Child of Destiny

...…

As Shin was facing Umbra, the people, who were left in the Holy City, were still trying to look for his traces. But when they learned that he was most likely to leave the city already, they quickly made their moves to look for him in other places.

They were top experts and elites among elites themselves, so they at least had a rough idea of how to look for him. This was not their first time looking for someone with a bounty, so they were quite familiar with the process.

Moreover, there were a lot of players here as both the Supreme Temple and Martial Alliance had issued a special mission to capture Shin. With their number, it would not be hard to cover a large area while searching for him, especially when the system would constantly inform them of his location every two hours.

Due to the movements of these people, some of the top powers residing within the Saint Heaven Kingdom immediately noticed them. They then quickly realized that something odd was going on within the kingdom once again.

They felt quite tired living in this kingdom after the continuous series of events that happened these past couple of months. They felt that they could not have a break.

Due to the flood of unfamiliar people arriving in different cities all around the kingdom, these guilds and organizations felt that they were being invaded or something.

However, after doing some investigation, they learned that they were hunting a certain player due to a special mission of big factions such as Supreme Temple and Martial Alliance.

Due to this, they felt that the player was hiding something important for the two factions to go after him. Then they later learned from their sources that even the Demonic Churches and Corrupted Cult were also involved, lurking in the dark and waiting for the right time to make their move.

This single piece of information was more than enough for these guilds to smell something. They felt that their initial suspicion was most likely to be true. – "This person is definitely in possession of a powerful weapon or item. It may even be a godly treasure!" –

Blinded by their greed, these guilds issued an order to their people. But to make sure that they would not arouse any unwanted attention from the four major factions that were already chasing after the target, they told their people to lay low.

Their scouts and spies were tasked to investigate the matter as quietly as possible while also trying to tail the people from the said organizations without being noticed.

Of course, it was impossible to hide all their movements, which still caused some ripples. The sparks and frictions when different sides met were unavoidable.

Fortunately, these people knew their goals, which was why these small scuffles and little skirmishes lasted only a short time before they went their separate ways, looking for the still unclear target.

This chaos continued for only a short time before everyone resumed to their respective tasks, looking for the target that they had no idea who.

***

In the meantime, the man in question was currently busy fighting a Maverick God.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their figures flashed through the forest as they exchanged blows against each other. The two executed a series of skills and techniques, showcasing their abilities.

Umbra was doing his best to take down Shin, but the opposing side seemed to be very tough to deal with. He was not expecting this opponent to be able to match his movements despite using all the secret skills and personal techniques that he had created.

Shin was able to ward off most of his attacks and even dodged all the killing moves that he had. Moreover, the opposing seemed to be very relaxed during the entire exchange.

What Umbra did not know was Shin not showing his real capabilities. From the start of the battle, aside from a couple of basic and intermediate combat and movement techniques under his arsenal, he never used any techniques that could expose his identity.

He was using a pair of random swords from his inventory space that were lying in the corner and collecting dust.

It might be a pair of random items, but their quality was rather good. They were at least at mithril rank, which far exceeded the quality that most players had.

During their exchanges, Shin used the principles that he had learned from his recent lessons, particularly the swordsmanship that Old Ryong had taught him.

Infusing different wills on his sword and applying them to each of his strikes, Shin was able to showcase a different yet also similar swordsmanship. This also showed how much he had improved during the recent training that he had in the real world.

With his heavy, swift, and sharp attacks, Umbra started to feel some pressure the more he fought Shin. This pressure was gradually getting stronger as more time passed.

He also felt that he was gradually getting stronger as more time went by. He first thought that it was an illusion, but he became more confident about it as they exchanged a little bit longer.

The thought of Shin gradually releasing his true strength as the battle progressed. But that thought was immediately rejected when he saw a noticeable change and maturity in the style that Shin was using.

But what confused him even more was he could already tell that this was not the usual style of his opponent, who was trying to hide their real identity. This meant that Shin was indeed getting stronger as the battle continued.

Bang!

The two were separated away from each other due to a strong impact from their last exchange.

As Umbra stood a few meters away from Shin, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a strong urge to end the battle as soon as possible.

He was about to follow these instincts and charged forward with his strongest attack when he suddenly sensed something. He strongly stomped on the ground and forcefully stopped his tracks while looking forward.

As he raised his head, he saw the same opponent that he was fighting earlier but giving off a whole different aura.

Not only that, but this aura was also so overwhelming that it made his body freeze and completely paralyzed.

He tried to fight it with his aura while infusing his murderous intent, but it did not do anything. His aura crumbled in front of the pressure of his opponent, suppressing him completely.

