Chapter 782: Nevermore: Hunter

Jake had invited death nine times to learn about Valdemar and hopefully find a path to victory. He had done everything with the goal of somehow winning and defeating Valdemar, and in all honesty, he could see a scenario where he would have accepted his loss.

That is until he realized Valdemar had never truly taken him seriously. He had, through his own will, increased his fighting aura to a level far above anything he had done in the fight prior. Jake hadn't forced him to either... he had just done it to show Jake how truly powerful he was. It probably wasn't to make Jake despair, but just because Valdemar liked to show off, but to Jake, it felt like all his struggles had been for naught.

Again and again, Jake had underestimated the power of Valdemar's Transcendent skill. Till the very end, he never saw the Primordial's true limits while inhabiting a level 0 body... but then again, did Jake ever really give it his all?

As Valdemar had said, they were just in a Challenge Dungeon. Nothing was authentic in there. There was no true death, but just a potential loss of some points or a lost attempt on a hard opponent. Compared to experiencing the end of your own existence, it was completely meaningless. The stakes were too low... and perhaps this was where Valdemar truly set himself apart from Jake. Because at that very moment, when Valdemar used his final strike, Jake became certain that Valdemar truly was in control of his Transcendence. At least enough to "fool" it into recognizing the battle as one with real stakes.

But Jake...

With every death, he had restrained and stopped his final survival instinct... the final act of his Bloodline to allow him to survive. He got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that using it was a final act of desperation and not something to casually do. Jake was confident that had this been the real world, his Bloodline would have reacted without even giving Jake a chance to stop it, but here, with no genuine danger, he had a choice.

Every prior time, Jake had chosen to suppress it and not take a massive unknown risk by unleashing something best saved for a true moment of desperation. However, this time... this time, Jake was done holding anything back as he wanted to show Valdemar everything he had. So when the Bloodline came knocking, rather than restrain it this time, he let it loose with that one thought:

Fuck it.

The moment he did, time itself seemed to stop. Valdemar's massive golden axe looked as if it moved at a snail's pace... and then he felt a heavy heartbeat. It echoed throughout the arena as a pulse reverberated through his body. A pulse of unknown energy released directly from somewhere deep within Jake's Truesoul. It did not stop simply when it hit the edges of his physical body but spread out. A hundred meters, two hundred, five hundred... it continued hundreds of kilometers all around him. It was incredibly vast, yet a familiar range.

Because the pulse released had filled not just Jake's body but his entire Sphere of Perception - the range he could usually only see with Pulse of Perception, too.

Right as the realization struck him, Jake's vision went black. Then sound died, all smells disappeared, and he no longer even felt his own body or could taste the blood in his own mouth. For a mere moment, all his senses were gone as if he was struck in some void, and then...

Only clarity.

Every detail, every sound, taste... the feeling of the heat of the sun, countless grains of sand touching his body as it had gotten stuck under his torn clothes... not a single thing was missing. He felt it all. His usually heightened senses had reached a new level above anything else before, and as Jake stared up at the axe descending toward him, he saw not just the fighting aura but what existed between him and the axe - the mana in the air, the concepts that constituted the reality the axe was traveling through.

Raising a hand, Jake didn't think much but simply sent out a small whisp of energy infused with his will. It merged into nothingness as the golden axe momentarily seemed to disappear from sight. At nearly exactly the same time, the ground around Jake exploded, golden fighting aura ravaging the entire middle of the arena, except for one small area around Jake.

Standing there completely unharmed, he looked up casually as what looked like a small black dot in space still floated for a few seconds where Jake had commanded the whisp of energy to move. Like a dead pixel on a screen, there was simply nothing there, and when the axe had pierced through this spot, a part of it had met the same fate as everything else when it simply ceased to exist, allowing none of the golden energy to ever reach Jake.

Time still seemed to move at a crawl as Jake slowly stood. Slowly, because he simply couldn't move his body fast enough to keep up with how he perceived reality. By the same the erupted sand fell down, reality had mended itself as the black dot was gone. Gone, but not forgotten.

"You... how did that happen? A hole in space? Void magic? No... it was more like it just opened up by itself?" Valdemar said, confused. "What did you do?"

Jake didn't answer but instead looked at his opponent as he took a deep breath. "Seven seconds."

It was not a taunt or a provocation. It was simply the time it would take for him to win... and the time he had left.

Seeing as his resources were all emptied out, Jake addressed that flaw first. With a thought, the sand around him rose into the air and began disintegrating as the grains returned to Origin and became pure energy that Jake casually commanded into his body. Within a second, his body - but not his resource pools - was filled with energy. Enough for him to burn during what was to come.

