Child of Destiny

……

“Looks like this is going to be a little troublesome,” muttered Shin as he looked at Justin who now had enhanced stats.

Swoosh!

A moment later, Justin suddenly spun in the air while swinging his glaive around. Then a golden energy wave was sent out in every direction and formed a ring that was extending outwards.

Seeing that, Shin and his clones swiftly sheathed their weapons and quickly unsheathed them while releasing a blazing sword wave with different colors.

Boom!

Swoosh!

After warding off the three, Justin quickly shot down to the ground. Even though he also had a special ability that could make him able to fly, he was still aware that he would be at a disadvantage if he tried to fight the three in an aerial battle.

Bang!

A huge crater was immediately formed right after he landed on the ground. And the moment he managed to stabilize his footing, Justin quickly twisted his waist a little and held his glaive with both of his hands before channeling a large amount of mana on it.

He also raised his head and looked at Shin and his clone that were currently in the sky. From the look of it, he was inviting his opponent to come down on the ground to face him there.

Seeing that, Shin couldn’t help but wear a huge grin behind his mask before readjusting his position in the air. He then flapped his wings strongly and sent himself towards the ground, accepting the challenge.

Swoosh!

He also channeled the power of the Bright Sun on his sword during his descent, activating the ‘Sunshine Wielding’ combat technique. And quickly after that, he flapped his wings once again to accelerate his descent while also swinging the blazing sword at the same time.

Whoosh!

‘Extra Skill: (Modified) Falling Lightblade’

Shing!

At the same time, Justin also swung his glaive upwards right after he saw Shin reach his ideal range to attack. And during the swing of his weapon, a golden light was suddenly released from its blade, creating a shining layer on it.

‘Extra Skill: (Modified) Flying Swing’

Swoosh!

Boom! 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡．𝙣𝒆𝙩

Then a massive explosion immediately followed right after the opposing forces clashed against each other. The powerful shockwave that was created due to the collision immediately spread outwards, further enlarging the crater that Justin was standing on.

-189,290

-120,352

And despite nullifying most of the forces behind each other’s attacks, Shin and Justin still suffered more than a hundred thousand damage from the collision, which also showed the slight difference between their respective strengths.

But Shin just ignored it and he continued to hover in the air in front of Justin while putting more strength on his sword to pin his opponent in place as he controlled his clones to attack from the flanks.

Ta-ta!

Ta-ta!

The Eclipse and Phantom Clones suddenly landed on the ground a few meters away from Justin before charging at him with insane speed while also transforming themselves into their werewolf forms.

Ah-woo!

Ah-woo!

The two of them released a deafening howl which made Justin wear a deep frown as an intense headache suddenly assaulted his head as the sounds reached each of his ears.

But he was still able to cleanse that headache by using one of his purifying skills before putting more strength on both of his arms to force Shin away from him.

And immediately after he pushed his opponent away, Justin skillfully twirled his glaive left and right, warding off the claws of the two werewolves that were pouncing at him and also pushing them back.

Cling! Cling!

Shin, who was still in the air, would naturally not miss that window to counterattack. Right after he was pushed back in the air, he quickly sheathed his sword with a swift and single motion before assuming a sword-drawing stance in the air.

A moment later, his feet seemed to step on the air behind him as he channeled his mana on the sheathed sword.

Pa!

‘Legacy Skill: Mondi’s Jump’

Then Shin suddenly kicked the air and swiftly lunged forward before transforming into a streak of light that flew straight back to Justin.

Swoosh!

And while he was traveling in the air, the [Yamato] was also being pulled out from its sheath before Shin swung it forward alongside his charge.

‘Basic Combat Technique: Second Drive’

‘Class Fighting Style: Moonlight Splitter’

Shing!

This particular attack was quite fast and perfectly timed once again. It was linked seamlessly with the attacks that his clones just threw previously.

Unfortunately, it was still not fast enough to catch his opponent off-guard as Justin suddenly revolved the body of his glaive around his waist before suddenly thrusting it forward, greeting Shin’s incoming sword.

His movements seemed to be quite simple but the force behind that strike was actually quite strong, especially that the glaive was being supported by a golden aura around it.

