more chaotic. I don't care anymore. The important thing is that this story gets finished.
Btw, I'm still expecting comments!
If you want to read the 7 advanced chapters with a faster update frequency than the webnovel, you can read it on my patreon whose link is below:
https://www.pâtreon.com/Junxt
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