Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 196: Seeing Greatness

Chapter 196: Seeing Greatness

’Huh—’ Kazi blinked, finding himself facing the array of black weapons again.’ What the—? How am I here again? Why am I not dead?’

He deflected again, except this time, he knew exactly what to do. His brain memorized the precise angles and positions of the rain of weapons and defended accordingly. First, he pulled up Magic Barrier and had the sphere tank two swords. In the meantime, he slashed the empty air with Stormedge.

"Sacred Bulwark!"

And with the aid of his sword, he created a golden barrier to protect himself. It didn’t last very long but that was the point. He summoned another Sacred Bulwark and then another. "Sacred Bulwark! Sacred Bulwark!" It was a skill he made up on the fly, an imitation of the real thing that was sufficient enough to block five swords before breaking.

The incantation rang through his body, amplifying him. It might not have been the real thing but the mere uttering of the spell helped.

He kept creating, he kept blocking and blocking until the hundred-some rain of terror was over.

Jack might have worn a mask but there was no hiding the bewilderment. He didn’t say a thing, simply standing there and witnessing as Kazi regained all his mana in an instant. Unlike the vision, Kazi had no moment of weakness. He was full of raging mana and like a bolt of lightning his sword nicked his mask.

"Agh!" Jack’s previously lazy moves became orthodox and he met Kazi’s next strike with his full weight. No mana was added, he was fighting back through his weapon.

Crackle.

Jack shifted back as the triangular symbol in Kazi’s left eye became yellow.

’Super Spark Strike!’

Jack was not slow, Kazi was too fast. He sent the rapier sideways and his second Super Spark Strike nearly slashed apart that mask of his. A flicker of mana surged and Jack leaped back, narrowly avoiding the supercharged blade. Kazi chased after him, swinging his blade for that fatal blow. Every time he went for it, a quick surge of mana surged through Jack and he scarcely dodged it.

’Keep the pressure going!’

Swing, slash, slash!

’I think I understand! He’s limited by the mana of his body, thus he can only use careful and quick applications of Mastered Flow of Mana! His rapier, however, is S-class and he can often lean on that to fight without mana!’

Jack was Level 33 and underneath his black cloak he wore the Holy Knights’ uniform. ’A rough estimate: the rapier is S-class, the mask is A-class, the cloak is B-class, and the Holy Knights uniform is also B-class.’

Whereas Kazi was Level 75, wielded an A-class sword, wore an A-class belt, had over a thousand points in deftness, and an infinite well of mana inside him. The odds were even, more or less, with each of them having their own unnatural specializations. Kazi could think, react, plan, and execute ten steps ahead on the fly while Jack possessed magical understanding amplified by experience and talent.

Suddenly, his vision trembled and Kazi saw a burst of black lightning and—

Death.

’Another vision!’

Kazi immediately stopped chasing after him. Jack hit the city wall, his rapier crackling in a blue aura. His chest rose and fell rapidly, trapped between the city and Kazi.

But Kazi knew attacking would mean playing into his hands. ’I’m seeing the future somehow. The real future, not some prediction. It must be the new skill: Foresight. Activation seems to occur when I start getting into the zone to try and predict his moves. On top of that, there are four conditions. One, I blank out during battle. Two, I get disoriented. Three, the vision is brief and from my ocular perspective; and four, it uses up a third of my mana for a single usage.’

"Not going to attack?" Jack taunted.

Kazi lowered his blade. Talking wasn’t a waste of time in battle. In this case, to recover and plan, it was necessary. "Sorry about that. I’m still adjusting to this new eye of mine. I can only see a couple seconds into the future. If I had my old eye, I would be able to see ten seconds into the future. It’s throwing me off."

"Ha. What a pity indeed."

’Black lightning doesn’t seem to be the same as darkness. The Champion’s Belt won’t take into effect. But...that’s one of my advantages. Jack hasn’t landed a single darkness-based on me. He doesn’t know that those attacks will be reduced by ninety percent.’ A strange expression came over Kazi, solemn yet not hungry for blood. A sense of rationality that ignored the battle instincts in him for the sake of mind games. His mouth opened.

"I know who you are."

Jack stiffened. "What?"

"You were on the train but that wasn’t the first time we met, you know? I remember you. I remember you very well, Jack," Kazi said, taunting him in a low voice, "and I think I can say a couple things about you. First, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re not a normal player like the rest of us. Yes, up until now, you didn’t operate with a class. You didn’t need a class because all the necessary skills were already engraved inside you. You, Jack the Ripper, are a former player that reincarnated on Earth and returned here."

’You have to be.’

"Your name, I know that too," Kazi continued. "It’s quite the surprise to see a man of your stature acting like a serial killer. Marta would be disappointed."

Jack didn’t speak. He must have been waiting for his mana to regenerate. Just as Kazi wanted.

Ten seconds passed and Jack began laughing. "Are you kidding me? Really? You fucking gods really aren’t as infallible as you say you are. Do you see this? He knows! He knows who I am!"

Jack laughed and laughed until he was sighing and giggling. Shoulders shaking, his black dot eyes stared right at Kazi. "Haa...I made a wish once to prevent anyone from deducing my identity. They can neither speak it, write it, or expose it. And if they do any of the following, they instantly forget my name and my identity. But you..." Jack raised a finger, chuckling and wagging the finger. "You keep forgetting over and over and over again, and then in an instant...you deduce it again. I never expected a genius of your calibre to even exist, much less get in my way."

The rain slowly stopped.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter...

"I’m going to kill you. You’re worthy—you’re more than worthy—but you’re going to get in the way of my plans." Jack pointed his rapier at him. "It’s nothing personal. You are just too great, Kazi Hossain."

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