‘Class Fighting Style: Penetrating Puncture’

Bang!

Yet another explosion immediately followed the collision of their weapons, showcasing how strong their powers were once again. They maintained their respective positions for a couple of moments before Shin was sent flying by a powerful force for another time.

Shin kind of expected that to happen since his previous skill was quite light and meant for quick elimination. On the other hand, his opponent’s attack was obviously a heavy strike given the movements that Justin had made.

Fortunately, Justin was not on the right footing to properly execute that skill because of the previous attacks that he warded off.

Shin drew a large arc in the air as he tried to nullify the force that pushed him backward. And when his body was facing parallel to the ground once again, he quickly flapped his wings to propel himself back to his opponent, continuing his assaults.

Just like earlier, he also controlled his werewolf clones to coordinate with his movements, applying more pressure to his opponent.

Bang! Bang!

Cling!

The battle continued to intensify as the two of them exchanged more blows.

Since Shin knew that he was no match against Justin in terms of raw strength, he chose to fight his opponent with his speed, which was also his advantage over his opponent.

His figure kept on flashing on different parts of the battlefield as he circled around Justin alongside his werewolf clones. And from time to time, the three of them were throwing a coordinated attack that came from most unexpected angles.

But despite them resembling a group of wild beasts hunting for their prey, their synchronized attacks were still being repelled repeatedly by their opponent. It was because this so-called prey that they were trying to hunt was a fellow predator that was as ferocious as them.

Naturally, the two of them were able to land a couple of strikes on their opponents which took quite a large chunk of their HP.

But despite being evenly matched, Shin discovered that he was currently on the back foot.

It was not noticeable at first since it looked like he was winning the trade of blows. Moreover, his DPS was obviously better than his opponents since he was practically attacked with three bodies.

But he seemed to overlook the fact that he was fighting someone with a warrior class. And the classes that fell in that category would naturally have better defensive capabilities and faster regeneration rates compared to other classes.

The Elemental Skills that Shin got from his Guardian Elemental Spirit might give him similar effects, but it still had some limits since his class was not primarily focusing on Vitality and Constitution Stats, unlike his opponent.

What’s more, Justin already had a larger Health Bar than him to begin with, so continuing this kind of battle would only exhaust Shin faster. Especially that he was manually controlling his clones during the battle, which was also putting a heavy toll on his mind since it was consuming a lot of concentration.

On top of that, Shin could also see the speck of lights that were circling around Justin. They were obviously his own Elemental Companions.

And if his opponent suddenly used his version of Elemental Possession when he was mentally exhausted, then Shin would put him in an even more disadvantageous position.

Even if he tried to counter it with his own style of Elemental Possession, his mental strength would be slightly worse than Justin’s since he already exhausted most of it on controlling his clones.

He might have stronger willpower than most people, but Shin could sense that Justin seemed to also have a similar strength. It might be slightly weaker than him, but it was already enough to fight him comfortably in a battle of attrition.

Having all of that inside his mind, Shin quickly came up with a decision. “If that is the case, then let’s go with the simplest route that I have!”

First, he distanced himself and his clones away from Justin before activating the ‘Spirit Fusion’ equipment skill to fuse the Eclipse Clone to his body, further enhancing his stats.

As for the Phantom Clone, Shin quickly disregarded it since it would only get in his way if he let the AI control it. Moreover, he also wanted to focus on himself right now so that he could use all of his abilities to their full potential.

Seeing all of that, Justin couldn’t help but feel a little skeptical of Shin’s decision. He was thinking that Shin was handicapping himself by abandoning his current advantage.

But that thought only lasted for a moment because he suddenly felt a very dangerous threat coming from Shin’s body right after his clones disappeared. His instincts were telling him that a monstrous beast was about to be unleashed at any given moment.

“That’s more like it! After all, crushing you is going to be a little boring if that is everything you have!” said Justin with a huge grin before assuming a battle-ready position.

Boom!

Then an intense pressure was released from his body to negate the threatening feeling that was coming from Shin before saying with a savage look on his face. “Prove to me that you are worthy to be hunted!”

…