Inside the constructed arena space.
“What are you doing daydreaming during a fight? You know that is a taboo to expert practitioners!” Domon uttered. He came again with his glaive swinging.
Domon performed Death Carrying Cyclone. his glaive glowed with white light, he had activated Ki Weapon. The glowing glaive swung in a wide arc as his body spun. His spinning was not as absurdly fast as a Berserker who used Punishing Cyclone, but it was more controlled and accurate.
Jack dodged the initial swing. When the glaive came again, Jack used Flame Strike. The two weapons collided with a loud clang.
When a similar impact occurred between Jack and Goliath, Goliath had been forced reeling back while Jack was completely fine. This time, both Domon and Jack were staggered as they took one step back.
Jack couldn’t stop being shocked by mana manipulation. This technique had turned a normal attack into something as strong as a fully-leveled skill. It was truly heaven-defying. At the same time, he couldn’t help to be excited. He would double his effort to learn this method!
Domon’s body which was pushed back suddenly turned in the other direction. Instead of fighting the force, he had utilized it for his own. His body swiveled and his glaive thrust forward again with One Word Thrust.
Jack had sensed the attack coming, he used Roll to move away.
Jack used Shredding Fang at the end of his rolling. Domon countered using his Ki Wave. Shredding Fang was only an advanced skill, but since it had been max-leveled, it could still cause a stalemate against Domon’s elite skill.
“Let’s see how you deal with consecutive skills!” Jack uttered. He slashed forward, sending Sword of Light.
Domon stepped to the side, evading the crescent light. But he soon sprang in the other direction as Jack’s body zoomed past. Jack’s Blitz Slash didn’t hit Domon, so the five slashes didn’t activate.
Jack had been casting Magic Bind while he blitz past Domon, but Domon again sensed his attack and jumped away as a magic ring attempted to lock his legs.
Jack continued with Mana Beam while running forward. Domon easily dodged the thick energy beam. Jack swung the beam to the side, chasing Domon. Domon uncannily ducked and slid below the beam before dodging to the other side from where Jack swung his beam.
“Bloody heck! It’s like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks!” Jack cursed.
“I can catch a fly with chopsticks,” Domon still had the time to give his remark.
“Good for you,” Jack was close enough now. Domon also didn’t show any intention to back away. The two clashed head-on.
Jack tried capitalizing on his superior speed, but Domon’s perfect finesse allowed him to perfectly evade, parry, and even counterattack with fewer movements.
At one opportunity, Jack executed Penta Slash. He had mastered this skill enough that he could control the rapid slashes accurately. His experience dealing with Formless Flowing Sword Style did help in this department.
Yet, all five slashes failed to touch Domon. Domon used his glaive to deflect the second and fourth slash while dodging the rests. Domon’s glaive was still alight with the energy of Ki Weapon, enhanced by mana manipulation, it was enough to eliminate Penta Slash’s high damage.
At the end of Penta Slash, Jack didn’t stop. The fifth slash ended using his right hand, his left hand continued with a sixth slash. A fiery sixth slash in the form of Flame Strike.
Because this sixth slash was not part of Penta Slash, it was much slower. Domon used Engulfing Vortex. His glaive spun, forming a whirlpool that sucked in Jack’s energy.
John’s avatar had also used this move to terminate Jack’s Flame Strike the last time they fought. After that clash, Jack had thought about how to deal with this martial art. He activated Dragon Eye, the entire scene turned to slow-motion.
Domon had taught Jack most of his martial arts, including this Engulfing Vortex. It’s just that Jack wasn’t proficient enough to use it yet. Another reason was that Jack didn’t spend much time practicing it. He didn’t think learning too many arts was good for him considering his limited time. Better for him to focus his time and effort on a few selective martial arts instead, following the quote of one martial art legend, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
However, despite not practicing Engulfing Vortex, he knew its basics. It was basically a form of redirection. The vortex drew the opponent’s blow and guide it in a clockwise turn. This vortex would then let the force of this blow run its course. Once the force was fully absorbed, the weapon would lose its power and thus easily deflected.
