Seconds after Revan managed a rough landing in the middle of the forest, a deafening blast hammered the earth just a few meters ahead of him.
BOOOOM!
The shockwave from the impact sent dust, leaves, and splintered wood flying in all directions. Vargos had landed hard.
The golden aura enveloping his body exploded outwards, illuminating the pitch-black forest like a miniature sun crashing into the wilderness.
"....?"
However, instead of being greeted by Revan's figure, Vargos found himself staring at an empty, dark forest stretching as far as the eye could see.
The only evidence of his prey's existence was the deeply plowed earth—traces of Revan's forced landing—and a long trench ending at the spot where his sword had previously struck.
'His presence... it's gone?' Vargos thought in disbelief.
As a Master, he understood the absolute law of this world: Mana is existence itself. One could hide their Mana or suppress its pressure, but Mana could never truly vanish. As long as a person "existed," Mana would always radiate from them.
'Is this brat capable of manipulating his Mana emission to that extent? He didn't erase his existence... he refracted it to blend perfectly with the forest around him.'
It was exactly like light being refracted until an object became invisible to the naked eye, even though the object was still physically there.
Vargos took a deep breath. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
'The Sylvia family really has someone competent on their side. This is far more interesting than I expected.'
The small smirk quickly morphed into a wide, feral grin, revealing rows of white teeth amidst the darkness of the forest.
"TRYING TO PLAY CHEAP TRICKS WITH ME, KID?!"
Vargos's shout thundered, his heavy voice bouncing between the giant tree trunks and silencing the forest crickets. He intentionally let his aura flare up, challenging the darkness that concealed Revan.
"I told you! Things like this won't be enou—"
Wush!
Vargos's words were cut off in mid-air.
Soundlessly, a pitch-black kunai shot out from the darkness. The weapon appeared so abruptly, as if it had just emerged from a tear in the dimension, and was now mere inches from Vargos's eyes.
Instead of stepping away or deflecting it with his sword, Vargos instantly dropped his upper body backward.
The black kunai sailed right over his face, cutting through empty air before burying itself deep into the ground behind him.
BOOM!
The impact didn't sound like a knife hitting dirt; it sounded like a small explosion. The ground at that spot shattered, creating a small crater with cracks spreading deep into the earth. The destructive force was enough to pulverize solid rock.
"Tch."
Vargos clicked his tongue in annoyance. From his position, his eyes caught an impossible sight. The darkness above him seemed to tear open, spewing out not dozens, but thousands of black kunai raining down like a storm from every direction.
Vargos's entire field of vision was now blocked by flashes of black metal aiming for every inch of his body.
"You really are boring , Kid."
"It seems you have no intention of entertaining me."
Facing the torrential rain of blades, Vargos didn't dodge. With a single explosive muscle contraction, he snapped his body back upright.
Vargos began to swing his aura-coated sword at a speed that transcended the naked eye. He spun on his axis, rotating the blade like a giant, raging propeller.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of metal colliding erupted ceaselessly. The sheer speed created an illusion of a golden sphere of light encasing his body, deflecting Revan's thousands of black kunai, shattering them into useless shards before they could even touch his skin.
As a finisher, Vargos halted his spin abruptly. With a powerful jerk of his hand, he unleashed a single, massive horizontal slash.
SHRIIIIING!
A crescent-shaped wave of golden aura shot out, slicing through the darkness in a wide arc.
In an instant, the giant trees surrounding him were felled in a perfect line. Dozens of massive trunks toppled simultaneously, creating a tremor that shook the earth.
However, in the midst of that deadly sweep that should have bisected anything in its path, Revan appeared—right behind Vargos's back.
His figure was like a mirage, dashing forward the moment the crescent wave finished its sweep, as if slipping through an unseen gap in time.
In Revan's left hand—which was now fully regenerated—a pitch-black shadow boiled wildly. A split second later, it vomited out a thick, cold iron chain.
"What—?!"
Before Vargos could realize the intruder behind him, his world suddenly turned upside down. In the blink of an eye, Vargos realized he was no longer touching the ground.
He was airborne, floating in the dark night sky with chains shrouded in black aura wrapping perfectly around his massive frame. The chains locked his massive muscles, holding him in a completely helpless position without any leverage.
[Time Remaining: 02:20]
***
'You bastard monster!' Revan screamed internally, his rage exploding.
Here. Release everything.
Revan forced the flow of raw Mana in his body, brutally extracting it far beyond his natural circuits' capacity.
He concentrated that energy into both hands to forcibly reinforce his muscle mass, while channeling the rest of his black Aura into the chains binding Vargos.
The pressure was so immense that the black Aura glowed violently under the moonlight, casting a terrifying silhouette against the night sky.
Fresh blood poured profusely from his nose, ears, and the corners of his mouth—a sign that his body was beginning to crumble, unable to contain the excessive energy output. His vision began to turn red, but he didn't care.
"Die...!" Revan hissed, his voice hoarse and choked with blood.
With a single yank using his entire body weight and reinforced muscles, Revan pulled the chains downward. He slammed Vargos's massive body toward the earth with all his might, as if trying to split the ground with the man's own body.
SRAAAAK!
Vargos plummeted like a meteor dragged by forced gravity, tearing through the night air toward the ruined terrain below.
BOOOOOM!!!
Vargos's body struck the earth with force equivalent to a meteorite impact. The ground beneath him exploded, creating a massive crater that sent shockwaves rippling out for dozens of meters. Dust and rock debris were thrown high into the air.
