SSS-Rank Awakening: My Talent Multiplies Everything novel Chapter 122

Chapter 122: Dominion.

Kael gritted his teeth, his jaw clenching so hard it felt as though it would crack.

The pain coursing through his battered body wasn’t what angered him the most.

No.

It was the humiliation.

Being beaten down so thoroughly by himself. Or rather, by this cheap imitation of himself.

Rage surged through his chest.

The shadow on the other hand didn’t waste the opening.

Without the slightest hesitation, it exploded forward once more, its silhouette blurring across the endless sea of blood.

Kael reacted instantly.

He rolled to his right.

The very next instant, the shadow’s foot came crashing down where his skull had been.

BOOM!

The crimson pool erupted beneath the impact. Blood splashed several metres into the air while concentric ripples spread endlessly across the otherwise motionless surface.

Kael used the momentum of his roll to scramble back onto his feet. Blood dripped from his broken nose as he wiped it away with the back of his hand, his eyes never leaving the creature standing before him.

It came again.

Its right shoulder rotated.

Its hips twisted.

A straight punch shot toward his face.

Kael moved only a fraction.

His head slipped to the outside of the punch, allowing the fist to whistle past his shoulder by mere centimetres.

At the same time, his left hand shot out.

His fingers wrapped tightly around the shadow’s wrist.

The texture beneath his palm felt strange. It wasn’t flesh.

Nor was it smoke.

It felt somewhere in between, solid enough to grip yet strangely fluid beneath his fingers.

He didn’t hesitate.

His right palm slammed into the shadow’s elbow joint.

THUD!

The arm bent awkwardly beneath the force.

It didn’t break.

But the structure of its stance collapsed.

Kael twisted his waist, forcing the shadow’s upper body downward before driving his knee upward with explosive force.

His knee smashed into its ribs.

A dull, hollow grunt escaped the shadow.

For the first time...

It staggered.

But only for an instant.

The shadow immediately dropped its centre of gravity, tore its wrist free from Kael’s grasp, then swept both legs across the blood-covered ground.

Kael had already expected it.

His feet left the surface in a single leap.

The sweeping kick passed harmlessly beneath him.

Yet the shadow had anticipated that as well.

The instant Kael became airborne, it spun.

Its waist rotated with terrifying speed before a backfist exploded toward him.

CRACK!

The strike slammed across Kael’s cheek.

His head snapped violently sideways as blood sprayed from his mouth.

He stumbled several steps after landing, boots skidding across the shallow blood.

But he didn’t fall.

Instead, he spat another mouthful of blood onto the crimson surface.

Frustration slowly crept across his face.

This thing...

It was reading him.

Every feint. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Every adjustment.

Every instinct.

It knew them all before he even completed them.

But as that thought surfaced another one quickly followed.

If it could read him...

Then he could read it as well.

Kael lowered his stance.

His breathing slowed.

His amber eyes narrowed until nothing remained within them except unwavering focus.

The shadow attacked again.

This time, it unleashed a relentless barrage.

Straight punches.

Hooks.

Palm strikes.

Elbows.

Each attack flowed seamlessly into the next without the slightest pause.

Kael met them head-on.

Forearm struck forearm.

Palm intercepted fist.

Elbow deflected elbow.

Every collision echoed through the silent realm like distant thunder, waves rippling endlessly across the sea of blood beneath their feet.

The shadow never stopped advancing.

Every blocked strike became another attack.

Every deflection transformed into another opening.

It refused to give Kael even a single breath to recover.

Only then did Kael understand.

It’s trying to overwhelm me. His expression darkened.

As much as he hated admitting it.. it was working.

Then...

Something cold wrapped around his ankle.

Kael’s pupils shrank.

He looked down.

A pale chain had emerged from beneath the blood.

It glowed faintly with an eerie crimson light as it coiled tightly around his left leg.

"What..."

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