Jack of All Trades, Master of All

Jasmin Hensley was startled when she felt the spark creep up from his brother's hand to hers. She jerked her hand away and fell to the side. With just a brief moment of contact, her head was already aching like crazy, and her spirit structure was shaken to its very foundation. As she turned her wide-opening eyes toward the paralyzed Arnold, she quickly understood how the main target of the lightning was suffering.

Jack yanked off his blackened robotic arm, bursting up a way of pain signals in his nerves at the point of contact. Using the second black lightning was as overwhelming as it got, but he did it. Still, he only had a few seconds to act now because the intensity of that black lightning would not keep Arnold Hensley down for long.

As he put on his cape and humpback accessory for his fake identity of Adam, Jack turned on the Fleeting Wings, preparing for a Vanishing Jump with Shadow Dance. At the same time, he simultaneously used Warrior's Fighting Force and Niemis' Blessing of Nightblade to buff his Agility up as high as possible.

Jack crouched forward and immediately felt excruciating pain all over his body. The overlapping speed effects were stretching as if he was a thin piece of paper. With that being said, he now had just enough to turn himself almost into the flashing lightning of the night. He was so fast that Jasmin didn't even realize it before she was lifted into the air by a punch from the Warfists of Fleeting Might.

She immediately coughed out on the ground but managed to stay awake to glare at the small figure that had just appeared. With a roar of fury, a high-density aura was released, forcing Jack's legs to sink into the ground, creating small slits around. Jasmin swung her cloak, her Rapier in position for a flurry of attack. Then, she was immediately stopped and pushed back on her knee as if someone had just pressed a ton of weights on her head.

Jack held the Legend Insignia in his hand, panting.

Just a few more seconds, Jack silently cheered himself as his body felt like being melted away.

He lunged forward, utilizing all of his remaining power to cast the Vanishing Blow skill he got from Warfists of Fleeting Might. He punched Jasmin Hensley right in the heart with his one hand. His enemy instantly let out a scream of agony. Still, she couldn't move, to the point that she couldn't even let loose of her body to fall down, or brace against the blow, for the power from the Insignia was just too great. Her knee was being shredded in blood, trying to move against the pressure.

The blows sounded like a constant barrage of exploding canons. In just a few seconds, the number of attacks Jack had landed reached the dozens. Eventually, the Warfists of Fleeting Might were able to penetrate the armor and muscular body of a Crusader. Blood was finally dripping from the palm of the hand that was clutching a crimson heart.

With a simple squeeze, Jack crushed all hope of survival for Jasmin Hensley.

She froze, her eyes dimming as she looked at Jack.

“We were so close,” her voice was but a broken whisper mixed with a hint of unwilling anger. “Who are you?”

“You shouldn’t have come to kill me that night,” Jack grunted every single word.

Jasmin had her eyes wide open briefly, realizing who had just ended her. She had no chance to say anything more. The legend aura slowly faded as her body relaxed down comfortably one final time.

Jack also fell down, instinctively clutching his neck, trying to take in as much air and mana as possible. His body hadn’t been enhanced enough to endure such an exhausting event. Especially only recently did he realize the longer the activation, the more mana the Legend Insignia consumed.

Abraham rushed over to help Jack up. His situation was not much better. Still, he had to hold out a little longer for his son.

“You have to leave, now!” Abraham said.

Jack forced his head up to look at Arnold Hensley, who was now a pile of slimy meat. His eyes were full of white, his mouth was wide open, and veins were popping all over his face. His breath had already given up on him. Abraham utilized every bit of second that Jack had bought for him.

“I’ll handle everything,” continued Abraham. “Everyone is coming. Go. Quickly!”

With a slap on the back, Abraham infused Jack with a tap of his unique mana of a Crusader possessing Archon powers. The new energy gave Jack a brief moment of exhilaration. He pushed himself away from his father, then used Shadow Dance to leave the spot.

Only when he was sure Jack was out of sight, and no more surprises were to come did Abraham let go of his act. He covered his mouth and fell to the ground on all four limbs. Blood poured out like there was a tsunami from inside his body. Sweat ran down his face and back, shivering with each convulsion. Abraham's dim eye also caught a few strings of hair falling down.

Finally, he gritted his teeth, raising his head when he sensed the presence of two people, Marvin and Meinhard.

“You sure know how to pick the time of arrival,” Abraham managed to spit out a few sarcastic words before reverting to coughing again.

“What the hell happened here?” Marvin said with an annoying frown on his face.

