“Kane got taken out?!”

Al-Shura shouted in surprised.

“The Tertitus took the lead immediately after we did.”

Miko who heard the announcement spoke while contemplating something.

“Okay, time for us to part for a bit.”

He looked at Chika and said.

“I was just going to suggest the same thing.”

She replied.

“A 50 point lead is nothing to laugh at. To overtake it we need to take at least one King’s Emblem, two to cement our place in the lead.”

She looked at him and smiled.

“In terms of overall strength we should have the advantage, which gives us the option of hunting those with the King’s Emblem ourselves.”

“What about the soldiers?”

Miko asked.

“You can have them. I’ll need to accompany verde to prevent him from killing anyone, so you can use them to keep you company.”

She pointed at his swords on his waist.

“Besides, it was already agreed that your swords are banned from taking human forms to help you out. I’m sure the lack of human comrades would be bad for your health.”

Miko laughed when he heard that.

“I was naturally a loner, so human contact has no meaning to me. But, whatever. I appreciate your intentions.”

After saying so the two bump their fists.

“You’re not very womanly are you?”

Miko asked with a grin.

“You’ve just only noticed that now?"

Chika grinned as well.

The two then turned their backs on each other.

“See ya.”

“Yeah.”

A moment later Miko flew off with his dragon wings.

Chika turned back around and looked in his direction.

“Even though your face and body had changed, you’re still the same old you Gramps.”

She turned her back to him and started to walk away with verde following behind her.

“If Sumia hadn’t let the reincarnation plan slip out her mouth back then, I would’ve probably thought that he was just similar.”

She laughed.

“ My invincible great-grandfather is now reduced to fighting in a children games. What a crazy world we live in.”

Meanwhile, Miko was flying through the air scanning the area

“No matter how much I look at it, this place is like a real desert.”

He said to himself.

“Hm?”

That’s when the surroundings started to glitch.

He stood in place and watched as he was teleported a new scenery.

Everywhere he looked was completely white, and the temperature had dropped significantly.

“First was a desert, now it’s a winter land huh?”

He said as he observed the white mountains in the distance, and the land covered with snow.

“The winds were pretty strong too. We must be in the middle of a blizzard.”

He landed on the ground.

“I can’t see anything past a few meters. The snow is limiting the visibility.”

‘This wouldn’t be a problem if I could use my Qi, but I might be at a disadvantage here.’

He thought.

“Ah, that’s right.”

He looked like he suddenly remembered something.

“Ishma, could you handle detecting enemies for me? It should be a piece of cake for you.”

(I don’t mind, but there’s already someone near you.)

‘Oh?’

Miko didn’t panic and instead heighten his sense as far as he could.

After a few seconds he felt an unnatural fluctuation in the air currents.

‘To my back.’

He turned around and pulled Ishma from his waist.

He slashed the sword forward with his full strength.

*Boom!*

His sword clashed with something and caused a shockwave to disperse the blizzard for a moment.

That allowed him to see who his attacker was.

“Oh?”

He smiled when he saw Rin’s face.

“Yo, King.”

Rin said with a grin.

“What’s up, Self-Proclaimed Rival?”

“Not much!”

Rin pushed Miko back and created distance between them.

“Didn’t you tell your comrades to regroup? Why are you here alone?”

“Don’t know. The scenery suddenly changed after all.”

“Oh? You’re not going to bluff, saying that they’re in hiding?”

“There’s no need. I told you earlier didn’t I?”

Rin pointed his sword at Miko.

“I intend to beat you fair and square and surpass you.”

“Is that so? Sorry, it’s just that I’m too used to treachery and deception that I don’t really take everyone’s words at face value.”

Miko said with a shrug.

“So? What’s your intentions? You want to fight here and now?”

“Of course. But there’s also something I wanted to propose.”

“Ah, I think I know what that is.”

Miko pointed Ishma at him.

“But that can wait.”

He smiled.

“To be honest, I haven’t had a straight up sword fight in a while, and I think that my skills have been getting a bit rusty. Can you help me out?”

Rin smiled back.

“That’s just what I wanted!”

Rin’s body started to release a dangerous aura, as if he was itching to fight.

“Perfect! Let’s go.”

Miko charged forward while gripping Ishma tight.

Rin gripped his silver sword and lifted it in front of him.

When Miko came into his attack range, he took a step forward and swung his sword.

*Boom!*

The two’s swords clashed and they both came to a halt.

“Not bad. Despite your appearance you pack a lot of strength.”

Rin said as he tried to push Miko back.

“I can’t tell if that was a compliment or an insult.”

“It’s a compliment of course.”

“I see. Then thank you!”

With a shout Miko pushed forward and forcibly parried Rin’s sword.

He lowered his body and performed an upward swing towards Rin’s torso.

*Boom!*

Rin blocked it with his sword, but was forcibly pushed back.

Miko didn’t let up and charged towards him while his center of gravity was still lowered.

He thrust his sword forward, aiming at Rin’s neck.

Rin covered his knee in Qi and changed the path of the thrust with a knee strike to the sword.

Miko’s balance was immediately disturbed when that happened.

Rin took that chance to thrust towards his head.

Miko quickly blocked it by placing Ishma horizontally in front of him.

*Boom!*

The strike sent him flying back a few meters.

When Miko’s feet touched the ground, Rin appeared in front of him swing his sword.

Miko desperately parried his sword but Rin didn’t let up and started to attack Miko with an aggressive charge.

