Chapter 1152 - Panda VS Fox -Part 2 -unedited
"Damn, note to self. Please test out your powers first when you first obtain them." Jin thought to himself when he found himself surprised that the ice pillar and the fire he was conjuring right now was different from what he was used to. When Jin conjured his Astral Fire, he figured it had something to do with the readjustment of his chi and mana circuits because the quality of the element seemed so much different from usual.
From the combustion of the plasma rapidly emitting both heat and light at the same time to the amount of energy that was used to produce this intensity, Jin was wholly in awe with his own magic that it was a pity he could not enjoy admiring it at this current moment. If the past training within his subconscious had shown any results, the new placement of his circuits had finally allowed him to produce the elements he wanted precisely.
No fancy black, white or whatever colour staining his elemental energy. Just pure chi and magical power coursing through his veins and into his palm without any difficulties conjuring it out. The rigorous training from the past two weeks to utilise his entire chi and mana circuit to create his particular fire energy had paid off. Even the Ice Pillar he shot out was done in a breath's cycle which was a feat to behold if it was made known by manipulators of ice from both schools of cultivation and magic.
After Kraft destroyed Jin's living block of ice pillar, he continued to hold the Astral Fire energy by his hand while waiting for the opportunity to have a good close up hit before dishing the damage out. Given how each of them was high grade cultivators, Jin reckoned that Kraft would simply avoid it if he were to throw it out like a fireball. Of course, he might be able to control and manipulate the energy he threw but this was a fight where a slight mistake could cause the battle to tip the enemies' favour. This was no place for any trial and error, and the only thing he could do was take actions that had the highest probability to injure the opponent. Hence, it was best to keep the hit close and clean so that Kraft could feel the pain of his newly obtained powers.
But Kraft had no idea of Jin's drastic change even though he did sense the increase of Maqi from his current foe. So, even as the Old Fox moved towards Jin at a steady pace, he did not bother much since he believed Jin's Maqi amounted to nothing especially when he had seen all the fights his master had been in before. However as he was about to rush, he saw a shimmer of the broken ice pillar right beside him and that prompted him to have a quick thought.
"Hmm, even as I do not wish to admit it, that change in colour of his elemental fire does pose a bit of concern if I were to take into account his previous ice pillar manoeuvre even though I had blocked it with my weapon. The strength was considerable compared to the previous bouts I remembered and he is not letting his guard down at all..." Kraft could see that
Thus, he rushed in once more but this time, with a bit of trick.
He switched his No Mercy back to gun mode and sprayed chi energy blasts with his gun. Once he got closer to Jin, it transformed back into the scythe springing towards the Panda. And as usual, the scythe was beaming with Kraft's ominous powers that forced Jin to reevaluate the necessity for a counterattack.
This caused Jin to hold his fire literally and converted his Astral Fire energy into Astral Rock Energy, allowing him to create a slab of rock to block all the incoming attacks. Unfortunately, the shots penetrated through the rock walls and Kraft quickly inserted more of his chi into his Scythe to perform multiple cuts at once.
It was pretty obvious that Jin had cornered himself in the worst possible way and the Foxes who were spectating believed Kraft would claim first blood in this fight.
But the System did not indicate any deaths or injuries and when the dust settled, it revealed there was no blood there on sight, forcing Kraft to stay on his toes.
"Oh did Jin burrow his way out of danger?!" Kiyu squeaked excitedly as she was surprised Jin found a way to escape. The slight rumbling everyone eventually felt confirmed that something was coming out right from Kraft's feet given their keen senses.
And then as the ground erupted, the spikes zoomed right into the target without mercy, causing Kraft to smirk a little...until he felt a stab at the side of his shoulders.
It was an astral energy projection of a knife and Jin was panting with a peace symbol behind the slab of broken walls. The Foxes at the bench were bewildered by the change in battle.
"Ohohoho! First blood goes Jin! This is quite unexpected!" Pei clapped and the others were discussing what happened. The only deduction they could make was that Jin dug his way through the ground upon evading the series of attacks and subsequently returned to his original position without portraying any Maqi. Or perhaps he had spread his Maqi underground to confuse Kraft while he crawled his way back to the surface.
"That eruption was most probably a delayed Maqi Explosion. But to keep Kraft from even detecting his whereabouts… that's surely a feat to be proud of." Kai nodded with approval.
"Yeah, but it wasn't as easy as you made it out to be," Tsu pointed at the panting Jin.
"The important bit is that he injured him first. That would surely infuriate Kraft." Pei smirked and was happy Jin was able to do something to get that high and mighty fox off of his high horse.
"Yeah, but won't that just mean that Jin's end will be far more miserable?" Evon shook his head and immediately pitied Jin for trying so hard to score a hit. While Kraft had indeed been treating this fight as a sort of spar, suffering this first strike changed everything.
"You..." Kraft dropped his lackadaisical attitude. Using his chi to destroy the astral projection of the knife, he just stared at Jin for a bit, a mix of emotions in his eyes. Eventually, he took a deep breath and started to unbuckle his long coat, only to throw it aside.
While he still looked professional with a grey office shirt and black tie, he was ready to hunt Jin until he apologised.
The lights began to flicker a little and suddenly the entire room was filled with Kraft's chi. A low grade cultivator would have instantly fainted if exposed to this much power, with the possibility of death imminent since the Old Fox's chi practically condensed the air, making it hard to breathe.
A middle grade cultivator on the other hand would be gasping for air and whether they could resist the atmosphere would totally depend on their own chi manipulation capability.
As for Jin, who would have to be considered a middle to high grade cultivator, he did not have any problems with the change within the room. While he might be panting hard, it was because he had exhausted his new powers to cover his tracks to the point he became invisible. Now that he did not have to do it, the shortness of breath subsided and he was ready for round two.
Noticing that his chi aura did not do anything to Jin's constitution, Kraft emitted his emotions into his chi aura, turning it even darker purplish in colour and unsightly in some way. That itself was vexatious to those who were s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to chi and made the dungeon supplier even more aware that he was not to be trifled with.
However, Jin was barely affected by the fox's taunt and he decided to attack Kraft straight on. He believed that his only option would have been to endure the fight until the System was able to overcome the hack. For the longest time, there had been no way for the Astral Panda Cultivator to even leave a dent against his sadistic opponent.
Frankly, Jin had thrown the astral projection of a knife more out of pure instinct and curiosity but knowing that the Fox could be injured changed the Panda's plan substantially.
Sure, the System User clearly understood that each and every fox he had contact with were powerful beings, especially when he had watched the replay of the destruction of the Paradise Prison in Demopolis but...
If they could bleed, then they could die!!!