Child of Destiny

…

After a few more exchanges both Shin and Dylan finally entered an enlightened state despite being in the middle of a match.

This stage of the match was very sensitive for them since a slight mishap in this was going to ruin their foundation. Everyone in the vicinity was naturally aware of this, so they kept their mouth shut and remained quiet while watching the two continue.

Even Arthur and Leonard retracted the respective auras they unconsciously released earlier, afraid that they might affect the concentrations of the two.

Dylan was about to break through on his current sword attainment while Shin was currently in the middle of enlightenment. Both cases were pretty sensitive which was why the others were very careful about how they were going to act.

A few moments later, the state of the battle suddenly escalated to a degree where the barrier set up by David started to shake. The accumulated shockwave created by the repeated collision of the two started to reach a certain level that shouldn’t be achievable by the two.

Bang!

Dylan and Shin were separated from each other due to the impact of their recent collision. And instead of immediately resuming their attacks right after stabilizing their footing, the two chose to halt for a moment and stare at each other.

Not long after that, the two of them seemed to have a similar thought in mind. Both of them want to end this sparring match already and decide the winner with one final strike.

Given that, they quickly adjusted their breathing and prepared for their final move.

Dylan stood straight and held his sword in front of him with his hands. And after taking a deep breath, he poured most of his Sword Qi into his sword making it glow with a jade aura.

Then the air surrounding him started to swirl around his body. It started with a gentle breeze at first before slowly turning into a violent gust of wind. And this particular wind swirling around Dylan was carrying a deadly sharpness in it. Shin could even see some flashes of light on it which signified how dangerous that wind was.

‘Divine Swordsmanship: The Divine Wind’

The posture of this young swordsman was giving off an aura that he could endure any kind of hardship regardless of how challenging it was. Dylan even looked like a sturdy mountain standing in the middle of a violent storm with his current disposition.

On the other hand, Shin was not idle either. The moment they had a silent agreement to end this match with this single strike, he immediately prepared for his final move.

While taking a deep breath to calm his mind, he spread his legs and lowered his stance before positioning his sword right across his chest. They were parallel to each other with their tips pointing in opposite directions.

Blaze!

Then the black and white Qi that was covering them suddenly grew stronger.

Bang!

After that, Shin took a heavy step forward, creating a loud sound with that stomp. He was now facing Dylan sideways. And alongside that movement, he also moved his arms, changing their positions. The left-hand katana was now positioned beside his waist while his right arm was stretched out while tightly holding the other katana.

Roar!

Then an aura that was being released by his channeled Qi on his katanas manifested an image of a tiger’s head behind him, glaring ferociously at his opponent.

Shriek!

As if being provoked, the wind and the jade aura surrounding Dylan suddenly formed an image of an eagle’s head that stared at the ferocious tiger majestically.

Shin and Dylan didn’t immediately attack as they waited for their respected powers to reach their peaks. And not long after, what they waiting for finally arrived.

Roar!

The tiger’s head behind Shin slowly grew in size before growing a body with pairs of angelic wings behind it.

This particular tiger had an alternating black and white color mimicking the colors of the Sacred Qi and Demonic Qi on each of Shin’s swords.

This formation of aura was not an ordinary Aura Manifestation that was only directed to their opponents. But it was a special aura formation that could also be seen and felt by the spectators watching them.

Just like what was happening on Shin’s aura, the Sword Qi and the wind around Dylan also took the same chances. But instead of a tiger, a majestic griffin was formed behind him.

In terms of aura alone, these two Advanced Aura Manifestations were currently on the same level. And due to the collision of the residual auras that the two failed to control, small sparks and brief explosions occurred every time they met.

Bang! Bang!

A few moments later, Shin finally made his move and kicked the ground, launching himself in a very aggressive manner. During his charge, an alternating black and white trail of light was left behind as the tiger-formed aura charged alongside him. 𝙗𝒆𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Roar!

With both of his katanas positioned on his right side, parallel to each other, Shin swung the two of them simultaneously while carrying the momentum of his charge.

‘Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: World’s Annihilation’

Roar!

In the meantime, Dylan was already doing his own final strike, fully prepared to greet the final move of his opponent.

He took a deep breath as he raised his longsword with both of his hands as the revolving air around him gathered around his sword, creating a violent vortex around it. And when Shin was almost upon him, he swung the sword in a very aggressive manner, seemingly planning to split everything in front of him in a straight vertical line.

