Child of Destiny

……

Shin advanced forward with calm and steady steps while keeping his eyes on the mechanical puppet. The latter was the same and seemed to be mimicking his movements.

Bang!

Then, the two of them suddenly disappeared from their respective positions alongside the explosive sound produced by their steps.

Swoosh!

They only reappeared when they were a couple of meters away from each other.

Shin was ducking forward as he placed his right hand on the hilt of the white katana.

Click!

With a flick of his left-hand thumb, the sword was slightly pushed out of the sheath. And when his right hand caught it, he suddenly swung it in a horizontal manner.

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Horizon’

Shing!

Shin moved in a swift and decisive manner, making his actions flow smoothly and accurately.

But the mechanical puppet saw through everything and responded accordingly. It raised its arm, which transformed into a blade, and hacked it down.

There were no fancy movements or advanced techniques. It was just a simple yet powerful action that carried a lot of force behind it.

Bang!

The collision produced a loud sound that kept on ringing in Shin’s ears, making him quite dizzy. It was also accompanied by a strong shockwave that sent a violent air ripple in every direction.

The expression on Shin’s face grimaced for a moment as he felt the weight behind the attack of the mechanical puppet.

His arm was trembling as he tried to nullify the kinetic energy produced by the collision. His feet also sank to the ground as he transferred some of the absorbed force toward them.

Gritting his teeth, Shin put more force on his arm and pushed the arm blade of the mechanical puppet.

He also executed a sword movement from his newly acquired sword technique. He swung the katana in a horizontal manner, leaving a glowing straight in the air.

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Fourth Movement – Tempest Stroke’

The stroke that Shin had drawn in the air came a little too fast. The mechanical puppet was forced to take a couple of steps back, barely dodging the tip of Shin’s katana.

Shin was able to quickly seize the tempo of the battle with that stroke in the air. Unfortunately, he was still a little unfamiliar with his current swordsmanship, so he was unable to quickly follow it up.

He could only rely on his experience inside the game, which was still a little too awkward for him to perform in the real world.

Instead of advancing forward, he took a step back and increased the distance between him and the mechanical puppet.

At the same time, he sheathed the white katana in a swift, single motion. He then switched it with the black katana as he stomped on the ground.

He propelled forward as he unsheathed the black katana. But this time, instead of swinging, he thrust the katana forward.

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Strike’

Shing! 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺

Swoosh!

The mechanical puppet gained enough space to avoid the incoming attack due to the delay of Shin’s movement.

Though, it didn’t back down either. It decisively took a step forward and fearlessly advanced.

It raised its steel arm and thrust it forward in a very aggressive manner. The air surrounding its steel-blade arm swirled around and produced a spiraling motion while moving ahead.

Bang!

Yet another explosion erupted. But this time, the tip of their weapon did not even touch each other. The metal energy surrounding the black katana and the spiraling force accompanying the attack of the mechanical puppet collided with each other first, preventing the two sides from advancing further.

After the brief collision, Shin and the mechanical puppet were pushed back by the impact.

The former took multiple steps back to nullify everything and left deep footprints on his path while the latter skidded back and drew a long trail on the ground, directly absorbing all the impact.

Shin suppressed the urge to vomit and braced himself. He took a series of large steps as he strode forward while holding the black katana with both of his hands and raising it over his head.

The air around his body spiraled around his body and rose, climbing toward his katana. It formed a revolving gale around his body and the black katana alongside the dancing mental energy that he was releasing.

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: First Movement – Collapsing Wind’

Swoosh!

The great momentum that Shin had was affecting his surroundings. The revolving wind and mental energy around his body were producing a suction force that was pulling everything toward him.

Due to that, the mechanical puppet could not freely move its body. It was being pulled by the suction force and preventing it from escaping anywhere.

Realizing that it was impossible to dodge, it chose to let its body be dragged by the suction force. It was planning to borrow the pulling power to produce a strong momentum as it charged at Shin.

It also assumed an offensive position where it slightly twisted its waist while dragging its blade arm behind. And when it reached the desirable distance away from Shin, it stomped its foot on the ground to gain a firm footing before swinging its steel blade arm up.

Bang!

Swoosh!

Boom!

This time, the shockwave that was produced by the collision shook the entire field.

It even attracted the attention of everyone. The class could not help but pause what they were doing and cast their gazes in the direction where the commotion was coming from.

Then they saw Shin engaging in an intense battle against a mechanical puppet. Based on the trembling ground and the violent ripple in the air produced by the earlier collision, everyone could tell that the attacks from both sides were very powerful.

“Tsk! Showoff!” commented Arthur, who was currently engaging in an intense melee with Dylan.

“That is rich coming from someone who likes to jump in the limelight,” said Dylan mockingly, refuting the words that Arthur had said.

The corner of Arthur’s mouth suddenly twitched when he heard those words. He could not find the words to refute.

This guy rarely talked and did not want to engage in prolonged conversation, especially if it was a verbal battle. But at times, this mute guy’s words were much sharper than his swords.

“Just focus on yourself!” shouted Arthur before resuming the battle.

Dylan smirked and continued to attack with his words. “Whose the one who suddenly stops and talks about their battle.”

“B*st*d! I just gave a minor comment!” Arthur slightly lost his cool and started intensifying his attacks.

…

Shin and the mechanical puppet did not care about their surroundings as they continued to throw their battle. It was even more true for the latter since it was only focused on the task given to it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each collision produced a strong impact that produced loud sounds and violent shockwaves that were sent in every direction.

And when they became familiar with the strength of the opposing side, they started moving their feet and executed their movement techniques.

The two of them transformed into blurs that kept on appearing and disappearing in the field.

And when their speed increased further while maintaining their powerful strengths, they became a streak of light that flew across the field and collided from time to time.

Each collision was much stronger and more powerful than the previous ones as it started to reverberate throughout the entire place, affecting the state of the battle of the students.

Shin alternated between the quick draw style and the sword movements that he remembered after the stimulus that he got from his continued practice of the Jade Kirin Scripture.

His mind was already familiar with the sword techniques after he repeatedly used them in the game.

And right now, his body was steadily adjusting and adapting with them the more they used those sword techniques in this battle.

His mind and body were slowly catching up with each other, making his battle prowess to become more refined and sophisticated.

It was at this moment when his peak combat talent, the Battle Genius talent, was starting to show its worth once again.

He was constantly improving in battle, which hastened the unification process of his mind and body.

But he was not the only one who was improving. The mechanical puppet was also constantly gathering information and updating the data that it had inside its database.

And Shin could clearly see that.

As someone who possessed the Battle Genius talent, he was very sensitive to these kinds of small yet impactful changes.

He could clearly see that the mechanical puppet was gradually getting stronger as the battle progressed.

He knew about it but could not do anything to prevent it from happening.

All he could do was focus on his own progress and hope that he would be the one to complete the ‘evolution’.

He had to reach his perfect form first before this mechanical puppet collected all the data about him and formulated a perfect counter style to deal with him.

This battle became a race on who would be the first to reach perfection before the other.

……