"It's a pity then that I am going to be the last person to accompany you." Jen said coldly.
He unsheathed his saber and positioned himself as a predator ready to attack his prey. The muscles on his legs contracted and then he exploded with a speed totally impossible to achieve to an ordinary human.
Meanwhile, the drowsy man didn't remain idle. He started circulating his dominion energy and his tattoos which previously looked as if they were sleeping lit up.
The strength that his arms emitted right now caused that the air around them to become slightly blurry as if there was a flame burning and creating waves of heat.
His Dahl seemed to shrink with the contraction of his arms. He then punched toward the incoming Jen and said: "Hmph a saber? Naive."
A lot of actions seem to have occurred but in reality, only 5 seconds had passed since the start of the fight.
The saber and the punch collided. Jen's body trembled and he was repelled but somersaulted in time and landed heavily on the floor creating a small pit under his feet. Evidently, he had been unable to repel all the force carried on the punch and this was transmitted to the ground. Still, his countenance looked slightly paler than before.
On the other side, the opponent didn't fare any better than Jen. Even though he wasn't pushed back in the middle of his fist there was now a one-centimeter deep cut.
What surprised him the most was that he didn't feel any fluctuation of dominion energy. How could his fist be damaged without the use of dominion energy?
Naturally, Jen was not capable of this feat but let's not forget that his Grandfather Saber was a weapon intended to Ethereal Dahl warriors. The realms of cultivation went as it follows:
-Awakened Dahl warrior. They refine the 6 regions of their body with dominion energy. In order to become a Corporeal Dahl warrior, they need to absorb their Dahl into their body.
-Corporeal Dahl warrior. They have their Dahl under their skin and although it looks like they are full Awakened Dahl warriors it can be noticed the difference when the Dahl is under the skin. In order to cultivate further, they have to do the opposite from an awakened. They need to refine each of their regions and allow their Dahl to appear only when they circulate dominion energy. Once again they have to refine the 6 regions of the body and then allow to control their Dahl with the mind so that they can become an Ethereal Dahl warrior.
-Ethereal Dahl warriors. Once their Dahl is able to be sensed by the mind they are able to expand it and create a Dahl domain, which is an area covered by their Dahl. A rank one ethereal warrior can expand their domain 1 meter which they can use to coat their weapons and armors with their Dahl. This realm is divided into 9 ranks, each one of them allows the Domain to increase by 12 meters. An Ethereal warrior of the ninth rank can expand their domain to a total of 108 meters.
-Royal Dahl warriors. This is the level of the current emperor of the Eros dynasty allegedly he is at the pinnacle of the Royal Realm. However, the information Jen knew was very limited.
Knowing this, in spite of Jen not being able to circulate dominion energy and exert his real power. The quality of the saber was so good that it was enough to cut through an Awakened skin just based on its material. Which considering how an Awakened warrior could cut through steel as if it was paper showed how powerful it was.
Although in the initial stages of Awakeners, weapons were somewhat useless because the natural protection that the Dahl offered was much stronger than the damage a weapon could cause. It was not the case with top-notch weapons such as his saber.
For a moment they reached a stalemate and both stopped to assess their opponent.
Jen then thought to himself: "If I want to deal him a deadly blow I should attack his more fragile parts. However, the reaction speed of his arms is too fast. Luckily his Dahl is mediocre and his only special effect is strengthening or else there would be no fight to speak whatsoever."
With this in mind, Jen started circling around his opponent and utilizing his surroundings to find a weak spot. On the other hand, his enemy was being cautious due to the bizarre feeling that Jen transmitted him but he knew that if this continued he could very well end up dead. However, he was stuck in a dilemma, if he chose to fight most probably he would suffer the most due to the saber having such a large range and Jen's speed being so fast. But if he tried to run away then that would be straight up suicide.
The man then said: "Listen up buddy, we don't have to fight this. You know clearly that this fight will only harm both of us." Jen said impassively: "Assassin guild."
The drowsy man looked surprised but soon changed his expression and said through gritted teeth: "Dammit those clowns from the Assassin family really have guts to put a bounty on me" His tone was completely enraged, he threw caution to the wind and started attacking Jen furiously. It looked like the grudge was not small seeing how his state of mind was affected so easily.
It must be said that this was one of the strengths of an awakener with the head refined and something which Jen also had an advantage on. Even if his senses were not stronger and his thinking was not as fast as someone with the head refined, his Renia's bloodline improved his state of mind and perception during a fight allowing him to remain cool-headed.
Nonetheless, this was the best scenario for Jen. He kept evading his opponent attacks and causing small wounds all over the enemy's body. The fight continued for approximately 5 minutes.
His opponent started to become exhausted, he was now a completely bloody figure. But undeterred with all of this, he said with bloodshot eyes and blood dripping from his mouth.
"I might have been defeated today, but I will make sure you die together with me." Right now his opponent was not thinking rationally anymore. He seemed to have entered a berserk state.
"Someone with such a weak willpower and you dare to boast such big words?" Jen calmly said.
But his face changed the next moment. His opponent had let himself be pierced in the chest and then grabbed the saber that impaled him showing a maniacal smile.
"GO TO HELL. HAHAHA." His loud yell sounded through the silent alley.
"Crap" Jen's reaction was almost instantaneous as he was having a bad feeling since the beginning. He let go of his saber and jumped away from the man.
"BOOOOM" A sound akin to an explosion reverberated through the air.
...
"Agh..." Jen groaned while he leaned on the wall of the alley.
His new battle suit was completely destroyed, the white cloak now had an ashen color and was full of burnt holes. Under the gaps, there could be seen traces of burns on Jen's skin.
It was fortunate that he had avoided the main explosion in time, his saber was now inside of a huge pit which had an extremely grotesque appearance due to mangled flesh and blood. It was also the origin from the horrible stench that now covered the whole alley.
It was also a good thing that this was a secluded alley in the slums of Blackhaus city, which had nothing or almost nothing of security. Because in Jen's state right now, he would probably be defeated at the hands of an ordinary guard.
Although his burnings were not severe, the dominion energy resulting from the explosion was now corroding him. When this happened a change occurred in Jen's bloodline, as if sensing something it started to absorb the dominion energy that had entered him.
Jen didn't notice the change that was happening on his body and could only think to himself: "Will I really die? Grandfather, it seems I ended up failing, perhaps I should have just listened to your advice. A normal person will never be able to match an awakened... Isn't ironic that I am going to die just hours before becoming an adult?" His whole life seemed to pass in front of him and he could only think "Mother, father. I am sorry I couldn't fulfill my promise..." Before he fainted.
An hour later Jen woke up but as soon as he did he started to feel as if his blood was boiling. The pain was so agonizing that he wanted to scream but no sound would come out from his throat, he was completely paralyzed. As time passed, the pain started to decrease until it disappeared completely but Jen continued being motionless.
If someone was watching Jen right now they would be able to see a faint layer of starlight covering his whole body. Minutes continued to pass and at the same time, a metamorphosis started to occur in Jen's body. A vague outline of a crow started to appear on his chest.