Rivers of the Night - Chapter 710

Chapter 710: Raging Veins
Chen had already noticed Theron before. His intuition told him that this assassin was completely unlike the others. But when he saw the Dark Mana they were wielding, his inner thoughts started firing wildly.

Dark Mancers were rare in this region, mostly because they would almost always choose to be in the Umbra Clan’s territory.

The relationship between the Shonagh and the Umbra couldn’t be said to be terrible, but it wasn’t exactly friendly either. Dark Mancers were well aware that they weren’t welcome here.

Seeing the face obscured by wisps of Dark Mana, it made Chen wonder how far these waters ran. Could the Umbra Clan be involved in all of this as well?

He also couldn’t see through the cultivation of this young man clearly either. He wasn’t even so sure why he was certain this person was young outside of their stature. But there were plenty of grown men who were likewise on the shorter side.

Regardless of the truth of it all, he felt a strong oppression coming from this young man, and he knew why almost immediately.

Veinsong.

His jaw clenched and he gave up on targeting the masses. Taking a step back, the glowing lights around him sparkled. The hairs of his calligraphy brush snapped back and dipped into one of them, causing the beautiful white strands to glow as though they had become filaments of light.

He drew it back and through the air, forming a character in real time.

It hadn’t even yet finished when Theron closed in the rest of the distance, slashing out.

Chen was taken aback. Usually people were extremely wary of his Shonagh Clan’s methods. They would choose to wait and see what the abilities of the character he was drawing were first before they went in headfirst.

It was either this young assassin was a fool who didn’t understand the Shonagh Clan’s abilities. Or…

Theron reversed the grip of his dagger in a fluid motion. It spun in his palms, leaving an arc in the air that formed into a perfect circle of dark might.

He slashed outward and the world shuddered. He targeted a piece of the character with precise confidence, gashing the air with an unexpected technique.

[Shadow Step].

He applied it to his blade, severing apart one section of the character from another as though teleporting them apart.

Chen had no idea he was facing a mere Silver Resonance technique. It almost felt like he was facing off against an exceptional Spatial technique instead, a blade so sharp it could cut even Mana.

Theron wasn’t even thinking about what he was doing. His body seemed to lay claim to the Mana around him as though he stood above it all, like he could command it with a thought…

Like he was a Voidwrought.

He stomped a foot and unleashed [Shadow Flush], causing the rest of the orbs of light under Chen’s control to fall into a quagmire of darkness they couldn’t quite sense or communicate within.

And then with another step, he was already upon Chen, swinging his short sword at the latter’s throat.

Having already taken a step back, Chen had enough time to recover and block, but it was little more than a feint as he suffered a savage kick to the outside of his knee.

Chen’s legs buckled and he nearly collapsed, barely catching himself with the butt of his calligraphy brush. His Mana surged and disks flew out from his back, forming a shield against Theron’s coming dagger and smashing the other toward his head.

Chi.

Theron’s dagger parried off the body of the shield, but he smoothly ducked out of the way of the next one, kicking out with the flat of his foot and connecting with Chen’s stomach.

He thrust his short sword out toward the first shield again, knocking it out of the way and unleashing another kick right at Chen’s side.

The Shonagh Clan genius managed to block with his calligraphy brush, trying to regain some of the momentum in the battle by slashing with its fine hairs, but then Theron suddenly vanished in a quagmire of darkness, appearing behind him.

The shields reacted quickly, but Theron’s attacking posture was entirely unpredicted, a heel driving right into the back of Chen’s knee and forcing him to the ground.

Theron pivoted quickly, hopping down and whipping out a roundhouse right toward the side of Chen’s head.

One action fluidly flowed into the next, every bit of timing the utter pinnacle of utmost perfection.

“Young master!”

BANG!

Chen’s vision spun and his body shot out like it had been fired from a cannon.

Theron’s body flickered and vanished as an arrow passed through right where he had been a moment before, and in a few leaps, he had already launched himself out and into the air.

[Entangling Clouds] flickered in his eyes, some of his focused state fading as he felt the danger of the situation was slowly weakening.

Veinsong? Theron’s eyes slowly came out of their daze and he blinked as he soared higher and higher into the skies. He sensed a Dome of Heaven expert cutting across the air in a laser-like beam, right at him.

But the instant they caught up, they passed right through Theron as though he had never been there.

…

On the ground, Theron vanished into the winding streets of the complex city, [Entangling Silence] wrapped tightly around him. He moved in wisps of darkness, his brows furrowed.

He wasn’t upset about the outcome of things. All things considered, he couldn’t have executed things more perfectly.

He got Chen’s ring and he dealt a blow to the organization that had tried to take his life.

But even with this being the case, he wasn’t very happy.

He was so used to entering and exiting Veinsong on a whim before, so much so that he hadn’t even noticed how long it had been since he used it.

Now that he had been reminded, he came to understand something else.

His Veinsong… for some reason, it was no longer triggered by how calm he was, but instead by how much battle lust was thumping through his veins.