In the slow-motion vision, Jack could see the vortex’s current. He let his weapon get sucked into this whirlpool. Instead of fighting the current, jack accelerated the clockwise turning of the vortex instead. So instead of letting the vortex eliminate the energy of his sword, he increased the spinning energy.
Jack’s sword picked up in speed within the whirlpool. Domon realized something was wrong but it was impossible to modify the art’s execution midway.
When the Engulfing Vortex ran its course, Jack’s sword was not deflected. Jack used the chance and activated Drilling Thrust using that left hand’s sword. Spiraling energy shot out, knocking Domon’s glaive away as well as causing damage.
Seeing the opening, Jack’s right hand slashed forward. But his arm stopped midway as a strong kick hit his right hand’s wrist.
Dragon Eye’s active ability was still in effect. Even then, Jack almost didn’t see the kick. He knew then it was the shadowless kick. Jack activated his Gold Scale Armor, just as a series of kicks landed on his body.
Under normal circumstances, these kicks would have pushed the opponent away, allowing Domon a respite to rebalance himself. The Bloodline power prevented that. The Gold Scale Armor made Jack immune to knockback, so the kicks only caused damages but failed to force Jack back.
Jack even forced himself forward by using Charge. With Domon’s glaive hand still open and his leg in the middle of kicking, Domon had no chance to dodge. Jack’s body shot forward and bumped into Domon’s. The old man had completely lost balance now. His body was stuck with Jack’s as he was carried forward by Charge.
A martial artist who had lost control of his body was no different than normal people, no matter how expert he was. Jack didn’t let this chance go. He used the burst slashes of his sword art again, this time at point-blank while his Charge was still active. The swords slashed multiple times at Domon’s body.
By the end of Jack’s Charge, Domon’s HP had been depleted by the slashes. Domon fell to the ground once the Charge ended.
A notification voice was heard soon and the constructed space dissolved.
Both Jack and Domon found themselves back in front of the wall.
Jack turned to Domon, wondering how his grandfather took the loss. The old man was, surprisingly, smiling.
“That is a good one. I’ve seen you combine both your martial arts and game skills before, but it still surprise me when you did,” Domon said. “You merged the best of both worlds. I am genuinely impressed.”
“I’m glad that you take it well,” Jack said.
“Don’t be absurd. I’m not a petty person. A true teacher will always be glad if their students overtake them. True parents will be relieved if their offspring performed better than themselves,” Domon replied. “Oh, but don’t be so glad, boy. A true teacher is also one who learns from their students. I honestly never really put much thought into these game skills, tried to use them as little as possible. I guess I will give them more consideration from now on. Let’s have a spar again some other time.”
“Sure!” Jack uttered with a grin.
*
For the remaining tournament. Not only did Jack’s opponent forfeit, the opponents that faced Domon also did the same. Grandson and grandfather ended up spending most of their time on the waiting bench chatting with one another. They only fought one more time when going up against another of their guildmates, Michelle.
Michelle knew that she was not Domon’s opponent, but she simply saw the match with her teacher as a training spar to improve herself further.
When it was her turn to fight Jack, she fought seriously. Jack was her junior martial brother, after all. No reason for her to forfeit. Even though Jack had beaten Domon in the previous match, Michelle still challenge him to make sure that his win against her teacher was not a fluke.
The two fought fiercely. Jack was inspired by Michelle’s expertise in dual-wielding. Despite not having the Hundred Synchronous Thoughts, Michelle’s right arm and left arm were both coordinated and independent at the same time. It’s like the two arms had a mind of their own and could deal with incoming attacks separately, yet still exhibited a harmonious unity. It was like fighting two persons with linked minds.
But Jack had fought such opponents before when he took his Blade Dancer trial. Additionally, Jack’s Hundred Synchronous Thoughts didn’t lose in this regard. Jack’s higher attributes and better experiences of in-game skills gave him a solid advantage over his senior sister.
Michelle lost. But same as her master, she didn’t show any ill-feeling on her loss. She congratulated Jack on the win.. And like her master, she told Jack that she would like to have a spar again once in a while if Jack didn’t mind.
