Rivers of the Night-Chapter 315: Grace?

Chapter 315: Grace?

Chopra’s feet stood rooted into the ground, his face having shifted to the side. The hints of surprise in his eyes seemed just as resounding as the change to his strength.

Large swaths of puppets had been washed away as though tidal waves had hit them. But Theron had still managed to make it through his wall of Mana, humiliating him just the same.

And then Theron took a flip back, landing calmly on the surface of the fortress’ moat without the slightest care. Water beneath Theron’s feet rippled, [Aqua Resonance] taking shape once more to heal the new injuries to his fist.

Theron looked down at his hand, feeling that Chopra was indeed far stronger now. No, not just him, but the inner armor he was wearing no longer seemed suppressed. It didn’t just reflect his damage anymore—it absorbed it, amplified it, and then sent it back.

It was that difference that made it feel as though his entire hand had almost just exploded just now.

This wasn’t something any normal treasure could do, but it also wouldn’t be accurate to say that Chopra was relying on a treasure either.

That counterattack was the product of Chopra’s Soul Mana. It was only capable of churning up Theron’s attack and reflecting it like that because of Chopra’s exceptional skill and his comprehension of the Runes.

It was a common misnomer in this world that those who relied on treasures were weak. Maybe that was the case for non-Soul Mancers in many instances. But the raw truth was that the treasures Soul Mancers could control—and their skill in doing so—was simply beyond what any other Mancy Path was capable of.

Even if Theron was given the exact same armor, he wouldn’t be able to do what Chopra had done…

At least not without a great deal of practice. And that was saying a lot for him.

However, all of these assessments about Chopra’s skills were practically just numbers on a page to Theron. He chewed them up like a Runic Algorithm and deciphered them as though any other cipher. He stored the information in his mind and prepared to adjust his combat style.

Theron exhaled another icy breath and took a step forward.

Streams of water followed after him, [Water Wraps] forming in the air like curling cyclones of blue.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

They slammed into the ground heavily, activated with [Pressure Burst] to take out more of the ground, but each one missed Chopra’s main body as he almost elegantly dodged.

Even now, Chopra still didn’t seem to have recovered from being hit, but Theron was taking action once again.

The boiling blood in Chopra’s body was starting to turn to rage. He loved fighting powerful opponents, and Theron might very well be that, but this wasn’t the sort of battle he wanted.

Theron had no interest in conversation, no interest in exchange. He didn’t care to wait to see Chopra exert his full strength or reveal his true power. If Theron had had the chance to kill him earlier, he would have long since taken it.

Even when Chopra began to laugh, making it obvious that he had more to give, Theron didn’t even blink an eye—he was already on the way with another attack.

There was no honor, no sense of class or showmanship. There were none of the ideals that made Chopra love battle so much.

Where was the spectacle? Where was the cinematic desire to fall on one’s sword as a warrior? Where was the pride? The sense of bravery?

The grace?

There was none of it, and it well and truly infuriated Chopra.

“You are not a warrior that I recognize,” Chopra spoke in a voice as cold as ice and as deep as the depths of the night. His tone rumbled, and the Runes on his body sprang to life.

Theron didn’t seem to have heard Chopra speak. He appeared in the midst of the splashing waters and the heavy mist. Chopra had pointed his blade forward, a churning mass of Soul Mancy taking shape as his Quasi-Gold aura bloomed to full force along with a Resonance that towered over anything Theron had ever sensed before.

The blade of the spear suddenly extended, fast and quick like lightning, appearing before Theron’s brows in an instant.

Theron ducked and rolled to the side, his body moving as though it didn’t need time to react to his decisions at all. He had a thought, and it executed.

However, by the time he had stood to his feet, Chopra’s blade had already been retracted. It was all so fast that there was no time to take advantage of the extended weapon at all, eliminating its greatest weakness.

Pa. Pa. Pa. Pa.

Theron reacted by sending a series of [Water Bullets] through the air, each one fast and heavy, with the piercing power of real blades.

There was a ripple from Chopra’s armor as they shattered an entire two meters from him. Without missing a beat, the “Sangun” had already swung the blade again. The blade extended again, but this time Theron felt that something was off about it.

There was a calm flash in Theron’s eyes as he dodged toward the blade.

Chopra was taken aback, but Theron passed right through the blade as though it wasn’t there at all, [Pressure Burst] erupting beneath his feet to cut across the blade just as an attack was coming from the back.

Chopra’s spear blade looked like it was coming from the front, but it was actually attacking the back of Theron’s head. Had Theron dodged like he had before, his head would have been run right through.

It seemed that the blade had spatial capabilities, at least on a limited scale. No, not just that—but it mixed in illusion with it as well. These should be the three factors that gave Chopra’s spear its strength, and controlling all of them certainly took a skilled Soul Mancer.

But did it matter with Theron’s sensitivity and sensory perception?

This time, Chopra’s blade was much slower to retract, as expected. But what could Theron even do when Chopra’s energy shield was still up?

Chi.

Chopra’s eyes widened.