Child of Destiny

Uno and Dylan stared at each other’s eyes for a couple of moments before the latter kicked the ground underneath him and lunged forward.

Swoosh!

Dylan’s speed was fast and managed to arrive in front of Uno in just a matter of seconds. He was also swinging his swords down strongly as if he was trying to split a boulder with it.

On the other hand, Uno maintained his relaxed stance despite the aggressiveness that his opponent had. But despite that being the case, his eyes never left Dylan to not miss a single movement.

The sword was about to fall to his head when he suddenly took a step back and leaned his body in the same direction, dodging the sword with a very small margin.

Dylan was surprised at those actions as he was not expecting someone his age was able to avoid his swift attack with ease. But he was able to swiftly adjust his stance and changed into a more comfortable position where he could quickly follow his attack with another.

He forcefully halted his swing and twisted his waist before redirecting the course of his sword upwards.

Those actions surprised Uno a little since he knew that it was such an advanced technique. He was a trained little agent of the mafia, so he at least knew a thing or two about these kinds of techniques.

But from his knowledge, only a very few numbers of individuals could do it at such a young age, especially when it was a technique that could put a lot of burden on one’s body.

But from what Uno could see, it seemed like Dylan was not having a hard time executing such a complicated technique.

”A Sword Genius, huh?” muttered Uno as he took a quick step to the side, barely avoiding the blade of his opponent’s sword once again.

This time, Dylan was really surprised at Uno’s precise timing and footwork. With just a simple step, Uno not only was able to dodge his attack but was also able to position behind him.

But at the same time, he was also quite impressed. Such smooth movements were pretty uncommon even for the people of his clan. Only adults and skilled young talents with a good sense of positioning could do such things.

Regardless, he was still able to change the trajectory of his swords by leaping forward while also spinning at the same time.

”Hoh~!” Uno was quite impressed at Dylan’s response and fast reaction.

Then he slightly raised his sword and used the surface of his sword to block and change the course of the incoming attack.

Clang!

”This kid is really good,” said Uno as if he was talking to someone.

”A Sword Genius, it is a rare talent. Do you want to give it a try? Maybe you will be able to beat me if you learn a thing or two from him,” he added with a smirking tone.

In the meantime, Dylan frowned his eyebrows deeply as he stared at his opponent with a weird look on his face. ’He has been muttering to the air since earlier. Is he crazy?’

’But he is really good!’ he added to his thoughts before charging forward once again right after his feet touched the ground. And at the same time, he was also thrusting his sword forward.

Swoosh!

During his charge, he suddenly heard Uno talking in the air once again. ”I will enjoy myself then.”

After that, Uno slightly leaned his body forward while also squatting his hips a little.

A moment later, Dylan’s eyes suddenly turned wide as Uno disappeared in front of him all of a sudden. And with it an instant, the latter reappeared in below him, ducking forward and swinging his sword with both of his swords.

Bang!

Then his body arched like a bow as he was sent flying by the powerful force behind Uno’s attack.

Bang!

Then he collided with a nearby tree and bounced from it before falling to the ground.

Cough! Cough!

He was coughing heavily and vomiting a mouthful of saliva as he supported his body with both of his hands. His breathing also became haggard as if his chest was being squeezed by something.

’What was that?’ he asked inside his head with wide-opened eyes.

Then he swiftly touched his waist, trying to see if he was injured. But surprisingly, he didn’t suffer any wound despite getting hit by the previous attack.

”He reversed blade? Did he use the back of his sword when he attacked me?” muttered Dylan with great difficulty.

”Huh? Is that all you’ve got? You are much weaker than what I have expected,” said Uno with a deep frown.

But quickly after that, he suddenly turned his head towards his sword before muttering to himself. ”Or did I just overdo it? Did I put that much strength on that attack?”

”As expected, I am still much stronger even compared to geniuses of my age,” he added which made Dylan flinch a little.

After a few moments, Dylan put everything he got to pick himself up from the ground before picking up his sword nearby.

He then stood up straight and looked up while trying to regulate his breathing as much as he could. And when he was done stabilizing himself, he took his stance once again.

The current look that he had was completely different. His eyes were focused and full of determination. The air surrounding him was also completely different compared to what he originally had earlier.

Seeing his actions, Uno started grinning from ear to ear before saying. ”Yeah, this is how it suppose to be. You are a lot better and more talented compared to the kids on the camp, so you should be able to last much longer than them.”

*******

”After that, I continued to fight Uno for the rest of my time in that island but didn’t even manage to graze his clothes until my father fetched me and left and the island,” said Dylan as he walked alongside Shin back to the place where the others were waiting.

”I may not be able to beat him but he at least told me his name as a form of acknowledging me as a worthy opponent,” he added as he was quite confused to himself why he was telling Shin about his past.

He didn’t know why he felt that it was fine to share such things with Shin. He felt as if they were close and knew each other for a very long time.

He brushed that thought at the back of his head and continued. ”Well, that is actually part of the reason why I choose to call myself Zero when I first played a virtual game.”

”He said that he is someone who will become second to none, so I want to be that ’none’ he is talking about and become better of him,” he added while smiling bitterly since he suddenly realized how childish he was when getting his in-game name.

In the meantime, Shin was currently in deep thought, confused, and couldn’t understand what was going on.

After hearing a part of Zero’s past, Shin was now sure that the ’Uno’ that Zero was talking about was actually him. But at the same time, he also felt that it was not him.

He had some missing part of his past, and he was suspecting that what he just heard from Zero was a part of the memory that he couldn’t remember.

Aside from this, there was also an odd part of Zero’s story that was bothering him. From what he just heard, it seemed like the ’Uno’ that he encountered on that island kept on mumbling to himself as if he was talking to someone.

’Someone who is talking to himself? Is it possible? Is it a dual personality? Or just my wild imagination?’ thought Shin to himself as his suspicion started to grow stronger.

’A lost memory, a dual personality, and being able to talk to the other-self,’ Shin muttered these things repeatedly inside his head as he felt that he was getting closer to unveiling something.

But right before he could grab what he was trying to reach, an intense pain suddenly assaulted his head as if it was being split apart.

Urgh!

The headache was getting worse the more the tried to think about his suspicion. And due to that, he couldn’t help but kneel on the ground while hugging his head, in an attempt to lessen the pain.

He also started getting a series of notices from the system, telling him that the headache he was feeling was not normal. It was urging him to log out of the game as soon as possible.

”D*mn it!” cursed Shin while enduring the pain.

In the meantime, Zero quickly supported Shin asked. ”Hey, what is wrong? It is a side effect of reaching the state of being one with the sword within the game.”

As a swordsman himself, he knew that what Shin achieved was such an unorthodox method of reaching that state. He was afraid that the foundation that Shin had built might suffer if something went wrong before he could stabilize it in the real world with his main body.

”You should log out of the game and synchronize your mind and body,” he said with a deep frown.

But Shin was quite stubborn and said. ”No, I am fine. And it is not about the side effects that you are worried about.”

After that, he stood back up while wearing a deep frown. ’Looks like there are a lot of things that I take a look at once I log out of the game.’

....