In a certain chaos plane on the border between the Nishi vassal empire and its western neighbour of Ashi, Jai a lightning cultivator, was flying through the sky. He had newly ascended to the green core stage of the nascent soul and was looking for a magical beast to test his new strength against when suddenly, he saw something twinkling in the waters below. On a whim, he decided to descend to take a closer look.
As he hovered over the water surface, he saw a black rock glowing in green and yellow inscriptions, floating in the water as it was being tossed about by the waves.
"Hm? This looks familiar. Where have I seen this rock before?" Jai pondered as he reached down to grab the strangely familiar rock.
*Splash*
However, just as his hand grabbed the rock, so did another from below the water. Soon after, a silver-haired woman sporting a porcelain mask popped out of the water and spoke.
"Sup!"
"Do I know you? You seem familiar?"
"Nope! I just have a very common mask-face! Hey, could you let go of my rock?"
"Hm? Your rock? I don't see your name on it!" Jai said as he pulled on the rock as he had the strangest feeling of déjà vu coming over him.
"Sure, I did! Those glowing letters from a forgotten language clearly say my name! Now give it!" Nox said as she pulled the rock towards her.
"Lier! These characters are ancient Asuran which I can read, and there is no mention of a name! Now let go!" Jai said as he pulled so hard he lifted Nox out of the water with the rock.
"Of course it doesn't! Why would I write my name on a rock? Do you write your name on your sword?"
"Yes! Now let go!" Jai said as he waved Nox around so hard her arm was ripped off her shoulder.
As Nox splashed back into the water, Jai was a little surprised as he was not intending to rip off her arm. Regardless, he had gotten what he wanted and decided to leave in case Nox or someone who knew her came looking for him.
While flying away, he decided to try and remove Nox's hand as not only was it a little inconvenient to carry around a severed arm like this, but there are tracking methods one can use to locate him through it. However, he was a little disturbed by how tightly Nox's severed arm was holding on to the rock. He first tried pulling at the forearm, but he just ended up ripping it off at the wrist. Then he tried to physically pry open the hand, but each finger wouldn't let go unless he broke them, and even when he did, they would snap back into place moments after. He then decided to try cutting off the fingers, but…
"Huh? Wait? Where is my? I know I had it a moment ago?"
Jai began to panic a bit as he realized his sword was missing. Not only was it an expensive and rare legendary weapon, but it was not even his own. Jai had borrowed it from a friend as it happened to have be of some use to help him advance.
"Shit, I must have dropped it somewhere! Puja is gonna be pissed if I don't find it!"
*Whistling*
As Jai was weighing the risk of incurring the wrath of whoever he just dismembered and facing his buddy's scorn he heard a whistling sound coming from below. Looking over on a small island, he saw Nox, waving at him with her newly reattached arm. As her core is still that of a medium spriggan, she has a harder time making new limbs out of literal air, which is why she was still missing her hand. However, what drew Jai's attention wasn't the fact that Nox had managed to track him down already, nor the fact she had recovered most of her arm, but the fact that she had replaced her missing hand with his missing sword.
"Hey, that's mine! Give it back!" Jai said, as he landed on the islet.
"Funny! I thought you said you wrote your name on your sword! I don't see your name on this, so I guess it's not yours!"
"I borrowed it from a friend! Now hand it over!"
"Wow! 'HAND it over', really. Too soon man! I just lost this hand! Besides, I need a replacement for my missing hand!"
"Do you think me a fool woman! If you can recover an arm, you can recover a hand! Now hand it over!" Jai said, as he tried to use telekinesis to rip the sword out of Nox's arm.
However, for some reason whenever he tried to grab on to it using his mental energy, it was as if his telekinetic powers just went limp as he lost all strength the moment he tried to grab it.
"Yeah, that's not gonna work thunder sweat! Psychic powers like that only works if I let them! Also, I am not handing this over until you hand me my rock-holding hand back!"
"Hmph! You think I'm scared of you just because I can't sense your qi!" Jai said as he pulled out his main weapon from his spatial ring.
It first glance, it appeared to be just a sword hilt without a blade, but when Jai channelled his lightning qi into it, an energy sword made from electricity came shooting out, and zapping anything that came too close.
"As I feel a little sorry for taking your arm earlier, let me impart some wisdom on to you! The higher your cultivation is, the harder it becomes to conceal your cultivation level! Judging by the fact I cannot sense a sliver coming off you, is enough to tell me you are lower ranked than me! Now hand over that blade or you will be losing more than just a hand today!"
"Uh-huh, then could I have my hand back now? It's best to reattach these things as soon as possible!"
"You can have your stinking hand back, but this rock is staying with me!" Jai said, as he waved his lightning blade to the side, sending electric currents through the nearby water that caused a bunch of fish to float up to the surface dead.
