Child of Destiny

…

Shin quickly took a battle stance right after opening his eyes. He lowered his waist and put each of his hands on the hilt of his swords.

Bang!

And right after he did that, a powerful aura was suddenly released from his body and spread in every direction. But it only lasted for a moment since it was immediately retracted towards his body and became compressed in it.

“Huh?”

Both Nathan and Eugene suddenly raised their eyebrow when they saw that sight. They became impressed at Shin’s full control over his aura.

Having a powerful aura was amazing but having full control over it was on a whole different level. And alongside his actions, an illusionary figure of a tiger suddenly manifested behind him.

Dylan was the only one that could see that Aura Manifestation since it was only focused on him. And from what he could see, that tiger seemed to have a strange color of furs.

The white fur was turning black from time to time while its black stripes were doing the other way around. There are also two pairs of wings on its back, the first ones were a pair of angelic wings while the two were a pair of giant bat’s wings.

Its current appearance looked both majestic and wicked, which was why it was giving off a strange aura. And the pressure that was coming from it was very heavy and suffocating.

In the meantime, Dylan seemed to be completely fine despite the heavy pressure that was trying to crush him. And in response to the powerful aura that was coming from Shin, the young swordsman also released his own version of Aura Manifestation.

Shriek!

A mythical creature with a lion’s body but with an eagle’s head and wings suddenly appeared and fight against the pressure that was coming from the opposing side. Its front legs and paws were also the same as the claws of an eagle.

There was also a golden tattoo under its eyes making it look more intelligent compared to other creatures. And alongside it, the aura that was being released by it could rival the one that was being emitted by Shin.

Despite not seeing what was happening between the two, the spectators were able to guess what was going on.

Given that both Shin and Dylan were currently in their battle stance, and the looks on their faces were pretty serious, it was pretty clear that their mental battle was already underway.

“Tsk! Such a pair of impatient young lads” muttered Eugene white after seeing that the two were already clashing with each other without even waiting for his signal.

He just shook his head and wore a bitter smile and let the two continue.

In the meantime, Shin and Dylan were already fighting each other inside their heads. They might not be doing any obvious movements but every slight flitch of their muscles was an indicator of the moves that they wanted to do.

Given the harsh training that the two of them had undergone, it was pretty easy for them to read the intention of their opponents after seeing such small movements.

In the meantime, the avatar of the strange tiger behind Shin and the griffin above Dylan were currently clashing against each other.

And despite not being seen by the others, they could easily tell that their mental battle between the two was getting more intense as time went by. Especially when the air within the barrier was getting heavier in a very steady manner.

Bang!

The first one to make his move was Dylan as he immediately understood that it was not going to be good for him to fight Shin with willpower. He already fought Shin a couple of times within the game, he also saw a couple of fights that the latter had undergone, so he had a rough idea that Shin had a very strong mental prowess. 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙.𝘯𝑒𝘵

Moreover, he was also aware that Shin was a Mentalist because of their fight during the entrance exam of the Magical Ace Academy.

They might not be using their signature energies in this battle but it was a piece of common knowledge that practicing Mentalism could strengthen the minds of a Mentalist, so having a contest with Shin in terms of mental prowess would only lead to him losing this fight.

Swoosh!

Dylan was able to traverse the distance between Shin and him within an instant. He was also in the middle of swinging his sword toward Shin as he used his momentum to reinforce his attack.

But despite his insane burst of speed, Shin was still able to respond with ease by quickly jumping backward. And by the time Dylan was about to swing his longsword, he swiftly unsheathed the black katana and swing it horizontally.

Clang!

The blades of their swords created metal sparks in the air after a brief moment of collision.

The two looked straight into the eyes of each other as they maintained their respective postures before quickly making their next moves.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their swords collided multiple times within a short period of time, creating a series of clashing sounds and metal sparks that flew in the air.

Just like everyone was expecting, Dylan was the one dictating the rhythm of the battle since Shin was still trying to make his body to the new state of his mind. And because those two were not synchronizing properly, there were some moments when he couldn’t move his body the way he wanted.

Most of the time, he was being pressured by Dylan and he was forced to be in a passive state. But there were also some instances where he could overcome the awkwardness of his movements and threw a couple of sharp counters from time to time.

Their melee exchanges were too intense to the point where a series of shockwaves were being created for every collision of their swords. It was because of the accumulated pressure that come from each clash of their weapons that exploded after a few more series of exchanges.

Dylan’s style of swordsmanship was, simple, honest, and straightforward. There were very few numbers of faints in his movements as he continued his attacks against Shin.

But at the same time, there were also some instances where he was purposely leading Shin with his attacks. Even if the swing of his sword was straightforward, he could still do some tricky setups where he could lead Shin for his next attack.

In the meantime, Shin was doing the exact opposite of his opponent. His swordsmanship was rather complex compared to Dylan’s, especially when it was a combination of attack and defense.

Shin was doing a couple of tricky actions to counter Dylan’s straightforward attacks. He might be at a disadvantage for the time being because of his current state, but his dual-wielding of swords made up for it and covered his shortcomings.

But since he was a Battle Genuis, it didn’t take long for him to overcome his limits and started to adjust to his current state.

His foundation in martial arts is pretty solid, so his body was able to adapt to the new state of his mind. And as time went by, the spectators of the fight were able to see the changes in Shin’s movements. Not only did his moves become sharp, but his rhythm also started to build up which made the battle to be in a deadlock.

This state continued for quite some time until Shin was finally able to adapt to the state of being one with the sword.

Not only did his aura and presence change, but his movements also became simple as if he was just swinging his swords casually.

…

“This kid is really a monster. Someone who just reached the state of being one with the sword needs to spend quite a lot of time adjusting themselves, worst they need to undergo multiple numbers of sparring matches to master that state, but this kid only needs a couple of exchanges to fully adapt to it,” muttered Jerimiah while looking at Shin with a weird look on his face.

“It is not that his talent on his swords is not as good as the son of the Sword Immortal, but his mastery of using those katanas is really impressive,” nodded Vincent while squinting his eyes.

In the meantime, Arthur was having an urge to join the fight after watching from the sidelines for a couple of moments. Especially when he saw Shin slowly getting stronger as the battle went on.

Before he felt a little superior to Shin when he was wielding a spear. Shin might have the advantage in hand-to-hand combat, but it was a different matter when it comes to using their respective weapons.

He also felt that he caught up to Shin after his Bloodline Awakening and underwent special training with his master, who he couldn’t completely remember due to some unknown reason.

But after not seeing each other again after their second round of special training, he started to feel that his brother was steadily bridging the gap between them while he was still stacked on his current progress.

They were not back to square one where neither of them had a complete advantage. Both of them were practicing very advanced martial arts and their respective Internal Qi was equally strong.

They both possessed special talents such as Foresight and Martial-Art Prodigy for Arthur, and Immediate Response and Battle Genius for Shin. The two of them were also in the state of being one with their weapons, spear, and sword for them respectively.

Arthur had his bloodline powers but Shin also had a special body, the Spiritual Embryo, where he could become a true dual practitioner.

He might also have a couple of inheritances under his belt, which could make him a complete powerhouse once he reached the Ethereal Opening Stage and set foot on the Ascension Realm. But Shin was in a similar situation since he would gain a complete metamorphosis the moment when he also reached that stage.

Clenching his fists, Arthur felt an intense feeling of competitiveness.

Seeing that from a distance, Nathan couldn’t help but wear a satisfied smile while also nodding his head. “I hate to admit it, but Adam, that guy, sure knows what he is doing.”

……