Child of Destiny

...

Shin watched Uno fight Lucy and those flying swords by relying on his swordsmanship alone. With no special skills or any kind of tricks under his sleeves, Uno just straight-up challenged the opposing side without any hint of hesitation and even carried overwhelming confidence.

Standing in front of Lucy and surrounded by the flying swords with their respective swordsmanship, Uno held his ground without losing a bit.

Shin watched Uno fight as a keen spectator. After watching for a while, he quickly understood what Uno was trying to show him. He also realized what he was missing for his current style, and even saw the gap between their swordsmanship.

"Unification? Tsk! His attainment in swordsmanship is already this high? This is the highest compared to all the people of the same generation that I know of," mumbled Shin as he watched Uno.

He was also at the stage of 'being one with the sword,' but he was only at the stage of 'Resonance,' the very first stage. Moreover, he was still in the middle of solidifying his understanding of it since it hadn't been that long since he had attained this stage.

From what he knew, Dylan, that genius swordsman in their class, was only touching the state of 'Unification.' Uno was clearly way ahead of them in this aspect.

Having that in mind, Shin focused his mind and started watching Uno closely, observing each of his moves with full attention.

...

On the other hand, Uno continued to exchange blows against Lucy while maintaining his stance.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

After a couple of exchanges, Lucy seemed to have realized that the current 'Shin' that he was fighting seemed to have turned into a completely different person. This was someone more aggressive and more decisive when taking action, who also had a much more solid foundation and more stable swordsmanship.

Realizing that this current opponent could pose more threat than the previous one, Lucy decisively made a decision.

Bang!

With a powerful strike, Lucy had broken through the cycle of exchanges that he had with Uno. He no longer wanted to get entangled in this exchange since it was clear that the opposing side was gaining more strength, the more they exchanged blows.

Each strike that Uno threw at Lucy and the flying swords was getting stronger as time went by. Every time Uno swung his sword, the power that it had always been much stronger than the previous ones and was still gradually getting stronger.

Lucy could roughly guess that Uno was absorbing the forces that each of his strikes and the power behind the attacks of his flying swords before returning it to them with the doubled value.

Lucy understood that if he kept this up and continued exchanging blows, he would be at a disadvantage sooner or later.

During his retreat, Lucy left his flying swords to continue suppressing Uno. He had to buy enough space and time for him to regain the upper hand.

Seeing that, Uno dropped his initial thought of gathering more momentum from these exchanges and ended everything with a single powerful strike.

He tightened his grip over the swords in his hands before releasing all the accumulated momentum that he had gathered from the previous exchanges with powerful circular swings.

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Sword Transmigration – Final Discharge'

Roar!

The air current produced by his swings seemed to have created a sound similar to the roar of a ferocious tiger. It reverberated in the entire place along with the sounds of the swords clashing against each other.

A vortex of wind was also created around Uno as it pushed the flying swords that were surrounding him.

Bang!

He then stomped on the ground with a strength that could leave a deep footprint before charging forward.

Swoosh!

He flew straight ahead and changed after Lucy, who was currently in a rapid retreat. But before he could even reach the other party, he saw that the flying swords that he just sent away flew back to their master and formed another rotating circle behind the Fallen.

After that, Uno saw that the swords rotated in a strange manner behind his opponent before stopping when the imposing greatsword floated above the latter's head.

He then saw that the greatsword was covered by a blinding light before growing in size which could rival the giants. The towering sword of light pierced through the white ceiling of the Trial Ground before descending with a momentum that seemed to be capable of annihilating the world.

Swoosh!

Uno frowned deeply before calculating inside his head. Based on his estimate, it seemed like the descending sword would crush him before he could even reach his opponent.

Fully understanding his current situation, Uno did not hesitate to halt his advance. He then took a stance with bent legs while holding his swords parallel to each other right beside his waist.

Bang!

Right after he bent his knees and adjusted his center of gravity, the ground seemed to have received a powerful impact and sank greatly.

From where his feet were located, spiderweb cracks spread everywhere.

Bang!

A moment later, Uno suddenly jumped toward the air, creating a strong shockwave. The ground shook and fragments of the broken floor flew in the air along with the dust that scattered.

Swoosh!

Sending himself straight to the descending sword of light, Uno suddenly swung the pair of swords in his hands as they were covered with a large amount of mana. The powers of the Brilliant Sun and Abyssal Moon intervene with one another and force harmony as they merge with the swords.

Shing!

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Blade Culling'

Roar! Roar!

The familiar white tiger and black dragon were released from the swords as Uno swung them in the air and sent a powerful sword wave to the descending sword of light.

The two beasts made of energy grew large as they flew toward the sky before merging and turning into a beam of light that pierced toward heaven.

Swoosh!

Boom!

The sword and beam of light clashed against each other and resulted in a huge explosion that shook the entire Trial Ground.

There was also a huge cloud of smoke due to the chaotic energy produced by the collision, which hid Uno in the air.

Swoosh!

But it did not take long for him to reveal himself once again as his figure pierced through a huge hole in that cloud and descended from the air with unstoppable speed.

During his descent, he held the swords on his hands over his head before swinging them down.

