Chapter 698: Matthew vs Xael (2)
’Nothing changes...’ Matthew thought, looking more closely at his opponent.
Not even the aura changed; he simply returned to his initial position.
’Good.’ Matthew smiled. ’Let me see this strength.’
He jumped toward him in a precise and swift strike, but it was quickly countered with a blow considerably faster than any he had seen before from this guy.
The speed had increased dramatically, so both fists collided with each other.
BAM!
Matthew fell back several feet, almost tripping to the ground.
His eyes flashed, and his body moved quickly to the right to dodge Xael’s strong punch.
’What great strength!’
He was genuinely surprised. Not only had his strength increased dramatically, but so had his speed.
Matthew countered his punches and, in no time, managed to match his strength; even so, his bones ached with every blow.
He had to jump backward several times to avoid precise and dangerous blows, simply because they were too strong.
"How is it possible for someone to change their strength so drastically without changing their energy one bit?" He was perplexed, but the attacks were frantic.
His defense was perfect, thanks to his powerful perception, but the reality was that those attacks hurt terribly and could break a bone if he wasn’t careful.
BOOM!
A powerful blow fell from above, pinning Matthew firmly to the ground, when Xael finally stopped.
"Is that all you’ve got? Your defense is good, but I don’t think your bones can withstand much more."
Matthew smiled. "You’ve become talkative after showing off all your power."
"Heh." Xael unleashed an additional blow, but it was easily evaded by Matthew, who managed to stand a few meters away from him after dodging it.
"I’m a little perplexed by something," he said.
"Go ahead." Xael returned to his combat stance. "I’m not good at giving answers, but I can answer anything."
Matthew nodded. "How high is your vampire power?" he asked.
Xael smiled. "I always get asked that."
He held up five fingers to indicate.
"50,000?" Matthew frowned.
It was too little. How had he become so strong? What kind of inhuman physical training had this guy gone through?
"Haha, 50,000? Don’t think I’m that talented, Mr. Matthew. Unlike all of you, who can rise into the sky and fly, I only have a good shell, trained under rigorous training."
"What do you mean?"
"My vampire power is 5,000, nothing more. It’s taken years of arduous training, but that’s all I’ve achieved. I guess my family’s heritage is like that, too."
"5,000?"
He was so perplexed that he forgot he was standing on the arena.
Only 5,000, but already so physically powerful?
"I’m curious who your teacher is," Matthew said with a smile. "No wonder your aura hasn’t changed at all, but your strength is so different. So you’re a completely pure martial artist."
Xael shrugged. "I’m not proud of that. My strength is limited to the limits of the body; I will never be able to exceed it, no matter how hard I try."
Matthew nodded in agreement. He would break a thousand times before he could achieve a strength considered "superior," as he had no stats that increased his physical strength.
’A pity,’ he thought.
"As for my teacher..." Xael smiled. "I have someone I can call that, even though he himself doesn’t want to admit it. He’s like you, a swordsman too. Although he doesn’t use a sword like yours, he’s more of a samurai."
’A samurai? In this day and age?’ Matthew frowned.
"Is he... human?" he asked.
"He could be."
"You don’t know?"
"To tell you the truth, several elders in the city know him, but no one knows what he is. He spends his days shut away in the mountains. He trains only basic sword movements every day, but he is incredibly strong."
Matthew nodded.
He didn’t know if there were vampire samurai, but he did know that humans had samurai clans, at least on Earth.
"I’d like to meet him."
"You’re a good friend of Miss Juliet, right? She’s also his student; he recognizes her. She should know more than I do; I haven’t seen him in years."
"I see." Matthew nodded.
"Anyway, shall we continue?" Xael asked.
Matthew shrugged. "Regarding what you said earlier about whether that was all I had... I’m still warming up." He smiled.
Xael ignored his provocation, simply stepping forward in a way that made the arena shake and launching a low blow toward Matthew’s liver.
Matthew, however, moved both arms simultaneously, dividing his attention. This was something only those with high perception could do with such precision.
His right hand stopped the incoming fist with terrifying precision, while his left hand struck Xael’s face fiercely.
Xael staggered backward, stunned. But this was only the beginning of a brutal onslaught from someone who was no longer fleeing from his keen perception.
In the distance...
Richard sat with Maverick, alone, in a VIP room.
"Incredible. That’s something even I can’t do," said Richard, watching Matthew literally attack with both arms, in different places, but at the same time.
The power wasn’t diminishing; in fact, it was progressively increasing.
This attack seemed simple, but in reality, it wasn’t. It was like a combined attack by two people who were perfectly in sync, but with only one body.
"He’s doing it to overcome Xael’s natural defense," said Maverick. "It’s a killing technique."
"Can you do it?" Richard asked, looking at him sideways.
"If I use my vampiric power, I can do it. But without using it, it’s too difficult to calculate the force to use, since, by nature, we have more strength in one arm than the other."
"Yes," Richard agreed.
"Fortunately, it’s not an attack that can be used in many circumstances. He won’t be able to use it against Miss Juliet," said Maverick.
"Unless he uses two swords at the same time," Richard replied.
"Well, that would be inefficient. The magic of a dual swordsman is being able to attack consecutively and combine in combos. These types of attacks aren’t useful for creating combos; they’re just destroying his defense. With one sword, it’s not necessary to do that."
Richard frowned but agreed. "You’re right."
"What did you find out about those assassins last night?" Richard asked, turning his attention away from the fight. "Any progress?"
"About that... I found several things."
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