Sparks erupted as his blade intercepted mine at the last possible moment. His broken knee buckled, but he twisted with unnatural grace, using the impact to flip backward.
We separated, both skidding across wet grass.
"Impossible!" Vex spat blood, his veil flickering uselessly around him like torn lace. "How the hell are you finding me?!"
I smirked. "Wouldn’t you like to know?"
"Y-You!" His jaw tightened in irritation. Then—
I just adjusted my grip and attacked him again.
Our blades met in a shower of sparks, the shriek of steel on steel cutting through the night. Each clash sent tremors up my arms - this man’s strength was no illusion. Even injured, his counters were precise, his footwork impeccable despite the ruined knee.
The slightest twitch of his left pinky.
I ducked just as a hidden blade shot from his sleeve, grazing my hair instead of piercing my eye.
"Tch." Vex bared bloodied teeth. "Lucky guess."
I didn’t waste breath on a reply. My boots tore into the damp earth as I lunged again, daggers carving silver arcs through the night. Vex barely raised his blade in time—
Our weapons became a blur, steel shrieking as we traded a dozen strikes in seconds. His dagger licked toward my throat—I twisted, feeling the wind of its passage as my counter-slash opened a red line across his ribs.
Vex snarled, pivoting on his good leg to deliver a vicious heel kick to my knee. I barely rolled with the impact, but pain flared white-hot up my thigh. Damn, even injured—
A glint of metal. I jerked my head left—
A throwing knife grazed my cheek, drawing a thin line of fire. Vex’s other hand was already mid-motion, launching a second blade toward my gut. I batted it aside with my dagger, but the distraction cost me—his boot crashed into my sternum, sending me skidding backward.
Blood filled my mouth.
Vex didn’t let me recover. He came at me like a storm, daggers weaving a net of lethal light. I parried the first strike, dodged the second, but the third sliced deep into my forearm.
Teeth clenched, I countered with a downward slash—
My blade found meat, biting into his shoulder. Vex hissed but twisted away before I could drive it deeper, putting distance between us. Blood dripped from both our wounds onto the rain-slick grass.
"You fight well for a brat," Vex spat, pressing a hand to his bleeding shoulder. "But you’re still—"
I was already moving.
He really talks too much for an assassin.
My [Interception Step] closed the gap before he could finish speaking. Vex barely raised his daggers in time, but my kick slammed into his ruined knee with a sickening crunch.
His leg buckled. For half a second, his guard faltered—
I drove my dagger at him—
Vex barely intercepted, but the force sent him sprawling. He rolled, coughing blood, his movements growing sluggish.
I pressed the advantage, raining down strikes—
—until suddenly, Vex grinned. A feral, bloodstained smile.
"You forced me to this, you rat!"
His free hand yanked something from his belt—a crimson pill, swallowed in one gulp.
The effect was instant.
Vex’s veins bulged like black snakes beneath his skin, his aura erupting in a visible haze of crimson. The grass around him withered as his muscles swelled, his broken knee snapping back into place with a grotesque crunch.
The air split. One Vex became three, each an identical copy—same aura, same lethal intent, same daggers gleaming under the moonlight.
Clone jut-technique?!
All three spoke in unison, voices layered with unnatural resonance:
"Let’s see you counter this."
They shot forward in perfect sync, attacking from three angles at once.
Left: A dagger aimed for my jugular.
Right: A slash toward my femoral artery.
Center: A brutal knee strike to my gut.
[Virion’s Blessing] flooded my veins as I moved on instinct.
I parried the left strike with a dagger, blocked the right with a forearm guard—
Too slow for the center.
The knee connected with my ribs. Crack. Agony exploded through my torso as I was lifted off my feet—
I twisted mid-air, barely avoiding the follow-up dagger swipe that would’ve opened my throat.
I hit the ground rolling, barely regaining my footing as all three Vexes advanced.
The copies moved in flawless harmony—no hesitation, no tells. But techniques always had a weakness.
One of the Vexes lunged. I sidestepped, letting his dagger graze my side as I slashed upward—
My blade passed through him like mist. The real Vexes didn’t flinch, already striking from the other angles.
I barely dodged, but a dagger scored my thigh. Another sliced my bicep. Blood painted the grass as I retreated, breathing ragged.
"Running already?" Vex’s triple voices mocked as I staggered back suddenly coughing up slightly blackened blood that sizzled against the grass. "Hehe, you’re done for, kid."
All three Vexes paused, their identical smirks widening as they watched me clutch my ribs. The one in the center twirled his dagger lazily. "Did you really think those cuts were just flesh wounds? Each blade was coated with different poisons - they’ve already ravaged your immune system. By now, your organs should be... dissolving."
I doubled over, spitting another mouthful of viscous black blood. My knees trembled violently.
Vex’s laughter multiplied, echoing unnaturally through the clearing. "I admit, you’re something special for a nobody. But this is as far as you go."
My shoulders shook. Not from pain, but suppressed laughter.
"Y-you... despicable!" I forced out between coughs, though inwardly I was grinning.
I knew about the poison after a few moments, his first blade drew blood - the telltale numbness spreading from each wound had been unmistakable. Not to mention system’s remark about heavily relying on poisons.
It’s true that I wasn’t completely immune to all poisons, and it was all thanks to Zephyr’s "training" that my body could barely withstand them. But with Virion’s Blessing, it became easier. The black blood? Just my system purging the impurities and toxins.
Vex’s middle clone sneered. "You’re one to talk, cheating with your little tricks." The left clone tapped his temple. "But I’ve figured you out - that teleportation ability of yours has a four-second cooldown, four-meter range. And you were counting on it to buy time, weren’t you?"
I let my eyes widen convincingly, playing the panicked prey.
All three Vexes raised their daggers in perfect synchronization, blades angled downward like fangs. "Consider yourself honored," they chorused. "This technique took me years to master. I call it the..."
The words slithered through the night air as all three Vexes dissolved into shadow. For a heartbeat, there was only silence—then the world exploded into motion.
From my crouched position, I saw it unfold in horrifying slow motion:
The three figures blurred, their forms stretching into streaks of darkness that spiraled upward like inverted comets. At the apex of their jump, they twisted—daggers flipping to reverse grip—before plunging downward in perfect synchronization.
The air itself screamed as their blades carved through it, trailing wisps of inky darkness. Each dagger pulsed with malevolent aura, the tips flaring like dying stars. The ground beneath me cratered from the sheer pressure of their descent.
I vanished just as the first and foremost dagger would have pierced my skull—reappearing four meters away in a shower of displaced leaves. My ribs screamed in protest, but I had no time to—
The falling shadows... adjusted.
Mid-plummet, all three trajectories curved unnaturally. The central Vex—the real one—was already correcting course, his spiraling form now hurtling directly toward my new position.
He’d predicted the blink!