Miko who had yet to obtain a firm footing desperately blocked Rin’s attack with his sword.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Sparks flew in the air as the two swords clashed.

If one was to watch from a far, they would see two silhouettes fighting in the blizzard with sparks appearing between them.

“Rin has the advantage.”

Christian said as he watched the fight.

“It’s to be expected. Rin has been swinging swords before he could even walk. To him swords are just an extension of himself.”

“What do you think, Sis?”

Alec asked Kirika who was a world renowned sword prodigy.

“That Rin kid definitely possesses superior talent in swordsmanship, but….”

She looked at Miko who was barely keeping up with Rin’s aggressive attacks.

“Miko’s movements are awkward.”

She said.

“That idiot! What is he doing?!”

Momo stood up and shouted.

“Why is he fighting with one sword when dual wielding is his specialty?!”

“Dual wielding? Ah, I see. So that’s why he looks so stiff. He’s restraining himself from drawing his other sword.”

She then narrowed her eyes.

“That Miko…..He’s trying to steal Rin’s style.”

*Boom!*

A strike from Rin blew Miko back.

“Demolition Arts….!”

He looked up and saw Rin swinging his sword down on him.

“Explosive Cut!”

*Boom!*

A huge explosion caused snow to fly everywhere, occurred.

Miko was seen flying back while bouncing off the ground.

He twisted his body and rolled to his feet.

His clothes were ruined and there were a few scratches on his body.

“Can you please take this seriously?”

Rin walked out of the smoke and said.

“Otherwise, I’ll lose interest.”

“Ah, sorry. It’s just that I haven’t been able to train that much lately. You know, with all the family drama that’s been going on.”

“This is hardly the place to train.”

Rin said with an irritated tone.

Even so, Miko smiled.

“I guess you’re right. Sorry for that.”

He pulled Regis from his waist, and the playful aura around him was replaced with one filled with dread.

“From now on, I’ll fight at my full strength.”

The snow danced around his as winds started condensing at his feet.

*Boom!*

He kicked off the ground and charged towards Rin.

He quickly popped up in front of him, to which Rin replied by thrusting his sword.

Miko dodged it with a side step, but the thrust suddenly changed from a thrust to a swing and chased after him.

Miko jumped to the side to avoid it.

(Miko behind you!)

Regis shouted in his head.

*Boom!*

Immediately after Miko was hit by an explosion from behind.

He looked behind him and saw that he was surrounded by red lines that were in the air and ground alike.

“Demolition Arts: Mine Room!”

Rin stabbed his sword into the ground and the red line lit up.

*Boom!*

Miko was suddenly devoured by a huge explosion.

“?!”

However, Miko shot out of the smoke covered in cuts and burns immediately after.

“Amazing! The Demolition Arts!”

He jumped and swung both swords down.

Rin countered with an upward swing and block them.

“Ugh?!”

Pain ran through his arms when he blocked it.

Miko jumped back with a flip and shot forward faster than before.

*Boom!*

He ran past Rin while slashing at him, which Rin parried.

Miko then halted and used the momentum to jump backwards, with his back facing the ground and his front facing the sky.

He twisted his body and slashed Rin which he barely blocked.

Miko immediately twisted and flipped his body and landed behind Rin, with his back facing him.

He slashed backwards without looking back.

Rin parried that and stepped forward and countered with a slash of his own.

However Miko jumped over his attack and spun in the air, upside down, and swung down his sword.

*Boom!*

Rin desperately blocked it.

Miko then used Rin’s sword to push himself further into the air.

He twisted his body and a chain appeared at the handles of Regis and Ishma.

He threw them down at Rin like knives.

Rin slapped them away with his sword.

Miko saw that and smirked.

He swung the chains attached to the swords and made them attack Rin again from both sides.

“Wha?!”

Rin desperately bended his back and dodged them.

Miko swung the chains again and made them attack Rin again.

Rin completed a backflip to distance himself from them.

Seeing that Miko pulled the chains and the swords returned to him.

He landed on the ground 50m away from Rin with a smile on his face.

“What kind of swordsmanship is that?!”

Kirika couldn’t help but shouted.

“No. That isn’t swordsmanship, that’s just plain madness.”

She looked at Momo.

“Just what did you teach him?”

“I didn’t teach him that way of fighting. In fact, I was pretty sure I told him not to fight like that.”

She answered seriously.

“But, I’ll let it go since it seems effective.”

She said with a smile.

Kirika took her eyes off Momo and looked back at Miko.

‘The way he moved earlier, now that I think about it, is wild but not without any proper martial art styles. Every strike was meant to take the opponent off guard and swiftly kill them. It’s like an assassin’s swordplay.’

She thought to herself.

‘But this isn’t the Mors Clan’s style. So where did he learn it from?’

He didn’t learn it from anywhere. This was Miko’s, or more specifically, Logan Cross’s own martial arts that he created to kill his enemies in any situation.

It’s a mixture of some of world's most dangerous martial arts.

Because of the presence of powers like Qi and magic, Miko was forced to abandon this style and adapt to this world.

But after countless battles, he finally found the formula to effectively implement this martial art in this world, while boosting its lethality by countless times.

The current Miko couldn’t be called a swordsman.

He was nothing but a wild sword-wielding beast.

“You know, Rin. I really like that art you’re using.”

He smirked.

“Let’s see if I can take it as my own.”