His body was trembling in fear as he stood at a considerable distance away from Shin.

From his perspective, the other party looked like a demon shrouded by darkness, yet also surrounded by five divine beasts with a slightly weaker presence.

As a top expert himself and a decently strong Martial Artist in the real world, Umbra immediately realized what was happening and instantly recognized the phenomenon that he was seeing.

He could see that Shin was already at the level where his Aura Manifestation was already evolving into a Battle Spirit, especially with this kind of pressure that Umbra was experiencing.

But what surprised Umbra was the fact that there were at least five different Aura Manifestations behind Shin which was completely unheard of. Or he at least had no idea whether it was possible or not.

The Aura Manifestation was the representation of one's martial arts or mentalism after combining them with their Internal Qi or Mental Energy.

It was also the projection of their techniques after reaching maturity, which was why even if someone practiced multiple techniques or skills, they would still come together and merge into a single entity that represented their unique style.

The Battle Spirit was the higher form of it as Martial Artists and Mentalists grew stronger, learning more high-level techniques and unique energies such as Natural Force and Spiritual Force.

The stronger an individual was, the more powerful their Aura Manifestation or Battle Spirit could be. But it had never been mentioned that it was possible to possess multiple of them within a single body.

What was even more ridiculous about this was the fact that the demon that he was seeing was just an incomplete Battle Spirit that had yet to mature and nurture its true form. This indicated that the opposing side was still a distance away from realizing their peak potential, which made it even scarier.

"What kind of monster are you?!" shouted Umbra, unable to shake off the shock that he was suffering.

This was way beyond his understanding!

At the same time, his instincts were telling him to run away as far as possible and not provoke this demon as much as possible.

But Umbra knew that it was already too late for that. He knew that this demon was already done experimenting with something and felt that it was the end.

He understood it was time to dispose of his useless self just like when a cat was done playing with its food and got tired of it.

This was the thought that Umbra had inside his head, imagining the thoughts of his opponent.

He was starting to regret not looking for partners when he clearly understood that this mission was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

With that thought, he subconsciously turned his head toward the other person, who remained quiet up until now and watched the entire battle without any intention of interfering.

He could tell that this person was also a monster himself, but he was not sure where he was on the same level as the demon that he was currently facing.

He wanted to ask for some help. But before he could even open his mouth, a flash of light suddenly flew in the air and went through his neck.

Shing!

There was nothing at first as Umbra could not feel anything. He just stared blankly in the air while trying to open his mouth and say something. Unfortunately, there were no words that came out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried.

He then realized that his entire body had become numb as he was unable to move any muscle. He only understood what was going on when he realized that his eyes grew tired and slowly closed.

With his darkening vision, Umbra slowly flew to the ground before turning into a lifeless body.

He was dead.

His corpse lasted for a minute or two before turning into specks of lights that dissipated in the air.

Shin twirled the swords in his hands for a couple of times, testing a few moves before sheathing them back. He then turned to the other person before asking straightforwardly. "So-… what's the plan? Are we going to go straight to the point and fight, or are we waiting for the entire world to crumble before that?"

The other party ignored those words as he stared at Shin.

From his perspective, he only saw the incomplete Battle Spirit that had been released. As for the Aura Manifestation, only those targeted people could see them as it was a direct attack on the minds of their opposition.

He had no idea what exactly had happened to Umbra, and when he suddenly became paralyzed right before the end. He was even more confused when he saw Umbra suddenly become a little distracted in the end, which allowed Shin to end everything with a single strike.

He was not sure if it was an in-game skill or any metal attacks that could be used within the game, but he understood that Shin was not someone who could be underestimated.

He continued to look at Shin for a few more minutes before shaking his head. "You are becoming more and more interesting the more I learn about you."

He then turned around and started to walk away while saying. "Let me schedule an appointment. Let's face each other a couple of hours before the bounty mission to capture you comes to an end."

"I want to see how you will handle your current situation. I also want to see whether you are the same as those people and achieve similar feats or fall in grace and become forgotten like everyone else."

"I hope that you will not disappoint," he added as he walked further away without any fear of being attacked from behind.

It was as if he was confident that Shin would not try to stab him when his back was turned.

Or it was also possible that he did not fear being attacked like that. He seemed to be very confident that he would be able to handle it even if Shin tried to play such an underhanded trick.

In return, Shin also became a little interested in the other party and asked. "At least tell me who you are so that I know who I am making an appointment with."

The other party paused his steps and looked over his shoulders. He then continued walking away and waved his hand while answering nonchalantly. "People call me Martial God, but my friends and rivals know me as Ashura."

...…