Novel23 Chapter 95: RIP
Chapter 95: RIP
Bryan was pushed back, his body crashing into a table as Moore’s punch connected with the flat of his sword.
Bryan looked at Moore, his gaze calm as he gripped the hilt of his sword.
A crazed smile was on Moore’s face as he looked at Bryan.
Bryan blurred forward, swinging his sword in a wide, overhead horizontal cleave aimed at Moore’s neck.
Moore leapt back, then leapt forward in the same instant.
His fist curled tightly, vibrating as aether surged through his veins.
Bryan ducked beneath the hand, letting it pass.
Before Moore’s hand pulled back fully, Bryan drove his free hand up, catching it in a bone crushing grip.
But Moore’s laughter only increased as he felt the overwhelming strain placed on his bones.
Bryan did not care. Aether coiled through his arm, streaking into Moore’s arm in snake-like arcs.
Moore embraced the crushing pain and headbutted Bryan with full force.
Bryan’s grip broke. He staggered back a step, blood running from his brow in slow drips.
Moore pulled his arm out, still flashing a crazed grin.
He came forward without pause, his movements carrying no pattern or readable rhythm.
A wide swing at Bryan’s ribs, then a low drop at his groin, a rising elbow towards his chin, then a full spin that turned into a kick aimed at Bryan’s knee.
Bryan blocked the swing, stepped back to avoid the low drop, ducked the elbow, and took the kick on his shin rather than his knee.
His bones rattled under the relentless pressure Moore was putting on him.
Bryan planted his foot, countering with a straight thrust of his sword.
Moore slapped the sword aside with the back of his palm, the aether coating his palm scattering sparks from the sword’s edge.
He drove his other fist into Bryan’s stomach.
Bryan folded slightly.
His knee rose as he planted it into Moore’s chest.
Moore’s body was sent flying, crashing into one of the tables.
Bryan’s breathing was steady as he looked at Moore’s body on the floor.
This was not considered fighting for people at their level.
They had barely tapped into their aether since the fight started, choosing to rely solely on physical power and minor aether techniques.
Moore shook his head as he stood up from the floor.
In his hand was a makeshift spear.
It was a sharp piece of wood that had broken from the table when he crashed into it.
Bryan narrowed his gaze slightly as he watched Moore.
"What are you staring at?" Moore asked.
Bryan did not respond.
Not that he had the leisure to.
A figure shot out from his shadow, fast.
Bryan’s body shifted to the side slightly, the sharp wood only tearing a slight mark in his face.
He reacted immediately, his sword glistening with a cold blue sheen.
He swung at Moore’s torso, the blade of his sword freezing air particles as it lashed out.
Moore stepped back slightly.
The sword did not care. Its form shifted, elongating a full inch.
It caught Moore across the stomach, tearing a straight crimson line across his abdomen.
Moore looked down at the cut across his stomach.
He touched it with two fingers, then looked at the blood on them.
His smile widened.
Bryan did not give him the moment. He surged forward, sword trailing a thin line of flame as he drove a diagonal slash towards Moore’s shoulder.
Moore stepped closer, catching the blade on the makeshift spear’s shaft.
The wood caught fire instantly.
Moore looked at the burning shaft, then at Bryan.
He swung the spear.
Bryan ducked, the burning wood whistling over his head, embers scattering across the floor behind him.
He rose and thrust forward, the flame on his blade flaring as the tip drove towards Moore’s heart.
Moore twisted, the blade passing him by a narrow margin.
Using the momentum, Moore spun, the spear coming in a wide arc at Bryan’s head.
Bryan leaned back, letting the spear pass, then stepped forward into Moore’s space and drove his elbow into his jaw.
Moore’s head snapped sideways.
He smiled.
Bryan pressed him, sword moving in controlled strikes, each one aimed to end Moore.
"Darkstep," Moore said, still grinning.
His body sank into the shadow beneath him and vanished.
Bryan stilled immediately, his eyes sweeping through the room.
Nothing.
Then.
Moore erupted from the shadow to his left, spearless, both fists driving forward.
Bryan caught the first with his elbow.
The second hit his ribs.
He countered with a wide swing.
Moore sprang away before it reached him, landing on a table, then kicking off it toward Bryan.
Bryan sidestepped and slashed upward.
Moore twisted mid air, the blade grazing his arm, and landed behind Bryan on another table.
Bryan turned to look at Moore, who still had a smile on his face.
"Storm Fist," the words came out of his mouth, loud and savage.
Aether roared along his fists, then in the blink of an eye it shifted, transforming into arcs of lightning that threatened to incinerate anyone who got hit by it.
He lunged, his right fist coated in lightning, tightened to deliver a punch.
Bryan reacted.
Aether flowed out of his core in a controlled pattern, engulfing his blade whole.
"Solar Corona," he said, driving his sword into the earth and pulling it back out in the same instant.
From his position, a wide ring of flames and light erupted, then poured back into the blade as soon as it spread.
Bryan slashed forward, meeting Moore’s fist.
Time stilled.
Then energy began to expand from their position in a wild, chaotic mixture of three elements.
The building shook, then ceased to exist.
The floors tore upward in chunks.
The walls peeled outward.
The ceiling split clean down the middle.
The shockwave rolled out in every direction.
As the dust settled, only the foundation remained beneath their feet, cracked and half buried in debris.
Bryan stood to one side, sword lowered.
Moore stood on the other, both fists at his side.
He still had a calm smile on his face, despite the burns that spread across his body.
Rip.
The sound of a blade tearing through flesh filled the space.
Bryan stood, shocked, eyes wide in disbelief.
A smile was still on Moore’s face.