"Ah..." Only realizing the strength he had put into his attack as the blades of energy cut through Valyr's fireballs, Jekyll's pupils narrowed as he felt a bit of concern towards the young man's condition. "I didn't severely injure him... did I?"
"Haah... haah... haah..." Fortunately, after a few seconds of silence, Jekyll heard the sounds of strained breathing echoing from where the young man previously stood, anxiously waiting to see Valyr's condition as he fixated his gaze in the sound's general direction.
"You almost killed me, you know?" By the time the dust had settled, which had been stirred up by the blades of energy he had sent, Jekyll was greeted by the sight of a slightly injured Valyr, his body now sporting a few lacerations on his arms and upper torso.
Though, as he was wearing his Nascent Wyvern Armor, these lacerations only went through the scales making up the armor's outer layer at most, with the blunt force from the blades doing most of the damage on the young man.
"I know you're enjoying the game of chase we're doing, but don't you think you went a bit too far there?" Frowning, Valyr looked at Jekyll just as the latter had let out a faint sigh of relief, only for him to let out a sigh of his own soon after.
Although it seemed as if the blades of energy had made full contact with Valyr's body after it had cut through the fireballs he had sent out to intercept it, as the one who had to combat against it, Valyr knew that it wasn't the case.
At the very instant he cursed at the moment he noticed the blades cut through the couple orbs of crimson flame he had sent out, he swiftly activated [Intermediate Wind Manipulation] to its fullest, hoping to create a gust of wind strong enough to slow down the speed of the blades.
Sadly, the decrease in speed only amounted to a few percent at most. However, that was more than enough for the young man to distance himself a bit further from the blades as he then sent out a barrage of attacks using [Intermediate Earth Magic Style].
Having to cut through tons of earth, the power that was contained in the blades of energy began to diminish bit by bit. If not for the fact that he had run out of mana after having to use it wantonly to save himself, there probably wouldn't be any remnant energy from the blades that would have collided with his armor.
'Intents are scary,' Hearing Jekyll apologize to him that he went a bit too far, Valyr could not help but shudder at the strength the man's Intent gave him. After all, a normal attack from Jekyll imbued with Intent was more than enough to kill someone him, an anomaly among Rank 2 class holders.
'After the inheritance, I should evolve to Rank 3 and get my hands on an Intent as quickly as possible.' Being reminded of the might Intents gave a person after having witnessed it once more, Valyr made a mental reminder that he made sure to not forget as he returned his attention back to reality.
"Should we continue?" Feeling a bit guilty from the fact that he had almost killed his inheritor, as well as a genius that would possibly become renowned throughout the world in the future, Jekyll's will to continue their game of chase had reduced to nothing, looking at Valyr with a slightly apologetic gaze.
"Well, it would be a shame if our game ended without a clear winner," said Valyr in response, moving closer to the man. "Then again, with how you're giving me the feeling that you want to end it here, it's not like it would be right to force you to continue either."
"Oh no. I actually don't have a problem with continuing." Hearing that Valyr was fine continuing their game of chase, Jekyll looked at him with slightly widened eyes. "It's just that... I fear that I might end up doing the same thing again."
"If that happens, then you better help me out in stopping it at the very least," replied Valyr, hoping to lighten the mood with his words.
"...yeah, I was actually pretty stupid not to dispel that." Thankfully, the young man's words had worked its charm, causing Jekyll to let out a chuckle.
"So... ready for round two?" Giving Jekyll some time to think over things, Valyr eventually offered to continue their game of chase after waiting for a couple of minutes.
"Yeah. Thanks." Nodding in response, Jekyll began to distance himself from Valyr as he told the man to prepare himself.
Whoosh!
After Jekyll gave another sign that signalled the continuation of their game of chase, Valyr activated all of his buffing skills once more, allowing him to close the gap between them within seconds.
"Intent of Lightning!" With his eyes flashing a bright cyan once more, Jekyll imbued his wooden staff with the energy of his Intent before slashing out in a cross, forcing Valyr to dispel the magic spell he was conjuring as he distanced himself from the man once more.
"You know... it's starting to become kind of annoying that none of my attacks have had any effect on you." After dodging a couple more attacks Jekyll had sent his way, Valyr said this to his opponent.
"Well, it's probably because I have an Intent," said Jekyll in response, moving his wooden staff to the side. "On second thought, it's definitely because I have an Intent."
"You could surmount the gap in our stats with buffing skills, but having access to an Intent is something you can't surmount that easily," he continued. "Of course, if you were Rank 3 and not Rank 2, things would be different."
"I'd probably still lose." Valyr bitterly smiled, deciding to grab the blood red spear behind his back. "After all, I wouldn't have had much time to practice with my Intent."
"Wait... don't you have a curse that stops you from using weapons?" Noticing that Valyr was grabbing the spear behind his back, Jekyll instantly felt an odd sense of unease all of a sudden.
"To be more exact, it's a curse that discourages me from using weapons," said Valyr in response. "In any case, since I don't have an Intent of my own that would fight against yours, I've decided to use something else instead."
"And that would be...?"
"An overwhelmingly large skill."
...
...
...
"[Shadow Serpent Style]!"
"[Tide of the Dark Night]!"
