...…

"I guess it was time to give my thanks to these guys for teaching me a lot of things."

Five minutes before Shin's Awakening Quest came to an end, Mondi and Regan's clones were forced by Shin to move away from him with a powerful wave that he had sent with the use of 'Half-Moon Slash'.

On the other hand, Shin was currently looking at his opponents with a pair of cautious yet excited eyes. Then he took a deep breath to regulate his breathing before putting his sword back to its sheath.

After that, he took a single step forward while squatting his hips a little. At the same time, he adjusted the position of his sheathed sword while gently putting his right hand on its hilt, forming a perfect sword drawing stance.

At the same time, he also started accumulating a large amount of elemental mana of fire and ice from his surroundings and transformed them into the powers of the Sun and Moon. Then he fused them together and transformed those powers into the power of Eclipse that he recently acquired.

Aside from all of these, Shin also released his 'Aura Manifestation'. And just like before, when he was using his 'Nameless Swordsman' identity, the image that his aura projected was a majestic White Tiger.

But at the same time, the projected image of Shin's Aura Manifestation was also somewhat different to the usual majestic tiger that he had.

The current Aura Manifestation that he had was white tiger with a pair of golden eyes. The stripes on its forehead formed a pattern of a Chinese King character. There were also two pairs of angelic wings on its back, spreading widely which also made its look even more majestic.

Actually, this was Shin's real image of this White Tiger Manifestation in the real world. He just couldn't project it in the virtual world because he was still adjusting with his virtual body inside the game.

But he was now able to fully assimilate with his virtual body due to repeated intense training that he had, which also made him able to fully project the image of his real Aura Manifestation.

And once Shin released this Aura Manifestation, both of the clones standing a few meters away from him felt the immense threat that was giving at them. Due to that, the two of them didn't hold back either and immediately re-took their battle stances.

Mondi's clone sheathed his katana and also took a sword-drawing stance that was similar to his opponent's posture. At the same time, he seemed to be focusing amassing a lot of mana on his sheathed sword. From the looks of it, he was also planning to end this battle on this one final clash.

On the other hand, Regan's clone held the hilt of his sword with both of his hands while spreading his legs and squatting his hips a little. He faced Shin's direction sideways as he gathered the surrounding mana for as much as he could. And just like the other clones, this guy also knew that this was the last bout of this battle.

With this incoming exchange, this seemingly endless battle would finally reach its end and the victor was about to be determined. And without further ado, three of them immediately made their moves.

The clones of Mondi and Regan simultaneously rushed forward while also throwing their attacks at the same time.

Mondi's clone pulled his katana from its sheath in a very quick manner and powerfully swung it forward. The blade of his weapon was releasing a golden glow that was giving an impression that it could cut anything that was planning to block its path.

At the same time, Regan's clone was also throwing his attack. He lunged forward while pushing his longsword towards his front. The blade of his sword was glowing with a multi-colored light, which also moved in a spiral motion.

Meanwhile, their opponent was not going to lose either. The moment Shin saw that his opponents were charging towards him, he immediately gripped the hilt of his sword and strengthened his back as he readied himself to make his move.

He squinted his eyes as he gauged the distance between him and his opponents. And when he saw that both of them entered his attacking range, Shin quickly pulled the [Yamato] from its sheath and swung it forward, releasing the accumulated power of Eclipse that he had.

Shing!

Swoosh!

The energy wave that Shin released this time was a gray-colored one. And while this energy was charging towards his opponents, it suddenly transformed into an image of a white tiger that was charging savagely towards the incoming clones.

This was one of the new skills that Shin had created during his time in this independent space.

'Class Fighting Style: Eclipse Tiger Draw'

Roar!

Seeing the powerful energy wave, the two clones charging towards it immediately release a much more powerful mana from their bodies and surround themselves with it. Then they continued their advance while swinging and thrusting their swords forward.

Boom!

Naturally, Shin was fully aware that the attack that he just sent was still not enough to end this battle. And while having this thought in mind, he quickly flipped the sword-sheath on his left hand to change his grip on it while transforming its form into a sword with some visible divisions on its blade.

'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Skill: Abyssal Form'

And it didn't just end there because Shin suddenly called out a name after the transformation of his word. "Shadow Reaper: Grimrace."

When those words left his mouth, the speck of black light circling around his body suddenly broke away from him and transformed into a human-like figure in a green butler suit with a clown's ruffle collar around its neck.

Immediately after that, this guy suddenly transformed into a black light and wrapped himself around the [Crippling Punisher] on Shin's left hand.

'Elemental Spirit Possession (Shadow): (Shin's version) Soul Eater'

When Grimrace fused with Shin's sword, the appearance of his whip-sword suddenly changed along with the aura that it was releasing. The sword now had the appearance of a double-edged short-sword with a black triangular blade. On its surface, there were a bunch of glowing golden runes written in vertical manner as the entire blade was releasing some black smoke.

After that, Shin quickly swung the new whip-sword multiple times at his opponents in the distance. Then the blade of the sword suddenly increased in length and transformed into multiple silhouettes that were whipping towards the clones.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

'Advance Combat Technique: Phantom Punisher'

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The whipping silhouettes suddenly collided with a bunch of lighting balls, which warded off the attacks that Shin and sent.

