Child of Destiny

...

Shin stared solemnly at Pogo as he could tell that the latter also had a Tier 3 Class and possessed a special combat state on a similar level as his Reality Manifestation.

The earlier exchange was more than enough for him to realize this since the great control that he had seen from the latter when using the chained sickles to ambush him was absolute and perfect. Even the micro-movements of the chains were so good that they looked like a part of Pogo's body.

With such control, Shin understood that it would not be the 'Reality Manifestation', but more like what Diablo had. "Hyperactive Immersion?"

As Shin mumbled those words, Pogo seemed to have heard his words and said. "I see that you are also one of us – true Tier 3s."

Hearing that, Shin got the confirmation. But instead of getting intimidated, especially when he was facing an additional enemy that was much stronger than others, he started smiling behind his mask.

He felt that this was going to be much more fun and entertaining than he originally thought.

Without waiting for Shin to say anything further, Pogo quickly made his move. He dashed forward and disappeared in his current position, leaving a shockwave behind that blasted the air in that place.

Swoosh!

"Fast!" Shin was somewhat surprised at the speed of his opponent, but he remained calm as he knew two other people, who were much faster than this guy.

He then adjusted his posture and twisted his waist before turning in the opposite direction and calmly raising his sword and unhurriedly swinging it upwards.

Swoosh!

Bang!

In an instant, his swords suddenly collided with something hard, resulting in a strong collision. The air around him and Pogo, who suddenly appeared right in front of him, scattered and sent violent ripples in every direction.

The sickle and the sword vibrated as both sides refused to back down.

Shin calmly looked at Pogo while the latter continued to maintain his grin and started straight into Shin's eyes.

Pogo could not see Shin's face due to the shade of the hood, but he could at least see that the latter was wearing a mask to further hide his identity. He now understood why his special observation skill was not giving him any information about this guy. Possessing two disguising items to hide his identity was like having a double security feature.

Disregarding his intention of trying to reveal Shin's identity and confirm their suspicion, Pogo quickly adjusted his approach and decided to fight for real.

Clank! Clank!

With a slight flick of his wrist, Pogo tugged the chains connected to his sickle while his other hand swung the other sickle, dragging the chains attached to its handle.

Shin quickly responded by pushing Pogo and swinging his other sword to meet the incoming sickle. The trajectory of his strike was quite tricky as it was also trying to catch his opponent at the same time.

Seeing the incoming sword, Pogo quickly adjusted his position by pulling his right arm backward and then changing the trajectory of the sickle on his left hand to meet the sword of his opponent.

Bang!

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Right after the collision, the chains attached to the sickles suddenly moved and surrounded the two, particularly Shin who was flanked in two different directions.

But since they were moving forward, Shin could just move backward to prevent them from completely trapping him.

However, Shin did not proceed to take that obvious answer since he could tell that it was just a trap that Pogo had laid to try baiting him in.

Instead, he held his ground after pushing Pogo away to create a space between them. He then took a stance, left-hand sword raised over his left shoulder while the right-hand sword was placed below his armpit and beside his waist.

Bang!

There was a strong pressure that was released from his body, making Pogo slightly hesitate to continue pressing forward.

With that, Pogo just pulled his arms backward, making the chains roll in the air as they were being dragged by his actions.

Seeing the incoming chains that were flanking him, Shin suddenly moved. He suddenly took a step forward while swinging two swords consecutively, creating violent ripples in the air.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

His actions did not stop the approaching chains as they continued to move toward him, surrounding him from different directions. But their approach at least slowed down due to the strong ripples in the air that were trying to push them back.

After that, Shin suddenly stomped on the ground and then propelled himself forward. At the same time, he also raised one of his swords and pointed it forward, throwing a forward thrust straight at Pogo.

His actions were fast and decisive while the transition between his movements was smooth and flawless.

Swoosh!

Shin also applied the sword principle that he had learned, particularly the 'will of quickness', making his sword and movements move faster.

Shing!

A straight line appeared in the air, connecting the starting point of Shin's sword and its sharp tip.

'Extra Skill: (Modified) Sword Rush – Thrusting Dash'

The tip of Shin's sword was almost upon Pogo, who was still in the middle of his previous actions. The tip of the sword was rapidly magnifying in his eyes as it was alright right in front of his face.

Without any hint of hesitation, Pogo decisively gave up on trapping Shin with his chains and quickly used one of his escaping skills.

'Extra Skill (Tier 2): Gale Steps'

Swoosh!

His figure suddenly flicked, leaving an afterimage, as his real body disappeared before he appeared a couple of meters away.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

But at the same time, the chains connected to his sickles were also dragged along with him, making them follow him toward that new position.

Pogo tried to adjust his arms as he controlled the chains, making them again surround Shin.

