“Hidden Flash!”

The moment the cold blade touched Mwana’s neck, he instantly activated "Instant Movement: Hidden Flash" to move away.

It is only when he got his back away from his opponent that he experienced a hint of temporary relief. But mentally, Mwana was completely shaken.

‘This is the first time someone has ever sneaked up on me like this! Is he faster than me? Or is it that his assassination proficiency is so high that he can easily slip through my perception?!’ Numerous chaotic thoughts ran through Mwana’s mind.

Since he got the Dragon Mirror Eye, Mwana always had a 360 degree perception and sensory field around his body at all times. Not even a fly could get close to him without him noticing.

On top of that, Mwana had always been proud of his speed. And this was not without reason. After all, with how many speed techniques Mwana had mastered it was only natural for him to be confident in his speed.

Facing the opponent, Mwana finally got a good look at him.

Apart from wearing the same outer clothes as the other Codes, the man standing opposite Mwana also wore a ridged golden mask. The only thing that could be seen was his dark eyes. Not only were his pupils and irises pitch black, but his entire eyeballs were also completely black in color.

At the sides of the man’s mask and neck, Mwana could see some exposed skin.

‘This guy is not human!’ Mwana’s thoughts were formed based on this slight fact. This man’s skin was completely paper-white! Not just pale but completely white in color.

Combining his extremely white skin and dark eyes, Mwana could roughly guess what kind of alienoid being this man was. However, none of this mattered. A battle was about to break out.

“Tsiaaaaaaaa!” This was Mwana’s war cry; a way to raise his vigor in combat.

According to Mwana’s teachers at the academy, it was always best to give your best war cry before a fight. There were three main reasons for this. First, a war cry served as an intimidation tactic. Second, it could be used to distract attackers thus creating a better chance to counterattack or get away. The third reason was to draw attention. In case one was overwhelmed in battle, a war cry could be used to draw more people to gather around you. If the war cry was unique enough, it could even be used to signal your allies.

Although Mwana’s strong war cry shook the tiles in the street, the man opposite him was not the least intimidated.

“Child, a war cry won’t help you here.” The man said in a calm tone.

After speaking, the man suddenly unleashed a weird blazing yet cold aura that shook Mwana to the core.

Nevertheless, Mwana was prepared to give it his all. To win this fight, he needed speed! Extremely fast speed!

“Let us see how you stand against my ultimate speed technique combination.” Mwana said as he suddenly activated everything at once.

This ultimate technique combination aimed at producing absolute speed so fast that any opponent would be frozen in place.

The first technique in Mwana’s list of movement skills was 100 Steps in an Instant which had evolved into Instant Movement.

Further, from the Thunder section of the Sun and Moon arts, Mwana had not only learned the palm technique Rushing Thunder Charge, but also the movement art Rushing Thunder Steps.

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The Rushing Thunder Steps was not even the only thunder and lightning technique that Mwana had learned. There was also the basic lightning stepping technique.

To butter up Mwana to join their ThunderBull School, Jua Umeme had taught Mwana the basics of this movement art ‘under the table.’ Unlike the other agents and scouts of martial schools in the village, Umeme was a proactive woman.

In fact, Mwana felt like the lightning steps was more like a bribe rather than enticement.

From Mwana’s own unique martial art, the Green Dragon Mantra, he had mastered 3 profound dragon steps so far. After watching the exploits of the Green Dragon in his dreams as well as during his meditations, Mwana would be a fool if he couldn’t even glimpse some of the mysteries of the dragon’s speed.

The last speed technique came from his father’s sword art. Out of the three major sword moves, the sword cleave inspired a movement technique that cleaved apart air resistance. This move was named Sword Cleave Movement.

“Instant Movement + Withered Wood Dance + Rushing Thunder Steps + Basic Lightning Steps + 3 Dragon Step Art + Sword Cleave Movement!”

With this ultimate technique combination, Mwana suddenly shot towards his opponent with incredible speed.

In all his years of training, this was the fastest that Mwana had ever moved! When he shot forth at top speed, he looked like a bolt of lightning streaking through the street.

He even got the feeling that his opponent was not worthy of fully grasping the sheer speed of the ultimate skill combination. Could anyone grasp how fast he truly was?

In Mwana’s eyes, Code A – the Apotheosis was frozen in place. It seemed as if he couldn’t even think. And it was not just him; all the thugs in the street were basically just statues. Even the rain looked nearly frozen as if it was struggling to move even the smallest millimeter.

Instantaneously, Mwana appeared right in front of the Apotheosis. His movement was fast but his fist was even faster!

Mwana’s fist was aimed right at his opponent’s neck. No matter how durable the Apotheosis was, a warrior’s neck was always a weak-point. This move would surely put him to sleep.

However, when the punch neared his opponent, Mwana suddenly saw Code A move slightly.

He shot a glance at him!

Given the speed at which Mwana was traveling, everything around him was either frozen in space or in slow motion. Only he alone could move in this kind of a world.

But now, he suddenly saw Code A turn his head and glance at him at what looked like normal speed!

The glance gave Mwana quite a shock.

His current speed was achieved by combining multiple high-speed movement techniques yet his opponent easily reacted to his full speed!

Worse of all, there was no sight of Code A activating any special moves or techniques. This was pure inbuilt reaction speed!

Not good!

Bang!

Code A sent out a punch clashing against Mwana’s fist.

An instant later, Mwana was sent flying. He then spun a number of times in the air to counteract the force before landing unsteadily on the ground. In contrast, Code A was only pushed back slightly as he slid across the mud for 4 or 5 meters before steadying his feet.

“Interesting. That fist style has echoes of both Southern and Eastern military boxing. And your aura, that draconic feeling, that power seems similar to that of the elusive Sun Dragon Bloodline? Or is there something else mixed within?” Code A muttered. “Mhm, mhm, you gotta be from the Jua clan right?”

Listening to the mutterings of this man, Mwana was already sweating bullets. In just a sentence or two, this man had already guessed his origins.

‘He could track my origins just based on my fist style and identify my bloodline just based on my aura?!’ Mwana almost could not believe it.

Code A had used Mwana’s fist style to determine the general geographical area Mwana came from. Combining this information with Mwana’s percieved bloodline, he was able to guess Mwana’s ethnic origins to a very accurate degree.

Thinking of this, Mwana knew he had run into a thick wall this time.

In their exchange, Code A was able to guess the origins of Mwana’s base martial arts since its echoes were in ever technique Mwana used. This martial art which was the basis of everything Mwana practiced was "Natural Boxing - Thousand Leaves in Ones Palm". Although it was just a regular boxing form taught at the Academy, this practice form had many variations across all of Toro and beyond.

As for Code A, he also used a basic fist technique called “88 Cudgels Pounding Yam.” This was a technique that emphasized building up force, accumulating raw strength, and boosting one’s endurance.

In addition to his solid foundation in boxing arts, Code A, the Apotheosis had also achieved the “No Breath Realm.” With this assassination proficiency, it was not just his speed that was amazing but he could also completely erase his ‘breath.’ In this way, he could practically appear and disappear from anywhere without anyone noticing him. He could even easily get past the perception fields and senses of powerful warriors let alone a kid like Mwana.