CHAPTER 178: PURSUIT

At that moment, the streets of the capital weren't particularly crowded. After the alarm had sounded and spread throughout the city, most pedestrians had sought shelter in places they believed would keep them out of trouble.

The only ones still on the streets were either those absolutely confident in their strength or those who simply had no way to leave.

"What's the target's status? Where is he now? Can you see him? Have you requested magical detection from the floating island?"

A magician surrounded by a storm was being propelled by the wind, allowing him to fly at high speed about ten meters above the ground. He ignored the capital's complex architectural layout as he tried to keep up with the murderer who had killed the viscount.

Messages from various locations came through the magitech communication device in his hand. The mage was communicating with all the city guards he could reach, hoping to use their familiarity with the capital's terrain to encircle and intercept the shockingly fast murderer.

"No good. The floating island's magical detection can't locate this guy. The black smoke surrounding him is blocking all detection methods save visual tracking. Sir, can you still see him?"

The response from the communication device left the magician frustrated. He had already pushed his wind-element displacement spell to the limit, and the flow of magic around him was reaching the boundaries of what his body could endure.

But it was no use. Even with his magically enhanced vision, the figure shrouded in black smoke was almost beyond his range.

"Who the hell is this guy? That speed... Where are the Nightblades? Have they arrived?"

The magician himself didn't believe he could catch up to the figure cloaked in black smoke sprinting at an absurd speed along the ground.

But he still tried to keep the murderer in sight. A viscount had been killed—this was no minor issue. If not handled properly, the consequences would be serious.

"Things don't look good. There are no Nightblades squads in the area. Right now, only the Nightblades' special ops team is on duty near the city walls, and they may not be able to provide support—no, wait. Their mission is complete, and they're heading this way. But, sir, they're only intermediate knights. If you can't keep up with your wind magic, it's unlikely they'll be able to either."

The response from the city guards made the magician's heart sink. What terrible luck—normally, Nightblades squads were stationed throughout the capital for patrols and missions. How could there not be a single one nearby?

The subsequent news brought him some relief. The special ops team was close and could provide some support soon—that was fortunate.

As for their strength, the magician was well aware that they were far stronger than what their official rank suggested.

A pitch-black humanoid figure dashed wildly through the streets, enveloped in roiling black smoke. All his features were obscured by the figure's dark shroud, leaving even body shape indistinct. It was impossible to tell whether the culprit was male or female.

The culprit's sheer speed alone spoke volumes. This was definitely a knight of formidable power.

Glowing eyes within the black smoke glanced up at the sky and narrowed slightly. The magician who had been chasing after the culprit was no longer in sight.

The black smoke would last a little longer, but it would dissipate soon enough.

If the city guards and Nightblades were to work together and encircle the area, the culprit wouldn't be able to flee.

The glowing eyes within the black smoke narrowed. The culprit rounded a corner before suddenly halting and sidestepping to dodge something falling from above.

Crimson shards rained down from the sky, then twisted and reshaped into numerous sharp, bloodforged swords in mid-air. The swords descended like a storm, blocking the culprit's escape route.

Wang Yu clung to the edge of a nearby building, his once-grand crimson cloak now significantly reduced in size. His gaze was calm as he stared at the figure shrouded in black smoke down below.

The figure locked gazes with Wang Yu for a moment but didn't hesitate. The figure continued to run, leaping onto the side of a nearby building and climbing rapidly to avoid the path obstructed by Wang Yu's bloodforged swords.

Wang Yu's gaze lingered briefly on the black mist cloaking the culprit's body. Then, he released his grip on the building's edge and dropped rapidly from the rooftop.

Accelerating his descent with gravity, he propelled himself forward by pushing against protrusions on the building's facade with the bloodforged limbs from his back.

The swords of blood embedded in the ground melted back into liquid and streamed toward Wang Yu's landing point.

Before he could hit the ground, several fluid-like tendrils of blood formed a net to catch him. The blood rapidly gathered and reformed into Wang Yu's crimson cloak once more.

As he landed, Wang Yu adjusted his posture. His right foot struck the ground. He spun, his left leg becoming a blur as he delivered a devastating kick toward the figure wreathed in black smoke.

