Chapter 135: Rite of Passage [6]

I was sure I would be able to avoid letting him parry the attack, but I failed.

I had been thinking that because I knew these characters really well—I had created them, after all—it would give me a huge advantage over them.

But saying things on paper and actually experiencing them were two completely different things.

Because of that, I was punished with a slash across my chest.

Thankfully, I had blocked most of the attack, which was why the wound wasn’t that deep.

I got too carried away.

I sighed and let my mana concentrate around my chest. The cut across my flesh began healing and closing, and within a few seconds, there wasn’t even a wound left.

My healing capacity had increased significantly, allowing me to heal deep wounds much faster.

But I couldn’t do it repeatedly.

Healing consumed a lot of mana, and if I kept doing it carelessly, I’d eventually drain myself dry.

"You can heal that fast, youngest? Interesting."

Josh nodded his head in surprise.

I got back on my feet and looked down at my shirt, which had been ripped open by Josh’s attack.

One of my favorite shirts.

What a pain.

"My body is quite special," I said with a blank expression.

"We’ll see how many times you can do that."

Josh disappeared.

He reappeared directly in front of me, his katana already slashing toward my chest.

Mana flowed through my legs, and I quickly stepped to the left, narrowly avoiding the blade.

But I didn’t stay still.

I dashed straight back toward him and swung my katana toward his neck.

Josh pivoted on his feet, twisted his wrist, and raised his katana in an attempt to parry my attack.

I wasn’t a fool.

Just before our blades collided, I pulled my katana back.

Using that momentum, I spun on my heel and drove a perfectly executed roundhouse kick into his chest.

Bam!

Josh was sent skidding backward several meters.

"That hurt."

Josh patted his chest before launching forward again, leaving a purple streak behind him.

The plan was simple.

I couldn’t let him parry my attacks.

And I couldn’t let him stack.

But that was easier said than done.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Josh attacked me over and over again while I defended.

It was risky to attack him when he could perfectly parry my attacks. However, it wasn’t consistent.

Sometimes he could execute a perfect parry.

Sometimes he couldn’t.

The problem was that I had no idea when he would succeed.

So for the time being, I was forced onto the defensive.

Josh slashed left and right, drawing dozens of arcs through the air, all of which I blocked.

"Are you just going to block?" Josh asked as he slammed his katana down against mine.

BOOM!

The ground cracked beneath us from the force of the impact.

"Well, if that’s the only way to stop you from parrying, then yes," I replied.

"Then I’ll show you something interesting."

Josh suddenly drove his right knee toward my chest.

I blocked it with my left hand, the impact forcing me back several steps.

Josh immediately closed the distance with his footwork.

His katana was already swinging toward my ribs.

I brought my katana down to block.

But Josh did something unexpected.

He suddenly stopped his attack midway.

Only for a split second.

Then he resumed the swing.

It happened so quickly that I almost missed it.

Clang!

My hand was violently repelled backward.

My eyes widened.

Click.

The clock ticked again.

How the fuck?

Josh had just gained one stack.

I immediately jumped backward to create some distance.

I frowned as I stared at him.

He had a cheeky smile on his face.

This bastard...

"You... you’re using my blocks to parry, aren’t you?"

Josh raised an eyebrow.

"Eh? You actually caught that from the first attack?"

His smile widened.

"You keep surprising me, youngest."

So I was right.

This bastard was baiting me.

Whenever he attacked, he would intentionally create an opening that forced me to block. But instead of simply allowing my attack to connect with his blade, he would redirect his own attack in a way that made it look like I was the one attacking him.

Then he would perfectly parry it.

Oh nah.

This guy was treacherous.

"It doesn’t matter if you block," Josh explained. "I can always make your blocking parriable. Unless you don’t move your katana at all, which would be a dumb mistake because you’d leave yourself completely exposed to my attacks."

He pointed his katana toward me.

"So, are you going to keep blocking, or are you going to attack?"

His smile widened.

"Either way, you’re doomed."

"But your parry isn’t perfect."

I narrowed my eyes.

