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"Get back here! Dishonorable… filthy…" A fully powered mage charged at Ike, his eyes glowing under his hood. He emanated a high Rank 3 aura. A purple sword materialized in his hand, and he swept it at Ike.

Ike hopped back. As he did, he stomped on one of the downed mages. "What\'s more dishonorable? This, or killing innocents to steal their strength and force them to fight as soulless puppets?"

"You don\'t understand. It\'s necessary for our new world," the man snarled. He leaped at Ike again.

Ike backpedaled. Lightning flashed around his ankles, coiling up his whole body. At the same time, he clad himself in ice. "Wisp, you got this? My hands are full."

"Yep!" Wisp dashed away, focusing on their original task.

The man pointed his sword at Ike. "When I finish dismantling you, I will stomp her to death like you stomped my comrades to death."

"Ironic," Ike said. Since she\'s a spider.

"Yeah, try me, fucker! See who gets stomped!" Wisp shouted from nearby.

The man with the purple sword paused. He squinted. "No."

"Yes?" Ike said, lost.

"You\'re that boy. The one who stole the skill. I saw you. It was my job to clean up the idiots who thought they could steal lovely Rosamund\'s skills… and I chose to go after the other people, the ones who actually emanated an aura, not you."

Ike blinked. He thought back to that day. The ruined field, destroyed by a landslide. The forest. The beautiful party, high overhead. And then… the explosion. The skills, raining down. The mages who descended after them. And one of them—

"Ah! It\'s you!" he shouted, suddenly remembering. "The man in purple! That guy who dropped out of the sky and killed that woman right next to me! Holy shit, I totally forgot you! I thought I was dead in the moment, but damn. Yeah, thanks. If you\'d killed me, I\'d be dead right now, and not a mage, huh."

"Indeed."

"Do you feel bad about it? About killing all those ordinary innocent people. Any of them could have been mages. Any of them could have grown stronger than you. I\'m the only one lucky to slip through your grasp, but… do you ever think of them? Ever wonder what could have been? If you hadn\'t cut their life short, if they\'d been able to become mages…"

The man tossed off his hood. He glared at Ike, his face exactly as Ike remembered it. His lip lifted. "Better to cut them off at the root, rather than face a bunch of filthy peasants who\'ve grown too big for their britches."

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"Ha! I guess for someone in power, it\'s more dangerous for one of us to potentially, maybe, pose the threat of surpassing you one day, rather than simply killing us all dead. Heh! Why even bother keeping mortals around?" Ike taunted him.

"I ask that every day," the man rumbled. He raised his sword.

"Weren\'t you mortal, once?"

"And I would be happy to have been the last." The man lunged at Ike.

Ike jumped back. With Lightning Dash and Lightning Clad, he could outspeed the man, but even then, he couldn\'t see an opening to fight back. The man\'s sword moved deftly. As if he predicted Ike\'s every move, he was already there before Ike landed. Already slashing where Ike would step next. Already stabbing where Ike would be. Only Ike\'s superior reflexes and speed kept him from getting seriously injured, but he had no room to maneuver. Not even room to draw his sword.

The man\'s blows glanced off his Ice Armor more than once, chipping bits of ice to the floor. Ike grimaced. He surged aether into his Lightning Clad. With the next glancing strike, lightning coursed up the man\'s blade. The man flinched back, startled.

Ike drew his blade in the moment\'s gap. He leaped in again, stabbing at the man\'s heart.

The man parried him back. Ike might have had the upper hand on speed and reflex, but the man clearly had the upper hand on strength. The blow slammed into Ike\'s sword and almost knocked it out of his hand. He stumbled backward.

Not waiting, the man closed in on him. He stabbed with one hand, while his other hand gathered strength. Purple light swirled around his forearm and hand. It took on a pale, scintillating color, almost like the palest purple of dawn.

Ike batted the blow away. He fired back with a Shockwave Punch, forcing the man back. Whatever that purple skill was, he didn\'t like the looks of it. It looked dangerous. Reminded him almost of the way Tempest felt.

I don\'t have the time to cast Tempest to counter it. I need to interrupt him, before he can finish putting mana into the skill. Ike called up his skills even as he fought, searching for something that could interrupt the man.

[Name: Ike | Age: 17 | Status: Nm | Rank: 3 [Homeowner]]

Skills: Common: 8 | Bronze 5 | Silver 3 | Gold 2 | Rare 2 | Unique: 6

Common: All-Around Runner Lvl 9 | Razor Handling Lvl 9 | Spear Handling Lvl 4 | Axe Handling Lvl 4 | Sword Handling Lvl 9 | Bow Handling Lvl 1 | Primitive Crafting Lvl 9 | Self-Cleaning Lvl 1

Bronze: Throwing Knife Lvl 1 | Sensory Enhancement Lvl 9 | Mana Manipulation Lvl 6 | Lunam Manipulation Lvl 0 | Aether Manipulation Lvl 2 | Solam Manipulation Lvl 0

Silver: Flurry of Kicks Lvl 4 | Chlorophyll Lvl 3 | Exsanguination Lvl 1

Gold: Shockwave Punch Lvl 6 | Ice Armor Lvl 5

Rare: River-Splitting Sword Lvl 9 | Mountain\'s Weight Lvl 1

Unique: Lightning Dash Lvl 9 | Lightning Grasp Lvl 9 | Lightning Clad Lvl 4 | Lightning Caller Lvl 4 | Body Reforging Art Lvl 1 | Tempest Lvl 2

He grimaced. He didn\'t have the greatest selection of offensive skills. The only ones he hadn\'t used yet were Tempest and Exsanguination. And—Wait, hold on. I forgot about that one.

The man ran at him once more. Ike rushed to meet him. As they closed in, he leaped into the air and unleashed a devastating Flurry of Kicks at the man\'s head. The man blocked with his blade.

"Ha, good thought." Ike surged aether into Lightning Clad and Lightning Dash. His feet blurred. Lighting snarled around his feet, zapping into the man\'s blade and hands. The man stepped backward, struggling to take on the full might of Ike\'s feet.

Overhead, the storm that had only just dissipated began to build once more. Dark clouds covered the sky. Lightning flickered in their depths.

The man jumped back. He glared at Ike. "You got it, didn\'t you? The Unique skill."

"Lightning Dash? Sure did," Ike said. There was no point denying it. Not at this point. He and this man were going to fight to the death. Even if the man somehow survived, Lord Brightbriar already had enough reason to want Ike dead, whether he got his Unique skill back or not. It wasn\'t even his only Unique skill anymore.

"I should have killed you."

"Should\'ve, but you didn\'t."

The man\'s eyes flashed purple. "I\'ll fix that. Now!"

He shoved his free hand forward. Wild purple light burst from his free hand.

Oh shit! Ike threw up his arms, casting Ice Armor with all his strength.