Chapter 286: Collision of Forces

A glint of coldness flashed across the hunky creature's eyes upon hearing Aiden's question. Albeit it was only for a brief moment, Aiden could still catch it thanks to the System's Map feature showing his previously yellow, neutral color to red before turning back to yellow again. This meant that due to the question, the being's hostile intent rose to such an extent that the System could no longer consider him a neutral. 

Strangely though, as the intent vanished, the system's marked the creature as neutral again.

"I am afraid, that I can't answer your question fully. Unless Master specifically orders it, I can't reveal his name. As for me, you can call me whatever you would like. I don't really have a name anymore." The creature spoke in his usual cold, emotionless manner as if nothing about his past mattered anymore. 

"What do you mean? You had to have a name at one point? You had to have a life, a family once." Aiden responded, inquiring further.

"That…" For the first time, it seemed that the question seemed to have stumbled the creature for a bit. His cold tone, shifted, garbing a slight, barely visible melancholic undertone as he continued with masked insipidness. 

"That was long ago, in a different life…" He paused for a moment, turning his eyes towards the ground. A moment later however it was already back and pierced towards Aiden's figure again. He continued. "If you really insist you can refer to me as Murus, I suppose you have earned the right."

"Murus. Glad to meet you. I'm Aiden." Hearing the creature's name, Aiden revealed his friendly smile and nodded towards the giant. "Now that we are acquainted, can you tell me what is the second test? What do I need to do? And also, what is the purpose of all this? What do I get out of this?"

The creature, Murus, gruffed coldly upon hearing Aiden's relentless assault of questions once again.

"You have already asked your questions. If you want to know more, you have to win."

Suddenly his figure blurred as it sped forward, his right fist stretched out, flying rapidly towards Aiden's face. Before the surprise attack could land, Aiden's figure vanished, only to reappear a few steps to the left just enough distance away so that the punch could only hit the air.

Seeing that his surprise attack failed, Murus' only smiled as he stepped back, facing Aiden once more.

"Not bad. You have the speed to contend as well." Although his smile was happiness, the face he revealed was horrendous. His eyes were glinting with the same crazed battle-hunger that was all too familiar for Aiden. Just like him, or Naybeah, Murus was also a battle-maniac.

"The second part of the test…" Murus continued while he was stretching his neck, circling with his shoulders… basically while he was warming up to something he was hoping to be grand and beautiful. "...would be to see how long you could hold out against me. However…"

Suddenly he stopped his movements and gazed at Aiden's lean figure. "However, instead of that, let's just go all out and have a real fight. If you can stand your ground against me, I am certain that the Master himself will answer your questions."

"And… What if I hurt or kill you? Will your master be upset?" Aiden asked with a thoughtful look, causing Murus to freeze on the spot for a moment in stun. Still, he didn't become conceited, nor did he look down on the boy. 

Instead, he scanned him once more carefully, remembering the strange burst of power earlier that made him lose hill standing when they clashed with their auras. 

"Honestly, I don't think you would be capable of doing that. Still, rest assured, if I were to fall here, that would be my fault. Master will not seek revenge on you. To the Master, I am merely a convenient tool to use, just like all the other servants. Anyway…"

His eyes suddenly flashed with a vicious glint while a small smirk formed on the edges of his lips. His hands were clenched into fists as he spoke his last words with force.

"...We have wasted enough time. Do your best, boy!"

As soon as his words rang out, Murus rushed forward. His figure blurred as he rocketed towards Aiden for a second time. Due to this, it seemed to like he teleported in front of the boy and flew high up into the air with his fists interlocked together, raised above his head. 

With great ferocity, he struck down not giving any chance to the boy to react. In his eyes, he saw no reaction, he was sure that his speed caught him off guard.

Although he merely used at most 20% of his strength in this attack, he was certain that he would knock the boy out, ending this test promptly.

When he was just a few inches away from striking at the top of the boy's head, Aiden's figure suddenly vanished from his sight. In the next instant, Murus could feel the presence of his opponent reappear behind him. His senses immediately flared up, warning him of an incoming threat.

Aiden's punch, just like before looked simplistic, but in reality, it was deep and profound, carrying the mysteries of the [Mystic Martial Arts] inside it. 

His arm left several afterimages behind, as it flew rapidly at the back of Murus's head. There was no smile on his face, in fact, he showed a slightly dejected expression as his counterattack flew towards the robust creature's back. 

From all the talks and confidence Murus shown so far, he expected at least some challenge in this duel, even expecting that he would have to utilize every skill at his disposal, but from what he had seen so far, there was a clear disparity in terms of power level between them.

He really wanted to finally be able to go all out and test his own limits, but unless Murus was just getting warmed up, and he still had more to show, then he would be very far from achieving that.

Just like Murus, Aiden was also conceited, judging the enemy from a first impression. Just like his opponent, Aiden thought that the battle would be over from a single hit.

However, just like Murus before, he also had to wake up and face reality: Murus had far more experience than any of his opponents before.

As the boy's fist flashed towards his back, Murus twisted his body in an unnatural way, turning and facing him in the air. Raising his arms in front of him, he blocked the attack with his forearms. 

From the impact, a powerful blast of soundwave was released, throwing both parties away from each other. Both landed on their feet, at a similar distance to before. Surprise visible on both of their faces, it was Murus who spoke up first, whilst circulating his energy to recover from the numbness in his arms.

Similarly, Aiden was guiding the flow of his Soul Power. The strike, that supposed to be a one-hit-wonder, was surprisingly blocked by Murus.

"Not bad, kiddo. I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be worthy of me giving it my all. A mistake that I will correct now! No more playing around!"

He grabbed the silver medallion on his neck and tore it down. As he injected his own energy into it, it began to glow with a silvery hue. A moment later, the medallion began to transform, changing its shape, and forming an incredibly huge scythe, towering over the robust size of Murus himself. 

As the weapon appeared, he immediately dashed forward, the weapon already swiping in a vertical curve, aimed to separate Aiden's lower half from his chest. The blade of the silver scythe shone in the same silvery light that it was seemingly formed from. A faint whistling sound could be heard as the terrifying weapon crossed the air.

Aiden's senses were on full alert as he saw the weapon, he was already on alert when the horrifying attack was en route. 

Without hesitation, he activated his innate and thrust his hand forward. Thick, golden scales appeared on his forearm while black claws emerged from the top of his fingers. At the same time, with the guidance of his [Mystic Martial Arts] his own circulating energy formed a layer of golden hue around his arm. 

His golden, glowing eyes were shut into small slits as he concentrated on the arching swipe.

The two opposites crashed into each other once again, causing a massive blinding light to cover the entire room along with a massive blast of the explosion of sound. The releasing energy was so incredibly massive that both parties, Aiden and Murus was flung back like helpless kites, crashing into the wall at the opposite ends of the room. 

The explosion kicked off a thick cloud of dust, blocking vision from all ends. 

For the next minute, there was no sound from either end. Neither party could be sensed, as they were laying still under their respective piles of rubble.