Chapter 68: The Battle Against Siegfried!
Siegfried's kick sliced through the air, only to connect with the fading afterimage of energy Rovel had left behind. The real Rovel had already reappeared several meters away, his body settling into a low, ready stance. In an instant, his eyes became preternaturally clear, his focus sharpening to a razor's edge.
Every twitch of muscle, every subtle shift in Siegfried's posture, was now reflected in the depths of Rovel's pupils.
From the moment this confrontation began, Rovel had been prepared for a fight. He knew this was inevitable. After all, if he wanted a man like Siegfried Kaslana to entrust him with his precious daughter, words alone would never be enough. He had to prove he possessed the strength to stand by her side.
Siegfried's first kick had clearly been a probe, a simple test of his reflexes. Yet, even from that, Rovel could feel the terrifying power coiled within the man's frame. If that kick had actually landed, he had no doubt it would have been an instant kill.
A flash of genuine surprise crossed Siegfried's eyes. The way he looked at Rovel now held a different quality—a flicker of acknowledgment.
Without warning, Siegfried's next attack came. He exploded forward, his speed and power eclipsing anything Kiana had ever displayed. The air itself seemed to groan under the pressure.
Even though Rovel's heightened senses allowed him to perceive the trajectory of the attack, his body, still bound by its mortal limits, struggled to keep pace. Dodging was an immense effort. Using Dissipating Force to completely deflect the blow was out of the question; the best he could manage was to slightly alter its path, to shave off the worst of its momentum.
Another whip kick tore through the space between them, faster and more vicious than the last. Left with no other choice, Rovel crossed his arms in front of him, bracing for impact.
A terrifying number erupted above his head.
[-371]!
It was a staggering figure. Basic Fighting's block was supposed to mitigate ninety percent of incoming damage, yet even with that massive reduction, a single kick had sheared away nearly half of his total health.
A searing agony shot through Rovel's forearms, the bones groaning under the strain as if they were about to splinter.
But Siegfried gave him no time to recover. A third kick, a lightning-fast blur, shot toward Rovel's abdomen.
He couldn't block this one. His arms wouldn't take another hit. He had to meet force with force.
'Inch Force: Heaven Opening!'
Rovel channeled all his internal energy into his palm, a condensed point of explosive power, and slammed it directly into Siegfried's advancing shin.
The collision was brutal. Siegfried was forced back a single, solid step. Rovel, however, was sent flying backward like a cannonball, his body crashing hard against the rooftop's metal railing.
[-112]
Another damage number floated into existence.
Siegfried's eyes widened, now filled with undisguised astonishment. He could feel the lingering vibration in his leg. The execution of that punch, the unique way the force was generated… it was identical.
Rovel's lungs burned as he dragged in a ragged breath. Siegfried's strength was on another level entirely. A chilling thought crossed his mind. 'Could I have guessed wrong? Is this not a test? Is he actually trying to kill me?'
Seeing the unwavering intent in Siegfried's gaze, Rovel knew the man wasn't finished. He cast aside his hesitation. With a swift motion, he downed an 'Ultimate Healing Potion'. A warm, revitalizing energy coursed through him, and in an instant, his health bar shot back to full.
Two new buffs appeared in his status window.
[Ultimate Continuous Healing: Recovers 1000 HP per second. Duration: 1 minute.]
[Ultimate Damage Reduction: Reduces damage taken by 50%. Duration: 1 minute.]
Rovel's current health pool was 730 points. Even with the fifty percent damage reduction, he knew from the last exchange that a single mistake, one unblocked hit, would send him straight to his grave.
Therefore…
He drew the Prototype Pulse Katana that Raiden Mei had given him, the sleek blade humming faintly in the night air. He took a deep, steadying breath.
'Tai Xu Sword Intent… Activate!'
'Prototype Pulse Katana, Brief Overclock… Activate!'
A torrent of information slammed into his mind. It felt as if the sum of a thousand battles was being forcibly downloaded into his brain. A splitting pain lanced through his skull, but he merely knitted his brows, his heart remaining as placid as still water.
