The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 375: Chapter 370 — Battle

”Let the fight begin!”

The ground beneath Possum shattered as he launched forward, erasing the distance between them and leaving a trail of hot steam in his wake. His arm vibrated so violently that steam curled around it as his fist whipped towards Zephyrion’s head.

’Fast.’

Faster than Arcturus. But Zephyrion’s eyes could still follow him.

’Good. Let’s see how strong.’

Zephyrion deepened his stance and drove his fist forward to meet the attack.

An explosion of sound and dust blasted outward upon impact, breaking the ground beneath them and sending a violent shockwave through the arena. The runes covering the walls and ceiling immediately blazed to life, absorbing the worst of the force.

Several soldiers and apprentices shot to their feet, staring into the cloud of dust with wide eyes. Only the commander’s expression was different, his earlier grin fading slightly as his eyes narrowed.

To everyone else, Zephyrion’s decision to clash head-on was about as foolish as it got. Who the hell willingly matched strength with someone an entire mark above them!?

They’d expected some battle of attrition, with Zephyrion dodging and evading for as long as he could before eventually being overwhelmed. Instead, the guy had met Possum’s first attack head-on, and from the sheer force of the collision, the battle had probably ended before it had even truly begun.

Then the commander’s booming laughter echoed through the silence.

”Haha... incredible. Absolutely incredible!

The commander was staring at the arena with a wide grin, while the generals around him had gone pale. The spectators frowned at their strange reactions and slowly turned back towards the arena, only for their expressions to crumble as well.

”What!?”

The dust had settled, revealing Zephyrion standing exactly where he’d been, completely unharmed. Across from him, Possum clutched his trembling right arm, the metal gauntlet around it completely shattered and the battered flesh beneath already dripping with blood.

’As expected. I’m stronger.’

Zephyrion slowly nodded, feeling the power brimming within his body. He hadn’t even activated a single rune art, yet he’d still managed to overpower Possum despite the difference in their marks.

Clenching and unclenching his fist, he turned his attention back to Possum, whose earlier confidence had completely vanished. His face was twisted in disbelief, and for the first time, there was genuine caution in his eyes.

”H-how...” Possum swallowed. ”How the hell did you overpower me?”

A mark two overpowering a mark three... it shouldn’t have been possible. Yet Zephyrion merely cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, his eyes never leaving Possum as silence settled over the arena.

Then... there was only empty air where Zephyrion had stood.

Possum’s eyes widened in alarm, but he barely had time to shift before Zephyrion’s fist smashed into his face. His feet left the ground as he careened backward, shooting across the arena before slamming into the far wall. The runes blazed fiercely upon impact, absorbing most of the force, yet the entire underground space still trembled from the collision.

Possum crashed back to the ground, and Zephyrion calmly approached as the man brought a trembling hand to his face, staring at the blood coating his fingers with growing disbelief.

”You...” Possum slowly raised his head. ”No. There’s no fucking way. There’s no way you’re stronger than me...”

The moment their eyes met, Zephyrion saw that the caution from earlier had disappeared, replaced by the furious gaze of a wounded beast.

”Overdrive.”

An eruption of steam burst from Possum’s body, sweeping past Zephyrion and surging through the rest of the arena. His entire body began to tremble violently as he rose, veins throbbing beneath his skin, eyes turning bloodshot while his muscles bulged as though threatening to tear through skin.

”I’ll show you...” Possum growled as he lowered himself into a stance. ”I’ll fucking show you which one of us is stronger.”

For a moment, silence filled the space. Then, both apprentices moved.

Their fist met in the middle, sending cracks racing across the arena and chunks of debris blasting upwards. Zephyrion felt Possum’s vibration surge through his fist and into his body, threatening to tear through his insides, but his entire body might as well have been unbreakable steel. He deepened his stance, dispersing the force harmlessly around him. Instead...

Crack!

Possum’s metal gauntlet shattered in a spray of shrapnel. His eyes trembled at the sight, but he merely gritted his teeth as another gauntlet formed around his battered fist, then drove it forward once more.

Zephyrion did the same, meeting him head-on.

The second clash was even more violent, a tsunami of force surging in every direction. The protection runes flared even brighter just to contain the shock, while the spectators hastily conjured barriers to avoid being hurled from their seats. Still, Possum’s gauntlet shattered again, spraying blood from the injured arm.

Gritting his teeth, he formed another and drove his fist forward again.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Their fists met in a flurry of devastating blows, breaking apart the ground and driving both apprentices deeper into the growing crater.

Possum’s gauntlets shattered with every collision, scattering metal and crimson blood through the air, yet each time, he simply formed another and punched again.

