Chapter 20: Didn

Complicated thoughts flashed through his mind in less than half a second,

On the field,

Su Ya and Xiu Gusu locked gazes, confronting each other,

Both could see murderous intent in each other's eyes!

Seeing Su Ya's expression that I must kill you immediately,

Xiu Gusu silently adjusted his stance, his toe tips scraping the ground, the toes hidden in his boots oddly flicking to the other side, pulling against the opposite direction of his sole.

He stared coldly at Su Ya, silently counting numbers, treating the impossible event of Su Ya activating a Noble Phantasm as fact, ready at any moment to dodge the strike, and during this he calculated the time Su Ya needed to trigger the Noble Phantasm, the interval, and the speed increase after activation.

A rein-shaped Noble Phantasm is mostly of the cavalry type, characterized by boosting the mount's speed and impact force,

Although Su Ya seemed to comically strap the rein onto himself,

it cannot be denied that this is also a method of use.

At this moment,

"Inhale—"

Su Ya took a deep breath,

feeling the rein tied around his neck forcibly pulling out an indescribable thing from his body, then injecting a peculiar scorching warm current into him,

this warm current was like boiling water poured into his belly on a scorching summer day,

his skin heated up, his intestines twisted in pain, the places the warm current swept over felt as if cut open with a knife, producing phantom pain from inside out.

This is magic.

Su Ya's complexion turned rapidly crimson to the naked eye, dense blood vessels tangled in his eyes quickly spreading across the whites,

Next instant—

this power surged to its peak!

"Hiss!" Su Ya spat a white vapor from his teeth and at that moment jerked his head up,

taking a huge stride forward, his foot crushing the ground and raising a ring of dust!

"Noble Phantasm—"

Xiu Gusu's face hardened, his brows knit, his gaze fixed on Su Ya, his palm tightly gripping a dagger,

"Is it coming!"

"Eduardo's—"

Almost unable to suppress the suddenly surging violent power within, Su Ya's shoulder twitched oddly, half of his body numbed to the point of losing sensation under the magic's impact,

he could only clench his teeth, strain to lift his head with all his might, his gaze wavering around Xiu Gusu, laboriously aiming in one direction,

With a footstep crushing, he roared at full force:

"Charge!!!"

An air wave materialized out of nowhere, instantly surrounding Su Ya, forming a shuttle-shaped white light cone,

Next instant—

Boom!!!

The sonic blast erupted from the ground!

Xiu Gusu's eyes widened abruptly, looking in disbelief at the white light beam charging toward him!

He finally understood what a Noble Phantasm is!

Even the most trashy Noble Phantasm, even one weaker than a Grade D Noble Phantasm, is not something a human of his caliber can withstand!

This speed, this speed

He could hardly dodge completely; even at full-speed evasion, at least one arm would be forcibly smashed.

But, but—

Xiu Gusu gritted his teeth sharply, without hesitation sacrificing his left arm, his whole body spinning at a speed beyond human perception!

The next moment,

a massive air wave slammed into his face!

The white light beam zipped from three meters away from Xiu Gusu's body in an instant!

After dashing nearly 400 meters horizontally in one second, it suddenly turned, drawing a huge V shape within Xiu Gusu's sight!

Xiu Gusu turned his head in a startled daze and saw—

the light cone formed by the air wave vanished,

the unstoppable Su Ya was flung outward by massive inertia.

And the landing spot—

was precisely the hybrid sword that Xiu Gusu had hooked and thrown!

Su Ya, enduring the aching soreness throughout his body, regained control, performed a forward roll in midair to land, his palm unimpeded touching the hilt of his own sword,

Draw the sword!

"Mei Li!" Su Ya shouted, disregarding the pain all over his body, pulling the rein on his neck with renewed force!

Next instant,

"Second restraint, release!"

"This battle is to fight those stronger than oneself"

Mei Li raised her palm without hesitation, spreading her five fingers toward Su Ya, the blue gem mounted on the goose-neck faintly glowing,

"Acknowledge—Mei Li!"

The cool voice fell,

Two restraint-release commands and the Noble Phantasm forcibly extracting life force to convert into magic simultaneously roared wildly within Su Ya's body!

