Chapter 752 Bloodlust
Fergus' eyes lit up as excitement tainted his smirk. Khan had exposed many of his abilities throughout missions and lessons, but his knife wasn't one of them. The network had connected it to the Rassec family, but that was it. Further investigations had been impossible due to the nobles' involvement.
Nevertheless, Fergus knew the weapon couldn't be a common item. The connection to a noble family could tell as much, but his battle experience also warned him. A weight had fallen on his chest, and a chilling sensation had invaded his stomach, making him keep his defenses up.
'Eat as much as you want,' Khan thought, securing the knife into his grip. 'Today is the day.'
A foreign bloodlust expanded inside Khan's mind. The mental connection with the cursed knife conveyed the weapon's excitement, and the feeling spread through his thoughts, affecting them.
The clicking cry inside Khan's mind usually kept that foreign feeling in check, but the two mental forces found common ground now. They were both angry, wild, and starving for battle, so they joined forces and fueled each other to create a single, stronger front.
That mental event had repercussions for the outside world. Fergus saw a blue flash before brighter lights devoured that glow. Strands of purple-red mana began to leak from Khan's shoulders, dispersing in the air above him. Moreover, a darker, redder energy started enveloping the knife, taking an ethereal shape that resembled a fanged mouth.
'Is there anything ordinary about this guy?' Fergus wondered.
Khan had begun to turn, and Fergus couldn't find a single human feature in the scene. Khan's eyes shone, destructive mana leaked from his shoulders, and his weapon wore fangs. That was as alien as anyone could get.
"Don't die too soon," Khan announced, and his voice echoed through the area. "I need to vent."
Fergus' smirk froze. He could sense a strange force invading the surrounding air. He could also feel the dangerous vibe around Khan. Yet, his reaction wasn't the result of those events.
Khan's words had given insights into his mindset, which Fergus didn't miss. He finally understood how Khan saw him. Fergus was a fifth-level warrior who shared the same rank, but Khan didn't feel any challenge in the incoming battle.
Until now, Fergus had felt excited and motivated even. However, that realization changed his mindset. His smirk disappeared before that blatant insult. His pride as an experienced soldier was on the line there, and he wouldn't let an arrogant kid make fun of it.
"Do you think a weapon can break through my defense?" Fergus almost challenged. "The world is bigger than you think, Major Khan."
Khan didn't reply. His mind barely had coherent thoughts due to all the wild urges screaming inside it. He demanded blood and destruction, and an order managed to take form inside that mess.
'Drain me,' Khan ordered, and the cursed knife hummed in excitement. Its sucking force intensified, and smoke began to rise from its blunt edges. Khan wasn't putting any kind of barrier, so the weapon freely absorbed his mana.
Fergus didn't have Khan's senses, but his perception was far from ordinary. He could feel the knife's growing power, but no fear appeared in his mind. He had developed a fighting strategy and planned to stick to it.
Khan's ability to fly was a big issue. Fergus was confident in his defense, but not losing was the best he could achieve if he didn't catch him. Still, he could alter his flesh's properties almost at will, and the incoming attack might create the opportunity for a decisive blow.
However, Fergus' confidence soon crumbled. He had planned to dodge or endure the knife's attack to catch Khan, but he didn't limit his offensive to that. A series of masses of purple-red mana materialized above him, and Fergus felt no surprise in seeing them turn into spears.
Khan didn't say anything. The spears pointed at Fergus and shot forward, exploding into a joint pillar that burned and destroyed anything that dared come close to it.
That wasn't the entirety of Khan's offensive. As soon as the first spear exploded and blinded both warriors, he slashed the cursed knife forward, unleashing the accumulated energy according to the Divine Reaper's moves. Red mana fused with the expanding pillar, vanishing into a mess of chaos and destruction.
Khan didn't close his eyes. His pupils burned under the giant pillar of blinding light, but he didn't dare to lower his eyelids. His senses had proven themselves unreliable, so he didn't leave anything to chance.
Any fourth-level warrior would greatly suffer under that blinding light, but Khan's body was far from ordinary. It hurt to look directly at the pillar, but his eyes' glow intensified, almost defending themselves against potentially permanent damage.
That barrier partially allowed Khan to see the symphony. Everything remained vague, bright, and messy, but he could keep an eye for strange movements. Yet, nothing similar happened as the massive pillar slowly lost its energy.
