Chapter 74: Four Arms Against The Serpent [ 1 ]

Neither of them activated a Divine Rune ability immediately.

Jet stood near one end of the clearing with the Vorpal Blade resting in his right hand while Frey faced him from roughly twenty meters away, both curved swords drawn. The surrounding forest remained quiet beneath the towering canopy, but that silence lasted only until Frey suddenly accelerated.

His figure blurred across the grass.

The first curved sword descended toward Jet’s shoulder, meeting the Vorpal Blade with a sharp metallic crack that scattered sparks between them. Frey’s second blade immediately swept toward Jet’s ribs, forcing him to twist aside before answering with a thrust toward Frey’s chest. Frey slipped outside the point and rotated with the movement, bringing one sword toward Jet’s thigh while the other remained positioned to intercept the counterattack.

Their weapons collided again.

CLANG!

Jet stepped through the impact instead of retreating and drove his shoulder toward Frey’s chest. Frey pivoted away, but Jet’s left hand caught his sword wrist for an instant before Frey ripped himself free and struck with the pommel of his other weapon. Jet raised his forearm, absorbed the blow and responded with a kick that forced Frey backward several meters.

The pace climbed almost immediately.

Silver steel and twin curved blades flashed beneath the canopy as both crossed the clearing again. Sparks sprayed from repeated collisions while their feet tore through grass and loose soil. Jet used the Vorpal Blade’s reduced wind resistance to recover quickly after every swing, while Frey’s two swords constantly changed angles, forcing Jet to watch both sides of his body.

Frey eventually caught the Vorpal Blade between his crossed swords and twisted, attempting to drag Jet’s weapon away from the centerline. Jet moved with the force instead of fighting it, stepped closer and drove his elbow toward Frey’s face. Frey leaned backward enough to avoid the strike, only for Jet’s knee to follow toward his abdomen. He turned his hip into the impact and retaliated with the pommel of one sword, striking Jet beneath the ribs and forcing him sideways.

Jet recovered and swept the Vorpal Blade toward Frey’s upper body. Frey retreated beyond its reach, then allowed Mana to surge through him.

Vritra’s Coil erupted beside him.

The spectral serpent twisted through the air and lunged across the clearing. Jet moved diagonally, avoiding the Coil as it slammed into the ground and constricted around empty earth with enough force to crush the grass and spread cracks through the soil.

Frey used it as cover.

He appeared from the opposite side with both swords already moving. Jet caught the first with the Vorpal Blade, but the second curved weapon came toward his shoulder from outside his guard.

Crimson-black Mana erupted from Jet’s back.

Frey’s sword stopped.

One enormous crimson-black hand had closed around his wrist.

Two muscular Mana arms now extended from behind Jet’s shoulders, dark markings running across their translucent surfaces. The second manifested arm remained raised beside Jet’s head, its fingers slowly closing into a fist.

Frey’s attack stalled as his gaze moved from the hand gripping his wrist to the additional arm behind Jet. Surprise crossed his face before his mouth curved upward. "I understood what you meant when you described Asura Arms at breakfast, but seeing you actually grow another pair while one of them is holding my wrist is considerably more disturbing."

Jet answered by driving the free Asura fist toward him.

Frey wrenched himself loose and crossed both swords.

BOOM!

The crimson-black fist smashed into the crossed blades and launched him backward. His boots struck the ground several meters away and carved twin trenches through the soil before he finally stopped.

Jet immediately closed the distance.

His first attempt to use all four arms offensively fell apart almost as quickly as it began. The Vorpal Blade swept toward Frey’s chest while one Asura Arm attacked from above, but the manifested forearm crossed too close to the sword’s intended path and forced Jet to alter the slash halfway through. Frey recognized the hesitation, knocked the Vorpal Blade outward and slipped his second sword through the opening. Jet ordered the lower Asura Arm to catch his wrist, but the response came fractionally too late, allowing the flat of the blade to strike his ribs.

Jet forced Frey away with a broad swing of one manifested arm and reset his footing.

The problem became obvious.

Possessing four functional arms didn’t mean he instinctively knew how to fight with four arms. When he tried controlling every limb independently at combat speed, movements began interfering with one another.

Weapon Master didn’t magically fix his coordination, but it made understanding the mistake considerably easier.

The Asura Arms emerged higher than his natural shoulders and possessed attack angles his original limbs couldn’t reproduce. Trying to use them like a second pair of ordinary arms wasted that advantage.

Jet changed his approach.

When Frey attacked again, Jet kept the Vorpal Blade as his primary weapon. He deflected the first curved sword normally, then used one Asura hand to slap the second blade away from his body. Only after Frey’s guard shifted did the other manifested arm descend.

Frey twisted aside.

The crimson-black fist missed him and struck the ground.

BOOM!

Dirt and shredded grass erupted upward as a shallow crater formed beneath the impact.

Frey came out of his evasive movement low and swept one sword toward Jet’s legs, but Jet planted an Asura hand against the ground and used the additional limb as support to lift himself over the blade. The Vorpal Blade descended during the movement, forcing Frey to catch it with both swords as sparks showered across his shoulders.

Jet landed close enough for another manifested hand to seize Frey’s forearm. He pulled him forward and drove his knee toward his stomach.

Vritra appeared between them.

The Coil wrapped around Jet’s thigh and constricted, stopping his knee inches from Frey’s abdomen. Jet immediately swung one Asura fist toward Frey’s head, forcing him to release the trapped leg and retreat.

The fight accelerated.

Jet was beginning to understand how the additional limbs fit around his normal movements when Frey suddenly changed how he used Vritra.

Jet rushed forward and brought the Vorpal Blade down in a heavy diagonal slash. Frey could have stepped away, yet he deliberately summoned Vritra directly into its path.

The spectral serpent wrapped around Jet’s sword arm.

Jet drove through it.

Vritra constricted against the force, its body distorting until the Coil finally ruptured, but a strange pulse traveled through the serpent before it disappeared.

[Energy Successfully Captured.]

[Calamity Reservoir: 7%]ℯℯ𝑙.