Six seconds.

Valdemar, who had just been staring, suddenly displayed a light smile as he nodded. "Then come."

Jake's body filled with pure arcane energy the very next second. His arcane energy, which usually took on a pinkish-purple color, turned a darker shade as it almost became red. Sparks appeared in his vicinity, yet his body didn't seem to burn with energy. There was no fancy display outside of crackling discharge around him, as it all stayed contained within him.

Before, Jake had boosted his body haphazardly without control. Foolish and inefficient, he could admit, especially when it seemed too easy to control now. It was so simple to tame as the energy followed his every whim now, as the world lay bare to his senses.

He regarded his bow and found it lacking as a new one of pure arcane mana appeared in his hand, condensed from the environmental mana. The same level of inadequacy proved true for the scattered arrows in the sand as he condensed an arrow and nocked it.

Five seconds.

Valdemar, who had invited Jake to come, didn't sit still even if he had welcomed the attack. Roaring golden energy filled the arena as he charged forward faster and stronger than ever before, as the luster that made him look like a golden god had simply never fully faded. Jake rapidly shot his arrow as he infused even more power into the blow.

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The arrow pierced forward as it seemed to warp everything around it, absorbing even more energy during its flight. Valdemar chose to meet it with his axe, but Jake found humoring Valdemar's attempt to make this a direct clash of power laughable. Even now, he knew he stood before a man with far more pure raw power than Jake could possibly command in his current state.

Right before the arrow and axe clashed, the arrow dodged the blow. As if it had a mind of its own, it expertly flew by the head of the axe, and even Valdemar's attempt to block his face with an arm was predicted as it changed direction for a second time and shot under the arm and into his chest, exploding.

Valdemar was blasted back by the condensed arcane mana and flew more than a dozen meters back and hit the back wall of the arena, sending stone blasting out. Jake considered shooting another arrow with the same power but stopped himself as that didn't appear feasible.

Sadly, he was still limited by his level and lack of skills and the fact he was a mere level 0. The limitations meant his heavily weakened mind would break if he tried to do something like that again. It was unfortunate he was in this state, but it would have to make do for now. Without any useless hesitation, Jake charged forward as two katars of arcane mana appeared in his hands.

Four seconds.

He moved even faster than before as space itself seemed to give way, voluntarily moving out of the way at Jake's behest.

The wall Valdemar had been blasted into exploded the very next moment as a massive golden crescent wave shot out. With little difficulty, Jake jumped over it and continued his sprint toward the emerging Valdemar.

A large bleeding wound marred his chest, and arcane energy still burned on his body, but his golden aura was as strong as ever. With a roar and almost fanatic gaze, he also charged forward to meet Jake in a direct confrontation.

Three seconds.

Valdemar had already been predictable before, but now, it was almost funny. With his heightened sense of perception, even the axe seemed to move relatively slowly now, though it was still the fastest thing around... well, besides Jake himself.

Dodging to the side, Jake stabbed Valdemar with one of his katars, the weapon slicing through fighting aura and flesh alike. Valdemar quickly responded with a heavy punch as Jake positioned his second katar for Valdemar to punch into. The hand began to glow golden, and at the very last moment, Jake chose to abandon his attempt to counter as he instead avoided the punch entirely. If he hadn't, Jake would have likely cut off one or two of Valdemar's fingers but lost a hand himself in return. He had to admit that even if he could read the Primordial, his pure, overwhelming power was still awe-inspiring.

Mana began to condense in the air all around them as five arrows of pure mana were formed, all aimed toward Valdemar. Jake would have preferred to summon them closer to the Primordial than he did, but the one place Jake felt no sense of control was everywhere the golden fighting aura touched. Valdemar's Transcendent skill created the type of energy that Jake simply had no way of ever touching or affecting, as it belonged to Valdemar and Valdemar alone. He was its Origin and its creator, and there was simply nothing for Jake to do to it.

With a mental command, Jake sent all the arrows flying toward Valdemar, who let out a loud roar, releasing a shockwave of golden energy that only managed to slow down the arrows that all hit him in the back and right side.

Immediately after these five arrows hit, Jake summoned another five, but he felt a heavy strain as he did so. His clarity was wavering, but he had to maintain it for at least a little longer. Valdemar was far more prepared for the second barrage of arrows which were all coming for his right side, where he wielded the axe. Jake also attacked in tandem with these arrows, his attack seemingly with the intent of limiting Valdemar's ability to swing his axe by potentially putting the entire arm out of commission.