But Revan didn't stop.
Diving down to follow Vargos's fall, Revan continued to pump his energy.
'My internal organs are probably destroyed by now...' Revan thought amidst the searing pain coursing through his entire body. 'The Mana circuits inside me are about to burst and explode, turning me into shapeless chunks of meat...!'
'Fuck...'
'Don't hesitate, Revan! This is the momentum! Keep attacking!'
'20 seconds, Revan. Endure for 20 seconds and everything will reset!'
Revan threw the "faucet" of his energy wide open. He ignored every death alarm screaming in his brain. He let every leaking Mana flow wild, except for the specific stream he needed to maintain the jagged black aura.
Syuuuuut!
In an instant, Revan landed at the bottom, right in front of Vargos who was still lying in the center of the crater. Without giving the dust a second to settle, Revan swung his sword with full force, intending to behead the Master right then and there.
"....?"
Before Revan's blade could touch his opponent's neck, a large hand shot up from below. Vargos, still lying down, grabbed Revan's collar with unreasonable speed.
BRAK!!!
Vargos retaliated by slamming Revan's body into the ground with a single brutal jerk.
'As expected of a Master,' Revan cursed internally, blood dripping from his chin again.
The sound of Revan's spine cracking was audible, sending a wave of pain that would have made an ordinary person faint instantly.
"I admit, that was a good attempt, Kid. I take back everything I said." Vargos smiled.
"Well done. That was entertaining."
'I STILL HAVE MY LEGS! YOU BASTARD!!' Revan screamed in his heart, burning the last embers of his dying spirit.
Instead of surrendering to the pain, Revan bent his legs and kicked Vargos's chest with all his might. He focused all his aura into his feet to push the monster away.
The moment Vargos was shoved back slightly, Revan used the momentum to perform an extreme rotation.
He channeled his Aura alternately to his hands and feet with extreme speed to stabilize his position, landing perfectly.
"Twenty seconds... Revan, endure for twenty seconds!" he hissed to himself, his voice raspy from the blood clogging his throat.
"AAAAAARRGGGHHH!"
Revan roared at the top of his lungs, focusing all remaining black Aura into his legs. He dashed with such extreme speed that his figure appeared to teleport, leaving trails of black afterimages in his wake.
Moving at that insane velocity, his left hand went back to work. He spewed black kunai from the shadows cloaking his hand, coating every blade with volatile, sharp black Aura.
[Time Remaining: 2:00]
***
"That's the spirit! HAHAHA! Come on! Come at me, you 'Silent Sin'! Don't let that title be nothing but empty words!"
CLANG! CLANG! TRANG!
High-speed swordplay erupted in the center of the crater.
Revan attacked with a style that was wild yet terrifyingly calculated. He swung his sword in a heavy downward slash, but the moment his metal blade clashed with Vargos's golden sword, Revan didn't force a contest of strength.
He twirled his wrist fluidly, letting Vargos's sword slide harmlessly along the edge of his blade. As Vargos's defense opened up from the parry, Revan's left hand shot out from the shadows—throwing two kunai straight at Vargos's face.
Vargos tilted his head slightly to dodge the projectiles, but Revan had already lowered his body until he nearly touched the ground. Using one hand as a pivot, he launched a sweeping kick coated in pitch-black aura.
DUAK!
Vargos blocked the kick with his knee without budging, but at the same time, Revan released his grip on his sword, letting it hang in the air. He pulled a fresh kunai from his right hand, unleashing a flurry of lightning-fast stabs at Vargos's vital ribs.
Vargos moved with the efficiency of a Master—he parried every single one of Revan's stabs with minimalist movements of his sword's spine.
Revan gave no pause; he caught his falling greatsword mid-air, using it as a shield to block Vargos's counterattack, while his left hand continued to vomit and throw kunai in a chain from impossible angles.
Revan's movements looked like a chaotic dance of death—slashing, throwing, kicking, and dodging in one unbroken sequence.
The ground beneath them shattered, eroded by their stomps and the shockwaves every time their weapons met.
Until finally, Vargos found an opening. With a wide, sweeping arc, he forced Revan to jump back, cornering him to the edge of the crater.
Vargos sneered, ready to dash for the final strike. However, in that cornered state, Revan smirked, even as blood gushed from his face.
SRET!
Vargos flinched.
As he tried to move his shoulder to slash, his entire arm was held back by something incredibly thin yet strong.
He glanced around and realized the kunai Revan had been throwing weren't just random attacks. They had formed an intricate spider web.
Threads connected to every kunai were now wrapping around Vargos's body, locking him right in the center of the crater.
"Hahhhh... You really entertain me, Kid," Vargos laughed low, his muscles flexing against the pull of the wires trapping him. "But you know, right? These threads won't even be able to pierce my aura."
'Yeah, you bastard! I know!' Revan screamed internally.
'That's exactly why I'm doing this!'
"AAAAARRGGGHHH!"
Revan roared, unleashing every ounce of black Aura left from his crumbling core.
However, instead of focusing it on his sword, Revan channeled that explosive energy through both hands, sending it directly into the wires trapping Vargos.
In an instant, the web of threads wrapping Vargos turned glowing red and then pitch black, ignited by dark flames.
The black Aura traveled wildly through every strand of wire, connecting Revan and Vargos in a single circuit of destructive energy.
The threads were no longer just ropes; they were conduits of death, funneling the pressure of Revan's aura directly onto the surface of Vargos's skin.
[Time Remaining: 00: 20]