Child of Destiny

…

Hu~!

Shin adjusted his stance a little and relaxed his arms, getting ready for the next round. Now that he relieved the stiffness of his body and familiarized himself with the style of his opponent, he now knew how he was going to approach this duel.

From what he had seen so far, Diablo’s Class focused more on movement techniques and skills. Unlike Faker’s Class which had a lot of burst attacks and various utility skills, Diablo only had a limited number of attacking skills.

But in exchange for that, the number of his movement techniques was vast while the offensive skills could easily be chained together.

Shin already experienced a seamless chain of attacks from Faker before but those combinations still pale in comparison when it came to Diablo’s series of attacks.

The two had a similar level of speed but their attack patterns and battle styles were slightly different.

Faker was someone who overwhelmed his opponents with his speed and continuous attacks when fighting in a one-on-one battle. But he also had some flexibility when it came to it since he could always change his approach in battle depending on the situation.

Most of the time, he was stalking his opponents as if he was treating them as prey, putting a lot of mental pressure on his targets before striking at the most unexpected time.

On the other hand, Diablo was showcasing a completely different style right now compared to when he was fighting the group of Sweepers earlier. At that time, he was not only suppressing them with his insane speed, but he was also crushing their spirits by destroying their plans before they could even execute them.

But this time, during a one-on-one battle, Diablo was employing a different strategy. He was not using his speed to suppress Shin. Instead, he was only using it as a supplement for the barrage of attacks that he was throwing.

And the complex combinations were too overwhelming, attempting to break Shin’s perfect stance and rhythm.

Diablo accidentally broke the ‘Infinity Edge’ earlier by accident, so he now knew how he was going to approach this battle to break the deadlock earlier.

This time, he was not planning to consciously attack Shin to avoid the latter accumulating more force and re-enforce the attacks through that powerful Combat Technique.

He would attack with unpredictable rhythm while also creating a certain pause from time to time to avoid Shin from building up a desirable tempo.

‘Let’s exhaust a powerful combo every time I attack him before retreating. I will repeat this process, again and again, to slowly bleed him,’ thought Diablo as he squatted his hips a little to get ready to attack.

Bang!

Swoosh!

But before he could even make his move, Shin suddenly kicked the ground and launched himself forward.

There was a Sword Aura surrounding his body as he charged forward. Then he thrust the [Dawn Blade] forward while focusing the Sword Aura towards it.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A vortex of air was suddenly created during his charge before producing a blazing fire that started from the time of the saber.

‘Extra Skill: (Modified) Sword Rush: Blazing Thrusting Dash’

A blazing trail of light was left behind as his speed was suddenly accelerated, arrived in front of Diablo almost in an instant.

The Shadow Dancer was slightly taken aback by the sudden burst of speed that Shin had shown. That surprise attack also caught him off-guard, but it was not enough to completely catch him. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝙣𝙚𝙩

‘Twilight Skill: Fleeting Wind’

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Right after activating this skill, Diablo’s body seemed to become weightless as he swayed his body left and right to confuse Shin’s senses before moving away from the path of the incoming attack.

Diablo perfectly timed his movements and only dodged at the very last moment, barely dodging the attack. By doing this, he could instantly break the rhythm of his opponent while also having a small window to counterattack.

That opportunity might look insignificant at first glance, especially when it was only coming out in a brief moment. But for someone like Diablo, that small window was plenty enough to launch a deadly counter.

A cloud of black smoke was suddenly released from his black stiletto as he positioned himself beside Shin who was still executing his previous skill.

Swoosh!

Then he suddenly stabbed forward, targeting the now exposed waits of his opponent.

‘Twilight Skill: (Modified and Enhanced) Vital Strike’

This attack might be coming at a perfect time to counter him but Shin already expected it which was why he canceled the skill ahead of time.

He suddenly retracted his arm backward, spun around, and swung the [Dawn Blade] alongside those simultaneous movements.

The blade of the saber was still carrying the blazing flame that was produced by the previous skill, leaving a trail of its blaze in the air.

During his turn, Shin even kicked the ground to move towards the direction where his opponent was positioned, not carrying about the coming stiletto that was threatening his exposed waist.

He activated the second charge of the previous skill!

‘Extra Skill: (Modified) Sword Rush: Blazing Slicing Dash’

Whoosh!

His decisive actions surprised Diablo, catching the opponent completely off-guard once again.

Diablo completely understood why Shin was fearlessly doing this counter. It was because he would be at a complete disadvantage in this exchange.

Diablo might be able to land a clean hit on Shin and chunk down the latter’s Health Bar, dealing an insane amount of damage. But he would be sacrificing his head in exchange since the trajectory of the incoming saber was clearly targeting his neck.