"Hm? No deal! I don't know why you want my rock this bad but let me tell you something I do know! When making empty threats, it's important to keep a poker face on so your opponent can't tell your freaking out inside!"
"What are you talking about! Do you think I am afraid of a fragile woman like you?" Jai said, taking a step back as Nox moved closer.
"No, but I'm pretty sure you know I could kick your ass with this sword-hand of mine!" Nox said as she waved the copper sword in his direction, sending out tiny sparks flying towards him with each swing.
"Hmph! Don't be ridiculous! My 'Lightning Storm Blade' is the same rank as the 'Roaring Thunder Sword'! So, drop the sword and surrender, else I will have to-!"
*Swoosh*
*Crackle*
Interrupting Jai's words, Nox used her body enchantments to bolt forwards and swing down at him, only to stop it right in front of his face. Meanwhile, Jai had reflexively lifted his lightning blade to strike at her midriff, to paralyze her body before her strike could hit, but it was all in vain.
The reason why Jai was so reluctant to just electrocute Nox and take the sword back that way, was because despite their weapons being of the same grade, the Roaring Thunder Sword that Nox was holding would make his Lightning Storm Blade practically useless. The special ability of Nox's sword-hand is that it can absorb and shoot out lightning it has stored inside itself, meaning that the moment Jai got too close to it his weapon will lose all power and become a regular sword hilt while at the same time fuelling the power of his enemy's weapon.
At this moment, Jai was under the impression Nox was just a cultivator of a lower stage who was skilled at hiding her qi due to the fact he found her swimming in monster infested waters. Had she not been wielding a legendary blade, or at least used any other legendary weapon, he would have been a lot more confident that he could just overpower her based on this misconstrued assumption. However, the gap in power he was imagining could potentially be bridged by the fact he would be forced to fight her barehanded while she wielded a legendary weapon.
"Tsk!"
"So, are you going to hand me my rock or what?"
"If I do, how can I be certain you will hand over the sword!"
"Look, I don't know why you're so fixated on my rock, but I'm too tired from the diver's sickness to care, so I'm just gonna level with you! My kids dropped my stuff in the water as a prank, and I've spent the last week scuba diving all over the place looking for whatever the fish didn't gobble up! So could we please just skip to the part where you hand me my rock, I give you the sword, and we can both just pretend like this never happened so we can both respectively fuck off!"
"Hmph? Fine, then hand me the sword first then!"
"Fine whatever! Here! Now hand me my stuff!"
Shocked Nox would so easily hand over the Roaring Thunder Sword, Jai was a little taken aback. Thinking she might be a bit too trusting, Jai was about to return her hand holding the increasingly glowing rock to her. Some people would have just taken the sword and left, maybe even used the sword to kill her before leaving. Fortunately, Jai was not that cold-hearted. He had only taken the rock on a whim and held on to it out of a mix of pettiness and stubborn arrogance, so once he calmed his head a bit, he wasn't averse to giving her the rock now that he got his sword back. However, just when he was about to give her the severed hand holding the rock, he suddenly remembered something from a year ago and changed his mind.
"…!"
"So, my rock-hand please! Hello! Earth to thunder sweater! Can you hear me? I want my hand back!" Nox said, as she was wondering why Jai seemed to freeze up.
"YOU! I RECALL NOW! YOU'RE THAT THIEVING GIRL FROM A YEAR AGO! YOU STOLE MY GEODE AT THE ROCK GAMBLING STALL!"
"Why do people always remember me at the most inconvenient times? Also, I didn't steal shit! I bought that rock, now give it!"
"You wish! This rock belongs to me! If you value your life, you will leave now and never show your thieving face before this great master again!" Jai said as he took to the air.
Unfortunately, he had failed to notice the thin silver thread that was wrapped around the 'Roaring Thunder Sword' when Nox handed it over, which she used to yank him right back down to earth. Then, she kicked him in the groin and tried to snatch her hand still clutching the rock out of his grasp while he was stunned. However, Jai wasn't going to let it be that easy.
After Nox had pulled a fast one on him last year, Jai, in a fit of humiliated rage and frustration, had developed a qi technique which he uses subconsciously whenever he picks something up. He magnetizes whatever he touches to make it stick to his palms. That way, even if he is not physically holding on to an item, or loosens his grip, he won't easily drop something once he gets a hold of it. It also sends an electrical current through anyone who tries to take it out of his hands, which funnily enough was the main reason why Nox's hand was not letting go earlier, as her weirdly octopus-like muscle fibres allowed her fingers to latch back on to the stone even if their bones were broken whenever they got a jolt sent through them.
"Ugh! Ngh! You! You dare! I! Ugh! I will make you pay!" Jai squeaked out as he glared at Nox through teary eyes.
However, before he could make any good on that threat, the glowing rock suddenly flashed in a blindingly bright light. When the light faded, both the rock and the two people fighting over it was gone.