However, by the tenth blow, where both his arms had been reduced to battered messes, finally, Possum gnashed his teeth, pulled back, and slammed both hands into the ground.

”Seismic Rupture.”

Zephyrion narrowed his eyes as a violent tremor raced through the ground. Then the entire area erupted, chunks of shattered earth and metal blasting upwards in a violent surge that swallowed his surroundings and obscured most of his vision.

’A distraction,’ Zephyrion calmly thought, his ears perking at the sudden shout.

”Metal Aura!”

A deep thrum immediately filled the arena, making it difficult to pinpoint where the sound had come from. More importantly, Possum’s presence seemed to spread along with the vibrations, bleeding into the entire space until Zephyrion could no longer tell exactly where he was.

’So he’s given up trying to overpower me. Now he’s just trying to win.’

Possum was clearly taking the fight seriously now, even going as far as using his vibrations to mask his presence and set up an ambush.

’Useless.’

Zephyrion shut his eyes for a moment, then invoked:

’Thousandpulse.’

An invisible force rippled outward, illuminating the space to his senses like light piercing through darkness. All around him, the world thrummed as though constantly being struck by a massive drum, every vibration distinct and clear.

A moment of peace passed, then, he felt a violent shift from behind and whirled around.

The mass of debris blocking his view suddenly exploded apart, revealing Possum’s fist shooting towards him.

Possum’s eyes widened the instant they met his, but Zephyrion didn’t waste any time.

”Metal Aura.”

His metal aura erupted as he punched out, clashing with Possum’s in a violent surge.

’Hm?’

A frown immediately marred Zephyrion’s face.

’So that’s the difference...’

His physical strength had been enough to easily overwhelm Possum without using a single rune art, but his metal aura was different. Its strength depended on how advanced one’s connection with WorldPulse was, and with Zephyrion still an entire mark below Possum, the difference was immediately apparent.

Given how vast the gaps between Herald marks were, the fact that his metal aura could withstand Possum’s at all was already insane, but completely overwhelming it was clearly asking for too much.

Possum gritted his teeth at the failed ambush and immediately pulled back, disappearing into the swirling debris. A moment later, his presence vanished once more, leaving only the endless thrum of vibrations filling the arena.

”I don’t know what the hell you did to your body, but you’re physically stronger than me.” Possum’s voice emerged coldly from somewhere within the debris. ”Your metal aura, though? That’s still mark two.”

Zephyrion calmly swept his gaze across the arena, but Possum had once again buried his presence within the endless vibrations. Worse still, those same vibrations kept the debris suspended and constantly shifting around him, giving Possum plenty of cover to move through.

”The way I see it, I only need one weakness.” Possum’s voice carried a hint of his earlier confidence now. ”I told you, didn’t I? I’m going to make you swallow every damn word.”

Possum suddenly burst through the debris from behind, his metal aura blazing violently as his fist shot towards the back of Zephyrion’s head.

”Next time, think before you run your mouth.”

Whoosh!

The attack whizzed through empty air as Zephyrion vanished. Possum’s eyes tore wide open, but before he could even react, Zephyrion had already appeared directly before him. The pupils of his eyes gone, replaced entirely by white.

”Metal Dance: Momentum.”

Possum barely had time to blink before Zephyrion’s bare fist collided with his own, slamming against the metal aura surrounding it in a violent explosion. His expression twisted in pain as his entire arm was blasted backward.

”Fuck...”

Possum shifted, about to retreat again, but Zephyrion’s next fist was already driving towards his chest.

Panic flashed across Possum’s face as he crossed both arms before him, condensing his metal aura around them to meet the attack head-on, but this blow carried even more force than the last.

The fist tore through his metal aura, and a deafening crack echoed as both arms broke beneath the impact before the remaining force slammed into his chest, caving it inward. Blood and spittle burst from Possum’s mouth as his body careened backward.

Before he could get far, another blow came from below, snapping his open mouth shut and sending pieces of broken teeth flying. Then came another, and another, each strike more violent than the last, the sheer speed and force of the barrage keeping Possum suspended in the air as his body was hammered relentlessly.

Eventually, seeing the light beginning to fade from his eyes, Zephyrion stopped.

Possum crashed to the ground like a lifeless corpse, barely managing to raise his head as blood slowly pooled beneath him.

Crash. Crash. Crash.

The deep thrumming that had filled the arena was gone, and one after another, the chunks of debris suspended in the air began crashing back to the ground. Aside from that, Zephyrion couldn’t hear anything else.

The entire underground space had gone deathly silent.

As the trance slowly tapered off and his eyes returned to normal, Zephyrion lifted his head, only to find the entire bastion staring at him with wide, stunned eyes.