If he insisted on continuing in this exchange then, Diablo would find his head flying in the air in the very next instant.

Diablo processed all of this inside his head in an instant and could only smile bitterly before deciding to retreat.

‘Shadow Dancer (Tier 2): Instantaneous Escape’

Swoosh!

Diablo was forced to retreat once again, but Shin hit nothing but air for another time.

He thought that it was a perfect opportunity to instantly decide this battle but he was not expecting that his opponent would still be able to instantaneously respond at that attack.

But he was not too disappointed with it since he now gained the upper hand in this battle. He quickly spread his senses and swept his gaze at the surroundings, trying to find Diablo once again.

And when he caught the presence of his opponent, he immediately gave chase, now willing to give Diablo a window to re-establish himself.

Seeing that Shin instantly spotted him, Diablo couldn’t help but be amazed at the sense of this person.

Moreover, he was also impressed by Shin. It was because the latter was able to instantly guess what he was planning.

‘This guy clearly understands the strength and weakness of his powerful sword stance. He must also recognize that I find the solution for it which is why he suddenly change his approach in battle,’ commented Diablo as he looked at Shin who was coming after him.

Swoosh!

He was impressed since most people would insist on using their powerful techniques, not recognizing that their opponents were able to find a way to deal with them. This could become their weakness during the battle.

But Shin took a completely different approach and quickly abandon that technique the instant it was broken. He avoided using that technique before his opponent could even take advantage of the weakness that they found in it.

It was rare for talented players to recognize their weaknesses. But the moment when they accepted it, they would become a real expert that would survive a lot of ordeals.

Diablo continued to create a distance between himself and Shin, patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike.

But the Shadow Dancer was still surprised how Shin completely changed his style. This was the second time when this particular swordsman changed his approach in battle.

During their first exchange, Shin tried to match Diablo’s speed and even compensated for his inferior speed with the number of movement skills from his arsenal.

But when he quickly found that it was pointless, Shin quickly changed his style once again and focused on counterattacking instead.

He stood on a single spot and patiently waited for his opponent to consciously attack from different directions while responding to each of them and also counterattacking at the same time.

His ‘Infinity Edge’ combat technique greatly helped in those exchanges. And since Diablo was still unaware of how to deal with such a solid defense and powerful attacks of that style, that round heavily favored Shin.

But now that the secret of the ‘Infinity Edge’ was broken, Shin changed his style once again, giving Diablo some trouble adjusting.

This time, Shin was doing a seemingly reckless offensive. He was matching Diablo’s speed by constantly using his movement techniques just like in their first exchange. But the difference this time was Shin utilizing his magical skills.

Since Diablo still had a complete advantage when it came to speed and movement skills, he was able to find some instances where he could launch a counterattack.

But before he could even execute his plan, Shin seemed to be always ahead of him. This strange swordsman would always throw a sword wave in the direction where he found the opportunity to attack.

Diablo didn’t know how Shin predicted his moves and even set up some traps on it. Fortunately, his raw speed was sufficient enough to escape every time.

Reaching this point, Diablo showcased the real capabilities of a Shadow Dancer. He utilized his movement skills to their peak potential, overwhelming Shin with his unparalleled speed and seamless combinations of his skills.

Shin struggled to keep up at first since Diablo was repeatedly breaking his rhythm. But he was able to quickly adjust to it with the help of his quick reflexes enhanced by his Ultra Instincts innate talent.

But as the battle progressed, Shin couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling that he was getting. He didn’t know what exactly was it, but from what his senses were telling him, something seemed to be observing his movements and stalking him in the dark as if he was some sort of prey.

Shin couldn’t help but wear a solemn look on his face because of that uneasiness. But he could do nothing but wait patiently until it revealed itself.

In the meantime, Diablo, who had a purple glow in his eyes was looking closely at Shin. He was observing the latter’s movements as if he was still studying his opponent.

That was also when the Aura Manifestation behind him in the form of a huge Black Panther took a sudden change.

It became a dark shadow with a pair of glowing eyes. It had an indistinct form and was seemingly clumsy due to its continuous swaying alongside the wind.

But despite that being the chase, the air around it was completely dark and gloomy which was entirely different from the previous Aura Manifestation that Diablo had.

Shin didn’t immediately notice the change of atmosphere surrounding Diablo since he was too focused on fighting. He seemed to be completely unaware of the disaster that was about to come.

Then Diablo, as his name suggested, slowly revealed his true form.

“I guess it is about time to bear my fangs and show my real face.”

……