What she didn't know was that Felix wasn't 'struggling' to stay on his feet because of his injuries; they had healed to perfection. He was only trying to contain the sudden explosive power ravaging his system and needed to channel it somewhere else… on something or someone.
Jessica arrived before him in a flash with her signature move: her leg whipping at his head.
Felix maintained a crouched position as he channeled the excessive energy across his body.
Jessica snickered just as her foot was about to impact Felix's head, when his arm suddenly flared to life and shot out, grabbing hold of her ankle at the last minute.
Her eyes widened in surprise as Felix managed to effortlessly stop her kick this time. But before she could retreat, his nails dug deep into her ankle and she suddenly felt a forceful pull at her vitality that left her momentarily weakened and disoriented.
The next moment she found herself weightless, watching the fall of the raindrops from the dark clouds, before her back hit the wet ground.
—
[LIFE SURGE Lv1 | Active/Passive]
Active:
At level 1, the user has the ability to siphon the vitality of an enemy from an inflicted injury to replenish their own. 5% chance to stun the enemy.
Passive:
Siphons the residual vitality of all fallen enemies within a 10-meter radius to replenish the user's own.
—
Felix didn't stop at sweeping her foot off the floor; he brought his foot up, channeling the residual excessive energy into it, and stomping down hard at the Sage's gut.
Jessica was quick, avoiding the stomp by only mere inches to her groin in a desperate crawl back. Her heart quickened when she looked down to see a crater form beneath Felix's foot from the sheer impact.
Felix didn't hesitate to use his other foot in a smooth sync to deliver a brutal kick in her face while she was stunned from his first attack, sending her toppling over.
He wasn't satisfied. He oddly felt nostalgic, reminiscing on the boots he used to work at mines back on Earth.
But he wasn't stupid.
He quickly scanned the field for another dummy sword, as the former had been destroyed, and on sighting one a bit of a distance, he willed it into his grasp.
[TELEKINESIS Lv1 >>> Lv2 | Active]
The sword flew to him with much force and efficiency now, and he caught it awkwardly midair. He needed to work on that.
Jessica was already on her feet, seething in rage with the dirt imprint of a delicate foot on her face. At that moment, a coil began snaking around her arms and whipped out, cackling with electricity.
Felix wasn't intimidated. For some reason, with the [OVERDEATH] skill activated, he felt hardly moved by anything; like his emotions were being suppressed, replaced by a cold, logical beast.
The Sage blurred from her position as the sound of lightning filled the air. It was obvious to Felix now that Jessica had a speed-type class system. And another thing being the fact that she wasn't already before him on her next whip attack told him her class system was below the A-Rank.
That explained so much about her hidden irritation at his earlier statement and frustrations. So, in other words, he wasn't a random scapegoat to vent on. He was specifically targeted.
This was all speculation, though. Felix wasn't a hundred percent sure of it, but the fact that he could think this far and clear in the span of a few seconds, unlike just a few minutes ago before the activation of the [Overdeath] skill, brought a smug grin to his face.
[+0.5 Wisdom]
[+0.5 Perception]
Felix didn't wait to be a sitting duck as the Sage made rounds around him in a flash, leaving only afterimages coated in lightning. A cowardly move if you asked Felix.
He swiftly began heading towards the edge of the training field where she could only attack from a limited angle.
The first attack quickly came with a thunderous clap from the cackling whip, giving out its location to the sharp-minded Felix.
—
[Blade Aura Lv1 | Active]
At level 1, the user can conjure an unforgiving aura to coat their blade and corrupt every wound made, making the enemy unable to self-heal for a short duration.
—
At this point, Felix was starting to feel like his class system was simply bugged, as he half expected the skill to be activated on the dummy sword, when it instead ate deep into its wood and transformed it into a cracked, charred sword.
From the cracks, one could see and feel the fiery heat of the flame that burned deep within it. Coated by a reddish, hazy hue.
This was no longer the dummy sword he once wielded. This was an unforgiving weapon born straight from the underworld.
The blade cut through the wind with a flick of Felix's wrist, clashing with the tail of the lightning whip.
Bang!
The weapons collided with the roar of a thunderstorm.
At this point, it was impossible for those in the banquet not to hear the sound of battle, and they began showing up at the field's sidelines one after the other.
Neither Felix nor Jessica seemed to acknowledge their presence as their weapons clashed, again and again.
Felix was starting to get irritated at the Sage's cowardly moves by striking him from invisible points. He had already been hit once playing defense, and was ready to go offensive now.
The whip's thunderous snap came again, but this time Felix neither parried nor deflected it. He let it hit him squarely and in that split moment grabbed hold of the whip, grinding his teeth as high voltages of electricity passed through his body. But it was effective at stopping the Sage's erratic movement.
Felix didn't miss the opportunity, channeling the excessive energy into his arms this time around and forcefully tugging at the whip.
Jessica lost her balance as she involuntarily flew with the momentum towards Felix, and before she could counterattack, he had already grabbed onto her face and slammed her head into the ground.
He didn't give her the opportunity to recover from the hit and quickly pinned her to the ground, pressing his knee against her chest so she couldn't breathe, then brought down the sword, embedding it deep into the ground just a few inches away from the Sage's head.