A small piece of human skin floated through the air while being disintegrated by destructive arcane mana. The human it had originated from had already teleported away as a taloned foot shot through the speck of skin, obliterating it entirely.

The Sovereign quickly spun in the air to kick an approaching arrow before getting blasted back slightly as it exploded. While flying back, the Rainbowfeather summoned two more platforms of mana it used to jump, chasing after Jake once more.

Jake had tried to shoot another arrow, but had to abandon his plan and switch to katars. He managed to dodge the first kick, but the Sovereign showed its experience in combat as it immediately created another platform under the missed kick, using it to jump back and out of range from Jake’s counter. Immediately after, it leapt forward, striking with its clawed hands, making Jake block or dodge several blows as the two of them engaged in a heated melee.

More than a hundred blows were exchanged in mere moments as the Sovereign proved itself a skilled close combat fighter. It switched between kicks and claw swipes, making full use of its natural weapons and the fact that, should Jake ever get struck, he would receive deep lacerations.

At the same time, Jake found it difficult to land any hits on the Sovereign. The B-grade knew it had superior range due to its larger size, and took full advantage of its longer arms and legs to never give Jake an opportunity to attack any weaker areas. What’s more, Jake couldn’t even damage the legs easily as the feathers that covered them were different from the others, functioning as powerful, natural scale-like armor.

All the other feathers had also changed slightly after the B-grade used its own boosting skill. Jake barely landed a few swift cuts, but he found his katars harmlessly sliding across the feathers as if they were incredibly slippery. After it happened the third time, Jake snuck in a quick stab and pierced through the space between the feathers before drawing a few drops of blood.

From that, it was evident Jake would have to aim for using piercing attacks, but the Sovereign was fully aware and made that very hard as its assault continued. Jake dodged, blocked, parried, and did all he could to not get hit as he was rapidly pushed back, the two of them flying across the sky across the Simivita island.

Right as Jake felt like he could keep up, the Sovereign took things up a notch. Suddenly, its body flashed with rainbow light as it sped up and kicked Jake square in the chest, right through his block. Jake flew back, his already damaged bones getting worse as the Rainbowfeather was upon him again.

Jake blasted himself downwards to dodge out of the way when he saw another kick incoming, and he barely managed to get below the Sovereign as it spun and turned its head toward Jake. Its beak opened... which was when Jake was reminded why the race was called Rainbowfeather Songbirds.

A screech unlike anything Jake had ever heard before slammed into him. It was like a massive physical wall impacted Jake before passing right through his body, tearing everything apart in the process and launching him down toward the ground. Jake coughed up blood as his internal organs had all been ravaged, leaving a faint trail of blood as he went through the canopies of the trees covering the jungle before hitting the ground hard.

Despite the intense pain, Jake had no reprieve as he rolled to the side and even released a blast of arcane mana to get away as the Sovereign touched down a moment later. Upon impacting the ground, Jake heard a deep thumping sound, making the ground crack and erupt as a shockwave of sound had been sent into the ground through the foot.

This shockwave also slightly hit Jake, sending him flying even further as he quickly stabilized himself in mid-air. A barrage of rainbow beams shot after him, but Jake teleported away to dodge as he equipped his bow and returned fire.

A deep booming sound exited the Sovereigns beak in response, repelling Jake’s arrow before the sound wave dispersed harmlessly only a few meters in front of the B-grade. Jake was confused about what the Rainbowfeather Sovereign had done, but he had no time to look for answers as the bird continued to give chase, insisting on staying in melee.

Jake dodged to the side once more, barely avoiding the B-grade as it flew past him. He got off a single arrow before the Sovereign was upon him again, and yet again he barely dodged, making the bird crash into a tree.

Bark and wood was sent flying everywhere as the entire tree was blasted into two pieces, and with the burrowed momentum from striking the tree alongside another platform of mana, the Sovereign turned around quicker than Jake had expected, landing a nasty swipe with its claws on Jake’s chest, tearing through his already tattered armor and leaving him with four deep cuts.

Having the Sovereign get close enough to do that, Jake took advantage. Rather than quickly retreat as usual, he closed in and unleashed a Piercing Fang, stabbing Eternal Hunger into the joint between the arm and shoulder, hoping to affect the Sovereigns movements.

