Shiiiingg!!!

A powerful sword slash was heard as Robert horizontally slashed his sword towards Edward. Edwards could easily see through the sword's path. He jumped backward and dodged the slash.

Robert's body did a 360-degree twist, along with a jump, he straight-up stabbed towards Edwards's chest. This time, it was faster and sharper, with a longer reach. Jumping backward like last time can't help Edward dodge this stab.

Edward wasn't surprised at all. He rotated his whole body in an anti-clockwise spin while moving towards Robert. The sword passed by Edward and just as Robert's attack finished, Edward was already standing on Robert's left. Before Robert could retract the sword, Edward kicked. Although he could've hit Robert with an Exploding Hammer Fist, in this situation, Edward calculated that a kick would be faster and have a longer reach.

"Outburst!", Edward shouted in his mind, and just as the kick landed, fierce force of Physical Essence burst out from both his legs. On one leg to push the body, and on the other to power up the kick.

Robert was sent flying away, crashing at the border of the fighting arena.

Edward stayed standing at his position. He did not charge towards Robert, neither did he continue his attacks. He just kept staring at Robert, who was getting up from the ground. He waited, giving Robert a chance to stand up and continue the fight.

Robert stood up. He stared at Edward in anger. He felt humiliated by the previous kick. But Robert was smart, so he soon calmed down and prepared his next move.

He looked straight into Edwards's eyes, and suddenly, he threw his sword towards Edward with astonishing strength and speed.

The sword came flying towards Edward and was about to pierce his chest.

Edward did a side jump. He moved to his left with a swift side jump but by that time, Robert was already there using a movement technic. Stretching his hand, he had already caught his sword with his left arm.

Now, Edward was caught from both left and right by Robert and his sword. On his left, Robert was throwing a punch at him with his right hand, while on his right, Robert pointed his sword towards Edward with his left hand.

"Nice move there.", Edward commented.

"But...", saying, Edward jumped straight up. It turns out he had already tightened his legs and prepared himself to jump upward right when he dodged his sword. Now, while Robert was still on the ground in the midst of attacking Edward, Edward was already above Robert's head, and Robert did not have enough time to react.

Edward kicked Robert straight on the face. Robert was thrown backward and he fell to the ground on his back.

"When you threw the sword, I already knew it was a diversion. I knew that you would come jumping at me cuz I noticed your footsteps. The first rule of predicting your opponent is to not miss the details on their lower body. Different types of moves use the lower body differently, and judging by the leg and waist muscle tension and footwork, one's next move could be predicted." , Edward explained.

Edward learned all these from Snow. Cultivators at the low levels like the Physical Essence realm or Body Metamorphosis realm do not have many resources to work with except their brute strength. So they could not use any flashy technics or projectile energy attacks. That's why using their strength in a more efficient way along with their combat experience can give them an edge in fights against opponents of a similar level.

"Now get up and give me a better fight already.", Edward shouted at Robert. He was quite annoyed. He did not believe that someone like Robert had nothing special to show him.

Hearing Edwards's words, Robert forced himself to stand up. there was a trail of blood on his face which he wiped with his sleeves.

"I am not finished yet.", he said.

"Then come", Edward provoked.

"Haaa!", at that moment, Robert shouted. All his Physical Essence energy churned inside his whole body. He was pushing every bit of his strength out for this fight.

"Still trying to rely on brute strength, are you? Although you have some technics, they mostly rely on pure strength. But don't you realize that although you have broken through to the 3rd level of the Body Metamorphosis realm in this one month, I also have broken through to the 5th level of the Body Metamorphosis realm. That means I'm still two realms higher than you, just like before. There is no way you can match me in terms of pure strength and speed. In order to even the fields, you have to depend on superior technics and combat skills, which you don't have, but at least try to use the fact that I'm weaponless while you have a weapon to your advantage." while fighting, Edward was giving guidance to Robert.

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Robert wielded his sword using both his hands this time and charged at Edward with extreme speed. When he was near Edward, he attacked Edward with continuous unpredictable sword slashes. Edward was dodging all of them at rapid speed using 'Hexagon Dash'. Robert's sword slashes were ruthless and they came from all directions.

"Now that's more like it.", Edward praised Robert while dodging.

"But still not enough.", Edward declared. He suddenly let Robert's sword hit him.

"Mountain!", just at the moment the sword hit him, Edward used the second level of the Great Eruption Art,'Mountain', to channel an incredible amount of Physical Essence exactly at the place of his body where the sword hit him. With this incredible defense, Edward only got a scratch on his skin.

