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"This seems to be quite entertaining from what I am expecting. So, how about we step up a bit?" asked Shin as he swept his gaze at the other three.

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He was pointing his white katana at Diel while the black one was blocking Jean's glaive and letting it point at Dylan.

Meanwhile, Dylan was returning the favor and pointed his sword at Jean while covering his body with Sword Qi to block the dagger pointing at his waist.

On the other hand, Jean steadily held his glaive with one hand while his other hand was holding the flying dagger thrown by Diel between his index and middle finger.

The four swept their gazes on their opponents with sharp eyes before simultaneously disengaging from the fight and jumped away from each other.

But during his flight, Shin suddenly swung his two katanas in the air and sent a barrage of crescent energy waves in three different directions. Those energy waves accurately chased after the three as they were moving backward.

'Four Symbol Scripture – Swordsmanship: Breath of Chaos'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Seeing that sudden attack, Dylan quickly channeled his Sword Qi on his sword before horizontally swinging it in front of him while also releasing all of the accumulated energy from the tip of his sword.

'Divine Swordsmanship: Splitting the Sky'

Swoosh!

Then all of the Mental Energy waves that were sent by Shin dissipated in the air after coming in contact with the huge Sword Wave that was released by Dylan.

In the meantime, Diel suddenly moved his free hand in circular motion midair, seemingly drawing a series of Mentalism Runes in the air. And quickly after that, a Mentalism Circle suddenly appeared in front of the energy waves that were trying to catch up with them.

After that, the energy waves suddenly changed their trajectories and drew an arc as they headed towards Jean.

'Heavenly Cosmos Principle: The Deceiving Stars'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

"Tsk! Playing dirty as always," muttered Jean when he saw what Diel did. After that, he quickly regulated his breathing while holding his glaive with both of his hands. Then the blade of the glaive was suddenly set ablaze with a purple flame.

He waited for the two groups of energy waves to reach the optimal range before swinging the glaive with a wide circular motion and powerful manner.

'Supreme Demonic Canon: World Annihilation'

Swoosh!

Boom!

Shin wanted to follow his attack with another when he suddenly sensed a strong threatening feeling coming from above.

Without any hint of hesitation, Shin quickly jumped backward and continuously flipped away from his previous spot as a series of Sword Qi fell from the sky and landed on the ground that he went through.

While it was happening, Diel took advantage of that opportunity to attack Dylan with nine beams of light; eight arching in different directions and one traveling in a straight path.

'Heavenly Cosmos Principle: Nine Constellation Laser'

Sensing the incoming attack, Dylan quickly faced the lasers that were heading his way before holding his sword with both of his hands while positioning it in front of him. He then waited for the lasers to get near him before swinging the left and right, deflecting away the eight lasers arching around him before cutting the one flying at him in a straight line.

'Divine Swordsmanship: Dancing in the middle of the Storm'

At this point in time, Jean was planning to give Diel a taste of his medicine as he took advantage of that change where the latter was still busy dealing with Dylan to throw an ambush.

"Hey, you haven't forgotten about me, have you?" said Jean as he powerfully swung his glaive at Diel as its blade was still blazing with a purple flame.

'Supreme Demonic Canon: Calamitic Destruction'

Swoosh!

A trail of blazing purple light was left behind by the blade of the glaive as it made its way towards Diel. But right before it landed on its target, it was suddenly stopped by a barrier that was made by overlapping talismans that came out of nowhere.

'Heavenly Cosmos Principle: The Unyielding Stars'

"You are still the same as ever, Jean. Always informing your opponents during an ambush," said Diel smirkingly as he gave Jean a sidelong glance.

Seeing that, Jean just gave him a smirk in return before replying. "It is fine, I'm not an assassin anyway so I don't need those cowardly tricks of surprise."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your heart-to-heart conversation, but it seems like you've already forgotten about us," said Shin a few distances away from them while making a couple of seals on his hands.