Two seconds.

As Valdemar focused all his attention on Jake's attack on his right side, he didn't notice what was going on to his left. Lying partly covered in sand, not even four meters away from them, was an arcane spike from Jake's quasi-Protean Arrow he had shot earlier. The one that had missed.

Without any warning, it shot out of the sand straight for Valdemar's left side as Jake commanded the spike made of his own energy. The Primordial's eyes opened wide as his fighting aura expanded out of him to try and lessen the impact of the attack, but Jake had predicted that move. Using the very last of his mental energy, he looked straight at Valdemar as he welcomed their souls to clash once more through Fear Gaze.

For a mere one-tenth of a second, Valdemar's fighting aura froze as the spike pierced into his left forearm and, as Valdemar had been extending forward with his right side, forced the arm behind his back and out of the way.

Valdemar didn't seem surprised by the Fear Gaze this time but only showed pure determination. He was midway through an attack when Jake made his move, and rather than abandon it, he did just the opposite. He empowered it. His right began to take on a golden luster as the fighting aura seemed to merge with his skin, the man having clearly decided to finish Jake off here and now.

With power outmatching the finishing strike from earlier, the axe chopped down like an executioner's axe from god, aiming to cleave Jake's entire body in two.

From the beginning, Jake knew a trade had to be made if he wanted any chance of victory. And, in truth, his goal had never been the right arm. He was nearly out of time, after all, so he had to end it here and now. Valdemar would have time to react if he gave even a little space... so Jake also committed fully to his plan. Rather than disengage or dodge, Jake kept charging straight into the axe. Only at the very last fraction of a second did he react as he slightly shifted his weight and swayed to the right.

Jake's left ear was entirely obliterated by the golden energy of the axe as it practically slid down the side of his skull and into his shoulder, sending his left arm flying into the air, the powerful swing also mangling the entire left side of his body as even a part of his hip was cut off. However, it had created an opening. The katar of arcane energy was gone as Jake's right hand formed a claw as he pierced forward while the arcane energy that formerly made up the katar surrounded and infused it. The golden aura standing in his hand's way tried to stop it, but most of Valdemar's Transcendent aura had been focused on attacking, making his defenses lacking.

One second.

The clawed hand went through flesh and aura alike and pierced the Primordial's chest, right through the same wound the very first arrow Jake had shot after his powerup had left. His fingers folded around the beating organ that Jake knew not even Valdemar would be able to live long without. Without missing a beat, he squeezed and poured in the final energy he had stored within into the heart that beat in his palm.

A torrent of arcane energy burned into Valdemar's body as Jake's hand became a conduit to infuse pure destruction into the Primordial. Reddish purple veins spread around the hole Jake's hand had created, and a moment later, the heart in Jake's grasp disintegrated as pure destruction turned it into nothingness.

Jake quickly pulled his hand out and only managed to take a simple step back at the very last moment.

Zero seconds.

He had barely pulled back as the world around him began to spin. All his senses once more disappeared as the world turned into a void. Less than a second later, a faint sense of perception returned as Jake felt the entire world contract all around him. His sphere shrank back to the usual range he limited it to as all his other senses also began slowly returning to normal. The world was still murky and indiscernible as Jake left like he was devolving.

What was left of the original pulse of energy that had been released from his Truesoul poured back into Jake as, in the final moment before he had lost his clarity, he had infused it with a final command. Energy entered his Truesoul as it gobbled up everything, and Jake's body restored itself as his wounds began to heal in seconds, with a new arm and ear instantly regenerating, and even his resource pools were filled, revitalizing him fully.

Only after all of this was done did Jake's senses return enough for his eyesight to come back, and he found himself only a mere two steps from a still-standing Valdemar who was looking straight at him. His fighting aura was still burning, and he had a smile on his face, even as blood dripped from his mouth.

"What's your name?"

Jake's eyes were wide open as he felt incredibly weird as if the world didn't seem quite right. Everything seemed slightly blurry, and he barely heard what Valdemar said... but he didn't feel any danger from the man in front of him and thus still managed to answer. "Jake... Jake Thayne."

"Jake, huh..." Valdemar nodded slowly as he smiled and looked Jake straight in the eyes. "A name worth remembering... from a fight worthy of being called legendary."

The arena was entirely silent as Valdemar stood there, looking at Jake as his golden aura slowly disappeared, and the luster in his one remaining eye faded as there once again was only one Grand Champion.