With Robert's sword blocked by Edward's body, before he could react, Edward threw a punch on Robert's Chest.

"Exploding Hammer Fist!"

"OutBurst!"

With the combination of Exploding Hammer Fist and 'Outburst' of physical essence on his right hand, the punch was devastating.

Robert was sent flying away at a shocking speed. He was flying out of the arena but used his sword to stab onto the ground and stop himself from crashing. Kneeling on one leg, holding himself straight with the help of his sword, he gasped for breath.

"Cough cough.", he coughed a mouthful of blood. His second knee also fell on the ground. Now, he was totally fallen. There was no strength left on his body. He tried to stand up with all his might, but he couldn't. His body gave out, and he fell flat on his face, with blood dripping out of his mouth. In his eyes were despair, and regret.

"I guess that's all there was to you. You have a strong spirit, but it is not strong enough to survive in the true world of martial cultivation. That's how far you go. If you stay at your place and cultivate, you can definitely be at the top. But in the grand stage known as the Nine Paragon World, I am not sure how far you will go. So this is it, our deal end here.", Edward said with a sigh.

"I guess that was it. That new freshman is too strong and skilled. The boy from the Brown family lost. But how did a freshman like that appear out of nowhere without any powerful family?", the spectators finally broke their silence.

"This Edward, he will be catching up to us very soon.", an A-rank student commented.

Soon, the spectators started to leave the arena. Everyone was returning to their own business.

Edward turned around and started walking out of the arena. Robert lied on the ground, powerless, unable to get up, unable to change how things turned out. For the first time, he realized the helplessness of a mortal, the sheer despair a mortal can feel, without any power to do anything about their powerlessness. All he could do was stare at Edward's back, slowly fading away. He coughed out more blood and was slowly losing consciousness.

At that moment, something sparked in his mind. He imagined a grand stage, where he was having a grand martial battle. Everyone on the stage was powerful cultivators, with power far greater than he has ever seen. He saw himself defeating opponents one by one, slowly climbing to the peak of this world, to the peak of martial arts.

"This isn't the end.", he suddenly murmured.

"This isn't the end. This isn't the end. This isn't the end.", his voice was getting clearer and clearer.

"THIS IS NOT THE END!!!", shouting with all his mind, Robert stood up. His sword came flying into his hand from the ground all on its own. A fearsome aura burst out of his body, just like what happened to Edward while saving Snow from this demon. The only difference was, Robert's aura was nowhere near powerful enough compared to Edward back then.

Still, Robert's aura was fearsome. An incredible amount of physical essence was bursting out from his body. The power full aura exploded, and Robert stood there with his sword in his hand, like an overlord.

In a blink of an eye, Robert dashed towards Edward with extreme speed. He slashed out with his sword.

Edward turned around. By this time, he was already wielding his dual axes on his hand. He blocked Robert's slash with one of his axes. Sparks flew out from the collision.

With his other ax, he slashed towards Robert, but Robert had already jumped backward and dodged it.

With a flash, they both clashed once again. Neither of them got the upper hand. They kept clashing again and again, and with each clash, Robert's aura was getting more and more fierce.

"Cultivators at our level shouldn't be able to produce any aura. You have the aura of an emperor by birth, don't you? You are quite like me. But you are still not anywhere near what hides within me. Do you know? Even I fear myself sometimes."

All of a sudden, Edward let out a terrifying aura from his body. Feeling the aura, Robert trembled, and his mighty aura vanished in an instant. He fell to the ground on his knees.

"I...I still lost.", lowering his head, he cried.

"But I have no regret. I gave it my all and even went beyond myself. I have to admit, you are strong, Edward. I have nothing to overpower you with."

At that moment, Edward retracted his aura.

"You don't have to. You have already proven yourself.", said Edward. Then he stretched his hand towards Robert.

Robert looked at Edward's face. Then he took Edward's hand and stood up.

"You are more than worthy. I can believe in you just like I believe in myself. You have a very similar spirit. From now on, we're partners in the journey of martial arts.", Edward declared.

"Thanks.", Robert said. He was really grateful.

At this moment, the remaining few spectators clapped. They have never seen such an amazing fight go down in this academy.

"Let's head back to our room. We have a lot to talk about.", Edward said to Robert.

"Yes. Let's go.", they both left the arena.

Thus, the battle between Edward and Robert ended. And now, they are partners in their journey to the peak of martial arts.