Chapter 1200 Pursuit (Part 6): Familiar yet also Unfamiliar
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As Shin entered the state of being one with nature without him knowing, he also entered his Natural State subconsciously.
But instead of the Natural State that he was familiar with, there seemed to be a slight difference between the two.
Both Natural States fitted the fighting style of Shin, but a slight difference could be felt when comparing the two. One seemed meant for Martial Arts while the other was for Mentalism.
At the same time, there was also a little sense of not belonging to it. It was as if it was not meant for him.
This Natural State was his, yet also not meant for him.
It was a strange feeling but since could not tell since he was currently too immersed in the feeling of being one with nature.
He did not even feel the changes in his demeanor, nor the surging flow of mana within his surroundings. They were flowing toward him like a raging tidal wave yet also quite tamed at the same time.
They seemed to be obeying his orders without him voicing them out. It was as if they could read his thoughts and move according to them.
Sigh~!
As Shin entered this state, a silent sigh could be heard inside his sea of consciousness. But he could not hear it clearly since his thoughts were too concentrated on his immersion.
"I will let it to you this time since you feel a little too desperate about it," said that familiar voice inside his head as his immersion intensified.
Bang!
The surrounding mana turned and revolved around Shin right after those words were said by the owner of the voice. Quickly after that, the revolving mana turned into a cyclone spinning around him while he was rapidly absorbing them.
The flowing mana within him also followed a breathing technique that he was not familiar with without his knowledge.
This surging mana gathered at the center of his dantian and formed a spherical object. It was a core made of concentrated mana with two different and opposing properties. They did not react violently despite meeting at that core, nor did they fight for supremacy.
Instead, they coexisted in harmony without showing any sign of rejection of each other. It was despite their opposing natures.
They revolved within his dantian in a steady manner before separating once again.
One turned into a warm and brilliant energy and moved toward his left-hand sword, turning into the power of the Brilliant Sun, which also represented Shin's Sacred Qi inside the game. It coated the black blade on his hand with a blazing white flame that had black hues on its surface.
The other energy, on the other hand, became a cold and dark energy that moved toward his right-hand sword. It turned into the power of the Abyssal Moon, which represented Shin's Demonic Qi within the game. A layer of black light enveloped the smooth blade of the white sword on his right hand, making it emit a very eerie feeling.
Shin moved the swords in a slow yet steady manner, creating an illusion of overlapping afterimages of his arms. The swords followed his movements while leaving a noticeable trail in the air.
He executed a couple of simple yet striking moves that seemed to have affected his surroundings.
And when he took his final pose, standing with one foot forward and one slightly behind, a heavy pressure could be felt coming out from his body.
His arms seemed to be in a very relaxed manner as he held his swords on each of his sides. Such a posture seemed to be full of openings yet also looked like an impenetrable fortress at the same time.
His current appearance was a perfect example of complexity. His entire body seemed to be radiating with different pressures that were supposedly opposing each other, which was very chaotic from the perspective of other people. Yet, at the same time, a complete harmony could also be felt.
Even Andre, a veteran demonic player who had experienced many things inside the game, could not understand what was happening.
Even if he added his knowledge of Martial Arts and Mentalism that he possessed was not enough to explain what he was currently seeing.
What he was witnessing right in front of him was far beyond his current knowledge both inside and outside of the game.
"What the hell is this guy?" he muttered to himself while staring blankly at the complicated yet amazing scene in front of him.
He was too stunned to get his head to work properly. He was too in awe to realize that this was something he needed to report to his superiors – or at least warn his current commander about this operation.
While he was lost in thoughts, a gust of wind suddenly rushed toward him, waking him up back to reality.
Swoosh!
He could not see what it was, but he could at least feel it with the help of his rich life-and-death experience within the game and the heightened senses given to him by the Demonic Formation.
He instinctively raised both of his daggers right in front of him while channeling all his corrupted mana into them. He then squatted his hips a little to lower his center of gravity while bracing himself for the incoming impact.
Bang!
Swoosh!
He was sent skidding back despite all the preparations that he made. His guard was also blown in the air as he gave his all to stop himself from moving further back. He even channeled some of his mana toward his lands, strengthening them so that he could reduce the force that he had received from the impact.
But despite doing his best, his legs still gave up. This caused him to trip on his butt after drawing a deep and long trail on the ground.
Yet the force that he failed to nullify continued to push him further away.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He flipped, rolled, and stumbled repeatedly on the ground as he tried his best to stop himself. He even destroyed a couple of trees on his way while he was doing all of that.
He even suffered quite a lot of damage along the way. If not for the continuous healing that the Demonic Formation was providing him in exchange for his mana, then he would have been killed by Shin.
Yet, all of it seemed to be not enough.
What was worse about it was when he finally managed to halt himself from moving further. The gust of wind seemed to have followed him, sending chills down his spine.
"F*ck!" he could only curse on himself as he used a series of movement and lifesaving skills to run away from it.
Swoosh!
Unfortunately, all of it was futile as he was still caught by a powerful swing that seemed to come after him with an unstoppable momentum.
Bang!
This one came from above, so Andre raised his arms and crossed the daggers above him to block the descending sword.
"Argh!" he could only groan in pain as a huge chunk of his health bar suddenly disappeared at that moment.
His entire body was shaking violently as he did his best to endure the pain that he was suffering. He felt as if his innards were being shaken up after forcefully blocking the attack.
This lasted for a very brief moment as he caught a glimpse of Shin in front of him, who was pressing the sword down at him.