Wang Yu's descent had been rapid and his posture perfect. His kick was absurdly swift.

The figure ran straight into Wang Yu's path, as if seeking to be struck.

Even so, the shadowy figure somehow managed to dodge Wang Yu's lightning-fast kick by arching backwards, gliding beneath Wang Yu's leg without losing much speed.

Wang Yu wasn't just relying on his limbs. As he spun, tendrils emerged from his cloak of blood and anchored into the walls of surrounding buildings. Under the force of his Blood Tempest, those walls were violently pulled down.

Bricks and rubbles collapsed in front of and on top of the fleeing figure, not dealing any significant damage, but forcing the figure to slow down.

That moment of hesitation gave Wang Yu another chance. His blood cloak morphed again, liquefying and seeping into the cracks between the scattered bricks.

Just as the figure emerged from the dust, multiple spears of blood erupted from the ground ahead, blocking the figure's path.

Meanwhile, Wang Yu charged forward with the Fury of the Forge in hand. He fired six standard rounds at his target.

The blood spears morphed from the relatively firm constructs of Blood Tempest to the even more resilient bloodforged swords of Material Shaping.

Wang Yu's pupils narrowed as the shadowy figure's arm blurred into an indistinct streak of motion that swept backwards.

The six bullets that Wang Yu had fired were effortlessly swatted aside in a single motion.

They ricocheted at high speed, striking surrounding buildings and sending shards of stone flying.

Meanwhile, the figure reached the barricade of bloodforged swords. Without slowing, the figure lashed out with a sweeping kick, shattering them instantly.

An inhuman level of strength broke through Wang Yu's barrier in a single strike, but Wang Yu refused to give up.

He summoned Spellweaver's Tome and cast Storm Stride, a second-tier movement spell.

Wind surged, launching Wang Yu forward with explosive speed—but his instincts screamed out in danger. The fleeing figure didn't seem to be running.

Rather, the figure suddenly turned and threw a punch at Wang Yu. A massive fist wreathed in black smoke rocketed toward Wang Yu's chest.

His own body was warning him of the danger to come. Even without void augmentation, the ripples in the air sensed the approaching attack automatically.

The fist, shrouded in black smoke, was coated in a solid layer of fighting spirit—which meant that the figure was a grand knight at the very least.

The blood surrounding the figure, as if it were a sentient creature startled by danger, recoiled sharply. Though much of it was too far away to be of use, a portion managed to form a barrier between the figure's fist and Wang Yu.

The fighting spirit infused into the blood caused it to undergo a near-instantaneous transformation from the liquid state to a solid state. Hardened longswords of blood stacked together and fused into an irregularly shaped shield.

The fist smashed the hastily formed shield into a pulp without the slightest pause.

Hardened shards of blood scattered in all directions, some even leaving cuts on Wang Yu's face.

Compared to the powerful blow to come, however, that was nothing. Wang Yu crossed his arms in front of his chest in a defensive cross. Only a thin layer of the solid fighting spirit had been consumed to obliterate the blood shield; the majority of the force remained as it was.

The moment the fist made contact, his flesh was crushed and torn apart, leaving a mangled mess behind.

The fist pulverized the outer layer of Wang Yu's flesh and pushed deeper without any restraint, hammering into Wang Yu's bones. As a fledgling knight, he stood no chance against a grand knight.

A sickening crack echoed as his bones twisted under the immense pressure before snapping apart. The shattered bone fragments, propelled by the remaining force, pierced through his torn flesh and stabbed into his chest.

On the ground, the blood that had failed to reach Wang Yu in time lurched toward the punch, desperately attempting to absorb some of the impact.

Wang Yu's body was sent flying. He slammed hard into the wall of a nearby building, so hard he was embedded into it. The impact caused the entire building to tremble, and the screams of its terrified residents rang out in his ears.

Blood rapidly converged toward Wang Yu in a protective layer. Whether or not this last-ditch effort worked, it was the only defense available to prevent the grand knight from landing a fatal follow-up.