This was Rovel's strongest combat state, short of unleashing the volatile power of Kalpas.
The only drawback? He could only maintain it for one minute.
Wasting not a single precious second, Rovel seized the initiative, launching himself at Siegfried.
"Instead of running, you're coming right at me? Interesting," Siegfried murmured, a faint smirk touching his lips. He moved to intercept, his own attack launched a fraction of a second later but timed to arrive first.
Yet, Rovel's body twisted in a bizarre, almost unnatural posture, evading the blow as if he had known precisely where it would land moments before it was even thrown.
"Hokushin Ittō-ryū: Battōjutsu!"
The overclocked pulse katana drew a brilliant arc of light, striking Siegfried squarely in the abdomen. The superheated edge of the blade tore through his combat jacket and sliced into the flesh beneath.
[Weak Point Attack Damage +300%!]
[-971]!
Blood bloomed from the fresh wound on Siegfried's stomach.
Ignoring the gash, Siegfried instantly adjusted his stance, pivoting to send an even more ferocious kick screaming toward Rovel's head. It was a brutal, trade-for-trade style of fighting. Against such a direct and overwhelming assault, even the predictive power of Tai Xu Sword Intent couldn't find a path to dodge.
So… he met it head-on.
Rovel raised his arm once more.
'Basic Fighting: Block!'
[-245]!
After the block's ninety percent reduction and the potion's fifty percent reduction, the blow still cost him 245 health points. A quick calculation sent a chill through him. Under normal circumstances, the raw damage of that single kick would have been a horrifying 4900 points.
Siegfried's leg was knocked aside by the force of the block, creating a momentary opening. A battle-hardened warrior like him could adjust in a nanosecond, but in the world of Tai Xu Sword Intent, all flaws were magnified infinitely.
Even if it was only for a split second… it was enough.
'Inch Force: Mountain Collapse!''Weak Point Attack!''Opening Attack!'
[-2920]!
A terrifying damage number, nearly three times larger than his last hit, erupted over Siegfried's head. The sheer force of the palm strike drove the Kaslana warrior back several steps, his boots skidding on the concrete.
And yet… that single, perfectly executed strike, stacked with every buff he possessed, had only depleted Siegfried's health bar by roughly a quarter.
Worse, Rovel could see it regenerating at a visible, impossibly rapid pace.
On his own side, the strain was becoming unbearable. The side effects of the Tai Xu Sword Intent were crashing down on him like a tidal wave. His vision swam, and his knees buckled. He had to stab his katana into the rooftop just to keep himself from collapsing completely.
And this… had been less than thirty seconds.
Rovel had still overestimated his own endurance. He thought he could last the full minute, but he couldn't even hold out for half of it.
Large beads of sweat dripped from his chin onto the ground. He panted heavily, the crushing exhaustion flooding his brain forcing him to deactivate the Tai Xu Sword Intent.
Across from him, Siegfried took a moment, then casually brushed the dust from his clothes as if nothing had happened. The deep gash on his abdomen had already vanished without a trace. Only the torn fabric of his jacket served as proof that Rovel had ever landed a blow.
"What is your relationship to Cheng Lixue?"
Siegfried's voice cut through the silence, his gaze fixed on the half-collapsed Rovel.
"Cheng Lixue?" Rovel's mind, foggy with exhaustion, blanked for a second. The name was familiar, but it took a moment to place. Wasn't that Fu Hua's last disciple? The one who died at Sirin's hands during the Second Honkai Eruption?
"The martial arts you use," Siegfried explained, his eyes sharp, "are very similar to hers."
But in the next second, Siegfried slapped his own forehead with a sigh. Descenders had only appeared in this world twenty days ago. How could Rovel possibly have a connection to someone who died in a war over a decade ago?
Perhaps it was because Rovel knew so much, so much that he shouldn't, that Siegfried had subconsciously started treating him like a native of their world.
Besides, thirteen years had passed since the Second Eruption. Even if Rovel really were from this world, he would have been just a child back then.
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