The mont the referee called the start of the match, Shin imdiately cast his Spiritual Body Enhancent on his arms and legs bringing out hundreds of cerulean scales in the process. At the sa ti, Shin congregated his mana into his four limbs to complete his mana strengthening and effectively give himself a double layer of protection.
With his preparation completed in less than a second, Shin’s two legs started to blur to the outside eye as the air around him seed to distort. A rich cerulean aura spilled out from his limbs as he disappeared from view, leaving behind a line of dust and a gush of rapidly flowing wind.
"BANG!!!" Expecting a hit to co from behind, Vidrine flung her mace a hundred and eighty degrees backwards and felt a thunderous collision that shook her bones to the very core. Thankfully, she had used her own form of mana strengthening to protect herself, but nonetheless, the vibrations that ca from Shin’s outreached fist really took her by surprise, and the sentints were mutual.
’Tch, she anticipated that I would aim for the back of her neck and blocked the Soul-Piercing fist with her mace that efficiently?!’ Shin clicked his tongue and kicked off the mace to open up the distance. ’She does live up to her na as a martial arts expert!!!’
What Shin feared the most when fighting Vidrine were her martial arts that were amongst the best in the cohort. Even though she probably wasn’t able to keep track of Shin when he perford the Lightning Swallow Steps, her years of battle experience could vaguely tell where he would end up, and she imdiately moved to protect that area.
’But that surprise attack won’t work twice...’ Watching as the earthen mace lit up in a dense aura, Shin sighed as his one and only chance to end the match quickly dissipated into nothingness. Vidrine now had the freedom to sit back and make Shin bring the battle to her. Furthermore, with her first spiritual ability that creates a small force field around her, breaking through her defences would beco twice as hard.
’Let’s try this again!’ Speeding forward once more, Shin seed to have broken through the sound barrier as only afterimages of his figure remained. Reappearing once more right in front of the girl, Shin pivoted his left ankle as his right leg flung forward at a sric speed.
"Whipping the Crocodile’s Tail!" Shin’s leg glowed in a deep oceanic blue light as it broke through the yellow barrier surrounding Vidrine. However, before it could land on his intended target, an ancient mace halted Shin’s attack once more, but this ti, it was a full-blown strike by the girl instead of a standard defensive pose.
Equally sharing the full brunt of the attacks, both Shin and Vidrine flew back a few tres. Shin, being the one with the higher endurance, had little trouble getting up from the blow and readied his posture once more. Vidrine, on the other hand, was much slower in recovering, creating an opening that the black-haired tyrant could exploit.
Dashing forwards once more, Shin took one second to launch yet another phantom kick that defied the laws of physics. This ti, since she was unprepared, Vidrine could only poorly defend herself by raising her mace. Flying off like a kite that had its string cut, the lean girl felt her world spin as the sharp whistling of the wind entered her eardrums. Only after being airborne for two seconds, did she feel her back hit the concrete ground.
Being the warrior that she was, Vidrine got up from the impact and acted as if she wasn’t impeded by the strike. Unfortunately, her consciousness started to whirl, and the Star Class student was forced to summon out yet another barrier to give her a little ti to regain her bearings.
Shin saw this as an opportunity to strike and bolted with all his might. Reaching the top speed that he could, the black-haired boy broke through the yellow barrier with a shoulder thrust and used his right index finger to strike Vidrine’s acupoints in rapid succession while she was still in a daze.
"!!!!" The lean warrior felt a surge of electric shocks run through her body as her limbs stopped moving. Opening her mouth, Vidrine would attempt to scream, but no sound escaped through her vocal cords. Confused at what was happening, the girl desperately tried to move her frozen body, but the only thing that she saw was the soft tremors that her limbs produced.
"It’s useless... I sealed your movents by piercing through your acupoints." While she was scared stiffness by the unknown occurrence that her body was experiencing, a soothing voice beckoned to her from the side. Although she was unable to move her body, Vidrine’s eyes were largely unencumbered. Glaring at the only person who knew what was going on to her, Vidrine shot a look that demanded an explanation for her current plight.
"Don’t look at like that. You won’t be in any harm. I’ll free you once the referee concludes the match." With a playful smile, Shin turned to the stunned teacher at one remote corner of the ring. "Please, senior. Announce the outco of the match."
