Child of Destiny

…

“This time., I am going to let you have what defeat tastes like,” said Arthur as he looked at Shin while releasing his seven-colored Internal Qi.

Meanwhile, Shin was looking at Arthur with a dumbfounded face when he saw the seven-colored Internal Qi that was covering the latter’s body. And due to that, Shin’s extreme tranquility state from the ‘White Dawn Boundary’ was suddenly broken.

‘What’s that? He already created his Natural Force?’ Shin was thinking about this when he first saw the strange Internal Qi released by Arthur.

But he quickly rejected the idea when he took a closer look at the latter. ‘No… that’s not exactly it. It is a type of Internal Qi that is similar to that Old Geezer’s Sacred Internal Qi. It is just a level higher, or maybe even more.’

And the most troubling part of this was the golden-colored ‘Divine’ character written at the center of Arthur’s forehead. It was not due to it being too eye-catching, but because the pressure that Shin was currently feeling was majority coming from it.

…

At the same time when the two were too focused at their sparring match, there were three men watching their battle for a far; two of them were old men while the other was a man in his early forties.

One of the old men was a man wearing military clothing with badges of 5 stars on each of his shoulders. He was the Old Demon Fist General, Samuel Springfield.

He was calmly watching the contest between Shin and Arthur with crossed arms earlier. But now that he saw the changes that were coming from Arthur, he couldn’t help but became surprised at the sight even if he was Arthur’s grandfather.

“What a huge surprise we have here. I just come back from the World Government Headquarters, yet I am going to witness something like this,” said by General Springfield while nodding his head repeatedly.

Then he quickly added after a slight pause. “Not only did this little rascal improve his discipline in battle but he also successfully awakened his bloodline powers. And from the looks of it, that was a high density of our bloodline.”

General Springfield paused for a moment to look at the younger man of the three and asked. “Aren’t you the one that arranged his training and bloodline ceremony. Did the Ancestors tell you anything about it?”

This man in his early forties was also wearing a military uniform though the rank was slightly lower than General Springfield as he had 4-star badges instead of 5. This guy was the greatest genius that the Springfield Family before the appearance of Arthur and Shiella, the Dragon King: Nathan Springfield.

And when he heard the question from his father, Nathan shook his head and smiled bitterly. “I really arranged everything but I haven’t heard his progress since I have some things that I need to deal with in the military. So, this is also my first time seeing it.”

Then he paused for a moment before continuing. “But from what I heard from Master and Grandfather just earlier, even if Arthur didn’t awaken a dual bloodline like his elder sister, he still awakened the Divine Dragon’s Bloodline. A bloodline that is even higher than the Solar Dragon’s Bloodline of our Ancestors.”

General Springfield squinted his eyes and said. “So, that explains why he possessed both the Eternal Flame Internal Qi and Divine Lighting Mark. The Solar Dragon was actually a direct descendant of the Divine Dragon, that is why our bloodlines have some of its power. But to think that this rascal was that lucky enough to have its pure bloodline.”

He paused for a moment before asking Nathan. “Did the Ancestors mention anything if he could control these powers properly.”

Nathan thought for a moment before replying. “They did. They said that he can only control these powers at a very limited time; 5 minutes at most. And they also mentioned that he needs to practice the ‘Imperial Tactics’ breathing technique from now on. Even if his body was baptized by the Dragon’s blessing on the altar of our Ancestor Dragon, he still need to nurture it properly.”

After hearing that, General Springfield nodded his head a little as a confirmation before turning his head at the other old man beside him and sneered. “Why are you so quiet now, Old Monster?

Professor Plum, who was in his usual Daoist Robe, ignored the General and continued to look at the two teenagers in the distance. He was squinting his eyes and stroking his beard as he watched the ongoing sparring matched.

General Springfield smirked when he saw that and said. “Heh! Don’t tell me you are still hopeful that your disciple will create a yet another miracle. Even though he is a dual practitioner, that was still not enough to beat a Bloodline power of this level.”

Unfortunately, Professor Plum ignored him once again which annoyed him even more. The General clicked his tongue and thought to himself. ‘Tsk! Let’s see what this little kid can still do.’

