Child of Destiny

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Boom!

Shin and Leviathan could not help but pause their battle when they heard that thunderous explosion. The two of them turned at the source and saw the giant pillar of lightning that struck down from the sky, covering a large area.

Fortunately, the two of them were quite far from the explosion, saving themselves from the magic spell that Alice cast.

Through his True Sight Skill, Shin was able to see through the veil of lightning that was supposedly blocking his line of vision and saw Alice floating in the air while three elemental dragons were dancing around her.

She was staring up front with a deep frown as she could see that her opponent seemed to be completely unscratched from the earlier spell.

Following her gaze, Shin saw Belphegor calmly standing in the middle of the raging lightning storm that was bombarding his spot without any damage. He was completely unbothered by the chaos and destruction around him.

"Tsk! She sure is having a fun (hard) time there, huh?" mumbled Shin before turning his attention back to Leviathan.

He had his problem to deal with, so he did not have the time to concern himself with the others.

Meanwhile, Leviathan was slightly knitting his brows when he saw Belphegor go straight using his Demonic Transformation. This newcomer in the troupe might look like someone filled with laziness and did not want to do anything but sleep. He even heard from their leader that the laziness in the bones of Belphegor was so 'dense' that he entered the game for the sake of prolonging his sleeping time.

The time ratio between the real world and inside the game was 1:3, which meant a single hour in the real world was equivalent to three hours within the game.

Belphegor joined the game just to sleep a whole day inside the game while spending only eight hours in the real world. It even went as crazy as sleeping two and a half days straight, making it twenty hours outside.

Leviathan thought it was just pure laziness, but he later learned it was some sort of unique talent or special physique.

People with this kind of talent or physique could cultivate their bodies as if they were training regularly, though the methods were different.

Inside their realm of consciousness, they could also train through their dreams. They could choose any opponent they had already fought or had seen multiple times and fought them in the dream world.

This kind of talent sounded crazy, and most of the people who possessed it were terrifying individuals when they got active when fighting. They would unleash all the powers and experiences they had accumulated within their dream world for who knew how long.

After all, the time difference between reality and the sea of consciousness was vastly different.

With the unique properties of this talent, people who owned it were mostly Mentalists. But there were still a couple of Martial Artists who happened to possess the same talent.

Leviathan was surprised when he saw that Belphegor used his Demonic Transformation during the battle because it signified that Alice was strong enough to push the latter to take this battle a little seriously.

This could only mean that his opponent was worthy enough to arouse the sleeping power within him.

Regardless, Leviathan was expecting that Alice would be having a much harder time in this battle now that Belphegor had unleashed the 'slumbering demon' within him.

Speaking of a 'demon', Leviathan suddenly sensed a familiar presence coming from a certain direction.

It was not the Demonic Powers that Demonic Players like him possessed, but a slightly different 'thing' with an odd similarity.

Rather than the power of a demon, he was getting the presence of a demon itself.

"What the!?" Leviathan quickly turned his gaze toward the direction where it was coming from and saw a lone figure standing in the middle of the formation of his Ice Golems.

Leviathan saw Shin taking up his signature sword-drawing stance – slightly crouching and leaning forward while holding a sheath with his left hand and placing his other hand on the hilt of his sword – while regulating his breathing.

There seemed to be a steam coming out from his mouth as he breathed.

Leviathan suddenly got a bad premonition when he saw this scene, especially when he could vaguely see an illusionary silhouette of a 'demonic figure' behind Shin.

That was only his limited vision as he was standing a little closer to where Shin was located. But if his field of vision moved back a bit and covered a slightly larger area, then he would see the five divine beasts revolving around him, which were the spiritual manifestations of his Mentalism, Swordsmanship, and other insights.

They were his Quasi-Battle Spirit, which was about to reach their perfection.

At the same time, the energies surrounding him were already coming closer to what he had in the real world. They were starting to resemble the properties of his Mental Energy.

It was because of his newly acquired Demonic Telekinesis. Along with the current powers that he already had, what he possessed inside the game was not that far from his real Mentalism Prowess.

Hu~!

As he breathed out slowly, Shin sensed the movements of the ice golems that were charging at him in a perfectly synchronized attack.

He spread his senses which was supported by the Sensing Circle and Demonic Telekinesis Skill, forming an invisible, dome-like territory skill. Within it, everything was under his control, and nothing could escape his senses.

While he locked his senses on every movement of the ice golems, he focused on the joints and other vital parts that these elemental creatures had.

Seeing that Shin was preparing something, the bad premonition that Leviathan was having was getting worse with every passing second. It was as if an impending doom was about to arrive.

He knew that he could not let Shin continue with what he was doing as it would be a terrible disaster for him – or even for their organization.

Leviathan felt that Shin was in the middle of breaking through something.

Not waiting for it any longer, Leviathan quickly waved his hands and controlled all the ice golems. His fingers danced as they manipulated the movements of the ice golems on a micro level.

At the same time, he was also preparing to detonate his Ice Curse imbued within every part of the golems if something went wrong.

