Child of Destiny

……

Clang! Clang!

Shin and the armored wolf engaged in an intense battle as their silhouettes kept on disappearing and reappearing in different places.

Their speed might be slower compared to Faker and the nimble wolf, but they were still extremely fast, making it hard to catch a glimpse of their figures.

Shin was currently using different kinds of assassination techniques during this battle. Even though his movements looked like simple techniques, all of them were extremely fatal. Each of his attacks targeted the gap in the wolf’s armor.

His movements might look casual because of his innate talent, but each of his moves had a certain depth in them.

Little by little, Shin was getting used to his current style and starting to get back in tempo. This was where his Battle Genius was showing the real benefits that he could get from it.

After a few more exchanges, Shin started to understand more about ‘death’, after the continuous usage of ‘Death Aura’. He just needed to stay in this state a little more before he could fully grasp its true meaning.

As he continued to exchange blows with the armored wolf, Shin started to enter a trace where his body started moving without him putting much thought into it. And as he entered this state, he suddenly heard a voice inside his head.

‘Life and Death couldn’t be separated as they were just two sides of a coin. Life gives birth to everything which signifies the beginning and creation. Death withers everything and signifies the end and destruction.’

Shin creased his head as he found the voice very familiar. But his thoughts did not linger into it as he was occupied with the words that he just heard. “Life and Death, Beginning and End, Yin and Yang, and the essence of duality.”

‘Hmm.’ The voice inside his head seemed to respond. It had a calm tone and carried wisdom. It was as if the owner of that voice already saw the truth about ‘Duality’.

Shin didn’t hear that voice again after that, but he already knew what to do.

“Life gives birth to everything and signifies the beginning,” he first repeated the first recited the first part of the principle of duality before gathering the power of the brilliant sun towards the saber in his right hand.

“Yang is the heaven, heat, and light,” Shin continued to mutter to himself while dodging the attacks of the armored wolf at a hair’s breadth.

“Life is creation,” he continued, making the light that was covering the [Dawn Blade] become more brilliant.

“Death withering everything and signifies the end…,” as he said these words, he was already swinging his sword at the armored wolf.

His voice lingered a little longer when saying the last word while using the ‘Destructive Slash’ skill as a base to use one of his Martial Art Skills from the real world.

Then he continued. “…-and destruction!”

‘Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Decimation Sword’

Bang!

“-562,932”

Swoosh!

The armored wolf failed to dodge the sudden counter and was sent flying like a common ball.

Whoosh!

While the wolf was still in the air, Shin quickly chased after it with the help of his foot technique. With his current speed, it only took him a brief moment to catch up with the wolf.

“The end of life is death,” he was still reciting the chants about death from the Yin-Yang Martial Arts during his run. And when he said those words, the light that was covering his right-hand blade immediately turned dim as the power of the brilliant sun went back to his body, towards his dantian.

“The Yang turns to Yin,” then the residual energy that he just retrieved turns into the power of the abyssal moon. And immediately after that, he guided that power towards the [Dusk Blade] on his right hind.

“Yin is associated with the earth, cold, and darkness,” while he was continuing, a dark glow suddenly enfolded the saber, releasing a deadly aura.

“Death is silent and always at the most unexpected time,” as he recited this phrase, he was already moving the [Dusk Blade] in a sneaky manner and stabbing it forward.

His movements clearly resembled when he was using his ‘Heart Seeker’ skill. But at this point in time, he was using it to assist him in using a particular sword skill from the real world.

‘Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Silent Blade’

The [Dusk Blade] moved without a sound as it traveled in the air, targeting the gap between the segregated parts of the armor of the wolf.

Clang!

But the armored wolf was not simple either. It managed to twist its body in the air and used its hind leg to kick the [Dusk Blade], creating sparks in the air.

Grr!

Right after the armored wolf landed on the ground, it immediately turned around and charged at Shin without any hesitation.

On the other hand, Shin was still inside his trace and continued to chant the broken parts of the Yin-Yang Martial Arts while fighting the wolf.

He kept on reciting the parts during the battle, but he was not blindly reciting them, he was chanting out the phrases that were most suited for certain situations and performing the corresponding skills fitted for those situations.

As the battle progressed, Shin’s swordsmanship started to become more refined as he made himself more familiar with his current state.

His ‘Eclipse Wielding’ resembled his ‘Yin-Yang Swordsmanship’ from the real world more and more as the battle progressed.

The state of being one with the sword, the state of ideal assassination, and the Yin-Yang Swordsmanship and Martial Arts – these three things started to complement each other and created a new system for Shin.

This particular system also made the energies within Shin to also resemble what he had in the real world more, a dantian with two Qi of opposing properties. And with his new understanding of the principle of duality, he was able to channel the two energies toward his swords more smoothly.

“It looks like you already found the way to completely fuse them. That is much faster than I thought, it is not even a day,” Shin seemed to be talking to someone but there was no one around him aside from the armored wolf that he was battling.

No one respond to him, but Shin kept smiling from ear to ear and continued to fight the armored wolf with his newly gained fighting style. It was still not fully refined and needed more polishing, but it was more than enough for his current situation.

Though, he still needed to fight more cautiously since the armored wolf was also starting to become more powerful, the more they fought.

It was as if it was slowly regaining its former strength that was almost lost.

Shin started to get suspicious about this particular wolf and used his ‘True Sight’ observation skill to see if there are any changes in the information about the wolf.

—————————

[NPC Name]: Lycan Steel

Title: Lupus’ most trusted aide, The Wolf who threatens Heaven.

Level: 165

Race: Enlightened, Scared Being

Bloodline: Lesser Fenrir

HP: 18,273,612,311/ 20,000,000,000

[Status]: Confused, Partially Corrupted 𝚋𝚎ｄｎｏｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚌ｏｍ

Historical Note:

He was a wolf pup that was discovered by General Lupus when he was young. They grew up together and became a close companion of the great general and acted as his unique steed during the war.

After consuming sacred water from the Fountain of Wisdom, it evolved into a sacred being and gained intelligence that could rival the wisest scholars of the Divine Empire.

It became the most trusted aide of Great General Lupus of the Blue Wolf Army and gained a status that was no less than the general with the military merits that it gained during countless wars.

Empire Quest Clue:

After the great betrayal, he managed to fight the curse cast upon him and retained his sanity because of his bloodline. But after seeing his friend, comrades, and master lost theirs, he became brokenhearted and blamed himself for not being able to save them.

To atone for the ‘sins’ that he committed, he chose to stay with his brothers and carry the burden on his back alone.

After a long time, he became confused and lost his purpose.

———————

Shin couldn’t help but become surprised after seeing the first thing that was displayed in the information panel. “Not a monster but an NPC?”

Then he became even more surprised when he continued reading through all of the information provided to him. It was completely different compared to the one that he saw earlier before Lupus underwent a great evolution.

“An Enlightened? And a Sacred Being on top of that?” he muttered as he continued reading. And after reading the historical note, his brow couldn’t help but crease. “And ancient war, the great betrayal, cursed beings, and an NPC Wolf who endured the cursed.”

He started putting the pieces together and then read through the last part of the information panel while continuing his battle with the armored wolf. “An Empire Quest with the highest difficulty and special NPC inside the exploration area

He looked at Lycan Steel and grinned. “A hint from the system, huh?”

……