Chapter 142: Victory and Defeat on Both Sides

Amidst the devastation, the two sharp blades clashed repeatedly, and the deafening roar of metal echoed endlessly. Jiang Wan frowned, the feedback through her fingertips growing somewhat numb.

In front of her, the man flicked his military sabre upward, and a thin line of blood appeared on the back of her hand. Feeling the pain, Jiang Wan's expression remained unchanged. She countered with a reverse slash, the tip of her blade grazing past his outstretched fingers.

Had it been just a fraction closer, she might have severed his fingers.

Thrilled by the challenge and eager to press her advantage, she lunged forward, wedging her knee against his ankle. Lowering her body, she threw a heavy punch with her fist clenched around the dagger.

The man took the punch squarely with his arm, his face turning pale in an instant. He staggered backward, his retreating foot catching on something, and panic flickered across his features as his hands flailed in the air, trying to grab hold of something.

Jiang Wan knew that if he managed to grab her and drag her into close-quarters ground combat, she would likely be completely outmatched. She retreated her right foot another half-step, lowered her center of gravity further, and fired three more shots.

Two aimed at his abdomen, one at the chest.

With her arm bent, relying solely on her left hand provided insufficient leverage. She watched as the three flashes of gunfire erupted, only to collide with three flying blades mid-air.

"How is this possible!" Shock washed over her face. What on earth was the ability of this Extracted Legacy?

Gritting her teeth, did she really have to risk her life to drag him into hand-to-hand combat?

Without time for deeper thought, she made an instant decision and lunged forward. Before he could recover his footing, she pressed the muzzle of her gun directly against his body. Springing upward, with the hammer nearly pressing against the center of her own brow, she forced her pistol downward and threw her weight against his shoulder, pinning him.

He looked at Jiang Wan and suddenly smiled again. "How many bullets do you have left? Four? Or are they already gone?"

He spoke softly, then kicked upward with both feet, striking Jiang Wan in the back. The force was substantial, though it ultimately failed to exceed human limits.

Wincing in pain, she crossed her arms to brace against his shoulders. The muzzle of her gun was now aimed directly at his head, waiting only for her to pull the trigger. She looked at the man, who was still smiling, and a lingering sense of doubt plagued her mind.

Yet, a few gunshots brought everything to a sudden stillness.

Three more brilliant flashes of light; the flames erupting from the muzzle nearly stung Jiang Wan's eyelids. But that was merely close; what truly stung her eyes was something else entirely.

The three blades suspended in front of them, wedged between their bodies—those were the things truly piercing her nerves.

The three brass-cased bullets had nearly pierced clean through the blades, and the bullet tips half-embedded in the metal still looked terrifying.

The blistering heat began to singe the eyebrows and facial hair of the man pinned beneath her.

She narrowed her eyes. Was this Extracted Legacy meant for protection?

Did it automatically intercept any object approaching above a certain speed?

She felt a deep perplexity, yet her right hand did not halt its momentum. She bore down with the blade, her arms crossed, throwing her entire body weight into the push. He crossed his arms as well, resisting with the strength of both.

Yet, even with her full body weight added, that single blade continued to rise inch by inch. Gritting her teeth, she locked eyes with the man's mocking expression. She felt a sudden, irresistible surge of force flip her over, watched as a blade sliced across her arm, and saw a spray of fresh blood scatter into the air.

She stood there holding a blade with several jagged notches in its edge and a firearm with only two bullets remaining.

"How many bullets do you have left?" the man asked cheerfully, looking at her while his gaze frequently drifted to the various corners of the room.

"One? Or are they completely gone?"

He treated the young girl as if she were nothing, viewing her life as already within his grasp. So frivolous was he that he tossed his dagger in the air, sending a cold flash of steel grazing across Jiang Wan's face a moment later.

"Just how many knives does he have..."

Jiang Wan gritted her teeth, recalling everything that had happened so far.

"What on earth is his Extracted Legacy ability..."

Before entering the room, those blades had clearly been meant to kill...

Yet once inside, he had stopped launching proactive attacks...

What was he worried about?

Jiang Wan lowered her gaze, casting a glance at the gun in her hand.

Was he afraid of this? But why...

Jiang Wan frowned. He had clearly been able to intercept all of them... just like those previous gunshots...

As she pondered this, a sudden realization struck her: unless... intercepting those bullets had already exhausted all of some "certain condition" required for his power, leaving him unable to attack her anymore?

She raised her head and saw the man looking out the window, his dagger held horizontally across his chest.

If that was the case... perhaps... if she could just force him to execute one more attack, she would be able to strike him.

She crouched down, and in an instant, burst forward with a speed she had never achieved before. As she brandished her blade, the trace of inexperience and awkwardness in her movements began to gradually dissipate.

"Oh?"

Watching Jiang Wan's sudden reappearance, his movements grew notably more cautious. Yet, just as a hint of doubt crossed his mind, the sound of a gunshot sent a surge of fierce excitement through him.

His expression shifted, discarding all caution. His ten fingers danced as he flipped six or seven blades from his pockets, spinning his body around without ever pausing to wonder why he hadn't sustained any injuries.

Clearly, the bullets had left the barrel; clearly, she stood right before him—yet there were no wounds, no blood. Perhaps she had simply missed, he reasoned.

A chilling, predatory light began to bloom in his eyes—the gaze of ultimate malice, brimming with profound ill intent.

The blades left his hands, hurtling toward the surface of Jiang Wan's body. The edges sliced through her skin; occasionally, two of them collided in mid-air, as if choreographed, with one blade knocking aside the hand blocking her way while another pierced straight through the palm holding her knife.

"That's a nice gun..." He licked his lips, a flash of greed surfacing in his eyes. Firearms were a rarity in Huaxia... which was why a few members of their group had allied with him simply because they possessed ranged firearms...

But were they worthy? They were not. Those stray mercenaries wielding scrap metal weapons and living like dogs—by what right did they stand alongside him?

He stared at the firearm in Jiang Wan's hand. A blade struck the butt of the gun with tremendous force. Strain flared in her hands, yet her five fingers still gripped the handle tightly. Immediately after, a second blade crashed into the exact same spot.

This time, the heavy impact shattered the joints of her tightly clenched grip.

The knocked-away firearm fell to the ground with a crisp, echoing clatter. Her expression hardened as she spun her dagger even faster, but could that tiny blade truly block a flurry of flying steel?

She staggered two steps back, bloodstains covering her entire body. The blood soaked her clothes and spattered the floor into a constellation of crimson stars.

"Good enough, good enough," he muttered, as a blade pierced straight through Jiang Wan's lower abdomen. "You weren't on our list... wouldn't it be troublesome to clean up if I killed you?"

He stepped closer as another blade stabbed through Jiang Wan's shoulder. His eyes remained fixed ahead, paying no heed to the condition of the person beneath him. Striding forward, he stepped right over Jiang Wan's body.

"Huh... where did the gun fall?"

He walked over to the spot Jiang Wan had been guarding, a puzzled look in his eyes.

"I distinctly remember the gun falling right here..."

He spoke softly, failing to notice that the dark muzzle behind him was already aimed squarely at his back.

It was over. This battle had reached its end.