Chapter 423 Black Killing Power VS. Three Kinds Of Runic Powers

Now a fierce fight was on the verge of breaking out like a dormant volcano now about to erupt. On one side, the killing intent was already hinted by the scent of blood. On the other side, a forceful murderous power kept on gaining competence. Both of the energies were truly powerful, almost half a step to the innate spiritual level, so it could be expected that the upcoming clash between them was likely to be incredibly violent. It would be a lot different than the usual battles ever recorded in history.

Even before the collision took place, everyone around could tell the two sides' mighty powers from the aura they unleashed to their immediate surroundings. Once they collided like two waves, drastic waves of energy lashed out around the area from where the two surge of energies met, shaking the whole space and crashing the light curtain on the competition platform like unstoppable tides.

"This is, no doubt, another fierce struggle between well-matched opponents," one of the warriors who seemed to have seen every fight exclaimed. "I do hope they could fight like Kilkenny cats. If both of them are to be crippled because of each other, things would get much easier for us later." That warrior who was looking forward to both sides' defeat, was not the only one who was taken aback by how intensive this fight was. All the warriors around were holding their breath, seeing how the interesting battle unfold while praying secretly that those two strong rivals could finish each other off so that no one would have to deal with any of them afterwards.

"Even if the fight won't kill both of them, we can at least expect that one of them will be greatly weakened like a vegetable left unwatered. Or we can hope that they would end up like Grace and Kinsey, one resting in peace, and the other sent out after the fight. That would be good enough for us already!" another one shared his sentiments which were kind of dark yet interesting to many.

"Dream on, guys!" a third one taunted them as they started imagining possible outcomes. "These are all strong warriors and only the strong can laugh the last laugh. Just stop thinking about making a breakthrough to the level of an innate spirit by luck because it is barely achieved!".

"Well, well! Those were my lines, dude! If you are some puny insect that would be finished by one single strike of any weapon, this fight is bound to be too boring for me!" Sham scoffed with disdain hearing what Ricky said. "I'm expecting a worthy opponent, you know!"

"Oh? It seems that we at least have one thing in common. Come on, show me what a murderer's boastful killing power could do!" Ricky replied most defiantly, looking forward to what was yet to come.

In an instant, they both disappeared like bubbles that popped out of sight, and what was only visible to the others were two figures that flashed past the competition platform.

The moment they were done speaking, they dashed to each other like arrows unafraid to land anywhere they were targeted to. Their speed was too fast, just like lightning stroke, that no one could recognize who was who. Before everyone figured out what was happening in front of them as they made sense of the blur and swift movements, great blasts of fortune exploded. For a split second, warriors present were finally able to realize that this was the result of the meeting of the two sides' fists. It was, indeed, a good sight, "the battle of the battles" according to others, because of how promising attacks they were.

For a moment, everything seemed frozen by the powerful energy. As Sham's and Ricky's eyes mirrored each other, black killing power were swirling like a tornado around Sham, while Ricky was surrounded and protected by his three runic powers. After being combined with his spiritual energy, Ricky's runic powers gradually increased as if it was meant to destroy.

Then a cracking sound broke the deafening silence. "Snap!" The explosive energy their clash had produced shook the whole space as if an earthquake just happened and threatened to smash the space like shattering pieces of glass. But the space cracks had healed themselves in a blink of an eye as if it had an oasis of regenerative power, even before the fractures could ever worsen. After all, both of them were only at the demi-immortal level, and their power, though already promising enough, were not yet qualified to break the space that served as their bat

in and became his bloody red shield. With that, he now had a protective armor just like Ricky.

Everything was ready for Sham. He pierced through the space with his blood-black soft-iron sword, and rushed over to Ricky without any hesitation and pointed the sword directly to his head.

"Nine-degree Body Refining Formula! Runic power attack!"

Ricky immediately yelled as though his voice was summoning the heavens to launch his counterattack. He, too, had brought out all of his energy when sensing the outbreak of Sham's power and the strong killing power his soft-iron sword carried. He must fight back in full force if he wanted to survive Sham's attack this time, when they were at equal footing.

With his words, his eyes began to gleam like gold as he activated the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula. Instantly, the devouring rune, the chaotic fire rune, and the massacring rune circled amongst each other and turned into a tornado of flames to cover Ricky for protection.

Part of the flames had even shot out and poured into his saber-light. Together, the runic powers and saber-light directed themselves into Ricky's Iron Destroyer, making it sturdier than ever.

Ricky swung the Iron Destroyer at the space, and a big gash, as pitch black as an abyss appeared on it. Through that gash, he made a lunge toward Sham. The screaming from the space was unstoppable when it was being cut by the weapons and everyone heard the metallic sound of anger and strength every time the two blades met.

Huge amount of sword-light and saber-light exploded on the platform. Everyone was blinded by the harsh glare produced by the explosion, and their ears were ringing as they heard the horrible keening of swords. All of a sudden, all the warriors felt that they had just witnessed a volcanic eruption.

In this one-on-one contest, Sham had shown how exceptional he was as a killer. He was incredibly fast, and most of the time, he had reacted more quickly and was better at perfecting the timing than Ricky.

Those techniques were quite enough for him to gain the upper hand. For more than once, his sword had hit Ricky successfully, making him seem vulnerable to others' eyes.

Ricky had made it this far, all thanks to his indefectible Nine-degree Body Refining Formula, which was further strengthened by three kinds of runic powers. With the formula protecting him as the strongest steel helmet and armor, Sham's soft-iron sword could only lay some scratches on his body.

This was truly a wonderful battle for all the warriors, and they had somehow started to enjoy this duel between these two master-hands. It looked like that they had totally forgotten that they were actually here for the dragon meridian and not that big event.

Clang! After their swords met once again, they bounced backwards, keeping a distance between each other, their eyes burning with killing intent--the sun wouldn't shine for one of them anymore after the battle.