Razor Sharp III — Ambrosya

I reinforced my entire body with viscous, honey-like mana. Aventine was included too, creating a sharper, sturdier blade. My bones hardened and my skin became more resilient. I was akin to a machine, upgrading the materials that made up my body with harder, stronger metals.

I was coating my body with armour and giving myself greater mass. My strikes would hit harder and it would be much more difficult to send me flying.

I rushed straight towards Tiger and stabbed out like a coiled spring finally being released. Aventine homed in on Tiger's heart, piercing through his mana and slicing a portion of his skin.

Boom—!

A conical explosion burst forth from the tip of my blade, pushing itself into Tiger's chest. But the muscled man was too sturdy at the Rank of E. He was only knocked a few steps back, but not without leaving me with a parting gift.

My world was shaken up for a moment as a perfectly-timed fist made contact with my cheek. I staggered backwards before shaking my head.

That was a good hit. I could taste rust in my mouth as a part of my gums bled.

I touched my cheek. It stung, and I could feel that it was turning red with the imprint of Tiger's massive fist.

The guy stood a good six inches taller than me. Caelum's height when I took over his body was 5'7" and since then, it was likely that I grew ever so slightly taller.

Thus, Tiger was standing somewhere around 6'2" which was quite tall for a seventeen-year-old. Paired with his muscular build, he was pretty intimidating.

—Hiiiiisssssss!

I heard Aventine's cry of joy. He was able to taste the fresh blood of a living being again. It delighted him to no end, and through our connection, I could feel his immense desire for more.

I licked my lips.

Although I could not straight-up feed Tiger to Aventine, a few drops of Rank E blood would be enough to give Aventine a substantial boost.

"Is that all you've got, Rank 1!?" I could see Tiger looking down on me. He was haughty after landing a single shot and seeing how much I reeled in pain.

I guess I really wasn't used to experiencing pain. I crouched low to the ground and primed my dagger for another strike.

"This is all I need to defeat you," I snarled, bursting forward in another rush.

I stabbed forth once more, with my dagger being the only clear object in my opponent's view. The rest of me was a blur of movement and nothing more. But this time, I did not aim for the heart.

A short glimpse into the future told me of Tiger's next move. In a battle like this, every millisecond was important, and my advantage of 0.25 seconds was immense. I saw the moment when his fist snapped straight into my face.

That was where I directed my strike, bending my wrist and my arm while pulling my shoulder back. I put my other hand up to block my jaw from being struck.

Bam—!

Dust was blasted out of me as a small shockwave of mana burst forth from Tiger's fist and my blocking arm. My viscous yet thin mana absorbed a lot of the impact for me, and I resisted the strike without stepping back.

I was anchored in place as my dagger flew straight into Tiger's triceps.

Ssuk—!

Aventine pierced through the thin and fluid mana of my foe, sinking his fangs into Tiger's flesh and blood. I felt a surge of power pour into my little serpentine friend as he enjoyed a hearty meal.

"You bastard!" Tiger exclaimed as he grabbed at my arm.

Hastily, I wrenched Aventine out of Tiger's flesh and retreated. A few marks had appeared on my forearm.

Tiger had nearly grabbed a hold of me. Luckily, I could predict his movements to a great degree. The movement of his mana before his body moved in a certain manner was key to deciphering which actions he was going to take. Add my Foresight on top of it all, and I was a battle seer.

Nonetheless, nearly getting grabbed like that had my heart beating and cold sweat trickling down my back.

"So close, yet so far," I chuckled to hide my nervousness and twirled my dagger.

Aventine was hissing in satisfaction.

Tiger frowned at me as he held his wound. He probably found the incessant hissing to be something weird. His brain was likely trying to analyse what relevance it had to the battle.

"Shall we continue—"

I said as I smiled, but Tiger cut me off.

"Shut up," He lowered his body and assumed a familiar stance. It seemed like he was going to use his martial arts. "I've had enough playing around."

A black, phantom bull appeared around Tiger's body, with two shining red horns. Then, with a roar, Tiger charged at me.

He closed the distance between us in half a second, and I was face to face with a raging beast whose horns aimed for my throat.

I was about to sidestep in the same fashion I had done before, but I noticed a peculiar movement of mana.

"Shit—" My eyes dilated as I used my dagger to parry the incoming strike.

The phantom around Tiger changed in an instant. It transformed into a formidable silverback gorilla that stood at least eight feet in height.

Bam—!

A huge force fell onto my wrist, nearly breaking it. I redirected all the power to my side, allowing the shockwave to burst out somewhere else. An explosion allowed even more power to be transferred, as I bathed my foe in flames.

Tiger's bleeding fist flew past me at that moment. His face was so close to mine, that I could perceive the pulsating blood vessels in his eyes.

Not wasting this opening, I balled my fist and executed an uppercut with all my weight and mana. I twisted my body in a weird manner and sacrificed my balance for this strike, but when it connected, everything was stable.

Crack—!

I heard Tiger's teeth hitting each other as I forced him to face the sky. I grinned. I landed a good strike—

But then the world went black as if I had blinked. The next thing I knew was that I was facing the floor.

The top of my head buzzed with pain.