Child of Destiny

Shin felt troubled about the current situation where he was unable to do anything against Cecil.

If it were about her lack of presence, then Shin could still find ways to find her. However, her ability to hide her killing intent perfectly, even when she was attacking him, was the real problem.

Surviving a single ambush from her was already troublesome enough, much less an entire hour of it.

Shin fell into deep thought whenever Cecil paused her assault to give him time to think. Unfortunately, it was not helpful enough since he was unable to find any answers just by contemplating it.

Knowing that it was useless to contemplate it in silence, Shin decided to take the initiative to attack instead.

Swoosh!

Charging forward, Shin transformed into a streak of light, flying straight to his opponent. He activated one of his available movement skills from Slayer Class, the ‘Moonlight Step’, to change the tempo a little.

Swoosh!

Right at the same time, he unsheathed the [Yamato] during the process and swung it forward, executing one of his combat techniques.

Shing!

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Final’

Swoosh!

Seeing the incoming attack, Cecil just gave Shin a mocking smile before turning into black smoke once again, right when the latter’s sword was about to pierce through her body.

Poof!

Shin briefly paused to swiftly sheath the sword before immediately unsheathing it once again and quickly swinging the sword around, creating bright flashes in the air that intertwined with one another and formed a dome around him.

Shing!

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Firmament’

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The dome of sword flash did not hit anything, but Cecil had not thrown any kind of ambush either.

It was still not clear whether it was on purpose or because of Shin’s action, but he at least survived a second longer than in the earlier exchanges.

Right after, he swiftly retreated, using another charge of the ‘Moonlight Step’ skill to turn his body translucent and untouchable once again.

Swoosh!

During his retreat, he was keeping a sharp eye on his surroundings, trying to find any signs of his opponent with the best of his abilities.

Unfortunately, he was still unable to find her despite doing his best.

He was unable to find her, so attacking randomly like this would not yield any results either. The opposing party would only mock him further after seeing him make a fool of himself.

“Tsk!” he could only click his tongue when he saw this, but still did not give up that easily.

He believed that so long as he continued to persevere, the answer that he was looking for would reveal itself.

*Ding*

The familiar notification sound rang in his eyes, indicating that he ‘died’ once again without putting up a fight.

Swoosh!

Cecil, as usual, reappeared before Shin once again. She was about to tease him for another time when Shin made his move once again.

Swoosh!

He dashed forward with the third charge of the ‘Moonlight Step’ skill once again, appearing right before her in an instant.

Click!

He then swiftly unsheathed the sword as fast as he could, throwing a horizontal slash at her.

Shing!

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Horizon’

Despite the sudden ‘ambush’, Cecil swiftly responded, taking a step back to avoid the incoming sword with its tip passing through right before her face.

Shin did not stop and forcefully halted the course of the sword right before swiftly slashing at her with all his might.

Swoosh!

This attack might not be a combat technique and only looked like a regular strike on the surface. But the truth was, it was executed along with multiple sword principles that centered around Domineering Sword.

This put heavy pressure on Cecil, attempting to suppress her. This pressure might not be that much effective against her, but it could at least buy Shin a second or two to clearly observe her movements through his True Sight Ocular Skill.

Seemingly understanding his intention, Cecil smirked at him while stopping her leaning motion and raised her dagger instead to skillfully redirect the course of the incoming strike.

Clang!

Right after, she suddenly turned her back at Shin before throwing a back kick right at his abdomen.

Swoosh!

In response, Shin swiftly raised the sheath of his sword to block while keeping his eyes on her. His eyes were sharply reading the flow of mana in the atmosphere, refusing to miss even the tiniest detail.

‘Come on, use that strange ability of yours,’ he mumbled to himself while continuing his attack.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

His body turned into a series of blurs, signifying that he just used his ‘Phantom Shroud’ while attacking her.

By doing a series of stationary swaps with the stack of phantoms within his body, the movement of his sword diverged multiple times and even teleported to different directions, attacking Cecil from different angles.

‘Phantom Series: Killing Move – Specter Slash’

This was another application of his ‘Phantom Shroud’, which was meant for offense rather than its original purpose, which was for defense and evasion.

“You’ve got some fancy moves, huh?” commented Cecil after seeing the series of slashes coming her way.

She could read what Shin was thinking, planning to force her to use her earlier technique. Unfortunately, she had no intention of being exposed that easily.

She already knew that those eyes that Shin had were special, which could also see through all kinds of illusions and such.

Even though she was quite confident that Shin would not be able to see through her technique that easily, she did not want to take that risk.

After all, all of them, the floor administrators, collectively acknowledged his abilities.

If she repeatedly used that technique of hers, then there was a high chance that Shin would be able to see through its secrets.

She had yet to serve the true purpose of this trial, which was to teach Shin what he truly needed to learn right now.

They were within the Tower of Inheritance, after all, and were bound by its rules.

It was designed to guide its disciples toward the path that they had set right after entering the tower, which was why a specific individual was tasked to be the guide for each floor.

The floor administrators changed depending on the inheritance path that the trialist and challengers had chosen.

Shin had chosen the inheritance path of the Phantom Swordsman, which was why Doran, Cecil, and others with similar skills and abilities were chosen to be the administrators.

After all, their classes and races shared quite a resemblance to the inheritance path of the Phantom King.

They had a specific assignment when helping Shin improve through this path.

They could not give Shin more than what they were supposed to, unless he had surpassed the benchmark set by the tower, which was also the signal to give him extra rewards.

However, such rewards were only meant for the true disciples of the tower, which required Shin to reach the apprentice rank as a trialist or a challenger.

He was still quite far from reaching that rank, which was why they could only help him discover more of the potential of the inheritance path that he had chosen.

…

Swoosh!

Watching the incoming strikes, Cecil suddenly paused her movements before suddenly swinging her dagger multiple times, deflecting each time the sword came at her.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Quite a fancy sword you have there for possessing the mystery of mirage,” she commented before retreating a little.

“Mystery of mirage?” mumbled Shin when she heard her words. “Is she talking about the Mirage Sword Principle?”

Regardless of those thoughts, Shin continued to press on Cecil, not letting her go. He knew that he had to put more pressure on her if he wanted to know the secret of her mysterious technique.

Unfortunately, Cecil seemed to have no intention of using them now and wanted to accompany Shin with these exchanges.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two continued to exchange moves, where Shin repeatedly used all the tricks and techniques that he had learned and polished from the previous floors, particularly the one from the trial that Doran had given him.

He was also putting the other things that he had picked from the previous trial into practice, further applying them in battle.

He mainly used all the techniques under the ‘Phantom Series’, increasing their variations and confirming a lot of the other theories that he could not get from the earlier trial.

“I must admit that this kid is extremely talented. No wonder he has gained the acknowledgement from those two legendary figures,” Cecil could not help but acknowledge the talent that Shin was showing.

“Doran taught him how to properly use those feet and adjust the overall coordination of his body,” she mumbled while watching Shin’s movements before sighing. “He has sharp senses and quick reflexes, but they are not being utilized to their fullest potential.”

“His application of these ‘weapons’ is quite good, but they are too crude for what he is truly capable of,” she commented silently before adding. “Let’s push him a bit further then.”

Swoosh!

Right after, she disappeared from Shin’s overall perception once again despite him locking her eyes on her.

*Ding*

Right after, the familiar notification about his ‘death’ rang once again.

……