The black helmet comes off, and underneath is nothing but a glowing orange, handsome man's face. It drops the helmet, letting it fall to the town below.

One by one, the large figure slowly takes off its gloves, boots, chestplate, and heavy leggings to reveal the shape of a bright orange form of energy in the shape of a 3-meter-tall man with short hair and smooth skin, still floating, moving toward me at a constant rate.

I do another full scan, now that I can see it clearly.

[Lv. 1082]

Active Items:

[NONE]

Active Skills:

[NONE]

Buffs:

[Curse of The Lich King]

Its status looks no different than any of the other Wraiths that attacked me moments ago. Even the Ghouls back in the Arena had the same status details.

The only difference is I can sense the intensity coming off of this soul energy is on a whole other level. It feels like the air pressure all around me has shifted, and I'm looking at a being that is far stronger than anything I've ever seen before.

The soul energy reading that came off of all its subordinates combined moments ago doesn't even compare to the strength of the energy flowing around this creature. It has a Soul Energy barrier surrounding every inch of its body, making it seem like it is a bright orange entity.

It comes closer and closer until the gap between us is less than 15 meters.

Then, speaks through the static telepathy link.

"I am on another level than those weak Wraiths, this heavy armor may improve their defenses, but it only slows me down. I told you already, you stand no chance. Give up now, or die trying. It's your choice."

I don't say a word, still analyzing the being in front of me, trying to figure out what exactly it is...

"Are you... a human?"

There's a slight pause, then the orange floating man clasps his hands together. They glow brighter orange, giving off a nearly yellow shine, then as he separates them, an incredibly large long sword materializes from thin air. It's well over half the man's body length, and almost 4 times as wide as my own sword.

It looks extremely heavy and awkward to wield, however, he swings it a few times through the air so fast it's hard to track and the graceful swings leave trails of orange energy in their wake that shimmer and linger in the air.

He replies to my question, and I see a black number 7 printed like a tattoo on his right wrist right where he holds the sword.

"This is my human form, yes. You know too little, and have stepped too far into the unknown to continue any further without proper guidance. The Dark One wishes to make you part of the Dark Guard. We needed a new number 13, but now it seems we need five more. Your friends in the arena will do just fine as substitutes."

He pauses, and the only thing that fills the open link between us is static.

"One last chance to comply, or your journey ends here and now."

A mind-bending wave of energy ripples out of the floating Dark Guard that feels like a natural aura version of my intimidation skill.

It makes me sweat and grit my teeth just bearing it, but I look him in the eyes while activating all my buffs and channeling Qi into my sword.

"Not happening... If you want to fight, bring it on-"

Before I can finish my last word, a flash of orange light comes rocketing toward me. The only thing I'm able to do is swing my sword up to block.

I come face to face with the oversized man and his orange blade made of soul energy collides with mine wrapped in Qi, mana shielding, and a veil of flames.

An eruption of energy comes out of the collision and an ear-shattering crack that sounds as if the sky is splitting in two is released into the atmosphere.

Next thing I know, I'm propelled backward at speeds faster than I've ever traveled before.

Half of my barrier around my sword is eroded away instantly by the collision, but so did a nearly equal portion of the Dark Guard's. Even so, the pure strength and force behind this frontal attack sends me on a crash course for the city below.

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I activate wind magic to slow my fall so the impact with the ground won't be as bad, but in the back of my mind, I can sense dozens of people below me all standing together in an abandoned warehouse.

The orange sword wielder watches from above, admiring his own work, concluding that the battle is already over.

At the forefront of my mind, the first thing is surviving, but the town below me is still a very valuable asset I'd like to keep in good condition. The people in it, and the thousands of brand-new items don't need to be destroyed for no reason.

So, less than 100 meters above the ground, instead of using all my air magic to lighten my landing, I use it to change my course and make impact with an abandoned neighborhood of small homes off to the side.

The ripple of stone, dirt, and mana that flies in the air as my feet make impact with the ground disintegrates everything around me for over 20 meters.

As I stare back at the sky and replenish the Qi that was destroyed from our clash from my core back into my sword, I see the same streak of orange light come soaring down my way.

Waves of energy attack my psyche and the static telepathy triggers in my mind again.

"Tougher than I thought. Maybe it'll take a few more hits."

