Solitary Sword Sovereign Part 2

Will's Plot!

Indomitable Moon was already visualizing Will's mangled and bloody body, thinking about how he would make Will scream in agony. He wasn't a sadist but he was incredibly vicious to those who made him lose face.

'To not even respond, even if he is mute, he could at least gesture in some way. Instead, he insulted me in front of a crowd of powerhouses and deities! If I don't beat him thoroughly, my reputation will suffer.'

For those in nobility, reputation was almost as important as personal strength.

'He is doomed because he pissed me off.'

The Unrelenting Hunt became stronger the angrier the caster was. Will had infuriated Gianluigi resulting in his build-up of Intent becoming faster. With each breath, the power of Truth manifested and strengthened his body.

The Veritas were extremely adept at using Truth in many ways. The House of Remus used Truth to track their enemies and increase their explosive agility by fortifying their flesh.

Truth was the most stable material in existence when in its pure form, granting it the ability to reinforce specific physical traits such as hardness and sharpness. But it could also be volatile and explosive in nature. Changing from mass to energy and vice versa. The House of Remus used stable Truth to fortify their flesh and volatile Truth to increase their explosive force.

The Greater the build-up of Intent and Truth, the greater the power of the Unrelenting Hunt. Gianluigi sensed that his build-up of power was faster than usual. This created a sense of unease in the Crown Prince of Lycus. And as time went on this sensation started to cause him to feel unpleasant.

'Why is my momentum building up so quickly?'

Before Gianluigi could think, he heard Hercules finally speak.

"Enough posturing, the battle will begin in Ten Seconds. Prepare yourselves, Ten..."

Hercules began a countdown as he lifted his weights. No one in the crowd had noticed that a knowing light flashed in his eyes. There was a reason he had waited for so long.

'Peerless, show me how you can vanish.' the Olympian prince mused.

"Nine, eight, Seven..."

'What? A countdown? He's never done that before. Why would he do that?'

At first, Indomitable Moon was confused, but he immediately struck the thought from his mind as it wasn't helpful to his current situation. The moment Hercules began his countdown, the sense of unease he felt from Will strengthened and he had to know why. He had to understand why he was gaining so much momentum so quickly.

'There is no such thing as good fortune in battle, this isn't an advantage at all. Peerless did something.'

More power meant he would lift off stronger, but it was dangerous to proceed without understanding the source of the power. The glaring issue at hand was that Will had done something, yet no one had seen him do anything except charge up mana and release the frigid Frozen Asgard aura.

'He's like a sitting duck, he doesn't even talk. Marking him was also unusually easy. That's not something one can control or affect... Or maybe...'

Indomitable Moon focused his mental strength on his environment, his Intent in particular.

'My Intent, it's flowing faster than usual! He's sucking it in!'

That's when Indomitable Moon noticed. Will was like a tiny black hole, pulling Intent toward himself. At first, it was negligible and barely noticeable, but Gianluigi was a Truthseeker with a Truth-fueled bloodline. His sensitivity to energies and Intent was at the pinnacle attainable among his peers. Or so he thought.

Almost as if planned, Will's rate of swallowing Intent accelerated drastically the moment Hercules began his countdown.

'This is why the countdown made me uncomfortable. Did Hercules sense the change coming, matching his timing to Peerless?'

Hercules loved showmanship, and he enjoyed pumping up crowds. He would not hesitate to change rules to make fights more interesting. Gianluigi had assumed that Hercules wanted him to build up momentum. Which is why the former had delayed the match.

' What if it wasn't me he was waiting for?'

Gianluigi was a battle maniac but he was no fool. His mind had been filled with bloody murder, but he was still a high-pedigree Core Veritas. Truthseekers of the Veritas Core had great control of their minds. He was able to balance himself and analyze certain variables in a split second.

'This, I'm not sure what this is, but it's bad, I have to attack before this continues.'

The overwhelmingly violent killing Intent the Unrelenting Hunt released often stifled the enemy, giving the caster the time to build momentum. It was also the source of the homing ability. The bloodline ability created a permanent link via Intent and stabilized the link with Truth. The more Intent one brought out, the stronger the link and the stronger the skill.

Gianluigi was supposed to have control over the link because he was the one infusing Intent. Or at least that was what was supposed to happen. Instead, Will had started to suck in the Intent. At the moment it was still within reason, but he was fast approaching dangerous levels. Meaning that Will was starting to control the strength of the link!

'If he gains complete control over where I place my Intent...'

Gianluigi shivered at the thought. Intent was like attention. If one could control where an enemy could direct their Intent, in other words, their attention, then they could manipulate their foes easily.

'The Unrelenting Hunt makes me a projectile attacking a target, like a missile or a bullet. But now instead of a missile hitting its target, I'm like a magnet getting pulled by a metal. If metal can dictate the movement of a magnet, then he can do the same to me! '

It took time to describe the prince's thought process, but this all happened within a fraction of a second.

"Six, five..."

Gianluigi quickly got to the crux of the issue and panicked. He wished he could go crush Will right now, but he could not. Hercules had not finished the countdown. Will only became more dangerous and the Intent started to gather around him as if it had no choice. It was beginning to reach a point where Gianluigi found it difficult to even look away from Will.

'This is even worse than tunnel vision.'

....

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