At the same time, a streak of light suddenly charged through the blockade of whipping attacks and rushed towards Shin with an unimaginable speed.

But no matter how fast that dashing figure, Shin responded at it almost instantly and quickly retracted the extended blade of the [Soul Eater] elemental sword while powerfully swinging the [Yamato] at the same time.

'Extra Skill: Destructive Slash'

Clang!

Bang!

The rushing streak of light suddenly halted in front of Shin when the [Yamato] collided against it.

A moment later, Mondi's clone suddenly materialized in front of Shin while holding his katana against Shin's sword.

With this slight pause of his opponent, Shin quickly took at advantage of the current situation and suddenly thrusted the [Soul Eater] elemental sword at Mondi's clone.

But the clone seemed to be expecting that and quickly did some consecutive hops backwards to distance himself away from Shin and dodge the forward stab that the latter had sent.

Unfortunately, Shin was also expecting that which made him smirked the moment he saw his opponent's actions. On the next instant, a bolt of dark energy suddenly released from the tip of Shin's sword and flew towards Mondi's clone.

'Legacy Skill: Regan's Method: Shadow Link'

Bang!

Due to being caught off-guard, the clone was hit by the sudden bolt of dark energy and became immobilized.

And since this sword was reinforced by Grimrace's shadow powers, the shadow ball that Shin had sent dealt a much greater damage compared to its previous version. What's more, the stun effect that came together with it also increased in duration; it could now immobilize Shin's opponents from a total of 3 seconds.

But before Shin could do his follow-up attack, he felt a bunch of energy balls raining down at him. And when he felt the incoming attacks, he quickly released the Grimrace from his sword before switching the form of his 'Mondi's Style'. This time, Shin transformed it into a sword with a narrow blade and sharp edges.

'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style: Conviction Form'

And just like before, he immediately called out a name from among his Reaper's Retainers. "Blood Reaper: Vladimir."

Once he called out the Blood Spirit's name, Vladimir did the same thing that Grimrace had done; he transformed into a light that fused with the rapier that Shin was holding, which also transformed the appearance of the sword.

The guard of the sword became even more western like with its complex patterns, which entirely covered a side of the hilt. On the other hand, the blade of the rapier narrowed even further as its color suddenly turned crimson. There was also a thin mist of blood, covering the entire blade of the sword.

'Elemental Spirit Possession (Blood): (Shin's Version) Blood Thirster'

Immediately after the transformation, Shin quickly threw multiple stabs at the incoming energy balls. And while doing that, his arm suddenly turned into a bunch of blurs that released some crimson flashes, which increased the number of stabs that he sent.

'Extra Skill: Multiple Stabs'

'Advance Combat Technique: Crimson Revolution'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With that perfect blockade of stabs, not a single energy balls managed to land on Shin. And when he was done blocking all of the energy balls, he immediately released Vladimir from his sword before changing the form of the 'Mondi's Style', which was the longsword form.

'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style: Meteor Form'

And similar to what he had done earlier, he called out one of the names of his Elemental Companions the moment his sword was done on its transformation. "Void Reaper: Hanzo."

And without further ado, Hanzo transformed himself into a light that fused with Shin's longsword and also changed its appearance just like the other two. But unlike the complex designs that the previous swords that he had, this sword just had a simple and dull appearance. It was just a simple sword with a light purple blade and single edge.

'Elemental Spirit Possession (Void): (Shin's Version) Dimension Cutter'

After that, Shin immediately released the newly improved powers of the Sun and the Moon on each of his swords.

The sword on his right hand suddenly released a white flame with black shades on its surface. At the same time, the other sword that he had on his left hand was emitting a black aura with some blinking specks of lights dancing on it.

'Lesser Legendary Combat Technique: Eclipse Wielding'

Mondi's Clone already regained its movements when Shin was done releasing those opposing energies. And immediately after having his freedom back, he quickly resumed attacking Shin.

At the same time, Regan's Clone finally arrived beside Shin and quickly coordinated with Mondi's Clone while throwing his attacks.

Even if he was being besieged by the barrage of attacks from his opponents, Shin was still keeping his calm and collected attitude as he defended himself with the 'Infinity Edge' combat technique.

Executing both 'Eclipse Wielding' and 'Infinity Edge' at the same time might put a lot of burden on Shin's concentration. But he was quite confident that his willpower could hold himself at using these two high-class combat techniques for at least five minutes.

And since he was pretty much familiar with the attacks of his opponents now, holding himself against these clones was much easier compared to his first encounter with the two of them.

With all these, the last five minutes of his Awakening Quest finally come to an end. And even if he didn't manage to completely defeat the two clones, he was still able to survive until the end of his quest, which was also the main task that he needed to do since the start of this quest.

"Tsk! I can't help but be greedy every time I think about the bonus rewards of my quest. But if it is really not meant for me, then it is better if I just stop pushing it and avoid having some accidents," muttered Shin as he took a quick glance at the digital clock of his quest.

And when those words left his mouth, the long-awaited system notifications finally came and sounded like sweet music on his ears.

...…