...…
Clang! Clang!
Bang!
Bang!
A pair of silhouettes continued to clash against each other in the mountain forest.
Shin and Shaun kept on disappearing and reappearing in different places as they fought, which caused loud explosions and left huge craters whenever they fought against each other. The landscape of the mountain forest completely changed.
At times, they were transforming into streaks of lights that collided multiple times, leaving an even more devastated place as they moved.
The two were currently in a deadlock which frustrated Shaun as he fought. He should be having an overwhelming advantage in this battle because he was supposedly the stronger one between them.
His realm was higher, he already awakened his innate attribute and transformed his Internal Qi into a Natural Force, he had mastered the three aspects of his martial arts and attained his Natural Style, and he even formed the perfect vessel to host all of it and achieved the Natural Body.
On the other hand, Shin only awakened his innate attribute, and he was still far from controlling it perfectly. There might be some peculiarities with the Mental Energy that Shin had. Taking aside his innate attribute, that 'peculiarity' might be the real reason why Shin was able to keep up when it came to the contest of energies.
As the battle progressed, Shaun also discovered something strange with Shin's Mentalism Techniques.
Not only Shin was capable of fighting a melee battle, but he was also proficient in utilizing strange Mentalism Techniques in a ranged battle.
Energy waves, barrier formation, illusion techniques, mentalism runes utilization, talisman usage, and other techniques that were uncommon for ordinary Combat Mentalists.
This gave Shaun the idea that Shin was both a Combat mentalist and a Psychic mentalist. Or in other words, a Kaleidoscope Mentalist, which was the combination of the two. And not an ordinary Kaleidoscope Mentalist at that since Shin could perfectly perform both fighting styles without a problem.
He was a perfect Mentalist that could only be heard from the rumors in the circle of Martial Arts and Mentalism.
This gave Shaun the idea that Shin should have the special physique called the 'Spiritual Embryo' – the perfect vessel for the Mentalists.
But that was all into it.
Shin could only bridge the gap in those two areas – the Energies and Physique, whereas Shaun had an overwhelming advantage in the other areas.
Shaun was quite excited to capture Shin after learning the secrets that the latter had. That peculiar mental energy and the possible possession of a Spiritual Embryo were already good material for research purposes.
He was sure that the head researcher overseeing everything in the base would be overjoyed if he brought this kid.
Unfortunately, Shin was too persistent and put up such a good fight. Even though he was fighting at an overwhelming disadvantage, he was still able to hold his ground up until now.
In fact, Shaun was even seeing some improvements from Shin as they fought.
At first, he thought that he was just imagining things. But after exchanging a few more blows, he discovered that Shin was indeed gradually becoming stronger as they fought, greatly improving during the battle.
This made Shaun wear a grave expression as he fought. Based on his estimate, if he was still not able to defeat his strange young man within a few dozen of exchanges, then he would most likely be the one to suffer defeat.
A great crisis suddenly rose within Shaun's heart as the battle progressed. He was starting to panic and even committed a couple of mistakes that almost cost him his life. If not for his higher realm, then he had already been killed earlier.
He was fighting comfortably and did not care about the commotions that they were creating since the organization had already activated the massive isolation barrier earlier before they made their moves.
This would make the people outside the mountain notice what was happening there. The sounds of the explosions would be suppressed by the barrier while an illusion projection was preventing the others from seeing what was happening behind it.
But that too, also became one of his worries since they were gradually reaching the edge of the mountain as they fought.
Shin had unknowingly pushed him to the foot of the mountain during their battle.
"B*st*rd!" shouted Shaun as his body released an overwhelming amount of Natural Force and channeled it on one of his spears.
Not long after, he suddenly charged forward and reached Shin within an instant. He thrust the spear forward as Natural spiraled around it and formed a sharp and pointed tip, drilling toward Shin.
Shin was unable to quickly respond to it quickly as he was currently catching his breath. Fighting someone with a lot of advantages while using the fire element attribute that he had not fully mastered yet was too burdening to his mind and body.
Moreover, controlling the Divinity Grade Mental Energy was also a little too much for the current him.
Seeing the incoming attack from his opponent, he gritted his teeth and quickly set up a series of mental energy walls made of fire in front of him as he continuously retreated.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of explosions immediately followed as Shaun thrust his spear into the burning mental energy walls one after another. And instead of slowing down, he was increasing his speed as he aggressively advanced without any hesitation.
