...…

The battle between Shin's group and the Island Prisoners was getting more intense as time went by. The group of prisoners that Lennon brought were not weak people at all, so they were able to withstand the momentum that the former group was riding after the series of victories that they had so far.

Moreover, there was also Ivan who finally was able to regain his composure after being shocked by Shin's earlier performance. But Shin already predicted that which was why he sent Molton to deal with the guy before he could even join his prison buddies.

The bulky guy was holding Leonard in place and was trying to overwhelm his opponent with his powerful strength. But to his surprise the young man in front of him not only could withstand his powerful assault, but he was also able to contend against him with an equal footing despite having a much smaller body than him.

Meanwhile, Arthur was the one who was dictating the rhythm of the fight on his side. Despite fighting alone against two quite skilled opponents, he was able to repeatedly push his opponents backward with his spearmanship alone.

Previously, he didn't have a good opportunity to showcase his spearmanship since all of their targets earlier were relatively easy compared to his current opponents. But now that he had some good 'sparring partners', he could at least take this opportunity to show what he could really do.

With those three holding their grounds quite well, Lorraine didn't have to put any attention to them and could now focus on helping the other girls. And with her assistance, the opponents that they had on their side were suffering pressure from her; they couldn't afford to lower their guard at any moment since they were going to pay a heavy price from her guns.

On top of the constant threat from Lorraine, the teamwork that Alice and Cloe had was also giving them a lot of trouble. Though, the real credit of this teamwork should be going to the latter.

Alice was a talented Kaleidoscope Mentalist who could fight pretty well. And after her Bloodline Ceremony, the quality of her Mental Energy became much better compared to how it used to be. Moreover, she also underwent some special training with her grandfather, so her battle capabilities went up to another level.

But to her surprise, Cloe was able to keep up with her rhythm no matter how much she picked up her pace; it was as if Cloe was familiar with all of her techniques and responding to them accordingly. If the others looked at them for the first time, then they might think that the two of them were best friends who knew each other since young.

With all of that, the two of them were more than enough to deal with the remaining enemies even if they were totally outnumbered.

Naturally, the opposing side would consider taking down Lorraine first since she was the one who was giving them the greatest pressure. But doing that was much easier said than done since Jillian was there to repel all of their attempts.

With all of this, it was already clear which side had the advantage. And if there were no accidents that were going to happen, Shin's group already got into this fight.

Speaking of Shin, he was doing pretty well at pinning down the leader of the opposing side; he even dragged their fight away from the main battlefield to prevent Lennon from instructing his prison buddies.

"Tsk! This kid is really hard to deal with," cursed Lennon to himself as he tried his best to ward off each of Shin's attacks.

Shin's battle style was really giving him a lot of trouble due to its unpredictability. Each of his swings was powerful enough to threaten Lennon especially that they were empowered by Mental Energy.

Moreover, there were also those strange techniques mixed in his assault such as those illusions that always caught Lennon off-guard and almost lost his life in the process. There were also those Mental Energy Walls that kept on popping out of nowhere; they were messing with his rhythm every time he managed to find his pace and threw some deadly counters at Shin.

Alongside those illusions and Mental Energy Walls were those troublesome Mentalism Runes that really made Lennon very cautious. Shin was trickly using them; and every time he did, Lennon would always get his life almost close to death. If not for him being an expert who experienced quite a lot of life-and-death situations, then he most likely got killed right now.

...

Meanwhile, in the sky above the Prison Island, the trio of world-class experts were putting quite a lot of interest on this particular battle.

"That adopted child of your family became quite skilled, Nathan. His Mentalism became quite refined," said Elias Stuart while looking at the battle on Shin's side.

"And he also has quite decent swordsmanship on top of that," added Eugene White as he nodded his head.

On the other hand, Nathan was looking at Shin with a great focus before replying to the two. "And this is him not showing his best yet. You should know that this kid is a Dual-Practitioner."

"Now that you mention it, I remember him battling with that genius Mentalist while undergoing a Demonic Possession," said Eugene while nodding his head. But he quickly added after a brief moment of pause. "But it looks like this kid doesn't have the plan to show real potential yet."

"Regardless, he is already strong enough to handle himself against an Ethereal Realm Stage expert with his Mentalism alone," commented Elias.

Hearing that, Nathan couldn't help grin meaningful before asking with a teasing tone. "What, getting interested in this kid now? Is he a good 'candidate' that you are looking for?"

Unfortunately, Elias just ignored what Nathan had said and continued to look at Shin until Eugene suddenly asked after a few moments of silence. "Have you seen the current level of his Martial-Arts?"

Nathan paused for a moment when he heard that before shaking his head. "No, I haven't seen it yet. I'm actually quite curious how much he improves after undergoing the special training that Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn prepared for him."

He trailed his words a little to look at Shin before continuing. "But given that he managed to master the Mentalism Runes and even incorporate it during battle, I'm pretty sure that it also went up with a great margin."

"I will not even be surprised if its level is on par with his current Mentalism Techniques," he added.

After that, he looked at Eugene White before asking. "How about his swordsmanship? Do you think it is going to be on par with his other two disciplines?"

Eugene knitted his brow for a moment before replying. "As I said earlier, his swordsmanship is already good, so he just needs to polish it a little more before it can fully complement his Mentalism. Though, I still need to see his progress on his Martial-Arts to judge if it can also be supported by it."

He then paused for a moment to think about something before continuing. "But since he is Professor Plum's personal disciple, then that means he most probably practiced that famous Yin-Yang Swordsmanship."

"But-… I haven't seen him incorporate any of the skills under that swordsmanship yet. He is probably trying to hide it purposely or he still doesn't know how to properly use them alongside his Mentalism Techniques."

Hearing his deduction Elias suddenly raised one of his eyebrows before commenting. "So, that is the reason why he applies for the Special Program of the Magical Ace Academy instead of Top Military School."

"To seek guidance from Professor Henry?" asked Eugene White to clarify.

Then Elias Stuart nodded his head to respond before answering. "Precisely! After all, that old man knows quite a lot of things regarding Secret Arts and Unified Strengthening. And if that kid is quite lucky, then he may even create a Secret Art Series of his own."

After that, he turned his head towards Nathan and asked. "What do you think Nathan? Do you think this kid has the ability to pull it off?"

But at that moment, he noticed that Nathan was currently looking in a different direction. And when he saw that, he couldn't help but frown and said. "Look at this arrogant guy. Only knows how to ask others but never-…"

Elias was still in the middle of talking when he noticed that there was something wrong with Nathan. "What is it?" while turning his head towards the direction where the latter was looking.

Nathan didn't reply to him immediately as he stared at a certain group in the distance with a deep frown. A few moments later, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, "I'm leaving this spot to the two of you, I'm heading towards that center of that island."

"I don't know what that kid, Diel Hendrickson, was planning. But I've got a bad feeling about it," he added before disappearing and leaving Elias and Eugene behind.

...…