A Man Like None Other

Ricky barely registered the blur before Jared was upon him. The Dragonslayer Sword gleamed in Jared’s hands, its lethal arc already driving toward Ricky’s chest.

Instinct took over as Ricky raised his blade in a desperate defense, but the sheer power behind Jared’s strike was unrelenting.

Spurt!

A heartbeat later, Jared’s blade punched through his guard, piercing his chest with ruthless precision. A crimson torrent erupted, staining the ground as Ricky staggered back.

His eyes widened, a cocktail of shock and disbelief twisting his features.

Jared stepped closer, withdrawing the Dragonslayer Sword in a fluid, almost casual motion. “I warned you,” he said, his voice like steel on stone. “But you had to court disaster.”

Lying on the ground, Niel watched the scene unfolding before his eyes. When he saw Ricky pierced through by Jared’s sword, he was utterly devastated.

He had initially believed he was spared from death, that he had been saved. But now, he found himself devoid of hope. Even if Ricky could have managed just a few moves against Jared, it might have bought enough time for his brother to rescue him. But Ricky was taken down in just two moves-slaughtered as easily as a chick.

The arcane array set up by Ricky and the other guards, something they had invested heavily in and cultivated through countless nights, had failed to withstand even a single strike from Jared’s sword.

you…” Ricky gasped, fresh blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes brimming with regret

with Claude and knew Jared was no pushover, he had never imagined him to be this overwhelmingly strong. Even the prison’s painstakingly cultivated arcane array had been broken so effortlessly. If he had

from the prison. Compared to losing his life,

thought crossed his mind, and

life, but you must do something for me,” Jared said,

the matter?” Ricky

and pointed it at Niel, who lay helpless on the ground. “If you

Ricky hesitated, his face

seconds to decide,” Jared said coldly. “Either you die,

could feel the suffocating weight of Jared’s murderous intent. Trembling, he gripped his sword and

I hope you can understand my predicament. After all, I have an elderly mother to care for and a child to raise.” As he spoke,

and fury, a desperate edge sharpening his

imagined Jared would go so far as to incite Ricky to kill him. It was a

a problem for the future,” Ricky muttered, his tone resigned. “Right now,

waiting another moment, Ricky tightened his grip on the long