And when he broke through the final wall, he saw Shin waiting for him and currently in the middle of executing one of his sword movements.
"Die!" shouted Shaun when he saw Shin and threw the spear forward.
At the same time, he twirled the other spear in his other hand before infusing it with more Natural Force.
He had already experienced how hard and troublesome Shin was. He was not expecting his previous attack to finish off Shin, so he was preparing another.
That attack was only a distraction as he prepared his real finishing move.
At this point, his rage clouded his judgment, and he no longer want to capture Shin. As a martial artist in the middle phase of the Ethereal Opening Stage, he was unable to defeat someone who was a mentalist in the Grandmaster Realm and still unable to its peak.
It was too humiliating to think about.
As the previous spear was about to assault Shin, Shaun assumed a throwing motion as he channeled his Natural Force on the other spear. He stomped on the ground very strongly before throwing the spear in a straight line.
Bang!
Swoosh!
The spear imbued with a large amount of Natural Force flew forward and left a glowing trail of light right after it left his hand.
It did take a long to reach the previous spear and arrived at its target almost at the same time.
Swoosh!
Shaun was wearing a triumphant look on his face when he saw that. He was sure that this time, Shin would be killed in an instant since he poured everything he had into that attack.
But not long after, the expression on his face suddenly turned stiff as he saw his spears pierced through his opponent but neither an explosion nor the sound of something being pierced could be heard.
His attacks just went through their targets as the black katana flew in the air, flipping and spinning multiple times.
Swoosh!
Then, at the very next moment, a swooshing sound could be heard behind him.
When Shaun turned around and took a look, he saw Shin dashing out from dissipating fire made of mental energy.
His pupils contracted as he did not sense the presence of the latter at all. He might have lowered his guard a little while performing those previous attacks, but that did not mean that his sense became dull enough for him to not sense Shin as he passed through a blazing mental energy wall one after the other.
Shin did not care about what his opponent was thinking. He continued to charge ahead without any hesitation.
Earlier, when he was setting up the mental energy walls, he used one of the illusion techniques from the Heavenly Black Turtle Method and left an image of himself behind those walls.
He even left his black katana and used telekinesis on it to make it levitate in the air. He meticulously controlled it while also making the illusion move, making it look like performing one of his techniques.
At the same time, he masked his aura with another technique and hid himself in one of the walls while waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Now that everything had worked out according to plan, he would not let this opportunity slip away from his hands and went all-out.
He was already beyond exhausted after using the series of techniques, but he did not have to worry about that since victory was already within his reach.
He tightly held the hilt of the white katana and channeled as much mental energy into it. He could no longer produce his fire attribute at this point, but the remaining Divinity Grade Mental Energy should be more than enough for the final move since his opponent was currently left unprotected.
Click!
He then pulled out the katana from its sheath and stabbed it forward.
Shing!
'Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Final'
Swoosh!
A flash of light blinded Shaun as a glowing trail was left in the air behind Shin.
In the next moment, Shaun found himself being stabbed by the white katana on Shin's hands, piercing through his chest.
There was a clear shock and disbelief in his eyes as he started on Shin, who was in front of him.
Fortunately for him, due to Shin's extremely exhausted state, that katana missed his heart, sparing his pitiful life in the end.
Regardless, he still lost this battle which was a great humiliation.
He was about to lose himself in rage when he heard a voice that snapped him back to his senses.
"Tsk! Tsk! You still lost to someone on this level despite all the resources that the organization has provided? What a disappointment."
Shaun's body suddenly turned stiff before turning his head toward the source of the voice.
Shin also forced himself to move and slightly turned in the same direction and saw a more than two-meter guy with a bulky body walking out from the woods.
He could not clearly see the appearance of that person because of his current state but he saw the person that the newcomer was holding between his arms. It was Leonard who was currently in a bloodied state and unconscious.
Shin could only smile bitterly as he could already guess what just happened. This person must be the guy called Butcher, one of the top combatants of the mysterious organization.
Sigh~!
'So, Leo has also failed to escape.'
His strength gradually left his body as the adrenaline within him finally calmed down. But before he lost his consciousness, he managed to get a glimpse of the other arm of the bulky guy and saw a huge tattoo of a black serpent on it.
His pupils suddenly contracted as he immediately came to a realization.
Unfortunately, he did not have the strength right now. He fell on the ground with a soft thud before finally fainting.
...
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