…

Going back to the sparring match, Shin was now looking cautiously at Arthur which made the latter to suddenly smirked. “Heh! What now, scared? Let’s end this then.”

And when those words left his mouth, Arthur suddenly disappeared from Shin’s sight. And before Shin could even blink, a fist that was blazing with a seven-colored flame was already magnifying right in front of his eyes.

‘Fast!’ Shin was shocked at Arthur’s sudden increase of his speed.

But at this point, his mind was also thinking at a very rate. And due to the intense pressure that Arthur was releasing, his potential on Mentalism was suddenly roused and made his *’Niwan Palace’ to suddenly burst with a powerful Mental Energy.

*(Mentalist’s counterpart for the ‘Golden Core’ of a Martial-Artist)

Then his mind subconsciously created a wall of Mental Energy in front of his face, blocking the path of the incoming fist. And even if it was not successful at halting the advancing fist, it was still able to slow its movements and gave Shin’s body a small window to react in time.

Since he already had a lot of life-and-death experiences in the Mafia Training Camp, he already built up a battle sense that could react to every kind of dangerous situation. And this battle sense was further honed when he was trained under Professor Plum’s guidance. 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

And to add the fact that his ‘Immediate Response’ talent was improved just recently; his body was already responding at the intense danger that Arthur was sending through this punch.

That was why before Arthur’s fist shattered the wall of Mental Energy that Shin had made subconsciously, both of his arms were already crossed themselves while being enfolded with his Internal Qi. And at the very moment that his Mental Energy wall was destroyed, his crossed arms were already redirecting the course of that punch.

Boom!

The air above Shin’s head suddenly exploded after the fist sent by Arthur was redirected there. And the air ripples that it created seemed to form a small tornado in the surroundings while revolving around the two teens standing in the middle.

Arthur received another huge surprise as he didn’t expect that Shin was still able to respond at the speed of the punch that he just sent.

He was already planning to pull off his gears when he saw the dumbfounded look at Shin’s eyes as he threw his fist forward. But who would have thought that this guy was still hiding some surprises under his sleeves?

‘Still holding on, huh? Alright let us see long can keep up with this,’ though Arthur before throwing another powerful punch with his other fist.

During this time, Shin already regained himself. He brushed off the shock at the back of his head before re-entering the extreme tranquil state of his ‘White Dawn Boundary’ for another time.

He was aware that he couldn’t contend with Arthur in terms of speed and power right now, so he decided to fight Arthur’s speed with his fast reactions and the quality of Arthur’s power with the quantity of his skills and techniques.

Having that in mind, Shin did the same thing that he did earlier. First, he restrained Arthur’s fist with his Mental Energy to lessen the force behind it before a powerful punch of his own empowered by his Internal Qi.

Bang!

Even if Shin was able to respond to it properly, he was still sent flying backwards when their fist collided with each other. But even if that was the case, he was still wearing a smile on his lips the moment he went back on his feet. It was because it has been a while since he felt threatened this way.

Arthur didn’t chase after Shin immediately as he saw that the latter was planning to do something more. ‘Let’s see what you are planning to do this time?’

At the same time, Shin was currently releasing a bunch of Silver Internal Qi while also having his Mental Energy to revolve around him. And this Mental Energy was not the usual colorless Mental Energy since there were some visible golden hues mixed on it.

“That was it?” mumbled by Arthur with a slightly disappointed tone when he saw that. Because he felt that even if Shin’s Sacred Internal Qi and Special Mental Energy might be stronger than other people, it was still not enough to contend against his current state.

Then he clicked his tongue and said. “Tsk! I guess I need to end this now; I can’t hold this state for that long after all.”

After that, he quickly charged towards Shin and left an afterimage behind. And on the very next instant, he appeared at Shin’s left side while throwing his right-hand fist at Shin.

‘Nine Dragon Arts: Dragon’s Ambush’

Shin quickly created a thick wall of Mental Energy at the path of Arthur’s fist with the intention of blocking it.

‘Four Symbol Scripture: Wall of the Great Turtle’

Bang!

And just like earlier, Arthur shattered that wall with a single punch without having much resistance. But at the very least, it managed to slow down the speed of that punch and buy enough time for Shin to use the back of his hand to redirect the course of the incoming fist.

