Chapter 143: Immortal Heart

Ishiki twisted his body at the last possible instant.

The jian’s blade stabbed into the stone wall where his chest had been a fraction of a second earlier. Purple flames erupted from the point of impact, but soon subsided.

’So he can even control the flames… that’s insane.’ ’ Ishiki thought as he rolled away.

He came up in a crouch, the bladeless tachi ready in his hands. His wound screamed protest—the half-healed gash in his side felt like it was tearing open with every movement, sending spikes of agony through his torso.

But pain was irrelevant in front of survival.

The skeleton withdrew the jian from the wall and turned to face him, those hollow eye sockets tracked his movements very effectively.

Previously when he bumped into the wall he realized the reason why the skeleton didn’t come inside earlier. It was because the wall mechanism was not so simple or it would have been exposed long ago.

’It seems to have some kind of lock that locks the wall every time the door turns and only opens after some time.’

The conclusion was logical and was very well true, because Ishiki was getting the black and white image of the doors interior because of his skill.

Both of them moved through the small room in a deadly dance. Ishiki parried most of the attacks and dodged even more than that because the invisible blade fazed through the jian many times.

After maintaining a bit of distance… Ishiki decided to do something crazy. He picked up a broken piece of wood and threw it at one of the lamps breaking it.

The intensity of the golden yellow light dimmed.

He did the same with all the four lamps and plunged the small room into perfect darkness.

In dark… he was at an advantage with his skill. He closed his eyes and used the black and white image that the skill created in his mind to fight.

The skeleton was shocked for a moment, Ishiki used the brief respite to reposition, putting the heavy table between himself and the skeleton.

They clashed again across the table.

Ishiki’s invisible blade struck at the skeleton’s ribcage with a thrust. But unexpectedly it fazed through the bones without cutting them.

Ishiki’s eyes widened as the skeleton twisted and caught the strike on its jian, and riposted with a speed that seemed impossible.

Its blade came within centimeters of Ishiki’s throat before he managed to lean back far enough to avoid decapitation.

Ishiki’s head slammed into the bookshelf and a myriad of books and documents from it fell down.

But the two continued to fight… between the attacks some caught fire from the jian and ceased to exist. Others were sliced apart by stray strikes, falling in neat pieces that drifted like snow.

The table itself didn’t survive long.

One of the skeleton’s strikes that was a powerful overhead slash that Ishiki barely managed to deflect—split the heavy wood straight down the middle. The two halves fell away from each other with a crash.

Ishiki used the falling debris as cover, rolling past the skeleton’s guard and coming up on its left side. He struck at its spine with a horizontal slash aimed at the vertebrae connecting the ribcage to the pelvis.

The invisible blade passed through the skeleton completely.

’What the…’ Ishiki gritted his teeth.

The skeleton’s counter came immediately. The jian swept back in a reverse grip, forcing Ishiki to throw himself away before the purple flames could touch him.

He landed badly. For some reason he was unable to cut the bones.

’Is the Aether Blade thinking of the bones as an armor and pass through them?’

It was one of the abilities of the bladeless tachi that allowed it to pass through defenses, it was an extremely useful ability. But right now… it was the worst.

He attacked again and his blade managed to pass through the skull this time without harming it. This attempt opened a small gash on his left soldier, thankfully he didn’t catch the purple flames.

Then Ishiki realized something that he should have before. ’The Skeleton is the High Priest… and its already dead but here because it cannot truly die before the emperor wills it to.’

The skeleton seemed to sense his realization. It pressed forward with renewed intensity, the jian moving in patterns that were too complex for Ishiki to fully track. Strike, parry, riposte, feint—an endless combination of attacks that forced Ishiki backward step by step.

Then he ducked low and suddenly pushed himself towards the skeleton. He bumped into the boney creature and immediately retreated.

The Skeleton tried to stab Ishiki but instead stabbed itself. The purple flames burned his robes leaving behind a naked skeleton.

And as they burned away from existence they reveled something that made Ishiki’s pupil dilate as much as they could.

The room was a wreck now. Both lamps destroyed, the table split and fallen, papers and glass and scattered sand covering the floor. There was not a speck of light in the absolute darkness, expect for the purple flames of the Jian.

’Fuck,’ Ishiki thought with feeling. ’Fuck fuck fuck.’

The skeleton had a heart which was now exposed. Furthermore… it was completely bound by golden illusory chains preventing it from withering away or stopping.

He somehow managed to not puke after looking at all the organs of the skeleton slowly rotting but still there working.

However his enemy didn’t think much of it and attacked again.

They clashed again in the center of the ruined room.

This time, Ishiki abandoned all pretense of defense. If the Blade thinks of the bone structure as an armor than he would simply attack the immortal heart.

’I just need to get close enough,’

Ishiki thought. ’Close enough to strike at that heart without getting erased by those purple flames first.’

Easier said than done.

Ishiki parried what he could and dodged what he couldn’t. His movements were becoming sluggish. Blood has started seeping through his shirt from the reopened wound, warm and wet against his skin.

’I’m running out of time,’ he realized. ’If this goes on much longer, I’ll collapse from blood loss before I get a chance to strike.’

He couldn’t outfight it or outlast it.

But maybe—he could outsmart it.

The skeleton lunged forward with a thrust aimed at Ishiki’s heart. Instead of dodging, Ishiki did something reckless.

He stepped into the attack, turning his body sideways so the jian passed just centimeters from his ribs.

The purple flames kissed his shirt, instantly consuming the fabric and leaving Ishiki’s upper body exposed.

But the gambit worked.

For just an instant, the skeleton was overextended, its momentum carrying it past Ishiki’s position. And in that instant, Ishiki saw his chance.

He pivoted on his heel, bringing the bladeless tachi around in a horizontal slash aimed not at the skeleton’s body, but…

At the chained heart within.

The invisible blade moved faster than thought. The edge that existed between worlds moved through the space where the golden chains held that withered organ in place.

The skeleton realized what was happening too late. It tried to pull back, but it was a failure.

The blade passed through the bones and continued its arc unimpeded, the invisible edge making contact with the the golden chains.

There was no sound of metal breaking. No shower of sparks or dramatic shattering.

The chain simply… separated and the heart withered at a very unnatural speed.

The skeleton froze and then fell to the ground with several clicks.

[You have slain a level 47, Adept Human]

[You have received 5,000 Data Fragments]

[You have Received a Vestige]

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