Child of Destiny

...…

Shin felt terrible as he continuously blocked the attacks of his opponent. And for every punch and kicks that he blocked, a sensation of something exploding inside his body always came with it. The blazing attacks of his opponent damaged his body externally while the internal explosions hidden behind each of the strikes were making his internal injuries much worse.

He was giving everything he had as he pushed his body to the limit. He knew that he might die if he let his guard down even for a second. He was constantly pouring out his Mental Energy in every exchange using more than two techniques simultaneously.

All four types of Mentalism Methods were constantly in use during the battle. The Sacred White Tiger and Heavenly Black Tortoise Methods were being used in offense and defense as if he were a character in a fighting game that could switch between the two modes freely. The combination techniques of the two methods were also pretty powerful that saved him some breathing space during the exchange.

The Holy Azure Dragon Method, on the other hand, was helping to create more space to have a better positioning to nullify most of the power of the attacks of his opponent. He struggling on this part as his body was starting to give up due to the worsening internal injuries. Fortunately, his Celestial Vermillion Bird Method was suppressing those injuries considerably.

As his breathing started to become haggard due to the heat in the air, Shin started to feel his focus slipping away. Adding the burden of constantly using multiple Mentalism Techniques together with his worsening injuries, his body was starting to give up.

It was at that moment when he committed a mistake that resulted in him getting hit by two consecutive attacks from his opponent.

Flame wanted to follow up with another attack as he wanted to make sure that the target was taken down. But before he could gather his strength for another round of attacks, he felt an intense dizziness on his head, preventing him from making any other move.

The 'poison' that Shin had released earlier spread all throughout his body. He had to focus his mind on him and suppress it before it could cause him any serious damage. It might be a little annoying, but given his current strength, expelling such minor toxins would not be a problem.

In the meantime, Shin, who was buried under the pile of rubble, started to feel his consciousness slipping away. He could not even check the current state of his body but he was sure that it was very much in a mess. A couple of broken bones and ribs shouldn't be strange.

"D*mn it!" he could only curse silently as he tried to use the healing techniques of the Celestial Vermillion Bird Method.

Unfortunately, it could no longer support his heavily injured body. Such injuries were not something that could be cured given how serious they were.

As his consciousness was slipping further and further away, something suddenly occurred deep within his sea of consciousness. A familiar yet unfamiliar power was suddenly awakened and reignited the dying ember within him.

Swoosh!

And as if oil was added to it, the supposedly dying flame was further ignited and showed its rage.

Then the power hidden deep within Shin was suddenly released. It poured out everything and constantly filled his Niwan Palace as they came like tidal waves.

A spiraling wave appeared at the center of Shin's forehead as it devoured all of the energy that was coming from the surroundings.

Not long after, Shin felt as if he was drowning due to the continuous tide of energy that was filling up his Niwan Palace. Cracks were even starting to appear on its surface, showing that it could collapse at any given moment.

Pain could be seen on his face as the expression that he had was constantly changing and twisting. The worse part was he could not move his body as he was currently under the pile of rubble.

Urgh!

When the pain became so unbearable, Shin could only clench his hands hard as forced himself to endure it. He started to panic when he saw his Niwan Palace suddenly exploded in smithereens.

He wanted to prevent it from happening but the flood of energy pouring at it was too strong for him to stop. Despite his monstrous willpower, he could only watch helplessly as his Niwan Palace collapsed alongside the slowly drifting Mental Energy that he painstakingly purified and collected.

With his Niwan Palace collapse, the foundation that he built up with his Mentalism attainment started to collapse too. He could not do anything as it continuously disappeared at an unimaginable rate.

But when all of the hope was gone, something unexpected suddenly happened. The scattering Mental Energy was swept by the flood of energy that was pouring in from the outside, dragging it along and forming an even sturdier Niwan Palace.

The formation of this new Niwan Palace was so fast that it was almost built within an instant. At the same time, a hint of the other power sealed within Shin's body was mixed in that Niwan Palace, making it stand firmer and stronger.

This new Niwan Palace devoured all of the flooding energy and cleansed them before turning them into pure Mental Energy.

It did not show any sign of stopping as a powerful vortex appeared within it. And not long after, it floated at the center of Shin's Sea of Consciousness, building a world that was solely for himself.

Shin was still a little confused about what was happening exactly, but he knew that it was beneficial for him, especially for his Mentalism Practice. He quickly forced himself and focus his mind as started supporting the current phenomenon happening within his body.

Not long after, he sensed that his Mental Energy became much purer and way stronger than what it was supposed to be. He could sense some unfamiliar powers mixed with it, but there were also some familiarly mixed within them.

But this phenomenon did not stop in there as his body seemed to get baptized by the new Mental Energy that he gained. It cleansed all of the impurities within his body before aiding him in healing his injuries.

All of this was happening while he was partially lost consciousness on the outside, so he was not entirely sure what was happening there.

…

In the meantime, Flame immediately sensed the sudden change in the surroundings. He could also feel that something was currently happening to Shin, which quickly made him on full alert.

He did not wait to see what was happening exactly. Instead, he quickly sprung into action and tried to attack the spot where Shin was currently buried. He knew that whatever was happening, he could not let it happen at all cost.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Boom!

Right before he could even smash his blazing fist on the pile of rubbles, a powerful explosion quickly erupted from the spot and pushed Flame away.