His attack struck true, forcing the Sovereign to retreat this time around to ensure Jake’s strike wouldn’t penetrate too deep. This gave Jake the opportunity to also leap back and take out his bow and try to turn it back into a ranged battle.

Jake’s arrows were blocked by another booming sound shield, but they had done their job as Jake teleported back several times, choosing to stay within the confines of the jungle. His choice to fight in the open air had been a massive mistake, as he’d misread the capabilities of the Sovereign entirely.

It was incredibly fast, but it primarily traveled in straight lines. Sure, it could change direction on a dime by jumping off summoned mana platforms, but each change still took a fraction of a moment, which was enough time for Jake to react in most scenarios.

Within the jungle, traveling in straight lines became far less effective because of the many natural obstacles. Even if the Sovereign could destroy the trees, it still took effort, and Jake could just keep moving around to never run out of trees.

While running, Jake naturally also attacked as much as possible, trying to land arrows on the Sovereign. His practice from earlier proved useful, as even if the B-grade could dodge most attacks, it still found itself with an arrow sticking out of it occasionally.

At the same time, Jake was back to dealing with a storm of feathers chasing after him, but this situation was far preferable to the one he had found himself in mere seconds earlier. However, that didn’t mean the situation was good at all.

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Jake’s skin had peeled off in many places at this point, and cracks marred his entire body from the overuse of Arcane Awakening. His stamina was still holding on, but his mana was dropping fast, and his health points had also suffered quite a loss from all the accumulated damage from first the Warlord and now the Sovereign.

If Jake didn’t have Anomalous Soul and Arcane Supremacy, he wasn’t confident he would even still be moving, but for now, he held on as best as he could while looking for a way to turn the tables quickly. He was confident that if he got just one great opening, he could do severe damage with a single Powershot. To accomplish this, Jake had even begun to work on creating a Protean Arrow within his quiver, though with how focused he was on the fight, progress was slow.

He was lucky that his many fights with the other Rainbowfeather Songbirds had given him decent insight into the creatures, making the creation of the arrow easier. Hopefully, it would also make the final product stronger, because Jake really needed it to be.

About a full minute passed as Jake kept fleeing through the jungle while shooting arrows, the Sovereign chasing him while slowly closing in, seemingly waiting for its chance to close the distance in an instant. Jake had been running in a mostly straight line, but as he used Pulse, he realized things were about to get complicated.

Behind him was the shoreline of the island, and he was rapidly closing in on it. Chances were, the Sovereign knew this and wanted to make sure Jake would be forced out of the jungle into a more advantageous battlefield for it.

Jake tried to change direction, but the Sovereign was one step ahead and moved to cut him off. Their speeds were nearly equal, and Jake had no confidence in slipping past, meaning he had little choice but to continue his direct retreat directly toward the open waters of the Grand Lake.

Less than thirty seconds later, Jake could smell the vast lake, and after two more uses of One Step, he found himself outside of the safety of the jungle. At the edge of the jungle, a flash of rainbow light appeared in Jake’s vision as it turned into the Sovereign the blink of an eye later.

Jake dodged the first two kicks, having already switched to his katars to try to fight back. The Rainbowfeather Sovereign got more ruthless than before, attacking with swift and decisive blows in rapid succession, not giving Jake the slightest chance to fight back. All he could do was try to match the momentum of the Sovereign and try to find an opening as he continued to make use of his dodging skills.

However, before he found an opening, the Sovereign released another sound attack, pushing Jake back for a moment as the bird followed up with another different kind of attack. Jake heard a high-pitched sound that hurt his ears and tried to make the world spin, but Jake managed to control his own sense of hearing enough not to be overly affected. Not that the Sovereign even noticed, as Jake was already stunned from the previous hit and couldn’t move in time as his foot was caught by the clawed hands of the Rainbowfeather.

Twisting his body while kicking the Sovereign, he freed himself right as he was flung towards the lake below. Jake struck the water and went a few dozen meters deep into the mana-rich environment. For a second, Jake thought that perhaps this was good for him. Birds weren’t exactly known for doing well in water, so there was a chance he could have a moment of reprieve by staying underwater.

Oh, how wrong his thoughts were.

Immediately, a sense of danger flooded over Jake, and he knew he had to get out. From deep beneath the waters, he felt a presence notice him, which in itself was plenty unsettling, but what truly sent his danger sense into overdrive was what the Sovereign did next.

