Child of Destiny

...…

"What!? What did you just say?"

Shin could not believe what he just heard and could not help but ask.

But before Uno could even answer his question, he suddenly added. "And why the heck do I have to lend you this body? You have never appeared before and you always say that you are too busy to do your thing whenever I want to talk to you!"

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" he repeated as he could not shake off the shock that he was currently feeling.

But Uno did not want to waste his time answering such useless questions and said. "Enough with the useless talk and just lend me this body. It will not take that long; five minutes is more than enough."

Shin was confused at first and hesitated for a moment. But he also could feel something strange within it. There seemed to be an unexplainable trust that he could put on Uno.

"Phew-…"

Sighing, Shin nodded his head and said. "Alright, do whatever you want. I am quite curious about what you can do and how you are going to handle this dude anyway."

He then paused for a moment as he remembered something. "But how are you going to take over? I am not sure what I have to do since I don't remember how to do it."

Uno sounded quite impatient, but he still explained. "It will be a little difficult if we are in the real world. But since this virtual world is very similar to the inner world of one's consciousness, this will not require that much effort."

"Just relax your mind and think as if you are going back to sleep. Just let the abyss take you and I will handle the rest."

Hearing that, Shin felt a little doubtful but still complied.

He then closed his eyes and blanked his head, erasing every thought inside his mind. He did not even need to wait that long before he felt himself being 'dragged' by something toward the depth of the abyss.

Shin felt his body become light before floating into nothingness. It did not take long before he realized that he was no longer in control of his body.

When he 'opened' his eyes, he found himself seeing everything that he usually saw. But this time, he felt rather strange since he could not move his body.

It was very uncomfortable at first. But as if he was already used to it, that uncomfortable feeling suddenly disappeared.

He then subconsciously thought to 'see' everything around him.

And as if responding to his thoughts, his 'point of view' suddenly changed. He seemed to be sent into the center of a special dome where everything around him reflected the outside world.

As if he was at the center of the virtual screen that surrounded him, he saw the clear reflection of the outside world.

Aside from that, he seemed to be seeing 'himself' from the third-person point of view.

Although he could not move away from that body and explore the surroundings freely like a spiritual lifeform, he still could see everything that his body was doing and what it was perceiving.

While he was trying to adjust himself, he suddenly heard Uno's voice inside his head.

"Stop being a loser and watch closely. This will be over before you know it."

Casting his gaze at 'himself' beside him, Shin slightly frowned his brows and became a 'spectator.'

…

Outside that imaginary space, Uno took over Shin's in-game avatar.

He rolled his shoulders and hopped up and down while shaking his body to loosen his joints and relax his muscles.

It took him a couple of minutes to adjust and get used to this body before pulling out the [Yamato] from its sheath.

He then let that sheath on his waist before activating one of the blessings of the sword, the blessing of the 'Dawn and Dusk.'

The [Yamato] was suddenly split into a pair of katana; one being black while the other being white.

Uno played with the swords, trying to familiarize himself with them. He swung and twirled them diagonally from left to right then back to the other side once again.

After a few more moments, he slightly nodded his head, seemingly fully satisfied.

He then paused his actions and turned to the air. He looked at Lucy, who had not made his move up until now and seemingly looking at him curiously.

The Fallen did not make any moves to bother him as if he was showing his 'patience.'

Uno looked straight to the eyes of Lucy and smirked. "Are you sure that you are going to wait for me to get used to this body?"

"Don't say that I don't warn you as I can guarantee that you will regret this later."

As if not liking the words that Uno had said, the mocking and arrogant look that he had earlier gradually disappeared.

Seeing that, Uno took that opportunity to give the opposing side a mocking smile, clearly provoking the Fallen.

Lucy seemed to have snapped and decided that he finally could not tolerate Uno anymore. He did not like 'meeting' someone who was more arrogant than him.

Along with him lifting his left index finger, the floating swords behind him suddenly rotated and immediately paused when the ceremonial sword was over his head.

He then lowered his index finger and pointed at Uno, who was still arrogantly standing below.

Swoosh!

In the next moment, a huge magic circle suddenly appeared in front of the ceremonial sword before it fired a huge torrent of water toward Uno.

Bang!

The speed of the water torrent was so fast that its head was already right in front of Uno within an instant.

It did not give him any window to respond, much less respond.

Uno was immediately swallowed by that water torrent. It might not have much damage, but the water pressure that it had was so strong that it could shred someone into pieces.

Lucy was arrogantly looking at the spot where the water torrent was pressing on. It was the spot where Uno was standing.

But in the very next moment, Lucy's pupils suddenly contracted as he suddenly sensed something.

Shing!

There was a flash of light at the center of that spot. It only lasted for an instant, but Lucy suddenly retreated when he saw it.

Bang!

Not long after, a shining cross appeared at the spot where the water torrent was pressing before exploding.

