Dragon Monarch System

’I was starting to enjoy this battle.’

’It’s a shame that I have to end this battle here.’ Ivan can tell that this opponent is reaching his end.

After countless years of being a Katana user, Ivan could tell that the young man before him had a special talent for the art of the blade.

’If only I had met him when I was alive.’ For a second, his eyes were full of regret. It was already too late. Unfortunately, he cannot pass his techniques and sword arts to him. It was simply not possible.

Aditya noticed his moves becoming a little unfocused for a second. He took advantage of that moment to deflect an attack that was aimed at his left chest and took a step forward.

Ivan snapped out of his daze, seeing this.

He wasn’t expecting Aditya to find an opening when he was lost in his thoughts.

He copied Ivan’s move.

It was a horizontal slash from the left.

In mid-way, the slash suddenly changed direction. The horizontal slash became a lightning-fast vertical slash. The unexpected change in the direction of attack was the core of this attack that Aditya learned from Ivan.

But Aditya had slightly modified his attack. It wasn’t entirely a copy of Ivan’s move.

In that moment, even the inventor of the move noticed this change.

’His execution timing is a little off.’ But watching the Katana coming at his throat, he changed his judgment.

’No, it was an intentional delay. He intentionally delayed the inverted L (⅃).’

’It’s already too late to completely dodge the attack.’ Aditya had found a moment that he fully exploited.

But Ivan wasn’t afraid.

’But....!!!’ Ivan raised the hilt of the sword in front of his throat to prevent it from being vertically cut in two.

Before the Katana touched the hilt of the Katana, at the last second, the katana once again changed direction. Aditya unnaturally twisted his right twist so that he could go for another change in direction.

The attack changed from a vertical strike to a horizontal attack.

This time, Ivan couldn’t avoid the attack in time.

Bang....!!!

An inch deep, 2 inches long, horizontally straight wound appeared on the left side of his throat. The attack hit on the muslce that protects the throat. Ivan had narrowly dodged the attack that could have ended the battle.

’Shit.....!!’ Aditya felt helpless. This was his golden opportunity to end the battle.

His right wrist hurt like hell.

He had twisted it so unnaturally that he wasn’t sure how he was still holding the handle of the Katana.

But at that moment, he was a man driven by his adrenaline.

He did not stop there.

Taking a step forward, he aimed for another similar attack as before. By this time, Ivan was well-prepared and knew that he was going to do the same move again. The only exception was that this time the move was coming from his right side.

It was a wide, horizontal right attack.

Ivan felt Aditya was going to use this move again by the intent behind his attack. His strike appeared to be slightly slow and lacked the precision and killing intent. It was clear that this was going to be a slingshot to perform the next phase of the attack even faster.

’Now....!!!’ Confidently, he prepared to defend against a vertical attack that would aim at his middle chest or throat.

But.....!

’You think you know everything....!!’

The horizontal attack did change direction, but it wasn’t the direction that Ivan was preparing to defend against. Instead of becoming a vertical upward attack, it became a diagonal downward attack heading from right to left.

”What?” This time, even Ivan was shocked.

Bang....!!!!

The Katana pierced deep into his left thigh. The blade reached his bone. Aditya’s Katana was stuck inside his left thigh.

Ivan endured the pain while biting his lower lip.

”You think this will stop me.” He roared while driving his Katana towards his chest.

Bang....!!!!

Ivan widened his eyes.

”What?”

He caught his Katana in between his left claws. The Katana got stuck between the claws. Using this chance, he grabbed the Katana. At the same time, he used his other claw to slash his face.

The attack left three deep diagonal scars across his face that covered his nose and both cheeks.

He tried to take Ivan’s Katana but failed because of his strong grip. But when Ivan tried to attack after recovering, he got sent flying with a powerful kick in the chest.

Bang...!!!

The kick left a few cracks on his ribs.

When Ivan got up, he noticed his limbs had changed. His limbs no longer looked human.

He took the shape of a humanoid Dragon.

”Crimson Dragon...!!” Ivan got up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His face was ruined.

Just one second of carelessness had changed everything.

Ivan was about to charge at Aditya when the 1000 Rune Talisman paper that was stuck to his chest exploded.

Just before the explosion, he noticed the paper bombs, but it was already too late. He cannot outrun the bright flash of light that came before the explosion.

Boooooooom.....!!!!

”When did this happen?” Just a few seconds later, the smoke began to clear.

Ivan almost looked unrecognisable. His outfit was torn apart. One explosion was not enough to do any physical harm, but 1000 together were more than enough to knock him down and buy him a few seconds that he needed.

But when Ivan saw Aditya, his eyes widened once again.

He looked surprised and shocked, both at the same time.

”But this is against the rules,” Ivan spoke out loud.

Aditya was behind something that looked like a cannon, but it was more slick and less bulky compared to traditional cannons that he was used to seeing when he was alive.

The Solar Cannon was almost charged to maximum to release a full, powerful blast.

”I don’t know what you are talking about!” Aditya said with a smile. But his smile appeared bloody. He too was exhausted from Ivan’s almost endless sword strikes.

”The rules stated that I cannot use any Innate and Passive skills, and I was forbidden from using any alchemy products from the storage ring.”

”But this is not an alchemy product.”

”This is the next generation of the solar Canon, developed to take on powerful beings like you.”

”This one takes less time to charge to full power compared to its previous generations.”

Ivan briefly looked at his left leg. Seeing the Yellow Katana, he realised this was all his plan the moment he gave his opponent an opening. When he was hit in the face, he used that very moment to place those explosive paper talismans on his chest.

Aditya could have tried to sever his leg, but he chose a different approach. He used an explosive paper talisman to buy himself more time to take out the solar cannon and give it enough time to charge it to its maximum power.

”I see!” Ivan closed his eyes as if he had accepted his defeat.

”I regret not meeting you when I was alive.” Hearing this, Aditya paused and did not shoot.

”I would have loved to teach someone as talented as you. You have a generational talent in swordsmanship.”

”When I was alive, I taught countless students, but none were good enough to learn everything that I had to offer. But if I had taught for a few years, it would’ve been more than enough.”

Hearing this, Aditya faintly smiled.

”This is not a battle of honour.”

”If I had kept fighting with just my weapon, then I would have lost.” Even with his innate skill that allowed him to instantly learn his opponent’s moves, Aditya felt he still would have lost this fight.

”I want to win.”

”I want to reach the final stage and challenge the ultimate Boss of this trial.”

He did not hesitate anymore.

Soon, a golden beam of light shot in a straight line from the cannon and engulfed Ivan.

Ivan closed his eyes before the golden beam hit him.

Boooooooooooom....!!!!!

The explosion destroyed almost 70% of the entire battlefield. Leaving a big crater in the position where Ivan once stood.

[Congratulations, you have cleared the 3rd Stage of the Trial.]

This time, Aditya clearly heard a voice from behind.

When he turned around, he saw a man with very long spiky hair. He had intimidating red eyes. He stood 6 feet tall and was wearing a red chest plate.

”You’re the administration of this place?” Aditya asked.

[Yes, Challenger.]

He smiled at Aditya and continued. [I did not expect someone to exploit the loophole in the rules like this.]

[That was very clever of you.]

Aditya neither shook his head nor said anything in return. He took several recovery potions and pills to get back to his best for the next stage that was going to be even more tougher.

----------------

Really Thank you very much to all those who send support with valuable golden tickets and gifts. I hope we can keep it up!!!