A moment later, hexagonal barriers suddenly appeared around the two, trapping them in all directions including the space above them.

'Four Symbol Scripture – Heavenly Turtle Technique: Abyssal Prison'

And as if coordinating with his attack, Dylan was already channeling a large amount of Sword Qi on his sword since earlier. And now that he saw Shin locked the other two in place, he suddenly thrust his sword forward while releasing all of the accumulated energy from its tip.

'Divine Swordsmanship: Passing through the Sky'

Swoosh!

Then a spiral sword wave flew straight to Jean and Diel. And at the same time, Shin coordinated with that move once again as he opened one of the sides of his prison barrier where the sword wave was coming from.

Seeing that, Diel immediately collected his talismans and quickly threw one of them outside while channeling his Mental Energy to the rest. And in the very next instant, he suddenly disappeared from his current position before reappearing at the place where he threw his talisman earlier.

'Heavenly Cosmos Principle: The Mysterious Stars'

Meanwhile, Jean who was left alone was currently wearing a weird look on his face as he felt somewhat cheated. "Tsk! Having that kind of move sure is convenient."

After that, he tightly gripped his glaive with both of his hands, getting ready to swing it powerfully at any given moment. And at the same time, his body was suddenly covered with a blazing flame that had an alternating black and purple color.

A few moments later, the spiral sword wave sent by Dylan finally arrived in front of Jean. But before it could even advance further ahead, Jean suddenly swung his glaive in a very powerful manner and instantly annihilated the sword wave in an instant.

'Supreme Demonic Canon: Thundering Catastrophe'

Boom!

After that, the chaotic battle continued as the four crown emblem bearers kept shifting their targets from time to time while also randomly ganging up on anyone who was unfortunate enough to be the target of the other three.

But despite that being the case, none of them was eliminated from the fight even if they were forced into a corner. No matter how difficult their predicament was, these four would always have their own way to get out of it every time. There were even some cases where they were able to turn the situation around and almost one of their rivals in return.

Meanwhile, the academy principal who proposed the idea of this battle, couldn't help but nod his head repeatedly as he was fully satisfied with what was currently happening.

And even if he could see that these young prodigies were still hiding quite a lot of their real strength, he could at least tell that they were showing more than half of their true battle capabilities.

"What do you think, Henry? Is this enough for you to determine the path that they need to take?" asked the principal to the old man sitting beside him.

Hearing that, Professor Henry slightly nodded his head before replying. "As much as I love to see more of their real strengths, I guess I need to satisfy myself with this."

The principal laughed quite heartily when he heard those words before saying. "Don't worry, this is not everything that we are going to see. We still have a lot of time before these kids finish this battle, so maybe we can still see a few more things."

Reaching this point, the principal seemed to remember something before asking. "Now that we are already in this, how about you also tell me who is the kid that took your interest among them? I'm also quite curious who this young man that our Head Researcher takes fancy of."

Professor Henry slightly knitted his brow when he heard that before nodding his head and answering. "That shouldn't be a problem now."

He then paused for a moment to point at Shin before continuing. "It is that young Mentalist with twin swords."

Casting his gaze at the direction where Professor Henry was pointing and saw Shin fended off yet another combined attack from the other guys.

"Oh~! That kid? He isn't too bad. And based on his Mentalism Techniques, he seems to be the student of that Old Fatty. He really found a good one this time," comment the principal with a nod.

But not long after, he immediately. "But I'm not sure if his real strength is as deep as those two foreign kids. After all, they are still the successors of the 'Heavenly Cosmos Principle' and the 'Supreme Demonic Canon', so the depths of their strengths are much deeper than we can imagine."

"Moreover, I also heard that they were also practicing another method which is not weaker than the ones that they currently had," added the principal while casting his gaze at Jean and Diel.

On the other hand, Professor Henry just raised one of his eyebrows before saying with a mystifying tone. "Is that so? But I still feel that my pick has more potential."

...…