Swoosh!

The water torrent was also cut in halves by a shining light. That light continued moving forward until it reached the magic circle and cut it as well.

Under the rain produced by the earlier obliterated spell, Uno stood with full confidence while maintaining a pose from the earlier move.

He was holding the white sword with his left hand and pointing it toward the sky, indicating he just did an upward slash in that last attack.

"Tsk! Quite quick, huh? But that is fine since I am just testing things," mumbled Uno with a slanted head.

Swoosh!

He then disappeared from that position right after those words left his mouth.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

And right after he disappeared, a bunch of swords suddenly flew at that spot and stabbed the ground for completely missing him.

Lucy did not even care whether that attack landed or not as he was already retreating rapidly while contentiously waving his sword and sending a series of sword waves that flew forward.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Uno, on the other hand, was already on the chase. He dashed forward and left a series of afterimages behind along with the consecutive explosions from the sword waves that failed to hit him.

Boom! Boom!

He was holding the swords on each of his sides as they emitted a black and white aura that signified his usage of the 'Eclipse Wieling' to mimic the 'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship' from the real world.

This also signified that he was using the 'Reality Manifestation' right now.

With the black katana covered with the power of the Brilliant Sun and the white katana shrouded with the power of the Abyssal Moon, Uno charged forward leaving a long trail behind him.

He then twirled the swords and shaffled between left and right, making the trail of light that they left behind to intervene with each other and drawing abstract lines as he advanced.

There was a slight pause in his movements as the swords were raised on the side of his right shoulder.

Bang!

Then he suddenly stomped strongly on the ground, making his foot sink into it and sending gravel to fly.

Zong!

After that, he disappeared. He lunged himself forward while being followed by a sonic boom sound during the charge.

In that instance, he appeared right in front of Lucy as he swung the swords forward.

Roar! Roar!

As he swung them, apparitions of a ferocious white tiger and a savage black dragon manifested behind him with their wide open mouths before spinning and merging.

Then they fused with the pair of swords in his hands as he swung them down.

Swoosh!

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Apocalyptic Extinction'

On the receiving end of this attack, Lucy held his sword tightly as he infused his mana into it. The golden black flame enfolding the sword raged more aggressively and grew larger as he swung the sword diagonally to meet the incoming swords of his opponent.

Swoosh!

Boom!

A massive explosion erupted as both sides collided, sending strong waves in every direction. It even made the ground beneath them sink before spreading outward and forming a huge crater.

There was a brief pause in their position while their eyes met each other.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

After that, they separated from one another by pushing the other side before throwing themselves again forward right after their feet touched the ground.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Bang! Bang!

A series of intense exchanges immediately exploded as the two sides met.

Sword flashes suddenly flooded in and continuously clashed with one another, creating a scene that would be engraved in the minds of the people watching this battle.

And as if the speed of this already fast and intense exchange was not enough, the two picked up the pace and further increased it.

Realizing that the current 'Shin' was much stronger than he was facing earlier, Lucy suddenly called upon the floating swords behind and let them join the battle.

They rushed toward Uno and started bombarding him with coordinated attacks that came from every direction.

But despite seeing those attacks, Uno remained calm while maintaining his pace.

Instead of doing the same thing that Shin did earlier, where he was continuously moving to dodge the flying swords and constantly switching swords and styles to match their swordsmanship, Uno continued with the pair of katana in his hands and used a single technique.

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Sword Transmigration – Infinity Edge'

Swoosh! Swoosh!

His arms turned into blurs as he picked up the pace one more time. Then his surrounding was suddenly filled with intervening black and white sword flashes, blocking everything.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

He was able to ward off all the advances of the flying swords along with the attacks thrown by their owner.

None of them were able to approach Uno.

Not even a strand of his hair.

…

Watching this scene, Shin finally realized the missing piece that he was lacking.

As it turned out, even if his current battle style and swordsmanship seemed to be perfect for his current self, they were still not in complete unification.

There was nothing wrong with his Battle Genius talent, the Natural State that he had recently mastered, and the Mentalism Method and special breathing techniques that complimented it.

All of these were in perfect shape.

What he was lacking was a certain mastery of the swordsmanship itself.

He had mastered the quick draw and basic sword movements of the 'Jade Kirin Scripture' and even created a swordsmanship that would fit the perfected 'Four Symbol Scripture.'

He had even combined the two styles and created a whole new system and swordsmanship which he had named the 'Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship.' But he lacked the complete mastery over it.

Or to be more precise, his swordsmanship level did not match the level of this advanced style that he had created.

It was very much unlike Uno who had already reached the level of complete unification with the sword. It was the Unification stage of 'being one with the sword.' He was even better than Dylan who was just touching that state.

Compared to Uno, who had reached such a level, Shin's understanding of his swordsmanship and his level of mastery were far behind.

He was completely inferior when it came to this matter.

...…