Some of the ice golems paused in their tracks as they simultaneously opened their mouths, releasing a thick chilly mist that froze everything that they touched. The rest, on the other hand, continued to move forward while throwing their fists at Shin.

Shin's eyes were closed the entire time as he was focusing on feeling his surroundings. When he opened them once again, a brilliant glow suddenly shone from his eyes that briefly illuminated the surroundings.

After observing the perfect teamwork of these golems that seemingly have a single soul within different bodies, Shin seemed to have gotten a sudden insight.

Then, when he glanced at Alice and saw the current state that she was in, particularly her version of special combat state, that insight suddenly became a complete enlightenment.

Click!

When the subtle sound of the sword guard separated from the sheath reverberated in the air, Leviathan saw a series of sword flashes that were intertwining with each other, forming a crisscrossing net that warded off the frozen fists of the ice golem.

Shing!

'Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – (Lightning) Flash Firmament'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

It was one of the skills that Shin kept on using recently, but it carried a different sense this time. The sword principles, the elemental enchantments, and the breathing techniques seemed to have merged into one combusting the moment the sword slashed through the air.

As Shin swung the sword around, he copied the way Alice controlled the elemental particles in the air by utilizing his Demonic Telekinesis, absorbing them toward his sword before quickly releasing them right after along with one of his sword movements.

'Jade Kirin Scripture: Sixth Movement (Lightning) – Sword Gale'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

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Sword crescents flew in every direction, cutting through the bodies of the golems while also targeting their joints.

The momentum of these word waves might have weakened after cutting through the ice golems, but they did not stop and continued to move through the icy mist released by the golems and parted them.

Not long after, the icy mist was completely cleared, giving Shin a clear path toward his opponent as the cut bodies of the golems fell on the ground one after another.

Despite the positive result, Shin was still frowning deeply as he was not satisfied yet. "Too slow and a little lacking in power."

It might be ambitious of him to match the destructive power of a large-scale spell with these sword skills, but he felt that it was not far-fetched as long as he accumulated enough mana to support them.

Twirling the sword and putting it back to its sheath, Shin then focused on activating his Sword Heart along with his Battle Physique.

He then combined the sword principles with the Sword Heart to increase the might of his sword and enhance his sword skills, contained the elemental mana that he absorbed from the surroundings within his Battle Physique, then kept everything under control with the help of Elemental Unification and Demonic Telekinesis.

Boom!

Crackle! Crackle!

The Primordial Lighting that he was controlling along with the 'Chaos Slasher Possession' exploded and became violent, filling the area around him within the ten-meter radius with black-and-white lightning.

Shin could not explain what he was currently feeling in this state, but it was very amazing. He felt that he could do anything in this state.

But in exchange, he could also feel that his concentration was rapidly crumbling due to the difficulty of keeping it. He was even slowly getting kicked out of his 'Reality Manifestation'.

This was just one Elemental Powers – then what if he used the other elements and mixed them just like what Alice had done?

Alice's control over the elements was much better than his, so he did not dare to mimic her method. Moreover, there was another technique in the mix, but that was her secret so he could not ask for it later.

Aside from this, it was also one of the advantages of her class and race, especially since both were on the Transcendent Level. It was obvious that he would not be able to copy her method even if he asked.

He could only rely on himself and figure out a way to achieve similar results. That was where all his tools came into play. So long he was able to utilize everything the right way, he would be able to create something similar, but also different at the same time.

Since he was having a hard time, Shin quickly used his 'Natural State' to keep everything under control.

'Natural State: Perfect Zenith'

Right after Shin entered this state, Leviathan instantly realized that this was going to be a huge problem. He was a little familiar with a couple of the battles that Shin had, particularly those most recent ones, so he knew that this was one of his trump cards.

Without any hesitation, he quickly activated the ice curse imbued in the bodies of his golems and detonated them all at the same time.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Since Shin was in the middle of the battle formation of these Ice Golems, he was immediately thrown at the center of the explosions.

But under his skillful control, along with his Demonic Telekinesis, a spherical barrier made of lightning elements was immediately formed.

It was yet another version of his 'Eclipse Pulse' defensive skill, which was also further enhanced by the Demonic Telekinesis.

Amid the chaotic explosions, Shin walked calmly until reaching a few meters away from Leviathan.

The moment when he raised his head and looked up, he saw that his current opponent had undergone some transformation.

Leviathan's entire left arm was covered with ice which had scale-like a pattern. He was also donning a set of ice amor that formed an extra layer on his equipment.

The color of his eyes also changed into deep green while a slender demonic horn was sticking out from the center of his forehead and slightly curving upward.

He was currently in his perfect demonic transformation. Knowing that he could not let Shin take advantage in this battle, he had to go all-out as well.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Then a huge group of Ice Golems and Frost Puppets appeared around him one after another, forming a flawless and domineering battle formation.

Looking at them, Shin could not help but lick his lips under his mask. "This is just perfect."

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