Zilan had on an expression of smiling yet also not smiling. He looked at the spirit tool in his hands before sighing and putting it away.
Spirit tools in this world were ranked based on stages and were also divided into levels. To elaborate, spirits tools were split into three grades, Low, Mid and High however, they were limited to one’s stage. For example there could be a High grade spirit tool but was it a High grade spirit tool of the Tempering stage? Or was it of the [Soul-Comprehension Stage], and so on and so forth.
Depending on the [stage], the level of power the spirit tool possessed also differed. There could be two High grade spirit tools, one crafted for the Tempering stage and the other the Soul comprehension stage, differentiating between the two was an extremely easy task as the strength contained within both was akin to the difference between Heaven and Earth.
Currently, the force field spirit tool Zilan was using to shame others was of the Highest grade for the Tempering stage, meaning the tool was invincible within the Tempering stage however, if it was unlucky enough to meet the attack of a low level soul comprehension stage spirit tool then the only outcome would be its complete destruction.
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave some face for Fujo.” Said Zilan as he dusted himself off.
Hearing this, Nyoka’s smile did not fade, she just made her way to a position she felt the most comfortable with, awaiting the signal from Judge.
“Begin.” An interested light shone in Judge’s eyes as he wished to see Zilan actually win a fight otherwise, for disgracing this competition he would not go easy on the youth later on.
*Boom*
Launching off of her feet, like a spring Nyoka within the blink of an eye appeared before Zilan.
Her body flexed and spun in a weird way before a torrent of sharp kicks were sent his way. Each strike was precise and calculated while also unpredictable but at the same time exceedingly fast. Just the wind that those kicks generated held a blade-like cutting force, adding to the already dangerous situation.
‘Close quarters combat? Very well then.’
Zilan took a deep breath, pushing his senses to the limit as he prepared to temporarily retreat from the situation.
Taking a step forward, he precisely yet seemingly effortlessly dodged the first kick but as more and more of them arrived in his face, Zilan had to make a choice. Moving to the right or left was not possible and if he retreated, then the pressure Nyoka exuded would definitely rise to a whole other level, eventually pushing him to the edge of the stage.
‘You’re too relaxed in this fight.’ Thought Zilan as he felt that removing that smile from Nyoka’s face should be the first order of business. ‘It’s for moments like this that I’ve painstakingly practiced the basic martial arts Ancestor compiled.’
*Ktak, Snap*
In a manner similar to what Nyoka displayed during the preliminaries, Zilan’s body suddenly twisted in an unbelievable way, calmly dodging the storm of attacks coming towards him.
Seeing this, as expected, the smile on Nyoka’s face was instantly replaced with a wide open mouth. She was rattled by the way his body had just acted. That speed, that manoeuvrability, it was comparable to her own ability even though it seemed to hold a different concept within.
‘For those cultivating in the laws of water when combating, [Flow like water] is a must-learn foundation technique.’ He thought to himself.
[Flow like water]’s description could be found in its name. Like water in ones palm, difficult to contain. This was what the technique strived to build a foundation for.As he was now, Zilan had yet to completely conquer this basic requirement of a technique as can be seen by the cracking of his bones and noticeable lag that needed to occur before he could ultimately get his body to become flexible.
Of course, the basics for those cultivating in the laws of water he was talking about definitely did not apply to this small world. He was speaking big picture, in terms of the major factions and planes of the Universe.
It went without saying that no one on this world could recognise this to be just a basic technique. In fact many of them might think it a Divine ability. Such was the quality of the world he resided in.
Swiftly adjusting herself, Nyoka seriously evaluated Zilan no longer taking him lightly. The last they were together, she hadn’t seen him personally take action in a fight therefore she naturally assumed that he was weak in this area while excelling in Alchemy and formations. Now though, it appeared she needed to discard that perception from her mind and take this match seriously.
Still yet to land on the ground, her body twisted counter-clockwise in yet another strange manner, another kick ferociously flying towards Zilan. Feeling the pressure being emitted by that attack, he smiled before dodging the kick.
“Is that al…” Before he could finish his statement, his acute senses picked up on an extremely dangerous, shockingly fast, indistinct whip-like object coming from beneath that kick. It had concealed itself using the kick as bait.
That whip like object was already but a few inches away from Zilan’s face before he could actually see its shadow. Even if he wanted to evade it now, the yet to be mastered [Flow like water] would not be able to make in time for him to avoid injury. And injured he would without a doubt be if he took that whip head on.
Looking at it now, it appeared to glow with a green radiance, along with it coming a strong pleasant fragrance assaulting his nostrils.
“Poison.” He whispered.
Without hesitating for even a moment, Zilan immediately pushed off with his back foot, putting some space between him and that whip. This did not solve the problem though, as it still pursued him at an even faster speed.
A blue glow enveloped his right palm as he sent it forward to meet that sharp whip-like object.
Surprisingly, once the two made contact, the expected result of seeing Zilan’s palm pierced through did not happen. Instead an even more hard-to-believe scene played out.
*pah*
Just like an extremely slippery object would, that whip-like thing unbelievably changed direction once its sharp tip hit Zilan’s palm.
“What!?”
Nyoka was in disbelief, she had clearly felt the sharp tip hitting his palm but then for some reason almost like his palm was made of lubricant, the tip suddenly got deflected.
Zilan breathed a sigh of relief. He could now see what that whip-like object actually was.
‘Her tail?’ It took a moment for him to process how unpredictably dangerous the body of the young lady before him was.
On the other side, Nyoka stood motionless. The two had battled solely in close quarters combat and up until now only a few seconds had passed since the beginning of the match. Still, the things she had seen from this Half Breed had truly amazed her.
“How?” She asked puzzled, grabbing her tail to check for clues.
“You want to know? It’s not that I can’t tell you just that you’ll have to wait until after this tournament concludes.”
Nyoka stared at him, seemingly contemplating on whether or not to reveal all of her cards or not.
“I lose.” She inwardly sighed as she spoke. Strategically speaking, by being in the top two of her group, she was essentially guaranteed a spot in the final therefore letting her potential future opponents in the other groups see her trump cards would be a severe miscalculation.
Looking at the carefree Zilan who had exposed his abilities just now, Nyoka could not help but wonder if she made the right choice.
“Thanks for going easy. Next time, let’s battle it out using our elements.” Said Zilan.
Down below, watching with the rest of the people was Fujo, slack jawed.
“Who is this guy impersonating my brother?!”
Judge was pleasantly surprised. He was able to grasp a few more things than the rookies watching therefore, his previous assumptions about Zilan were slowly becoming things of the past. This, however, did not mean that he would forget the disgrace of a show that was put on during the other eight matches.
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