Chapter 48: Second Step

Hi, sorry about the lack of recent updates for the last week or so. I was pretty busy moving so I didn’t get the time to edit + proofread and post any chapters. It seems that people prefer the action oriented style of combat, so I’ll be sticking to that with describing a few skills and rewriting the past battles to better fit that later on.

I’ve pretty much finished moving, so I’ll be uploading more frequently.

Hope you enjoy the story!

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Although his attacks didn’t go through, William wasn’t very anxious.

He had the advantage; Fang only managed to ward off that skill by utilizing a lucky timing. If the same technique rained down on Fang constantly, it’d be likely that he’d be unable to defend eventually.

William’s thoughts were completely correct – Fang knew that he could defend himself against the relentless golden spears, but at this rate, he was no threat. Though Fang’s reserves of energy were high, he didn’t know if he could outlast William.

Quick reflexes saved him from that strange skill, but he wasn’t that he could successfully block it again. And if he showed a single window of weakness, it was likely that he’d lose.

Therefore, there wasn’t any hope in stalling it out – to take victory, he’d switch to the offensive!

Fang rushed towards William, zigzagging side to side with a fierce glint in his eyes.

In response, William immediately understood what Fang was about to do; since he outclassed Fang in terms of ranged attacks, Fang was approaching for a close confrontation. It might have caused panic for some people, but for him, this was a laughable strategy.

Grinning, his hands glowed golden. A sharp scythe spun headed towards Fang, cutting off his escape.

As the yellow light loomed closer, Fang paused and swung his hand as energy gathered in the form of a club. With fierce momentum, the blunt club smashed towards the scythe.

However, under the impact, the scythe didn’t break. Instead, it embedded itself into the club, inching nearer and nearer as it dug through the energy. After all, the metallic element that the energy possessed made it matchless against regular, non-elemental energy.

Fang abandoned the club and drew backwards as the scythe accelerated towards him. In a couple of seconds, it would surely reach him.

But at this moment, Fang disappeared.

5th grade yellow skill – Shadow Step!

It was impractical to constantly confront the enemy’s techniques, but there usually wasn’t a choice as the speed energy travelled at exceeded the physical capability of an ordinary person. Hence, techniques to enhance the body and enable it to move at extremely fast speeds were developed. The mismatch between the body and mind caused extreme disorientation when used, thus, the practicality of this area dropped completely for the majority of people in the intermediate stage. Just now though, Fang had demonstrated such a technique.

And it wasn’t all – the single step was followed up by a second step, changing direction completely.

V Shadow Step!

A single step would be considered impressive, but to chain two at once? Visible shock spread throughout the crowd, it was well known that unless a fighter displayed or attuned to the wind element, the execution of speed techniques was impossible for someone at the intermediate stage. In fact, the majority of people at the start of the advanced stage couldn’t display as much mobility as this so rapidly.

To Fang, this wasn’t much – it was just a shallow echo of what one of the ten elders had explained within that space.

This combination of steps turned the situation around; Fang evaded the attack and now, he was a couple of meters away from William.

William’s face turned dark as Fang, taking advantage of the distance, swept his foot in a long arc. Energy condensed into a wave flew towards William’s torso.

Unable to back away, a cry rang out as a large golden shield appeared on William’s arm.

Bang!

The golden shield slightly cracked as William slid backwards, a cloud of dust trailing his path. However, he looked unscathed, save for a slight graze along his arm.

Fang couldn’t help but admire William’s fast reflexes. He was on a completely different level than anyone he had fought before.

Although he had fallen short, cheering came from the crowd. Originally, William was expected to win this match flawlessly, yet, unexpectedly, he was close to defeat from this attack from Fang.

Richard’s expression became solemn as he stared at Fang – initially, he didn’t pay too much attention seeing how low Fang’s energy was, but in this fight, he surprisingly forced his son into this unfavourable situation. He scowled as he understood why Valeria picked this person.

Truly, though Fang wasn’t famous yet, his potential was scary and it would only be a matter of time.

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Fang continued to attack relentlessly, attempting to break that solid shield standing between him and William. Realizing that he couldn’t compare to Fang in close combat, William made this difficult by persistently retreating. There was just too many techniques that he didn’t expect, and although his energy contained the metal element, Fang didn’t give any openings for him to take.

Frustratingly, William backed away, suppressed by Fang’s assault of kicks and fists. However, even though a lot of attacks had hit the shield with full force, the shield refused to crumple. He wasn’t defeated yet, but William’s expression was grim.

Seeing that Fang had the advantage, the students, especially class eight, grew more and more excited.

“I said that our prefect would win, but no one believed me!”

“Anyone might have won, it’s just that right now our class prefect has the lead. It looks bad for William, he doesn’t have a chance to counter attack at all.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that Fang studied so many fighting skills, even grasping Shadow Step!”

“Though William might have the metal element to his energy, this fight isn’t about whose energy is stronger; it’s dominated by the skills of the fighters!”

Compared with the lively chatter of class eight, class two stayed dead silent. They thought that this would be an overwhelming victory with the superior level of energy they had, but it seemed that it wasn’t so simple. Fang was really too difficult to deal with, his array of techniques being as large as it was and his knowledge of when to use what being terrifyingly precise.

A fearful doubt came up in their minds. Was it possible that the representative of the top class would lose to the lowest class?

Before the battle, William never anticipated he’d fall into such a precarious position. He wanted his revenge on class two, and it was supposed to be easy.

There was no way he, William of the largest business in Minuet City, the head of the most excellent class in Garden College would possibly lose like this. This was unacceptable!