The Dark Guard shows a smile across his face and the lifeless eyes of his human figure begin to glow. The energy from all around his body starts to thin, lowering his overall defenses, and the density of the Soul energy around his sword grows to be far greater. It shines yellow like a second sun in the sky as I look up at him.

However, there are a few points on his body that remain fully guarded. The area around his neck and heart do not have soul energy drained from them to create this strike.

My perception skills are sensing hundreds of innocent workers all around me on every side. If I want to go all out without holding back at all, I need to get away from this town.

I activate stealth and jump away in the opposite direction of the falling swordsman aiming for the outer edge of the village that leads to the wide-open rolling sandy hills of the desert.

Even when fully concealing my presence, the eyes of the man follow me.

I hear an loud crack of the ground below me, then sense the intense energy and heat of a supercharged sword swinging up at me.

I deactivate stealth and focus all my energy on blocking with a downward swing of my own, but my eyes widen as the dense hot energy of its attack overpowers my full strength Qi barrier this time around.

It pushes through, sizzling away the protective layers and hardly taking any damage itself. As a last-ditch effort, I channel the remaining Qi and mana shielding that surrounds my body into my sword. The resulting explosion of released energy throws me high into the sky, and pushes the Dark Guard back to the ground.

I open my item storage to let thousands of MP worth of mana crystals out to plunder, rejuvenating me on the spot, while swallowing a Qi pill to bring my core back up to full while I soar at full speed into the open desert.

Those two attacks may not have done any physical damage to either of us, but it definitely gauged our strengths.

This guard knows I'm capable of blocking its attacks now, so he isn't going to hold back any longer.

There is a positive note that follows this though, I believe I spotted a fatal weakness and plan to exploit it once I confirm its true.

Less than a minute pass as I fly away at my top speed, but the flash of light outpaces me easily.

Once the city is out of sight, I finally turn to face the creature again as it storms toward me with a focused gaze and glowing sword. I charge thousands of MP worth of fire magic into my blade to test my theory.

I swing it across my body, letting a crescent-shaped wave of dense flames fly through the air and collide with the Guard's sword.

As expected, its eyes track it perfectly, and its sword slashes upward to easily destroy the flames.

I get a telepathy link in a taunting tone.

"Giving up so soon? That must have been your weakest attack so far."

I smirk and activate my Red Hydra's Buff for a split second to send another crescent of energy its way.

The wave of fire ripples through the air, covered in a dense red aura of borrowed energy, but the same exact result follows this attack too.

The Dark Guard swings its bright orange sword through my attack and it's dispelled and evaporated with ease. This time, there are some resulting crackling reactions of Soul Energy, and a small amount manages to sizzle away its own, but the energy is replenished instantly and doesn't make a dent in its own Soul Energy stores.

"A little better, but is that all you've got? Your energy was rather strong when we started, I won't lie. Even your borrowed energy can't save you now. Did those two attacks really wear you down this much? So long, Flame Emperor."

I deactivate all my mana-based combat skills and focus on my Qi alone.

There is still one technique that I manage to awaken in my last few months inside the Titan's Domain.

These two tests confirm to me that its time for me to finally try it out.

I channel all of the Qi in my body into my sword, continuously replenishing my barrier from my core, and channeling more into the blade until it becomes oversaturated.

Held tight in both my hands is a sword glowing so white it is dripping with Qi. Every moment I waste staring down at it, there are large percentages of my core's enegy that fall away into the air.

I focus on my breathing and stare straight ahead at the incoming confident man.

I swing my sword across my body and let a crescent of pure condensed Qi erupt from my blade.

The contents of nearly my entire core are released from my sword's edge and rocket toward the glowing orange guard.

It takes less than a second to make contact, and my opponent doesn't even see it coming.

His eyes widen as I swing my blade, but the corners of his lips curve upward as he watches nothing come out.

Just like me back in Valor City, when I was relying on the Red Hydra's buff for all of my power, I could not sense the Qi in Monk's' attacks when we were fighting in the Arena for the first time.

Now, this ignorant warrior is learning that same lesson for himself.

My invisible attack slices through his left shoulder that isn't protected by a dense barrier of soul energy like his right holding the sword.

Moments later, his whole left arm slides off his body and falls down to the desert below.

The man's expression shifts to one of anger, but his forward momentum does not stop or slow at all despite his lost limb. The super charged blade of Soul Energy continues to swing downward directly at me.