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"Who is next?"
A wild grin was on the face of the Blood Sword Faction member as he asked that question.
Luke frowned when he saw the enhanced power of their opponent and made the decision to take him on alone.
"Back off, I will take care of him!" He ordered.
"But he is too strong, let us team up for this," Evelyn suggested.
Luke only glanced at her and ignored her, "Obey my orders and back off for now."
Hearing the cold words of Luke, Evelyn relented, but her heart felt bitter as a foreboding feeling arose within her.
'Something is wrong...he might be suspicious,' she concluded.
She had sensed that Luke's attitude toward her was not like before, and it was like she had offended him.
'Did he find out? No, that shouldn't be possible, but then what happened?'
'Oh no, does Invincible feel the same way too?' She was scared at that thought, as the last person she wanted to think of her as a traitor was Arthur
'I hope I am just overthinking,' she sighed mentally and told herself to calm down.
Evelyn and the others retreated and also took their companion whose arm was dislocated with them.
Arthur retreated with them and placed a pill in the young man's mouth.
"He will be fine," Arthur said and looked at the battlefield.
Evelyn looked at Arthur and found that she could not recognize his face.
'Maybe he is a new member?' She wondered.
Meanwhile, Arthur was still monitoring the entire place with his spirit power.
'They should be getting ready to interfere the instant their minions lose.'
Even with the Blood Sword Faction Members taking the Berserk Pill, Arthur was still confident in his men.
'Show them the results of your training!' He was interested in seeing how the three would handle this battle.
"So you want to face me alone huh? Bad choice, hehe," Luke's opponent laughed at him.
"Let's finish this," Luke said and released his martial spirit for the first time.
When he did, a dark humanoid figure arose from his shadow and stood behind him.
Luke switched his daggers for another set of daggers that were made of dark iron, that reflected no light.
"Oh, going all out I see. I can do that too."
The young man also released his martial spirit and without saying anything more, he attacked.
"Take this!"
*Clang!*
A dagger and an axe clashed heavily, causing the wind to blow out in all directions.
'I can't win him in a clash of strength. So I will use my skills to my advantage instead.'
One of the things he learned when training with Arthur was how to face stronger opponents with weaker strengths.
With this encounter, Luke saw that his master has great foresight.
At another corner, Balor battled the fifth-ranked disciple in a fight of swords.
His opponent was stronger, but he was more skillful with the sword and his footwork was better.
Among the three, only Luke was better at movement techniques than he was.
'The ability to use the sword like an extension of my body. I will use this fight to learn that!'
The more Balor fought, the more focused he became, and as that happened he entered a state where he ignored everything else, including his opponent.
His gaze was as though he had no focus, but his mind was fully concentrated on his sword.
At this point, Arthur's words flowed into his mind, 'The union between a man and his sword is something only a select few swordsmen have been able to accomplish. When the man and his sword are united, the sword becomes an extension of one's self.
And with that unification, comes enlightenment on the sword dao, and when you reach this state...mastering the sword dao is only a matter of time and no longer a matter of if it is possible or not.'
Arthur had shared a rare knowledge about the sword dao that only very few people would know of in this lower realm.
It was knowledge that he had gained from his past life, from the greatest swordsman of his time.
Due to that knowledge, Arthur himself had quickly mastered the state of 'sword and man as one', and this had been a major help in his comprehension of his sword dao.
Arthur saw Balor's hidden talent for the Sword Dao and decided to teach him about it, hoping that he could learn it one day in the distant future.
But he never expected that he would begin to learn it so soon. Neither would he have known that this event would be a major reason for the fulfillment of the vision he saw about Balor.
'Sword and Man as One,' Balor muttered those words in his heart like a mantra.
And as time went by he was able to fend off the attacks of the fifth-ranked disciple like it was nothing.
Many vague techniques that only master swordsmen can achieve began to be opened to him.
'Using that which is soft against that which is hard...a slow sword still maintaining its lethality...'
Unbeknownst to Balor, his state was noticed by his opponent who became confused at why he was not winning this battle just like he had expected.
'What is going on?! I am clearly stronger but how is he dealing with my attacks as though they are nothing?!'
Since he couldn't comprehend what was going on, he decided to use more destructive attacks that one would only use if one want to seriously injure and even kill an opponent.
'Don't blame me, you asked for this!'
It might be a problem if he crippled a fellow disciple or even kill one, outside of the Life and Death Battle Arena.
But he had the backing of the Blood Sword Faction.
"Earthen Firmament Slash: Third Style!"
A heavy sword that moved like it was smashing rather than slashing landed on the ground missing its intended target, Sun Wukong.
Before Quan could withdraw his sword for another attack, he was hit multiple times by a barrage of fists.
"Drunken Monkey Fist!"
"Yayayayayayaya!" Sun Wukong shouted with each punch and finally delivered the final blow.
"Eyaaah!"
The air on the path his fist traveled was torn apart and Quan widened his eyes at that attack.
'If that hits me I am done for!'
Even though he was bleeding and some of his bones have been broken, Quan used all his strength to use his sword to block.
Sun Wukong's fist landed.
*Boom!* *Crack!*
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------------End of Chapter------------
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