Chapter19

'This feels insane,' he thought, breathing rough but grinning a little anyway, 'I should not be this much faster than him.'

The guy pushed himself up with a snarl, blood on his lips now and humiliation written all over his face.

"You little shit," he said, voice shaking with anger. "I was going easy on you."

'Yeah, sure you were,' he thought, sword still up. 'Please keep lying to yourself and swing again.'

The man's face twisted harder after that, and the air around him suddenly changed. Mana surged off his body in a sharp burst while the two Shards around his arm flared brighter, and Hajin felt the pressure of it immediately.

'Oh,' he thought, the grin fading a little, 'there it is.'

Even without understanding much, he could tell this was different from before. The guy had been angry a second ago, but now he was actually about to use something real.

Before Hajin could decide whether to press in or back off, Cassie moved.

"Are you trying to die?" she snapped, stepping between them so fast that even Hajin blinked.

Her hand chopped down on the back of the man's neck with a clean hit, and his whole body went slack on the spot before collapsing face first into the dirt.

The clearing went quiet for a second before Cassie turned to Hajin and bowed so fast it almost looked rehearsed.

"I am sorry," she said. "He was completely out of line."

He stared at her, still breathing hard, the sword not lowering yet. Part of him felt disappointed, which was probably insane but still true, because he wanted to keep going and see what else this body could do now.

Deep down though, he knew that if that skill came out for real, the fight would have gotten ugly fast.

'I may be faster now,' he thought, looking at the unconscious man and then at the glowing Shards still fading around his arm, 'but I still don't have any abilities.'

He finally lowered the sword a little and gave her an awkward smile.