‘Divine Swordsmanship: Splitting the Heaven and Earth’

Bang!

Shin’s katanas and Dylan’s longsword were not touching each other because of the respective auras that were surrounding them. But despite that being the case, a powerful explosion immediately occurred due to the collision of their powers.

Boom!

The two refused to move an inch as they poured their strength into their arms, trying to force their opponents back. But even if they did everything they could, there was always an end to how much power they could muster.

And when they reached their respective limits, they both lost control over the power that they were channeling on their respective weapons. Due to that, those powers broke away from their grasp and went berserk, causing an explosion that pushed them away from each other.

Boom!

Shin absorbed the force from the impact before flipping multiple times in the air to relieve the heavy burden that his body had gotten.

Ta-ta!

Cough!

At first, it looked like he perfectly nullified all of the burdens that he got from the previous impact, but the truth was he failed in doing so. He suffered quite a lot of internal injuries which led him to cough out some blood.

But at the same time, Dylan was not unscratched either. He was pushed backward by the previous explosion and slid in the opposite direction while stabbing his sword on the ground to stop himself from going further.

And when he was finally able to halt himself, he quickly kneeled on the ground with a knee before coughing out some blood just like Shin.

Cough! Cough!

From the looked of it, his internal injuries were as severe as the ones that Shin had.

This was a perfect time to end this sparring match and announce the result as a draw. But Eugene stopped himself from doing that the moment when he saw the respective expressions drawn on the faces of the two young men.

They were a clear indication of dissatisfaction and unwillingness to accept this particular result. And due to that, the Sword Immortal could only smile bitterly and let the two continue.

In the meantime, Shin and Dylan inhaled deeply to regulate their breathing before putting all of their remaining strength together while taking their respective stances.

Gritting their teeth, the two kicked their ground beneath their feet and launched themselves towards each other.

They were determined to end this match on this additional exchange. But unfortunately for them, their respective bodies were saying something completely different.

Dylan suddenly felt an unpleasant feeling inside his chest which made his charge come to a sudden halt. He was also forced to kneel on the ground and used his sword to support himself. The blood started flowing up his throat which made him vomit it.

It was clear that his body already reached its limits.

A similar thing was happening to Shin, but due to his strong willpower, his mental fortitude was much better compared to the young swordsman. Especially when that monstrous willpower was also being strengthened by his bloodline.

Moreover, he had undergone insane training since he was young, especially when he was still in the Black Serpent Mafia Training Camp, where the training was not only harsh but also almost inhumane compared to standard training of the martial-art society. And because of these two reasons, Shin had already surpassed his limit multiple times.

This was where Shin had a clear advantage. The young swordsman, who despite being harshly trained by his father since he was a very young age, was still inferior to him when it came to willpower.

At this point in time, it was already clear who was the winner and Dylan was already closing his eyes and about to accept the result of the match.

‘Maybe the result is going to be different if I am able to use the second phase of the Divine Swordsmanship,’ these were the thoughts that were lingering inside the young swordsman’s head when something unexpected happened.

Shin, who was supposedly the victor of this duel, suddenly lose his consciousness and fell to the ground with a loud sound.

Thud!

Not only Dylan was the one who was surprised at the sudden turn of events, but Eugene and Nathan, who were watching Shin’s movements close, were also taken aback at what had happened.

Losing a person’s consciousness was pretty normal for someone who was already reaching his limit, especially after they surpassed it through sheer willpower. After all, all of the adrenaline inside their body would suddenly drop greatly after they achieved it.

But it was slightly different from what just happened. Eugene and Nathan were pretty sure that Shin had enough mental fortitude to reach Dylan and point his sword towards the latter for the official conclusion of the match.

With their senses, they could see that Shin had a clear mind and was still in the right state to conclude this duel. In fact, they were confident that this young man could still walk away on his own feet after this sparring match ended.

But all of a sudden, something completely unexpected happened.

As if someone erased everything, Shin lost everything. His strength left his body out of nowhere and his consciousness started to fade away as if someone had put him to sleep.

Thud!

The lasting that he could remember before closing his eyes, was the sight of Arthur and Leonard who were running toward him full of panic, and Eugene and Nathan who suddenly appeared beside him and checked his condition.

‘Ah. I’m tired. Let me take a quick nap,’ thought Shin as he started to close his eyes slowly.

In the meantime, David was looking at the sky while inhaling deeply before closing his eyes, muttering. “I guess things are about to get complicated.”

……