...…

After another boring time of waiting, Shin finally got the notification that he was waiting for. And without further ado, he immediately hit the accept button with an excited expression on his face even.

The moment Shin transformed into a streak of light, Arthur and Leonard who were watching him from the side couldn't help but helplessly shake their heads while muttering at the same time. "Look at this Battle Maniac."

After that, they looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders before teleporting themselves to the VIP room that they had brought to spectate Shin's battle.

******

Just like the previous battles, Shin was teleported to another unusual place which was acting as the battle arena. And right after being teleported, he immediately observed his surroundings as the first thing to do.

Right now, he was in a desolate land with a lot of rock boulders around. And from the looks of it, he seemed to be in the middle of a canyon since there were two huge cliff-like walls on each of his sides.

It was a quite simple battle stage compared to the previous round, but also quite tricky at the same time. The walls on each of his side were only 9-10 meters apart, which was actually quite narrow. And if you added the rock boulders in the surroundings, then the whole place was going to be even narrower.

Seeing that, Shin couldn't help but squint his eyes and frowned his eyebrows. "Looks like I can't properly fly this time."

Given that the two walls were not that far from each other, then his opponent could jump wall to wall and catch up on him in the air. Well, that was if his opponent was skilled enough to do that kind of feat. But given that this 'Wolf of the Beginning' had some reputation under his belt, then doing something like that shouldn't be impossible for him.

After observing his surroundings, Shin finally turned his head at his opponent, who also happened to be done at scanning his surroundings. And when their gazes met midair, there were some to be a pair of invisible sparks clashing in the air.

A moment later, both of them seemed to grin at the same time as they could feel that each other were the same type of players. Then both of them immediately took their respective battle stances without further ado.

As they were waiting for the arena clock to hit zero, Shin started inhaling deeply to regulate his breathing with the breathing technique that he was using in the real world. And the moment he did that, the flow of mana inside his body started moving according to it.

After that, his entire body was suddenly lit aflame by an alternating black and white elemental energy, which seemed to be dancing along the air.

Shin already learned this new trick when he was doing his Awakening quest before. He just couldn't find a good chance to use it in the tournament yet since he felt that there was no need to use it previously.

But it was a little different this time since his current opponent seemed to be a very tough one to take. Given that, Shin was thinking that this was a perfect opportunity to test out what this new trick could do.

At the same time, Shin also released his Aura Manifestation together with that black and white elemental energy that enfolding his body. And the moment the White Tiger with two pairs of angelic wings on its back appeared, a very heavy pressuring aura suddenly enfolded the whole place.

One the other hand, Liszt was not doing nothing either. The moment Shin took his signature sword drawing stance, he was already pulling out the sheathed saber hanging on his waist. After that, he immediately took his own battle stance.

He placed his right foot on his front while spreading his legs a little. Then he held the hilt of his saber with both of his hands before positioning it horizontally in front of his chest. And when he was done taking that stance, a purple elemental energy was suddenly released from his body and covered him like the aura enfolding Shin.

At the same time, a giant wolf was suddenly manifested on his back. This wolf had black furs covering its body. There was a purple flame around its neck that seemed to be a tattered scarf that was dancing along blowing wind.

On its forehead, a strange purple mark with a rhombus shape was glowing like flames too. Together with its pair of fearless eyes with crimson pupils, this giant wolf seemed to be a very savage beast.

When Liszt's Aura Manifestation suddenly was released, the air around him suddenly turned heavy. It was as if a very intense pressure was enfolding the whole place surrounding him.

And when the atmosphere surrounding Liszt met the one that Shin was releasing, there seemed to be a pair of invisible forces clashing with each other.

The match still hadn't been started but all of the audiences that were currently watching this could already feel the intensity of the upcoming battle.

It didn't matter if they were watching from the live-audience stand or from the official broadcast, all of the players spectating this match already were already feeling pressure given by the both contenders the moment they took their respective battle stance.

Ding!

A moment later, the system finally gave its signal to start the match. And when both Shin and Liszt heard that signal sound, they simultaneously made their moves.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Both of them suddenly disappeared from their respective spots as they launched themselves towards their opponents. And on the very next instant, Shin and Liszt suddenly reappeared in the middle of the battle arena while swinging their swords at the same time; the former did a quick-draw strike with his burning sword while the latter threw a powerful slash with his blazing saber.

'Class Fighting Style: (Modified) Quick Draw: Sunshine Strike'

'Class Fighting Style: Doom Blade of the Hunting Wolf'

Bang!

Swoosh!

When their swords clashed against each other, a massive explosion was immediately created. At the same time, a huge cloud of dust and smoke suddenly enfolded their figures and hid them from the view of every audience. But that only lasted for a second because it was immediately blown away by the powerful shockwave that was following the explosion.

Shin and Liszt stared at each other's eyes while they were trying to measure the strength of their opponents. And when they discovered that it was impossible to gauge it properly this way, both of them simultaneously pushed their opponents forward before hopping backwards.

And when their feet touched the ground, they immediately charged back and threw some attacks at the same time.

Cling! Cling! Clang!

Clang! Cling! Cling!

Both Shin and Liszt threw some sword slashes and saber attacks as they tried to overwhelm each other with. But the moment they learned that it was still not enough, they immediately used some footwork in the mix.

Their movements were so fast that their figures suddenly transformed into a pair of silhouettes that kept clashing against each other.

For the players that had some weaker observation skills, all they could see were the sparks flying in the air every time their weapons clashed against each other. Other than that, they couldn't see anything at all.

Fortunately, there were some instances where Shin and Liszt suddenly appeared in the field to take some pauses. But they were going to immediately disappear once again a moment after that.

After those 'simple' exchanges, both Shin and Liszt started mixing out some high-ranking combat techniques on their attacks, which made the fight to escalate to an even higher degree.

All of the audience were completely at awe as they were watching the fight. This was a battle that completely surpassed the previous fights of the two. That speed alone was beyond crazy. And from the looks of it, these two seemed to be some actors from an action movie given how coordinated the attacks and counters that they were sending to each other.

Bang!

Both Shin and Liszt were sent flying by the force behind the attacks that they had sent against each other. Due to that, the rhythm of the battle was suddenly broken.

The two of them didn't immediately resume attacking the moment they regained their footings. Instead, they raised their heads and stared at each other, trying to see some changes on their opponents.

After a moment, Shin suddenly started grinning and muttered to himself. "This is interesting. To think that I will encounter another Mighty Chosen One in this tournament. I am starting to enjoy this event even more."

At the same time, Liszt was also feeling the same time. "Well, well. Things are starting to get interesting. So, he really is a Mighty Chosen One like me, huh? I wonder what kind of talents he possessed. Regardless of that, I think I need to take this battle very seriously, huh."

....