The Rainbowfeather dove straight into the waters head-first, and Jake saw the beast’s chest slowly swell up as if it had taken a deep breath. Then, it opened its beak... and that’s when Jake was reminded of something:

Sound is amplified and travels faster in water.

A loud screech unlike anything Jake had ever experienced before washed over him. He felt his blood vessels burst, several of his internal organs felt as if they exploded, and Jake coughed up a huge mouthful of blood and fleshy bits that were forced out of his body. His ears also hurt, his vision distorted, and for a moment, he wasn’t even sure if he was still conscious... and yet he moved.

Without thought behind it, Jake instinctively knew he had to get out of the water before the Sovereign could unleash another attack, and before what lurked below got involved. He blasted himself upwards with an explosion of arcane mana and soon erupted out of the surface as he quickly regained his bearings.

Luckily, the Sovereign also took a moment to get out of the water again after diving in. It was only a bit over a second, but it was enough for Jake to cough up another large globule of blood with something else mixed in he really didn’t want to take a prolonged look at.

A quick scan of his body revealed the damage was substantial, and as he looked at the Sovereign and felt the state of the B-grade through the poison that inflicted the bird, Jake knew that while he had done some damage, compared to what he had taken, it was barely anything.

Yet Jake was intent to keep fighting, even if things definitely weren’t looking good. His Protein Arrow was still getting prepared, and he still had a few tricks up his sleeve he was waiting for a good opportunity to use... along with something the Sovereign had shown he could potentially exploit.

“You’re tenacious. Most beings would have tried to run away or given up by now, but not you,” the voice of the Sovereign echoed as the B-grade floated out of the water. “That’s respectable, if puzzling. You believe there is still a way for you to win, which does give me a sense of unease. Makes me inclined to kill you sooner rather than later.”

Without further warning, the Sovereign exploded into motion as it attacked once more, starting its assault with a sound attack that blasted through Jake, sending reverberations through his body. Right after, a talon tried to tear Jake’s flesh from his bones, but Jake managed to dodge and slam his Eternal Hunger into the leg of the bird, barely penetrating the empowered feathers.

This left an opening, though, as Jake was sliced down his arm, letting even more blood. He fought back for several more exchanges, getting a stab or two himself as even deeper cuts marked his body. Struggling through the pain, Jake teleported away and released a barrage of arcane bolts that exploded upon getting near the Sovereign.

Unbothered, the B-grade went straight through the destructive arcane mana and did something Jake had been waiting for. The Sovereign let out the same high-pitched sound attack it had used earlier, which was intended to temporarily disorient Jake.

Sadly for the bird, it didn’t work on him. Not because of his Sphere or anything like that, but simply due to his superior Perception allowing him to control his senses to the level where he could resist the skill entirely.

The Sovereign had expected Jake to be unable to muster a response, but instead he moved at the very last moment, dodging out of the way from a talon aiming to take his head and closing in as he punched the Rainbowfeather in the stomach with all his power, also using a Piercing Fang in the process.

Eternal Hunger went in deep as Jake’s knuckles made contact, and the Sovereign screeched in pain loud enough for Jake’s ears to bleed as the shockwave forced him back, the katar left inside the body of the B-grade.

Before the bird could rip the weapon out, Jake exploded the rest of the arcane energy he had poured into the weapon, sending it flying out on its own alongside blood and feathers. This was Jake’s first time doing solid damage to the Rainbowfeather Songbird, and Jake couldn’t help but to flash a toothy bloody grin at finally feeling like he was making progress.

However, his smile quickly faded as the Rainbowfeather Sovereign did something unexpected. With a wave of its hand, a small red potion appeared, which the B-grade quickly chugged down, and Jake saw the wounds he’d inflicted throughout the fight quickly begin to heal, and even the poison within the Sovereign’s body was attacked by the active vital energy that flooded the bird’s body.

What the B-grade had done was naturally consume a health potion, and Jake nearly wanted to hypocritically call out the Sovereign for cheating as he finally experienced being on the other side of potion superiority due to his own cooldown.

Jake’s newfound hope for victory after landing a solid blow was quickly washed away... and his options to still eke out a victory and the time he had available to do so had both been severely reduced.