But Shin was already expecting that, so he continued to move forward and chased after his opponent by using the second charge of his previous skill.

Bang!

With another powerful stomp that left a deep footprint on the ground, Shin sent himself forward once again. But this time, he infused the 'Primordial Lightning' with his movements, increasing his already insane speed even further.

Crackle! Crackle!

Shin left a trail of lighting in the path behind him as he flew straight to Pogo standing a distance away.

'Extra Skill: (Modified) Sword Rush – (Lighting) Slicing Dash'

Shin swung the sword forward, leaving a trail of lighting on its trajectory.

Seeing Shin appearing right in front of him once again, Pogo could not help but click his tongue while frowning deeply. Without any choice left, he could only retreat once again as he could not afford a frontal confrontation with Shin.

Swoosh!

Using another escape skill, Pogo appeared a distance away once again. He looked a little more serious this time as he found that his current strategy would not work on someone like Shin, so he had to use his advantage as well.

"I know that he is holding himself back when fighting those mutts, but I don't expect that he is on this level," mumbled Pogo as he continued to create more distance away from Shin.

Even if he knew that Shin could also enter the true special combat states, he still did not expect that the difference between when the latter was playing around and when he started getting serious would be this wide.

Coming up with this conclusion, Pogo had to showcase his real abilities too.

This was going to be completely different when he was fighting David – known as 'Khing' within the game – since Shin focused more on frontal confrontation and possessed a speed that was no worse than his.

When Pogo was fighting Khing, the latter possessed a series of odd skills, which made it hard for the former to be quite restricted during that battle. There were even a couple of summoned monsters at that time, which was limiting the choices Pogo had when attacking, so he could not properly showcase his full capacities, despite him performing well.

But this time, it was a completely different situation. It was clear to him that this current opponent that he had was an expert in close combat with insane speed.

Thinking about this, Pogo loosened his grip over his chained sickles before letting them fall. Before the sickles could even touch the ground, he suddenly grabbed the chains attached to their handles pulling them up with a gentle tug with his wrist.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

He then started spinning the two sickles before doing a couple of tricks with them as he spun them around his body.

Shin immediately noticed the sudden change in the air surrounding his opponent. He could tell that Pogo was now taking him more seriously.

After that, he saw the chains that Pogo was holding become covered with a crimson aura while the blades of the sickles turned bloody, making the spinning around him shine bright.

Shin could also sense an immense threat coming from those two spinning sickles, making him more cautious of them.

At the same time, he kept the two swords that he was using, putting them back in his inventory while hiding his arms under his cloak.

He was planning to use his real sword this time as he could sense that those chained sickles were no ordinary weapons. Even if his current swords were quite good as well, he could sense that they were inferior to the weapons that his opponent was using.

He also saw that their durability dropped drastically after their brief exchange earlier. This was one of the reasons why Shin wanted to use the [Yamato] – it was an indestructible weapon and could also shatter weapons that were greatly weaker than it.

But instead of using its original form, he was planning to use the dual katana. Even if he had used this form in public before, he was not that worried that it would expose his identity since despite their amazing appearance, they were not that unique to everyone – there were also high-quality swords out there with similar designs.

After swapping his weapons secretly, Shin held both swords while shrouding them with the 'Primordial Lightning' to further hide their somewhat common appearance. Not many would be able to notice the difference between these words and the ones that he was using earlier.

…

As Shin and Pogo were having a staredown, Phantom, who just escaped death earlier, was not sure what to do next.

He was not that delusional to believe that Pogo had saved him. As an assassin himself, he could tell that it was a perfect opportunity to launch an ambush and the most efficient timing where the latter could take down Shin.

He just felt a little unpleasant for being used as bait at that very moment. Given the great timing that Pogo had chosen, Phantom could tell that the guy had been watching them for quite a while already.

He then saw the brief but intense exchanges between Shin and Pogo right after the initial ambush, Phantom instantly realized the gap between him and these two monsters.

This also confirmed their initial suspicion that Shin was one of the top Godlike Players of the game or might even be a Maverick God that they were not aware of.

On the other hand, Pogo, known as the Killer Clown, was an old god who was almost forgotten by everyone due to his being inactive for quite a long time. But the people would still remember his infamous feats that could strike fear in most of the players, especially when he was one of the founding members of the largest and most notorious dark guilds within the game, the Blood Carnival.

Looking at the two gods in front of him, Phantom felt inferior compared to them despite him finally being a Godlike Player himself and even getting a title for himself. Yet all of it was still not enough as the gap was laid in front of him.

Fortunately, he had a strong will, so he could quickly recover himself. He then turned to around and headed toward the rest of his group, lending them a hand in dealing with those overpowered clones of Shin.

After regrouping them, they would have to reorganize themselves before trying to try once again.

...…