‘Advance Yin-Yang Arts: Counter Guidance’

Pak! Bang!

After that, Shin quickly absorbed some of the force behind Arthur’s attack with the help of the ‘Yin-Yang twist’. Then he guided that force towards his other hand before throwing a palm strike straight to Arthur’s chest while being reinforced with his Mental Energy.

‘Four Symbol Scripture: Raging Dragon Impact’

Seeing that Shin was really able to keep up with his movements, Arthur stopped hesitating and immediately started attacking with everything he could.

First, he took a deep breath while gathering a bunch of his seven-colored Internal Qi on his free arm. And without further ado, he quickly threw his fist at the incoming palm strike.

‘Nine Dragon Arts: Dragon Fist’

Bang!

“Ugh!” Shin felt the powerful force behind Arthur’s punch as his body shook greatly from that collision.

But he braced himself and absorbed some from that impact and transferred it towards his left hand while also doing a quick spin in a clockwise direction. And during this spin, he threw another palm strike at Arthur.

‘Four Symbol Scripture: Turtle General’s Pounding’

Since Shin’s movements were too fast, Arthur had no time to do a counterattack and all he could do for now was to defend. With that, he quickly retracted his other arm and positioned it at the path of Shin’s attack while activating his ‘Dragon’s Scale’ skill.

He was quite confident at the defensive capabilities of his ‘Qi Reinforcement Skill’, especially as it was being amplified by his new Internal Qi. But to his surprise, he felt a continuous wave of Mental Energy when his arm came in contact with Shin’s strike.

With that continuous Mental Energy strikes, the defense capabilities were lessened greatly. And that was when Shin’s next attack came after him; it was a power punch infused with most of his released Internal Qi.

‘Advance Yin-Yang Arts: White Tiger’s Strike’

Bang!

Fortunately, Arthur was fast enough to dodge that attack by forcefully leaning his body to the side. ‘Huu~! That was close.’

After that, Shin and Arthur started exchanging blows once again.

Shin was using the combos that he learned so far as he shuffled between Martial-Art Skill and Mentalism Technique. Even if he was in disadvantage in terms of quality, he was still bridging the gap with quantity; for every single skill from Arthur, he was returning it with two or more from his arsenal.

Meanwhile, Arthur was trying to suppress Shin with a single brute force and superior speed. And during these exchanges, Arthur became even more amazed by Shin’s creativity in battle. He was still able to hold himself against a power that greatly surpassed his current strength.

‘I must admit that you are really strong. And even thought me almost everything about how to win a battle. And you are also the main reason why I want to achieve this Martial-Art that I currently have,’ Thought Arthur to himself before deciding to use the real Martial-Art Skills of his Family. ‘Unfortunately, I am already tired of catching your back. This time, it is your time to chase after me.’

He paused for a moment as he created some distance between him and Shin. The latter, on the other hand, didn’t dare to chase after Arthur as he felt an immense threat coming from him. Then Shin saw Arthur gathered all of his released Internal Qi towards his right hand and focused all of them in there.

Bang!

And when the accumulation of Internal Energy reached its peak, Arthur looked at Shin and said. “Hey. My training master told me to say this to you when I won this match.”

Shin was knitting his brows when he heard that. Then he saw Arthur take a posture to get ready for his next attack while saying. “He wanted me to say that this is what a real talent looks like.”

And immediately after those words left his mouth, he punched his right-hand fist forward and sent a beam of a powerful energy wave towards Shin’s direction.

This energy wave was glowing with seven colors just like the shades of Arthur’s Internal Qi, and while it was charging towards Shin, it suddenly transformed into the form of a serpent dragon with its mouth being opened.

‘True Nine Dragon Arts: Divine Dragon breaking through the Heavens’

Roar!

‘This!’ At this point Shin finally understood the real gap between his and Arthur’s current strengths. Then he shook his head and smiled bitterly as he knew for himself that he completely lost his sparring match. ‘D*mn. So, you become this strong after a single special training, huh?’

Then Arthur immediately canceled the skill before it could even land at Shin. Then he looked at the latter and mumbled with a quiet voice that only he could hear. “You should savor this experience as this will also make you even stronger. Is also what that strange man wanted to say.”

……