That one second seemed to have lasted for a very long time as Andre felt his soul was being dragged down by the god of death toward the underworld.
Bang!
Then the ground underneath his feet suddenly exploded as it sank down, creating a deep crater full of cracks.
Small fragments of rocks flew in the air as his feet sank to the ground. He was trying his best to withstand the force pressing on him while feeling like an entire mountain was pressing down on him, trying to bury him alive.
He lasted for a couple more seconds before his legs finally gave up, making him fall to his knees.
Left without a choice, Andre could only use his final trump card. He no longer cared about the important and rare materials that he needed to retrieve after using the Demonic Formation. He no longer cared about the black metal rods stuck in different places to keep the formation activated.
His life came first.
He knew that Shin would not just kill him after defeating him. He knew that he would be imprisoned immediately after being defeated, just like the other demonic players, before being handed to the church.
It was the same as giving up all his progress in the game, so he had to gamble. He would rather waste those materials and destroy them, rather than delete his character.
"Argh!"
With an enraged roar, Andre activated the demonic formation to its full capabilities in exchange for exhausting its powers.
It would put a lot of burden on the formation and break all the metal rods, which were the foundation of the Demonic Formation itself. But it would provide an infinite amount of mana and powerful strength to the user in exchange – at least until it fully exhausted its powers.
Bang!
The aura surrounding Andre grew more dark and violent as the Demonic Formation channeled its powers to him.
He then put more strength in his arms before forcefully standing up. He then pushed the sword pressing down on him after accumulating enough strength.
Shin took a couple of steps back as his sword was successfully pushed back by Andre. He was somewhat surprised at first, but he quickly regained his composure.
After taking a deep breath, the flow of mana inside him seemed to have changed. From extreme tranquility, it suddenly became a raging wave from a violent river alongside his surging emotions.
His demeanor transitioned from being completely tamed into a very aggressive one. Alongside it, the strength that he had in his arms also increased as he swung the black sword forward.
Swoosh!
Bang!
Andre was able to successfully block the attack but was caught completely off guard once again as he realized that this particular strike was much more powerful than the previous ones.
He still got overpowered and pushed back despite the overwhelming stats and powers that the Demonic Formation had. "What the heck? What kind of monstrous strength is this?"
Suppressing his thoughts, he quickly tried to regain his footing before fighting back. He started throwing a couple of counterattacks while dodging each strike coming from his opponent.
He no longer wanted to block those strikes, afraid that they would either break through his defenses or completely obliterate him in the process.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But despite trying his best, Andre still failed to control the flow of the battle.
Shin was still the one dictating the rhythm of everything, forcing Andre to a complete defensive. It was as if he was always one or two steps behind.
Shin's attack pattern was completely unpredictable. It was pretty much impossible to read it despite Andre trying his best.
It was sometimes slow yet steady, sometimes soft but sturdy, sometimes fast and deadly, sometimes hard and heavy, sometimes completely untraceable, sometimes full of feints, and sometimes very straightforward.
Andre could not keep up with the ever-changing flow. He could not read the movements of his opponents, much less predict any of them.
The only things that he could see in this battle were the complete blurs that he was trying his best to block or avoid and the lights that were coming from any angle and direction.
He would sometimes see a trail of blazing white flame in the air or a black line with unpredictable trajectory.
Either of these was more than enough to claim his life. If not for Shin slightly holding back on his attacks in order to capture his opponent alive, then Andre would most likely be dead by now.
Andre would naturally want to run, but he naturally knew that it was nothing but a foolish choice. The moment when he stepped out of the influence of the Demonic Formation and lost its assistance, he would most likely be subdued within an instant.
Fully knowing that this was the end of him, Andre could only do his best to record this battle and prolong it as long as possible to gather more information. He would be saving the battle video in his personal data bank before retrieving it later when he deleted his character.
Then he would download the video after the probation period ended before passing it to the higher-ups of his organization.
Seemingly reading the thoughts of his opponent, Shin suddenly smirked before disappearing. "It is time to end this."
He appeared in the blind spot of his opponent, completely hiding his presence and avoiding the 'camera' that was trying to record his moments.
He paused for a moment as he moved his swords in a full circle, leaving a series of afterimages behind.
When he stopped, one of the swords was pointing in the sky while the other was pointing toward the ground. There was also an illusionary image of a Yin-Yang Symbol behind him as two opposing flows of mana were being emitted by his body.
There was a brief pause before he suddenly lunged forward while moving his swords. His arms paused in front of his chest forward a moment, one over the other, while their tips were leaving a beautiful trail of black and white light behind.
Then he swung the swords in a horizontal manner as he passed through Andre.
Swoosh!
'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Ultimate Sword – Retribution'
Swoosh!
He naturally controlled his strength and purposely targeted the legs of his opponent. He also came from behind, making the latter unable to retaliate or record him.
Andre could only see himself falling toward the ground while locking his gaze on the back of the Shin, who was already in the middle of turning his swords back to their original form.
Andre thought that Shin had killed him, making him feel a little relieved.
Unfortunately, he saw a black cube appearing right in front of his eyes. He did not know when Shin had thrown it at him, but it practically sealed his fate.
It floated for a second while its segments were moving like Rubik's Cube. Then it sucked Andre in, completely locking him instead.
On the other hand, Shin just sheathed the [Yamato] and hung it on the side of his waist while closing his eyes.
He still wanted to immerse himself a little more in this mysterious state before it suddenly disappeared.
...…
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