A scenery of devastation slowly became clear. A vast, fuming crater had formed on the ground, and its scorching temperature had burned the grass nearby. Flames also covered the trunks nearby, turning their surface dark and releasing flickering noises.
However, a naked figure stood proud in the middle of that destruction. Fergus had lost his uniform but not his dark blue skin. Smoke rose from various spots on his body, but his flesh carried no visible burn.
Still, Fergus didn't come out of the offensive intact. He lowered his head, and his gaze grew cold when he noticed a vertical mark running over the right side of his torso. That wasn't a proper injury, and no blood spilled out of it, but the outcome was undeniable. Khan's knife had made a dent in his defense.
Of course, that superficial mark was nothing worrisome, especially considering the amount of energy Khan had to use to inflict it. It would take hundreds of similar attacks to breach past Fergus' reinforced flesh and reach his organs, and even a monster like Khan had to have limits.
Fergus lifted his head as his smirk returned. He challenged Khan to do better, and both warriors knew what that would imply. The knife was working, but only a melee attack could maximize its power, and Fergus couldn't wait for it.
Khan wasn't dumb. Even with bloodlust and other wild urges filling his mind, he understood his strong points and where his advantage in the fight lay.
Still, the fight was happening inside the scanners' range, and Khan didn't know how compromised the second team was. HQ could very well be a mess right now, so Khan had to end the fight quickly to hope to gain control over his way out of the planet.
The cursed knife had already resumed absorbing energy from Khan, releasing a humming sound and smoke from its edges. Still, Khan lifted his right hand now, and mana surrounded it to create a bright, short sword.
Fergus didn't need words or heightened senses to understand that Khan wanted to deliver a killing blow. It was the intelligent choice, mainly since Fergus' skill set remained an unknown variable. Yet, that also played into his strategy.
Silent seconds disturbed only by the flickering flames on the nearby trunks passed while Khan and Fergus studied each other. The world outside them disappeared as they focused solely on their opponent. The next exchange could be the last, so their concentration reached its limit.
Faint gales began to blow among the trees, converging on Khan. The symphony's movement pushed air toward him, creating an invisible vortex around his legs. The world sided with Khan, allowing him to unleash his best sprint yet.
Shock invaded Fergus. He would gasp in amazement if he had any energy to spare, but everything about him had focused on reacting and defending against the incoming attack. Fergus was an experienced fifth-level warrior with a fitting element and immense preparation but had been almost unable to see what was happening.
"Almost" was the key word. Fergus had lost track of Khan for a second but had still managed to react. His arms had shot forward, crossing themselves before his chest, and a figure had materialized in front of them.
Khan felt to have slammed into an unmovable wall. He didn't slow down at all, so his body endured the consequences of the impact with Fergus' arms. His left shoulder, elbow, and wrist screamed in pain, but his eyes only looked at the item in his grasp.
The cursed knife had slammed on Fergus' left forearm, unleashing the full momentum of Khan's descending sprint and the Divine Reaper's sharpness. That was the most piercing attack Khan was capable of, and even Fergus' enhanced flesh had to bow to it.
The weapon's fuming edge had pierced Fergus' forearm, reaching the bone and putting a dent in it. Yet, it had been unable to cut any further, and putting more strength or mana into it didn't change the outcome.
Truthfully, that outcome was already shocking. Fergus could claim to have one of the best defensive techniques in the Global Army, and his level made him the very peak among unevolved warriors, at least in that field.
Yet, someone with plenty of room to grow had cut what was supposed to be the strongest flesh. The strange weapon had played a part in the achievement, but that didn't change Fergus' realization. He knew he wouldn't have stood a chance if Khan were in the fifth level.
Nevertheless, those thoughts could wait. Khan was stuck after depleting his momentum, giving Fergus the chance to act. Khan could still use the spell on his right hand, but Fergus could react to those slower moves.
As Fergus had predicted, Khan lifted his right hand, seemingly wanting to stab the Chaos claws spell in the man's neck. Yet, Fergus used his right arm, too, planning to grab the incoming attack with his bare fingers and putting an end to Khan's agility.
Still, the purple-red light in Fergus' vision suddenly disappeared. The short sword around Khan's hand turned into bright smoke while he lowered his joint forefinger and middle finger. Their tips pointed at Fergus' left eye, which exploded before he could protect it behind his eyelid.