The dead bodies of Arnold and Jasmin Hensley lay bare in the middle of the lifeless field, making the mayor extremely uneasy. He could vaguely guess what had transpired here but was even warier of whether or not it had ended yet.

“A house war?” Meinhard asked.

Abraham nodded.

“Is he alright?” Meinhard continued.

Abraham continued to nod.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the principal approached and pulled out a pill for Abraham.

“Can any of you explain all of this to me?” Marvin asked irritably.

No one answered him; they had little energy left for it.

Fortunately, what Marvin feared did not happen. The fall of the Hensleys had already marked the finale of this catastrophe.

 

Jack fell into a coma, which was on the top of his hate list ever since his awakening half a year ago, in the Sword in the Forge. Bastian was constantly grumbling while taking care of him for two whole days as everyone else was busy cleaning up the mess that was the aftermath of the battle.

The town seemed no better than a ruin. Most of the houses had collapsed. The stalls and constructions, such as bridges or walls, were severely damaged, save for a few key places such as the Mayor's mansion remained relatively intact. The sense of desolation covered Oxdale.

The death toll reached thousands, most of whom were those without a place to stay or time to move. The factions also lost quite a bit of their own fighting force—especially the Warrior Guild, who had suffered the worst of the casualties.

Mayor Marvin, in accordance with reality, issued orders to manage the people as well as schedule memorials for the fallen souls. But what was truly giving him and the superior existences of the town a real headache right now was the collapse of the Hensleys.

News of Arnold Hensley and Jasmin Hensley falling in battle with the Harpers and the mystical existence of Adam had already spread throughout the town. Before the people hadn’t yet gotten themselves together after the shock,  another happened. The vultures from various powers began to emerge, demanding a share of the burden, or privilege, of the Hensleys. Tensions quickly rose when no one was willing to make a compromise, as if they were trying to spark a second house war. The conflict was only averted only when Marvin demanded that everyone put all of this aside until Abraham recovered.

The master of the Harper household was seriously injured after the battle. His wound went as deep as the cellular level. Summoning Avatar when your body was incapable of doing that was no less than poisoning yourself. Sophie wasn’t even allowed to visit after leaving the bunker since Abraham's treatment at the Maester Guild needed to be completely isolated from the surrounding turmoil.

Along with Abraham was Julia. Her condition was the most fatal. After killing the Cavernwraith, her vital indicators appeared to stabilize. But, after a while, her body showed more and more signs of degeneration. The high-ranking Maesters, and even the guild master himself, worked all day and night looking for a cure, trying to pull her back from the clutch of death.

On the afternoon of the third day after the battle had ended, Marvin and several officials went to Bastian to question him about the Black Lightning Blade. The authorities in Oxdale wanted to know why such a weapon was seen in the hands of the stranger.

“The boy must have been robbed,” Bastain answered with his usual grumpy voice.

“Robbed?” Marvin frowned.

“Jack!” Bastian called out instead of continuing his conversation with the Mayor. “Come out here!”

Jack, from the next room, dragged his exhausted and sluggish body. He was noticeably thinner, his eye sockets and cheeks both forming with deep hollows. This was also one of the reasons Jack did not dare to go to the Maester Guild to meet Sophie, who was by her husband's side days and nights.

“Look at the poor boy, Marvin,” Bastian said with anger in his voice. “He even lost an arm again.”

Marvin frowned, looking at Jack from top to bottom before continuing.

“Do you have any idea who the person may be?”

“Any idea? All I know is if the boy hadn’t carried the sword away, you might as well be talking to a dead body, which is me by the way, now.”

Marvin tilted his head to look at his followers, individuals who wanted a thorough investigation. He himself didn't want to dig too deep into this because the stranger had done Oxdale a favor by taking down a Cavernwraith. As for these snobs, the only good thing they had done was hide until their interests were affected by the collapse of the Hensleys.

“All right,” Marvin clapped his hands and stood up. "Let's talk about it another day."

“What the hell are you clapping for,” Bastian snorted. “Scare the crap out of me. Get out, get out! It's unbelievable that they didn't even send someone to guard the sword, and now they dare to come here to question a wounded person."

“My apology!” Marvin bowed, gesturing for everyone to leave.

When the two were finally left alone, Jack smirked at Bastian.

“Did you just seriously worry about me?”

“Worry?” Bastian made an even louder snort. “I was worried about my money that you just might carry with you to hell. Now get back to your bed!”

Jack happily complied with the grumbling.