Steel flashed—so quick, so ruthless—that the air itself shrieked as the blade lunged for Jared’s chest. Flaxseed’s face drained of color. “Watch it!” he cried. Jared’s eyes narrowed to a single point of focus. Power surged through his veins, and in a heartbeat the Dragonslayer Sword leapt into his grip. He pivoted, meeting the oncoming strike head-on. The collision rang through the street like church bells at dawn.
Twin swords locked, spraying a shockwave that rippled over storefronts and set every hanging sign buzzing. Jared tasted iron in the back of his throat; numbing force crawled up his arm and shoved him two paces backward. The white-robed woman—Lyra Snowdon—also staggered a step, surprise flickering behind her steady gaze.
“Your sword technique...” Lyra studied the black blade and the simple arc Jared had just carved through space. Wonder widened her eyes. “That was the Sword Sect’s Flowing-Cloud Form, wasn’t it? Even unfinished, its rhythm is unmistakable.”
She recognized it? I only copied a few moves from the ruins back on level three. The revelation struck Jared harder than the clash of steel.
“I’ve never heard of any Sword Sect,” Jared said, lowering the Dragonslayer Sword yet keeping his weight poised to spring. “What you saw is something I developed on my own.”
Lyra shook her head, midnight hair swaying like a blade of its own. “Impossible. The essence of the Sword Sect lives in that strike. I could never mistake it. Who are you, really? Were you trained by the Sect?”
Jared held her stare and offered only silence, unwilling to claim a lineage long turned to dust.
“My name is Lyra Snowdon,” she said more gently. “I’m a disciple of the fallen Sword Sect. If you bear that legacy, then we are family, not enemies—there’s no need to fight.”
“I told you—I’m no disciple.” Jared’s brow furrowed. “So what is it you want from me?”
So she did rise from level three. Jared exhaled. “I found a ruined gate on that level, and practiced a few patterns etched on the walls. I didn’t know it belonged to your Sect until this moment.”
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