Shing!

The swords drew a pair of parallel lines in the air, one black while the other white, as they descended toward Lucy, who was still preparing for his next attack.

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Guillotine Slash'

Lucy did not even think twice as he swung his huge sword at Uno and countered the descending swords with a powerful strike.

Bang!

The impact was so strong that it destroyed the white floor of the Trial Ground once again as Lucy sent the force that he received from the attack toward it.

He then treated once again as the floating swords behind him rotated once again. They only stopped when the ceremonial sword and the whip sword were over his head.

The pair of swords broke from the rotation and floated on each side of Lucy while releasing a powerful surge of mana.

The ceremonial sword formed a crimson magic circle filled with a fiery aura. This magic circle was surrounded by blazing embers as it was instantly activated.

The magic circle summoned a large group of fireballs of different sizes before flying toward Uno in rapid succession.

On the other hand, the whip sword formed an oceanic magic circle that was releasing a dense water elemental mana.

The magic circle rotated a couple of times before countless tentacles made of water appeared from it one after another. With the whip sword taking charge, the water tentacles flew straight to Uno and assaulted him from every direction.

Everything happened a little too fast, not giving Uno the time to respond. His feet just touched the ground when the barrage of fireballs and the swarm of water tentacles almost reached him.

But despite being cornered by those spells, Uno remained calm as he swung the swords in his hands in a very steady manner.

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

A series of sword flashes and silhouettes filled the area around him, deflecting the fireballs and cutting the water tentacles.

While doing that, Uno advanced with steady steps as if the pressure of the attacks surrounding him were nothing but a breeze.

Lucy, naturally, was not idle either. He was already making his next him while suppressing Uno with the barrage of spells from the two magical swords on each of his sides.

Swinging his Zweihänder Sword, Lucy released a crescent sword filled with rolling golden flames forward.

Swoosh!

The sword wave covered a huge area while it burned everything in its path during its advance.

Uno took a deep breath as he sensed the incoming sword wave before channeling more mana on his sword.

As he moved his arms along with the swords, he gave off a feeling as if he was doing a series of casual movements.

His speed was neither fast nor slow, but his surroundings seemed to be unable to keep up with him. The flow of time seemed to have slowed down, matching his speed, as a series of overlapping afterimages followed through his movements.

Shing! Shing!

He then drew a cross (+) sign in front of him with those swords, a vertical slash with the black katana in his right hand and a horizontal slash with the white katana held by his left hand.

There was a complete silence in the surroundings when the cross was drawn followed by a blinding flash of light that exploded instantly and disappeared as if nothing had happened.

Time seemed to come to a sudden halt when the flash of light disappeared.

Then the world was suddenly dyed with a black-and-white color, turning everything into a monochrome world.

This lasted for a couple of moments from the people who were inside of the monochrome world. But it only lasted for an instant before the cross suddenly shone with another flash of blinding light and returned the world to its usual color.

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Final Movement – Sword of Reincarnation'

Swoosh!

When the world came back to its usual color, the fireballs and the water tentacles that were assaulting Uno were completely annihilated along with the magic circle created by the ceremonial and whip swords.

At the same time, the huge sword wave filled with rolling flames also exploded before slowly dissipating into the air in small embers.

Lucy, who was standing a few distances away from Uno, felt something and intended to retreat. But when he took a step back, a huge wound suddenly opened on his chest.

The wound resembled the cross that Uno had drawn earlier with his swords.

Splash!

No blood came out from that huge wound but a large amount of mana gushed out from it in the form of a golden smoke.

Lucy was completely caught off guard by the sudden turn of events and showed a rare expression of panic in his eyes.

Uno did not immediately make any move after that. He just calmly walked forward with steady and unhurried steps while staring at Lucy with a cold and icy gaze.

Recognizing the grave danger that he was in, Lucy quickly picked up his Zweihänder Sword and held it high, no longer planning to hold back.

The floating swords behind him also responded and quickly gathered, forming a strange formation.

They formed a circle with their tips joining together as the runic emblem behind Lucy floated behind them.

But before he could even complete his move, Uno's silent steps came to a sudden halt.

With that pause in his movements, the world seemed to have responded to his call and stopped moving once again.

Then Lucy, despite doing his best to move as fast as possible, could only watch himself unable to keep up with what was happening.

He saw Uno making his way toward him with the same unhurried steps, but his body seemed to have refused to respond to his call and became completely paralyzed.

All Lucy could do was watch Uno approach him like a ghost while slowly lifting the black sword and calmly striking it toward his neck.

Swoosh!

'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship: Final Movement – Blade of Transcendence'

A thin glowing light could be seen in the path that the sword had taken before passing through the neck of the Fallen as Uno brushed past his opponent.

Shing!

Standing behind Lucy, Shin found himself in control of his body once again while maintaining the final posture that Uno had.

He was still in the middle of processing what just happened when Uno's voice rang inside his head. "You have to hurry as we don't have much time left."

"If you continue with this pace, then neither of us will be left behind sooner or later."

Shin felt a sudden chill in his heart when he heard the fading voice inside his head.

...…