"A-Ah, yes! Winner, Shin Iofiel!!!" Once the referee hollered out those words, the audience broke out in hysteria.
"What the hell just happened?!"
"I don’t know!!! I couldn’t even follow their movents for half the match!!!"
For the majority of those present, Shin’s match with Vidrine was just a plethora of blurred movents and gusts of wind. After all, they were just students and Shin’s top speed could match that of Rank 30 Spirit Adepts.
"Sealing an opponent using his knowledge of acupoints... That brat has really grown to be quite the dangerous individual huh?" Up in the VIP stands, Principal Erudito muttered out in shock.
Unlike his first performance against Edgar, the technique that Shin had shown was at a much higher level. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge of the Twelve Lesser ridians and the Eight Greater ridians could hypothetically knock down an opponent in the sa manner that Shin had done to Edgar. However, the move that Shin had employed on Vidrine was much more clinical, and even the most experienced of healers would have trouble using in open battle.
To perform a feat like Shin, one had to have the relevant knowledge of all the two thousand acupoints in the human body, and how each acupoint related to one another. Not only that, when executing the technique, the user must be extrely cautious not to use excessive force, lest the acupoints get entirely destroyed. Moreover, in a battle, no enemy would simply stand there and allow the practitioner to perform such a clinical manoeuvre.
When all these factors were combined, it proved to be overwhelmingly difficult for any martial artist to efficiently perform the art. Thus, there weren’t many fighters that would employ this technique. However, that didn’t deter Shin from learning and eventually mastering it.
"..." By the bronze-faced scholar’s side, the Duchess of Highgarden was wearing a stoic expression that seed to be frozen in ti.
’Kanari, oh Kanari... Now I know why you’re so obsessed with this boy...’ Thinking back to the nurous tis that her daughter pleaded for help to recruit Shin into the Duchy, the black-haired woman ntally sighed as she cooled herself with a feathered hand fan. ’He learnt this much martial arts in just one year... If he was given the ti, what heights could he possibly reach?!’
While the audience was busy deliberating on what had just happened, Shin released his Spiritual Body Enhancent and forced the divine cerulean scales on his body to fade away. Walking towards the immobilised Vidrine, Shin put on an apologetic face as he raised his fingers once more.
"Alright, I’ll free you now," Shin assured the girl.
Hitting the sa exact spots, Shin freed the blocked acupoints, and Vidrine collapsed onto the floor, panting heavily to get oxygen pumping to her brain. "Y-you... What the heck was that?!"
"I just bound your movents for a while. You weren’t in any danger you know?"
"No, I an... What the hell?!" Still in shock, Vidrine couldn’t find the words to express herself and could only viciously glare at the black-haired youth.
"Just relax and breathe. It will take so ti for you to get back to normal." Shin knelt down and tapped the girl on her back, monitoring her symptoms throughout. Although in theory, there should be no after effects after releasing a bound acupoint, every human body reacts to situations differently. Patiently watching Vidrine recover, Shin made sure that there were no adverse effects for at least two minutes.
"God damn it... I really lost that convincingly huh?" A mist of sadness escaped through Vidrine’s mouth as she pieced together the entire fight like a puzzle piece.
"No, you gave a hard fight. I was worried for so monts there you know."
"Don’t bullshit , Shin! I know for a fact that you were holding back!"
"..." As much as he wished to deny her claims, Shin knew that if he continued to act modest, Vidrine would undoubtedly get more aggravated. Furthermore, in the later stages of the tournant, Shin would surely be forced to show all of his cards, and if he lied right now, he might lose a friend in Vidrine, who was a classmate that he admired greatly. Therefore, the boy just kept quiet.
"Ah, this is depressing..." Now that she had ample of rest, Vidrine got up from the ground and sauntered off the ring, but before she could disappear from sight, the lean warrior hollered out:
"Hey, Shin!"
"Hmmm?"
"I won’t forgive you if you don’t get into the finals alright?!"
"Haha, I’ll try..."
