She walked in with dual daggers, an assassin's specialty.
"Bare fist!" The instructor ordered.
"Been avoiding me?" I asked Jean.
"I….I'll talk if you beat me." After a slight hesitation, she replied.
Women, I couldn't fight women like I fought men, a single soft strike was preferable but with Jean's list of insane skills that wasn't possible. Especially with a face, I couldn't bear to scratch.
She was faster than the others and kept a close distance from me. I dodged every attack closely and kept her moving, so she couldn't notice I wasn't hitting her.
"It's really strange, I thought we had a moment that night, I didn't expect you to avoid me so completely after."
"Just go down!"
She continued striking at me from every direction until she cornered me. I kept teasing her and she found a false opening.
"Fall!"
She struck with her full speed and strength. I parried with soft force and got behind her.
*Tap*
A slight tap to her derriere and she fell out of the stage's bounds with a red face.
"Instructor, she lost!"
"You can continue, Jean." The instructor betrayed me.
"Can I get a weapon at least?"
"Continue!"
Jean jumped back in and the fight resumed. She was more aggressive and struck at my vital points without batting an eye.
"Instructor Dupont, Scythe!" She shouted and the instructor obliged.
She held the scythe with a natural harmony and her movements were more dangerous than before, she charged forward and tried to keep me at a distance.
'By my count, a minute has passed already, I'll lose if I let this go on. No more hesitation, as pretty as she is I have to knock her out!'
I stopped dodging as she slashed down with her scythe.
*BOOM!*
I redirected the attack and it struck the ground. I then grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me, one hit to the back of the head and she went limp. I placed her softly on the ground.
"Next-" Just as I turned my back, I felt a surge of Mana and looked back to find Jean floating slightly above the stage.
"She can use magic?" I asked the instructor.
"She can use magic. You can't." The instructor betrayed me again.
I could tell from her expression she was having fun teasing me but I was having fun with the restrictions, so I didn't mind.
"Give me a weapon."
As Jean's Mana surged, the instructor threw me a strange weapon, a pair of brass knuckles.
'I'm fighting a beauty and this is what you throw me?!'
I caught them and put them on. The temperature in the hall had dropped to an extreme level.
Ice had begun to condense in the air as icicles began floating around me.
"It's time to go down, John!" She unleashed the ice Mana towards me as snow began to descend in the hall.
[Flash-Quest! [Inherit The Gray Winter]: Defeat Jean Gray before the time ends. 40 seconds left.]
"It's weak but it's the [Gray Winter]! She even received our ancestors' power!" The instructor was surprised.
[Legacy-Quest [Regain Your Anti-Mana]!]
My greatest creations and unique powers, [Anti-Mana], [Anti-Aura], and [Anti-Life], are a reverse flow of the energies that completely negate them.
'I was going to, now I have another reason,'
I stood still and focused as the countless shards of ice descended upon me. I felt my Mana circles and accelerated them to their peak speed and then struck my own heart to reverse them.
And then by using Taoist teachings, I motioned with my palms in the path of the ancient dragon and then found it. The void.
'Within the void, all is null.'
Jean's Mana flowed towards me and I dispersed it into thin air.
It was not over yet, however.
I moved past everything and placed my hand on Jean's back, completely stopping her Mana and knocking her out with a single strike.
"Next." I looked towards the instructor.
[Flash-Quest complete! You have inherited the [Gray Winter]!]
[Legacy-Quest complete! You have regained your [Anti-Mana]!]
"Enough, it's your win." The instructor waved her hand.
"Are you ready, Instructor Dupont?"
"*Sigh* Let's get this over with."
I picked up a heavy greatsword and prepared as Instructor Dupont got on the stage.
"Let's finish it in one move." She proposed.
"I agree."
[Legacy-Quest! [Regain Dragon's Fall].]
'This system, it knows everything about me it seems.'
Sword god, a state of swordsmanship perfection and physical prowess nearly impossible for human beings. In my fourth life, I achieved it through endless suffering and training to hone my swordsmanship to the peak.
One move that I used to split continents and slay gods was the [Dragon's Fall], a downward cut on the cusp of ascension in its own right, fueled by Aura in just the right way and held at just the right angle to maximize the sword's weight and impact.
Of course, on Pandemonium I used Aura mixed with Prana to achieve god-like power and to add the weight of a divine mountain of heaven on my sword's edge, a mixture I couldn't yet achieve in New Pandora, so its effectiveness would only be a shadow of what it was.
"On 3"
"3..2"
"1!"
My entire journey from the dirtiest slums of a city in the enslaved demon lands to the peak of the heavenly mountains on Pandemonium flashed through my mind. Every single step, every single moment spent training, every single memory until I stood at the peak and sacrificed myself to seal away the [Darkest Light] that seemed to flow into my sword and condense into it.
"[Dragon's Fall]!"
*BOOM!*
Our swords clashed and debris covered the hall.
…