Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 2161: Perfect Whetstone

Aramen glanced at Adam with mild amusement.

Back inside the secret plane, the two of them had been at the same rank. Aramen himself was already at the peak of the Templar Rank, while Adam had only recently advanced to that rank.

He was confident in dealing with the youth back then. But he did not. Because Adam was critical to their survival and the battle against the vampires.

And Aramen was right. If it hadn’t been for Adam, the outcome of the Blood Moon Secret Plane could have been vastly different.

He owed the youth that much, at least.

But now, a decade later, Aramen had become a Transcendent Paladin while Adam remained in the same rank.

Where did the boy’s confidence stem from?

That was what was amusing.

"So you’re shagging that girl now, is it?" he asked with a light chuckle. "Ah, love. It has a way of robbing even the wisest men of their reason, driving them headfirst into moral peril for the sake of someone who may never be worth the price."

"Don’t get philosophical on me, you little rat," Adam growled. "Come. Let me send you to your maker."

Aramen’s eyes narrowed. If it weren’t for the youth’s prowess, he wouldn’t have bothered talking so much. He valued talent. And Adam was talented.

"One final chance, boy. Join me. Your transgressions will be forgiven. Become my right hand. The Iron Covenant has great plans for the West Coast. Davos is doomed. The Free City Alliance is doomed. Don’t fight for the losing side."

Adam stared at the old man for a few moments.

"Tell me what your plans are," he said. "Then I’ll consider."

Aramen snickered. "Don’t insult my intelligence, boy. You’re better than that."

"Fuck you then." Adam’s grip around his weapon’s hilt tightened slowly.

Aramen sighed. "So be it."

He reached for the sword sheathed to his belt.

But Adam was quicker.

The Viper turned into a blur as it danced through the air, aimed at the old man’s neck.

Seeing that it was a normal whip rather than the metallic one he had seen the boy use in the secret plane, Aramen scoffed. He calmly raised his left hand to block the attack while his right gripped the hilt of his sword and drew it.

The Viper coiled around Aramen’s hand. Adam tugged, but the old man did not budge. Instead, Aramen wrapped the whip further around his forearm and pulled the youth closer.

Aramen suddenly felt a chill crawl down his spine. The black whip around his left hand began to tighten, squeezing his flesh. Its edges grew sharper and sharper and sharper.

Until...

Splat!

The Viper transformed.

The flexible whip instantly hardened into a razor-sharp blade, slicing through Araman’s left hand and severing it into several pieces.

Blood sprayed across the floor.

For a moment, the old man simply stared. His eyes slowly traveled from his severed hand lying on the ground to the bloody stump where his left hand had once been.

Then the pain hit him.

But he didn’t have time to register the agony. Adam was already upon him like a raging river. The black blade in his hand was over a meter long, its sharp edge hurtling toward Aramen’s neck with the cold promise of death.

Clang!

Aramen brought his sword up just in the nick of time to block the attack.

Adam didn’t give his opponent any room to breathe. The moment his strike was blocked, he pivoted and twirled like a lithe dancer, his movements resembling a river flowing smoothly around an obstacle.

In less than a blink of an eye, Adam flanked his opponent and delivered a spinning side kick to the liver. Mana erupted from his Seed and coursed through his hips and leg before he unleashed a devastating attack.

Bam!

Aramen flew away like a ragdoll, smashing through crates and pillars before crashing through the wall and slamming into a tree, breaking it in half.

The old man quickly emerged from the debris, utterly bewildered. He had managed to block the kick by coating his torso in mana, so the pain wasn’t that great. It was manageable.

The shock of Adam’s strange weapon was immediately dwarfed by his fighting prowess.

Aramen had never seen something so... beautiful.

He had been a sword practitioner for so long, yet he had never witnessed a sword style so smooth and sharp, gentle and raging.

Of course, there were hardly any people on Myrrandor who had witnessed the Flowing River. For as long as anyone could remember, Hannibal had never drawn his blade. He never had to.

Adam emerged from the hole in the wall, not pressing his advantage. He rested the Viper on his shoulder as he glanced at Aramen with a sneer.

"What’s the matter, rat? Where’s all that hubris gone?"

Thanks to Aramen’s superior physiology, the bleeding in his left arm had already stopped. Although it hurt like hell, at the very least, he wouldn’t die of blood loss. And he wasn’t a Magus that losing a hand would make him a dud on the battlefield.

"Where did you learn to wield the sword like that?" he asked solemnly.

"Why, you like it?" Adam asked with a toothy grin.

Aramen did not reply. With his gaze still fixed on Adam, he scanned the surroundings with his senses.

Out of the four Cavaliers he had sent earlier, two were already dead. The remaining were still engaged with the enemy. The enemy numbered... only one. And it was a weak one. Merely a Mana Core Magus.

A plan began to form inside Aramen’s mind.

"You’ll never catch her," Adam said frankly. "Unless you can teleport, that is."

"Her?" Aramen’s eyes narrowed.

"It’s the same girl you sold to the ghouls." Adam’s smile turned cold.

"She’s a kind girl, you know. She might not want to torture you. Perhaps, grant you a quick death." Adam’s smile twisted his face malevolently. "But I’m not so kind. Maybe I’ll cut the rest of your limbs. Poison you. Prolong your torture. Then, I’ll serve you to her. What do you think?"

Aramen’s expression turned dark. He gripped his sword with his only remaining hand, preparing for battle.

Meanwhile, Adam was just trying to mess with his mind.

He knew very well that the only reason he now had an upper hand was that his opponent did not expect his whip to turn into a sharp blade.

Adam had taken him by surprise and won the first exchange. Every exchange from here on out would depend entirely on his skills.

Aramen would become the perfect whetstone.

Adam got into a stance, the Viper held low and pointed sideways to the ground.

"I’ll go easy on you, rat." He taunted.

"I won’t be using spells. So, come. Show me what you got."