"You can’t parry every attack every single time. So I’m not really doomed. All I need to do is make you fail your parry, and I’ll win."

Josh grinned.

"Let’s see you try."

He pointed his katana at me before dashing forward.

Mana coiled around my legs, and I burst toward him at the same time.

Josh’s katana cleaved downward toward my leg.

I stepped to the side, avoiding the blade, and immediately stabbed toward his neck.

Just as I expected, his katana changed trajectory with a twist of his wrist.

The blade swung upward to parry my attack.

But unfortunately for him, I was already expecting it.

I twisted my blade to the side, avoiding his katana completely.

His blade cut through nothing but air.

Josh’s eyes widened in surprise.

And because he had swung upward, his chest was completely exposed.

I moved as fast as I could before he had a chance to recover.

I pulled my left arm back and clenched my hand into a fist.

Mana reinforced the muscles in my arm.

Then, like a slingshot, my fist shot forward with enough force to produce a violent gust of air.

Josh’s eyes widened.

He raised his free hand to block.

But it was already too late.

My fist connected directly with his chest.

BAM!

His feet left the ground.

His spine arched backward, and a pained expression took over his face. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

For a few moments, he remained suspended in the air with my fist still buried against his chest.

Then the full force of the impact finally took effect.

Josh was launched backward like a bullet.

Swoosh!

CRASH!

CRASH!

He collided with multiple trees, breaking through them like a wrecking ball until he finally came to a stop.

I clenched my fist and looked toward the direction Josh had been sent flying.

"Hmm."

I waited.

"I didn’t hear anything breaking, so he’s probably fine."

I sighed.

"That’s disappointing."

At least I had reset his stack.

Dozens and dozens of meters away, a cloud of dust slowly settled.

Josh emerged from it, walking forward.

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

He spat some of it onto the ground before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I’ll admit, that caught me off guard."

He looked at me.

"And hell, you didn’t hold back at all."

"Why would I hold back when I had the chance to reset your stack?"

I smiled coldly.

Josh stopped walking.

The playful smile he had been wearing disappeared.

His expression became serious.

"How did you know that?"

"How do I know that...?"

I massaged my chin as if I were thinking deeply.

Then I answered.

"You may not know this, but I know you really well."

"Bullshit."

He spat the word out immediately.

I simply shrugged.

"Believe whatever you want, my brother."

Remember when I said earlier that despite his ability looking incredibly powerful, it also had a disadvantage?

Yeah.

This was it.

As long as you could physically hit Josh while he had his stacks, they would reset to zero.

Meaning that if he had maxed out all his stacks—which was extremely dangerous—but I managed to land a physical attack on him, he would lose every single counter stack.

And that’s exactly what had happened.

He had one stack earlier.

Now it was zero.

That’s why whenever Josh fought someone, he never wasted time trying to build too many stacks. He would use them as quickly as possible because he knew that holding onto them for too long created a weakness.

As much as he wanted to stack, I wasn’t going to allow him to do it anymore.

"That was supposed to be something only I knew..." Josh muttered.

"Well, congratulations."

I smiled.

"You’ve just said it out loud in front of everyone watching."

Josh’s eyes widened slightly.

"But you’re lucky."

I paused.

"It’s just our family members watching."

Josh’s expression darkened.

I raised my hand.

"You better get ready, because I’m going to use my abilities now."

I smiled.

"And it won’t be pretty for you."

"You haven’t used your abilities yet?" Josh asked, genuinely confused. "I thought your strength and speed were your abilities."

"Nah."

I shook my head.

"That’s just my physical traits. I haven’t used any ability yet."

I had been studying his abilities first.

That’s why I hadn’t used mine.

I wanted to see how he fought and confirm that his ability worked exactly as I had created it.

Now that I knew it did, there was no reason to hold back anymore.

With a single thought, dozens of dark spears formed behind me.

They floated silently in the air, each one humming with concentrated power.

Josh’s eyes widened.

I pointed my finger at him.

"Do your best to parry these."

The spears began humming louder.

"Go."

With a violent burst of speed, all of them tore through the air and flew toward Josh.