He tried to pour more strength on his legs and feet to firmly planted them on the ground, but the repulsive force was too strong that he slid back further than the number of steps that he took to move forward.

He even tried to punch his body forward with the help of his fire superpowers, but even that was useless in front of the strong force that was pushing him away.

All he could do was cross his arms in front of him and make his body heavier so that he would not be sent flying by the powerful repulsion.

And when he tried to raise his head to look at what was happening ahead, he found Shin floating in the air while being covered by a brilliant light alongside a dense Mental Energy that was pouring out from his body.

There was also a strange happening alongside it. There was clearly a devouring force coming from Shin's body as it continuously sucked all of the energy from the surroundings. There was even a visible flow of energy that could be seen by the naked eye.

But contrary to it, an invisible force was pushing everything else away, preventing them from approaching Shin's body.

Focusing his gaze, Flame could also see that the injuries that Shin had suffered from their fight were healing at a rapid pace. They were healing so fast that he could see the peeling of the dead cell before being replaced by a new one. Such regeneration was so extreme that the mercenary found it unbelievable.

Even people who possessed special physiques that focused on constitution and vitality did not have that kind of crazy regeneration abilities. He only saw such sight from people who possessed evil and demonic powers, but the way they healed their bodies was very horrifying.

Compared to it, the way that Shin healed his body was similar to the normal process of how the body regenerated in a natural way – but at a much faster rate.

This scene continued for almost a minute before everything started to subdue. But despite seeing that the surrounding had calmed down, Flame did not make his move as his senses were telling him that it was not the end yet.

And sure enough, another strange phenomenon suddenly took place!

What Flame saw completely terrified him as it was the first time in his entire life as a mercenary to see such a terrifying being.

He did not know what exactly it was but he was having an urge to kneel in front of Shin as the latter released a strong and holy radiance. Shin looked like a sacred immortal that descended from heaven.

Flame started sweating bullets when he saw what happened next. It was when Shin turned his head toward his direction and slowly opened his eyes.

The pair of eyes that Shin had was nothing but a brilliant light. It illuminated everything in front of him as he looked at the supposedly strong mercenary.

There was also a spinning vortex situated at the center of his forehead. A vertical slit appeared on that spot before slowly opening and revealing a golden eye that resembled the sun.

Runes and strange patterns appeared on each side o that eye, forming a crown-like ornament on Shin's forehead.

And when this third eye revealed itself, a large amount of Mental Energy with high purity started to pour out from it followed by a heavy pressure that pressed on everything.

Urgh!

Flame almost kneeled on the ground when it happened. He used all of his strength to fight back and pushed his superpower to the limit without any hesitation. He completely understood his current situation, whatever was happening to Shin was definitely not good for him.

He had to do something to save himself! It was either to fight with everything he had and bet his life on the line or start running for his life.

Unfortunately, his legs refused to listen to him. At the same time, the heavy pressure that was coming from Shin was getting stronger with every passing second.

Gritting his teeth, he came up with a decisive choice. He would be sacrificing himself for the sake of success. This job that they took became much more difficult than what they originally expected, it was clearly not within the payment that was promised to them.

Killing this monster was impossible for just a few of them. They had to be on the level of their captain or the other guy that was pulling the strings in the dark to guarantee the success of this operation.

Unfortunately, they realized it a little too late. There was no point to regret it now, all they could do was to make sure that they would be able to save themselves and escape or die while doing the job just like any other mercenaries.

Steeling his resolve, Flame clasped his palms together while gathering all of his powers within his body. He would forcefully contain everything within his body before igniting it with his superpowers.

This would cause a massive explosion that would erase everything within a hundred-meter radius at the very least.

A Martial Artist trying to commit suicide and self-destruct his core could cause very serious damage, especially for someone of Flame's level. Even a Domain Realm expert would not dare to face such an explosion head-on.

This was Flame's trump card. He might die in the process but he would make sure that he would drag their target alongside him.

Crazy thoughts were running inside Flame's head as his entire life was flashing in front of his eyes.

He was ready for it and not scared in the slightest since he was already expecting that this was going to happen sooner or later. It was just a pity that he could not bid his farewell to his brothers-in-arms.

Too bad, fate had another plan for him.

What happened next crushed everything that he was thinking.

His thoughts suddenly came to an abrupt halt as he watched Shin slowly raise his right hand in an absentminded matter. It was as if someone was currently controlling Shin's body.

He then pointed his palm at Flame before doing a grabbing motion in the air. The mercenary felt that the surrounding air suddenly contracted as a huge, invisible hand grabbed him and crushed his body very slowly.

Crack! Crack!

Flame could even hear the breaking sounds of his bones as he was being crushed alive by the invisible hand.

The pain that he suffered from that was impossible to imagine.

He continued to stare blankly in the air as the light in his eyes slowly dissipated. The supposedly powerful explosion did not happen despite him losing control over his raging superpower.

It was suppressed within the invisible hand before turning into a small and glowing marble that was sucked by a strange eye at the center of Shin's forehead.

As for his opponent, Flame turned into ashes that scattered in the air and left nothing behind.

When everything was over, Shin went back to his usual state before falling to the ground with a soft thud.

Everything seemed to be an illusion as the surroundings turned quiet.

If not for the devastated place and the tattered clothes that Shin had, then it was hard to believe that a fight took place here due to the silence lingering in the air.

...…