~~~
"Acupuncture techniques? That’s a rare martial art that he had developed." Spectating from the stand, Suji rubbed his chiselled chin as he carefully analysed the martial art that Shin had executed. Even though he wasn’t trained in the healing arts, being born into a combat-oriented household, Suji had so basic understanding about the Two Thousand Points, Twelve Lesser ridians, and Eight Greater ridians of the human body.
"It’s going to be a potent skill if it lands. We have to be careful..." True to his Son of War moniker, Suji carefully analysed the dangers that Shin’s newly demonstrated ability possessed.
"Yeah..." Danroy, who looked like a broken toy in a workshop, rely nodded his head, not really listening to the insights that his childhood friend was giving him.
’He beca so strong...’ Danroy reflected on the first ti he had ever challenged the black-haired youth. Back then, using his Bangeo Rhinoceros, the obese boy could easily toy with Shin as if he was a ragdoll. However, after witnessing Shin’s power up, he wasn’t so sure that he could win in a straight up battle.
’Suji beca so strong... Kanari beca so strong... And now this guy?’ Danroy entire soul trembled at the thought of being the only person left behind in the race for the top.
From birth, the young teen had always been compared to his counterpart, Suji. Since the Son of War’s na was so resonant in many people’s minds, Danroy had always had to play second fiddle to Suji. However, even though he was relegated to the side, Danroy never lost faith in his own abilities, and he had consistently kept pace with his friend’s cultivation and combat level.
However, as he grew older, Danroy got exposed to other prodigies of the Empire and realised how short-sighted he truly was. When he first t Kanari, Danroy was absolutely overwheld by her presence. Being the fastest in their generation to reach the Spirit Apostle realm, Kanari was in a league of her own. Her Kumiho Spirit was an absolute cheat that allowed her to manipulate three elents while her combat abilities far surpassed anything that was in Danroy’s arsenal. Not to ntion, Kanari’s cultivation speed was untouchable, permanently sealing her position as the top dog in the golden generation.
And Danroy was okay with that. Chasing Suji was hard enough, but now he had to aim even higher at an unobtainable target? He would much rather sit in one corner and chug chicken wings down his throat. As much as his family tried to push him to be the best in the generation, so hurdles were too high for him to jump over. So what if he was below Suji and Kanari? In his mind, claiming third place wasn’t that bad.
Nonetheless, deep inside the recesses of his mind, Danroy always felt a sense of inferiority, and he couldn’t quite place his finger on why. And then, ca the arrival of the Freak of the Dundlewoods, Shizen. Months before the start of the academic year, the entire Capital had been buzzing about the appearance of yet another wonder kid, further relegating Danroy’s na down into the mud.
Not happy about the sudden shift, Danroy decided to confront Shizen early on in the year, so that he could put things back into order. Unfortunately, the outco of that duel didn’t turn out as he expected and Danroy’s na got downgraded even further. However, he could take the defeat on his chin, and he trained even harder so that once the rematch against Shizen ca about, Danroy could finally right the wrong that he had committed.
But before that could happen, yet another na beca prominent as Shin topped the interest board when he advanced into Rank 19. Once again, Danroy was unsatisfied that yet another competitor had appeared and sought to stop Shin in his tracks. This ti, the battle went swimmingly well for him. Smashing Shin bit by bit, Danroy had dominated the match and stamped his position as soone superior.
However, ti was a bitch to the youth. Fast forward to the end of the year, Shin had condensed his Spirit Core and had advanced his martial arts to a level that Danroy could never hope to reach. Kanari had skipped forward multiple steps and reached Rank 24, Suji and Shizen had achieved Rank 19 and were one step away from condensing their own Spirit Cores, and Elrin had secured the top seat in the auxiliary course.
And where was Danroy? Other than promoting to Rank 18, there were no significant achievents to his na. His battle technique had remained stagnant, and his na was long forgotten by the public. The gossips that filled the town were the news of the advancents ofBlack-Haired Tyrant or the Witch in the South. Sotis, Danroy’s na would be ntioned, but it was always in the form of an afterthought.
The fate that he dreaded the most had finally co into fruition. No longer within the top five talents in his generation, Danroy had been relegated from number two to god knows what number, and it was of no fault of his own. The talent pool in his cohort was just too powerful. But of course, the obsessive aristocrat didn’t see it that way.
’What have I been doing?’
Reviews
All reviews (0)