"No good — he's too fast. I can't hit him. I need to find a way to restrict his movement first." Rulu thought, and with a gesture of his hand, a fierce gust of wind materialized around Jason, buffeting him from all sides. Affected by the powerful wind, Jason's flight speed slowed considerably.

  Rulu continued firing at Jason. With his movement hampered by the gale, Jason struggled to dodge the bullets and took one to the waist. He immediately flew away from Rulu to open up the distance, retreating to over fifty meters away. At that range, Rulu couldn't summon the wind to affect Jason, and the gust around Jason died down at once.

  "You damned pest — if the Governor hadn't given his orders, I'd kill you where you stand." Jason gritted his teeth against the pain and forced the bullet out of his body, gring at Rulu from a distance. He took to the air and flew rapidly away from Rulu, curving along a wide arc and accelerating continuously. In just five or six seconds, his speed exceeded a hundred kilometers per hour — and he was still picking up pace.

  Once Jason had pushed his flight speed to its maximum, he arced through the air and came hurtling toward Rulu. Rulu tried to summon a gale to stop him, but Jason's speed was so extreme that he simply tore straight through it, closing the distance in an instant.

  With a sharp shriek of parting air, Jason streaked past Rulu at blinding speed, grazing him as he passed. Though it was only a gncing blow, Rulu felt as if he'd been struck by a car — the impact sent him flying four or five meters and knocked him sprawling onto the rooftop.

  Rulu forced himself through the pain and struggled back to his feet, intending to counter-attack. Jason quickly flew away to widen the gap again, retreating to over a hundred meters out, and began circling in a wide arc to accelerate for his next pass.

  Rulu realized the situation was turning dire. He moved rapidly across the rooftop, trying to evade the attack. Another sharp crack of dispced air — a blurred afterimage tore through the spot where Rulu had just been standing. Though Jason hadn't made direct contact this time, the violent shockwave produced by his high-speed flight still sent Rulu skidding several meters, nearly knocking him off his feet.

  Jason continued flying in the air, pressing his assault relentlessly. His speed was staggering — Rulu could neither summon wind fast enough to stop him nor nd a shot with his pistol, and could only keep moving to stay out of Jason's path.

  Despite Rulu's best efforts to dodge, he was caught by Jason's high-speed passes several more times, sent flying each time from the impact. It was fortunate that Jason wasn't using his bdes to attack — otherwise, Rulu would have long since been torn open and killed outright.

  "This can't continue. I have to think of something." Rulu gasped for breath, his body wracked with pain, feeling as though he might fall apart at any moment. He knew that at this rate, defeat was inevitable. He racked his mind desperately for a way to turn the fight around, while Jason circled overhead like a hawk, ready to swoop in for another strike.

  Jason's figure shifted — and he came diving toward Rulu again. In that instant, Rulu ripped off the rge bck cloak he was wearing and hurled it at Jason. Flying at full speed, Jason crashed directly into the cloak, which draped over his upper body and head, blinding him to his surroundings. Jason blundered through the air like a headless fly, crashing about with no sense of direction.

  "Now's my chance!" Rulu kicked off the ground and rode the wind into the air. He rapidly closed in on Jason — still tangled in the bck cloak — and unloaded shot after shot. With his vision obscured, Jason couldn't dodge, and took several bullets to the body, drawing blood.

  "You bastard — I'll fight you to the death!" Jason roared in fury, tearing the cloak from his body with brute force. He raised both hands to guard his head and charged straight at Rulu, letting the bullets sm into his body, no longer trying to dodge.

  Rulu knew this was the decisive moment. He showed no mercy, firing round after round at Jason. One shot streaked toward Jason's head — but struck his shielding palm instead. The bullet hit Jason's hand yet failed to punch through, and ricocheted back toward Rulu.

  Rulu cried out in pain. The rebounding bullet struck him squarely in the right arm. Blood immediately poured from the wound, the gun in his hand cttered to the ground, and Rulu dropped from the air like a kite with its string cut, crashing hard onto the rooftop.