Rivers of the Night

It felt as though there was no Water Mana left in the region. Sapped away, sucked into a vast nothing, it was ripped to shreds.

But only for a moment.

Theron's step didn't pause, nor did his expression change. Those cool blue eyes cut through the air, indifferent and unmoved, unhurried and unbothered.

BANG!

The black hole shattered to pieces, and Mason's expression changed as Theron flashed before him, his dagger crossing toward his throat.

Mason leaned back, arching his torso and flexing with all his might just to barely dodge out of the way of Theron's dagger.

His palms slammed against the moistened ground, and he threw up a kick right at Theron's chest. However, in that moment, Theron had truly become as fluid as water.

Having entered Veinsong before he even took a second step, the Water Mana in the region pooled around him, pouring into his pores and guiding the movements of his body. He seemed to have lost all sense of bone and structure, the foundation of a movement technique that built itself on the essence of Water itself guiding his body.

Theron twisted, causing Mason's leg to miss the center of his chest and slam into his shoulder instead. There was a burst from [Shedding Water Skin] and a shattering impact of black fog and radiant blue caused sparks of Mana to fly through the air.

The attack did no damage, but what it did do was accelerate the twist of Theron's body.

Cyclones of water suddenly formed around him as his blades twisted at the air.

Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi.

This time, the sparks were very real, three defensive shields formed of Ebonstone manifesting from Mason's spatial ring as he fell back.

Chips and cracks formed in Theron's blades.

BANG!

The two were forcefully separated, gliding back against the ground, their heels sinking into the soft soil.

Theron looked down at his blades and shook his head inwardly. His weapons were almost always his weak point nowadays. He missed his father's short sword, but he wondered if it would suffer just the same. In that case, he would have to just treat it as a family heirloom and store it away in his spatial ring.

He had long abandoned Ironvale's sword. He wouldn't leave such a ticking time bomb on his person. And even if he hadn't, he wouldn't take it out now. Who knew if Patriarch Gian had some sort of connection to it that he couldn't sense?

There was no way Ironvale had gotten his hands on such a weapon anyway. There was only one person that could have given it to him.

Mason stood to his full height, three miniature shields rotating around him. They vanished into the pooling black fog around him and randomly appeared at various locations as though teleporting from place to place. It made it feel like they could appear anywhere he wanted them to.

"Imbued Resonance? No, it's more powerful... too powerful. You have a Manaborn Resonance…"

Though Mason's voice was calm, his pupils were constricted into pinholes.

Before, he had only been speculating, but now he was very certain that Theron had to be a member of the Black Clan. There wasn't a single genius with a Manaborn Resonance in the whole Empire. How else could Theron have one?

It wasn't the rain alone allowing Theron to close this gap. Something was telling Mason that even without the rain, Theron could give him a run for his money.

For some reason… he got the feeling that Theron wasn't yet going all out.

A chuckle left Mason's lips.

"You actually look down on me that much…"

He realized why then. Theron was saving his strength and many of his trump cards in case there was someone even more powerful than Mason coming.

He was actually prepared to run from a Gold Mancer today if need be. He had no intention of relying on anyone else at all.

It was such a familiar, bitter feeling. That gap that couldn't be closed no matter how hard he tried.

Mason's chuckle became darker, his golden hair beginning to gain tendrils of darkness as veins of black etched themselves out from the corner of his eyes as though sinister lines of crow's feet.

The veins pulsed and Mason seemed to grow a size. He was already well over six feet, towering over Theron. But now he had grown closer to seven, his shoulders bulging with strength and power as he pulled out a heavy black spear.

Mason's chuckle became a savage grin, two black canines growing out from his teeth.

The small shields multiplied from three to six, and then from six to nine.

Theron's eyes narrowed. Those shields weren't simple. He had sensed this the moment he clashed with them.

They weren't Silver Ebonstone at all. They were Gold Ebonstone. Not just this, but it was at least 20%, something that only geniuses of the low-tier Gold Resonance could wear as armor.

Theron's body seemed to relax as he exhaled a frigid breath. He crossed his blades, his wrists lightly resting against one another as Mason pointed his spear at him.

"I want you dead." Mason said with an eerie calm that belied the savage grin on his face.

BANG!

The spear was already at Theron's face.

Fast.

Streaks of black cut through the rain, the shaft of the blade having already passed through the guard Theron had put up.

But Theron himself didn't seem moved. Or maybe he was just not fast enough to react…

Until a blue glow coated his blades.

Theron moved just as the spear was about to run through the center of his forehead, his crossed wrists lifting up and to the side. He shifted his position, sending the spear flying over his shoulder in a textbook usage of Mason's own power against himself.

BANG!

CHI!

Sparks flew as Theron's blades collided with two of Mason's shields.

He sent out a knee that was blocked as well, one series of combos after another facing the same staunch opposition until Theron was sent into a retreat by yet another swing of Mason's spear.

The Grand Duke Clan genius' defenses seemed entirely impenetrable.