46 Bloody Exchange.

Asper's eyes widened once he noticed that his opponent had parried his thrust by pulling out another blade

'Another one-'

*Swoosh!*

Asper barely avoided being slashed in the eye by swaying to the right as the person suddenly thrust at his face. The instant he had however, a vertical slash was already heading down on him from above.

The sharpness of the short sword seemed to reflect on his eyes as he leapt back to avoid it.

He barely managed to avoid it thanks to the leap, however due to the wet conditions he ended up sliding back and ruining his balance.

By the time he realized it, the person had long since stepped in with a thrust in motion only inches away from his eyes.

*Thump!*

With the beat of his heart. Asper's adrenaline kicked into full drive as he leaned and bent his body as far back and as fast as he could, causing the short sword to pass right above his head.

*Thump!*

Asper who failed to notice that the attack had grazed him and had his eyes glued onto the person was suddenly swept off balance before the person thrust his blade down at Asper's leg which had risen from his sweep.

*Crack!*

Blade ended up piercing the already cracked wet floor from having missed Asper's leg due to Asper having stuck both legs together and rotated his body in the last second. Despite that, the blade was still able to graze it.

In this exact moment, after just having dodged the attack, still airborne. Asper too thrust his knife down into the wet ground before activating his skill.

[Electricity]

*BZZZZZZZT!*

"!"

Surges of electricity flowed down Asper's knife before making their way onto the water puddle and electrocuting both of them who were connected to it.

The man reflexively leapt back as this happened, taking his blade with him and Asper dropped to the ground, surprised by how he was still able to take his short sword with him.

Asper didn't pay it much mind and was rather thrilled by the fact that the electricity was able to conduct as he had hoped. Electricity only conducts when water only contains impurities and charged ions. Asper had no idea what type of water it was so there was a chance the attack would fail.

Asper slowly got up from the ground before gluing his eyes to his opponent.

'Don't blink. Focus. Read his movements. Adapt.' He replayed those words in his mind over and over as his eyes opened wide stared directly at the opponent ahead of him.

He took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out.

Calmness and focus. Once he saw this look on Asper's face, the person who had just been standing there and watching felt a chill go down their spine.

Asper could tell the person wasn't making any moves due to the fact that he was still in the water puddle. His electricity would end up hitting the opponent as they had no insulation no matter what they did. This gave Asper the upper hand.

<MP: 112/155>

Or so he thought.

"Electricity, huh…" The person muttered as he took off his cloak.

Asper's brows were raised as he saw the figure of the person. He wore light simple clothes. A brown shirt with Brown pants, nothing fancy, in fact it looked like clothes you'd find people in the slum wearing.

It was rather ragged yet clean. There were cuts all around it which had been sowed up. It was something Asper wouldn't expect someone with the person's level of skill to be wearing.

Long brown hair which reached his shoulders and dark brown eyes which seemed to stare directly into Asper's soul. He had a strong determined look on him.

"You're good, kid…" Said the man as he got into a a stance. Upon doing so, Asper noticed the look of sadness on his face. "Which is why… I hate to do this."

*Badump!*

Asper's heart skipped a beat as all of the sudden a massive amount of blood lust was released. Pressure. A lot of it. So much that Asper instantly knew whatever was coming was bad.

Because of this, he hastily threw one of his knives at the man to break his stance. However, the man quickly deflected it and got back on the stance.

"Self made sword move: Purge."

A cold sweat flowed down Asper's face when both heard and saw this, he tried quickly thinking of another plan but before he could-

*Drip*

The man vanished.

Simultaneously, Asper had ducked right as it happened.

Asper with his heart trying to beat it's way out of his chest, felt a chill go down his spine before quickly turning around while remaining ducked. The man was standing right there, behind him in the same stance facing away from him.

Suddenly, he felt a sting and through the corner of his eyes noticed the color red start gradually spreading throughout his cheek. Blood was flowing out of a cut which had appeared on his cheek.

It was only then that Asper had realized what happened.

'Oi… You're kidding me, right? He cut me so fast it took both me and my body time to process what had happened?' Asper wondered

Fast was no way to describe the movement. It was inhuman. In that split moment where Asper had blinked, the man had moved

"I missed? Looks like it's still incomplete." Said the man as he slowly turned around, slowly getting into the stance. "I'll make sure to make it painless this-"

The man's eyes widened and he was interrupted as he noticed the edge of a blade reflect upon his eyes.

*Swoosh!*

He tilted his head to the side, barely avoiding the thrust of Asper's knife as he did so.

But the attack didn't stop there.

*Thrust* *Thrust-Thrust*

Side to side, still surprised, he swayed his head side to side barely managing to dodge the three consecutive thrusts aimed at it.

*Drip!*

With no other option he tried leaping back to get away from Asper's barrage of attacks. Cold sweat poured down his face however once he noticed that his foot was stuck. He quickly glanced down and saw clearly what it was.

The heel of Asper's boots.

[Electricity Maximum Voltage]

*BZZZZZTTTT!*

The surge wasn't like before where it traveled through the water to get to him. This time, Asper was in direct contact. This time, it was powerful, powerful enough to stun him for a moment. That was all Asper needed.

*Pierce-WHAM!*

In an instant, Asper dug his knife into the man's right leg and used it as an anchor for his body as he lifting both of his legs off the ground before sending a side kick straight at the man's face.

Direct contact. A clean hit to the temple.

*Swoosh!* *Splash!*

The kick had gathered enough momentum and power to send the man sliding down the water puddle.

[Electricity]

*BZZZZZZZT!*

Once again, the electricity surged across the water heading right towards the man body before electrocuting the hell out of it.

Upon seeing this Asper began charging at him again, making sure he had absolutely no time to think. Only one thought played on Asper's mind as he ran with all he had. 'Before he pulls that shit again, I need to finish him.'

Asper's eyes widened at seeing how fast the man got up despite having just been hit by Asper's combination.

'Already?!'

*Clang!*

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