Under the triple enhancement, a line of subtitles suddenly appeared before Su Ya's eyes:

【Panel Update】

【Strength: F, Agility: F-, Endurance: F-, Magic: F, Treasure Tool: C】

【Magic Crest (Activated): Third Magic·Spirit Summoning.】

【Employment conditions met; after employment, the number of Legendary Path entries will increase.】

I bet you'll win!

Before Su Ya could ask Mei Li why this enhancement was so effective,

Mei Li, having said that, collapsed straight down, and the six petals surrounding her also fell to the ground.

Su Ya pushed himself up from the ground using his sword, looking somewhat bewildered at the fallen Mei Li.

He took a deep breath, then turned his head and coldly gazed at Xiu Gus not far ahead.

Now, the physical disparity between the two has been erased.

What remains——

is only a contest of combat skill.

"I see, you simply cannot control your Treasure Tool."

Xiu Gus also looked at Su Ya at this moment, seemingly to conceal the fear and dread he had just shown, letting out a snickering laugh,

"That's right, you aren't even a Profession, so how could you possibly wield such a miracle?"

"Huh~ what's that expression?"

"You brat, you wouldn't think you could beat me with that crude swordsmanship, would you?"

Xiu Gus gave a cold snort, twisted the dagger in his hand, and assumed a stance,

"Between us, there is a full five Battle Techniques gap!"

"Battle Techniques?!"

Hearing this, Su Ya couldn't help but start slightly,

after all, that term sounds formidable,

so, what is it?

And then, at that moment, a discordant reading voice suddenly came from the ground,

"Battle Techniques are the measure of professional-grade matters; those who initially grasp 1 to 3 Battle Techniques are called Attendants, while those who master 5 or more are Professionals."

"A Profession is an absolute elite who makes a living from this."

"A Hero is an unparalleled outstanding figure who gallops across the battlefield."

"And a Legend is a worldly miracle whose name and form can inspire people even if time flies like a white horse passing a gap, enduring across a thousand years."

Hearing this suddenly appearing voice, Xiu Gus couldn't help but start, then immediately darkened his face and looked at Mei Li lying on the ground,

"Who asked you?"

Su Ya suddenly realized, realized something was wrong, and also turned his head to look at Mei Li lying on the ground,

"Eh, you're not dead?"

The Mei Li lying on the ground had a vacant expression, reciting emotionlessly:

"Bastard, even if you die I won't die."

"Also, be careful; this guy has at least mastered the three Battle Techniques: Swift Step, Feint, and Bone-Extracting."

"Swift Step is."

Xiu Gus, whose underpants were nearly ripped through, his face darkened again, hardly able to endure; he immediately wanted to use his speed advantage to first give a stab to the magician on the ground who buzzed like a fly in his ear,

However, the instant he tried to turn his body,

a figure suddenly appeared before him, stepping on an eerie footwork!

"So this is what Battle Techniques are?"

Su Ya looked astonished, his eyes sparkling with the excitement of having discovered a new continent.

"What what?!"

At this moment,

Xiu Gus's expression suddenly changed, incredulously watching Su Ya's feet treading a step that was eighty percent similar to his own.

That was indeed the secret skill he had painstakingly mastered over many years, a precious ability that his underlings vied to flatter and learn!

And from the moment they met, this brat had shown no trace of a professional's aura or stance; in other words, just minutes ago he had not mastered any Battle Technique at all.

But,

"now this brat is using something that isn't his Swift Step—what then?!"

Although this footwork still looks a bit unskilled and cannot execute the Swift Step shift, a higher-level technique,

but——

"merely by watching, he learned in a few minutes a Battle Technique that ordinary people need months or years to master?"

"Is he even human?!"

"Hmph."

Su Ya let out a cold snort, gripping his sword with both hands held before his chest, staring at the red-haired man before him, a chill flashing in his eyes,

"If this is what Battle Techniques are!"

"Then I'm sorry—"

"to be my enemy, having mastered over a thousand Battle Techniques,"

"you have no chance of victory!"

(End of Chapter)