...…

Right after drawing lots of the matchups for the quarter-finals, the whole event was immediately wrapped up as Shin and the others needed to get ready for their respective battles.

Especially Shin and Owen who were going to clash once again in the very first match. And this time, it was not going to be a simple bout anymore, but a real competitive battle where the victor was going to advance for the semi-finals.

While waiting for the 30-minute preparation time to come into an end, the players from the respective Kingdoms of the two contenders started yet another word war online.

Both of their fans created debates after debates that were big enough to overwhelm all of the other topics from different online platforms. Due to the heat of these said debates, the attention of some game analysts were suddenly attracted.

These game analysts didn't long to post some articles regarding this upcoming battle between Shin and Owen. And surprisingly, these detailed analyses came up with similar conclusions – this battle would surely be a pretty close fight. But at the same time, it was also going to be a very intense one to booth.

For these analysts, this matchup was going to be the most interesting pair to watch among all of the matchups in this quarter-finals. It was simply because the clash of their battle styles was going to be interesting to watch.

Owen had the simplest way of battle which was the most basic battle style for all of the knights – a defend and counter.

Even if he didn't have any flashy moves and his movements were quite slow compared to others, he was still able to hold his ground against anyone due to his very calm composure – which happened to perfectly complement this kind of battle style. And this was also the very reason why he was known for having an impenetrable defense.

On the other hand, Shin had the completely opposite way of battle compared to him. With this complex style of fighting, all of his previous opponents were having a hard time fighting against him. And since he has a lot of aces under his sleeves, trying to predict his next move was going to be a very tough one to read.

On top of that, he also had a very insane movement speed. Coupled with the complexity of his style, fighting against someone like Shin was going to be a nightmare for anyone.

That said, everyone was now even hype up for this certain battle that was about to come.

*******

Meanwhile, Shin just finished all of the preparations that he needed for the upcoming fight against Owen. At the same time, the preparation time was finally over. So, Shin immediately hit the accept button like what he was usually doing every time the system gave him the invitation for his matches.

After that, he immediately appeared at the center of the battle arena for this particular match. And right after being transported, Shin was suddenly taken aback at what he saw.

He was actually in the middle of a familiar battle arena. No, it was actually the very same venue where the very first round of the tournament took place. And the moment Shin saw that, he couldn't help but frowned his eyebrows a little. 'What a sh*tty b*llshit is this? If this is not intentional then I am going to kill myself.'

At the same time, Owen seemed to be thinking similarly with Shin. After sweeping his gaze at the surrounding, he couldn't help but shake his head while helplessly saying. "Looks like the organizers really want us to make this simple yet dramatic, huh?"

He then looked at Shin and asked. "Are we going to cooperate with them? How about we boycott this battle to mess up with their plans?"

Shin shrugged his shoulders the moment he heard that while saying. "Well, I am actually tempted to do that."

Then he paused for a moment to slightly twist his neck left and right, creating some cracking sounds. After that, he looked at Owen before saying with a serious tone. "Though, I don't actually care about their thoughts. What's important here is our real business, right?"

Owen shook his head once again after hearing Shin's words. But he didn't refute what the latter had said. After all, both of them were Battle Geniuses so they could at least understand each other.

After that, he immediately pulled the longsword sheathed on his waist and took his battle stance. "So, should we start exchanging some Martial-Art insights now?"

Shin started wearing a grinning look behind his mask when he heard the battle invitation. Then he fully accepted it and took his signature sword-drawing stance while saying. "Should I say – 'Exactly my thoughts'?"

Owen suddenly chuckled after hearing that. 'At least, he has a slight sense of humor.'

On the next instant, both of them simultaneously released their Aura Manifestation. And right after appearing, the white tiger and the black bison immediately wrestled against each other as Shin and Owen quickly started having an image battle.

Due to that, these two had already exchanged quite a number of blows before the arena clock could even hit zero. And when the system gave them the signal to start the fight, both of them simultaneously made their moves.

Unlike what he was usually doing, Owen didn't wait for his opponent to make his opening move. Instead, he immediately rushed forward right after hearing the system bell.

He charged towards Shin with a great force while holding the round shield in front of him. And during his run, the shield suddenly released a golden light which enfolded him while he was running forward.

Due to that, he was leaving a trail of golden light in his path which made his appearance look like a beam of light, charging towards Shin.

'Self-Created Skill: Holy Charge'

But as if he already knew what was coming, Shin quickly pulled the [Yamato] out from its sheath before swinging it to the right. The blade of the sword was blazing with a black-colored flame when it was unsheathed, signifying that it was enfolded with the power of the Black Sun.

On the next instant, a crescent sword wave with a black flame suddenly flew towards his opponent right after he swung his sword.

Shing!

'Self-Created Skill: Solar Flare'

Swoosh!

Boom!

The incoming 'golden beam' of light collided with the crescent sword wave and created a very loud explosion.

But Shin didn't wait for anything to do his follow up move. He quickly swung the [Yamato] back to the left while enfolding it with a silver-colored light. And right after his swing, another crescent sword wave was sent flying towards his opponent with a great speed.

'Slayer Skill: (Modified) Half-Moon Slash'

Swoosh!

But right before this silver sword wave could even reach its destination, a golden streak of light suddenly flew out from the cloud of dust and traveled forward to greet the incoming sword wave.

Boom!

And surprisingly enough, the sword wave that Shin had sent was immediately obliterated when it collided with the golden streak of light. What's more, it continued to travel towards Shin without suffering any deceleration from the previous explosion.

Shin was quite surprised the moment he saw that, but that didn't prevent him from doing anything.

From his guess, this thing coming towards him was Owen's shield. So, he planned to deflect it away and change its course. But when he remembered that Knight's had some mental control over their shields after being thrown, Shin immediately rejected the idea.

Instead, he chose to lean forward and dodge the incoming shield while quickly sheathing his sword at the same time. And while the shield was flying past over his head, he immediately transformed himself into a streak of silver light and rushed forward.

Whoosh!

'Slayer Skill: Moonlight Steps'

Swoosh!

Since Owen dared to throw his shield away, Shin decided to immediately rush forward because he knew that his opponent's defense was going to suffer greatly without that annoying shield of him.

Or so he thought…

Because before Shin could even use his 'Second Drive' Combat Technique to transition from 'Moonlight Steps' to 'Moonlight Splitter', he saw Owen charged out from the cloud of dust with the same earlier manner where he was holding his round shield in front of him.

Seeing that, Shin immediately used a 'Epic Combat Technique: Shifting Drive' instead to change his direction.

"If that is not his shield, then the thing he threw earlier is mostly his sword?" Shin was thinking about this after avoiding a head-on collision against Owen's charge.

But he was still in the middle of his thoughts when he suddenly felt a threatening feeling that was going to fall towards the place where his body was going to materialize back to its physical form.

Without further ado, Shin quickly used the 'Second Drive' and 'Shifting Drive' combat techniques to use another 'Moonlight Steps' while changing his direction.

Boom!

And right after materializing a few distances away, Shin suddenly saw a powerful explosion on the previous place that he intended to go.

Seeing that, he couldn't help but frown his eyebrows and said. "Looks like this is going to be a little different, huh?"

...