Fortunately, the figure chose not to finish him off and instead turned and continued sprinting away at high speed.

Wang Yu exhaled lightly as he watched the figure disappear into the distance. Fortunately, his opponent's primary goal had been to escape, not to kill him. Otherwise, he'd be done for.

"Don't pursue him... That's a grand knight, at the very least. That grand knight's focused on fleeing—otherwise, we'd all be dead."

His bloodforged appendages retrieved his communication device—his twisted, broken hands were currently useless. He sent a warning against pursuing to Edward, Charles, and the magician from the city guard who had requested backup earlier.

All the scattered blood pooled back around Wang Yu, shattering the vials of healing potion he carried. The potion mixed with the blood and seeped into his body through the gaping wounds on his mangled hands, rapidly accelerating his regeneration.

Blood wrapped around his broken arms. Gentle pressure realigned his shattered bones. The blood itself, imbued with healing properties, slowly stitched the torn flesh back together. Thin strands of blood silk acted as sutures, reconnecting severed tissue and sealing wounds.

In just about a minute, his wounds had closed up. Though his hands still looked horribly mangled and bloodied, they were no longer just flaps of skin barely holding together.

His fractured ribs and damaged internal organs, which had been jarred by the impact, were also mending quickly under the combined effects of his regeneration and potions.

"I underestimated him. The gap between a knight and a grand knight is simply too vast in all aspects. I got lucky," Wang Yu murmured. He stood up, supported by his own blood, as he glanced toward the direction in which the grand knight had fled.

His Blood Tempest, Material Shaping, Fury of the Forge, Spellweaver's Tome—none of them could make up for the sheer disparity in power between him and his opponent.

"Wang Yu! Are you okay?!" Edward rushed over, followed closely by Charles, who was panting and drenched in sweat.

"I'm fine. These are just minor injuries."

Wang Yu raised his bloodied hands. The skin was still squirming as muscle fibers knitted themselves back together.

Blood continued to flow beneath the surface, flushing out tiny fragments of bone that couldn't be reattached. The process sent waves of pain wracking his nerves, but for Wang Yu, this was nothing.

Any injury that could be healed was a minor injury.

"Minor?!" Charles shot Edward a look. "Can't you tell just from looking at him? But against a grand knight, the fact that he's even talking to us right now... Yeah, I'd say that's lucky."

Panting, Charles placed a tarot card with a crimson heart on Wang Yu's injured hand—The Lovers, upright.

A soft pink light enveloped his gruesome wounds, causing the healing process to accelerate drastically.

"Thanks." Wang Yu muttered as the solidified blood fragments scattered around him liquefied and flowed back toward him. They crawled up his fingers and reentered the Bloodbite Ring, disappearing into its special pocket space that could only store blood.

"Is this your latent potential? When did you awaken to it?" Charles asked, eyeing the strangely animated blood swirling around Wang Yu with curiosity.

"No—it's my secret art, Blood Tempest, along with a new technique for manipulating fighting spirit that I picked up in the library," Wang Yu replied casually. He flexed his hands and was relieved when the wounds didn't reopen. A little more healing, and they'd be functional again.

"Blood Tempest? I recall seeing it in the Grand Library before, but isn't it only supposed to let blood clot automatically or counterattack when wounded? Your blood is way too... agile."

This time, Edward spoke up. As a fellow knight, he understood potentials and secret arts far better than Charles—which left him exceedingly confused about Wang Yu's circumstances.

"Not really. Once you master how to circulate fighting spirit, using it repeatedly makes it a natural reflex. Then, if you refine your control over fighting spirit further, you can freely manipulate your own blood. Isn't your Steel Sunlight similar?"

Wang Yu looked puzzled by Edward's question. His application of his secret art was slightly enhanced by his ripples, but even without them, he could still manipulate his blood easily.

"Wait—you're saying you can freely control your entire body's fighting spirit... down to an incredibly fine degree? And for you, this secret art can be triggered on instinct?"

Edward's tone was tinged with shock. He stared at Wang Yu in disbelief.

Wang Yu nodded. That was exactly it. Had Edward been doing it differently this whole time?