LIII

Shen’s movement was terrifying in its simplicity. He didn’t waste time with unnecessary flourishes or theatrics; every step, every shift of his weight, was deliberate and exact. One moment he was standing before me, and in the next, he was gone.

It wasn’t teleportation—it was raw speed. My eyes struggled to follow his form, my senses scrambling to keep pace with the Spear God.

“It is my turn,” Shen had said.

And now, he made good on that promise.

The first strike came faster than I could react. His spear tip grazed the side of my doll, leaving a thin, glowing line in its wake. The aura radiating from the spear wasn’t just for show—it was a searing force, leaving scorch marks wherever it touched.

I yanked the doll backward, activating the Homing attribute to pull it toward me. The chains coiled around its arms rattled as I recalibrated, but Shen was already on the move again.

He was relentless. A second strike followed, this one aimed directly at me. My instincts screamed, and I barely managed to dodge by shifting my position using a Vector Path. I stumbled as I landed, my chest heaving.

This wasn’t working.

Shen’s mastery over his ability was staggering. His spear moved as if it had a mind of its own, each thrust, swing, and feint perfectly calculated to leave no room for error. And worse, his aura was growing stronger.

The Spear God ability wasn’t just about wielding a spear—it was about dominating with it. Every moment he fought, his precision and power amplified. The longer this battle dragged on, the slimmer my chances of winning became.

I needed to end this quickly.

I reached out with my Connection attribute, tethering the doll’s chains to a nearby tree. The shimmering links glowed faintly as I wove a web of paths, creating a makeshift battlefield where I controlled the terrain.

Shen noticed immediately. His eyes flicked toward the chains, narrowing slightly.

“You think tricks will save you?” he asked, his tone calm but laced with steel.

I didn’t answer. Words wouldn’t stop him, but maybe the right strategy could.

The doll surged forward, its chains snapping taut as it used the anchored web to propel itself. Shen met the assault head-on, his spear spinning in a defensive arc. The collision of chains and aura rang out like a thunderclap, the shockwave scattering leaves and dirt in all directions.

But I wasn’t finished.

Using the Homing attribute, I directed the chains to converge on Shen from multiple angles. Apparently, my aura was considered organic, thus they ‘homing’ somehow worked on them. The doll danced around him, its movements erratic and unpredictable, each strike designed to force him into a corner.

Shen, however, wasn’t so easily cornered.

He parried one chain, sidestepped another, and used the momentum of his movements to counter with devastating efficiency. His spear lashed out, severing one of the chains in a single blow.

“Is this all you’ve got?” Shen’s voice carried over the chaos.

No. It wasn’t.

The severed chain retracted, its broken end glowing faintly. I activated a hidden function I’d built into it—an energy pulse stored within the links. The chain exploded in a burst of blue light, catching Shen off guard.

It wasn’t enough to injure him, but it was enough to create an opening.

The doll lunged, its fists glowing with aura. Shen reacted with inhuman speed, his spear spinning in a defensive blur. But this time, I didn’t aim for him directly.

The doll’s attack was a feint.

The real strike came from the chains still anchored to the tree. I pulled on them with all the force I could muster, creating a whip-like motion that sent the chains hurtling toward Shen’s blind spot.

For a moment, I thought I had him.

But then Shen did something I hadn’t anticipated.

He let go of his spear.

The weapon spun in midair, guided by his aura, intercepting the chains before they could connect. At the same time, Shen closed the distance between us with terrifying speed, his hands now free to strike directly.

I barely had time to react as he drove a fist toward my chest.

Pain exploded through my body as I was thrown backward, skidding across the forest floor. The doll moved to intercept him, but Shen caught it mid-charge, gripping its arm and using its momentum to hurl it into a nearby tree.

“You rely too much on your tricks,” Shen said, his voice steady.

I coughed, struggling to push myself to my feet. My vision blurred for a moment, but I forced myself to focus.

Tricks? Maybe. But tricks were all I had.

I reached out with my Connection attribute, linking myself to the doll once more. My aura surged, feeding into the chains and the doll’s core.

If Shen wanted to see all my tricks, then I’d show him.

“Let’s see how you handle this,” I muttered, a faint smile tugging at my lips.

As if magic, Shen’s spear flew to him and he caught it mid-air, while performing a backflip.

“Heavenly Spear.”

The words left Shen’s lips with a resonance that seemed to ripple through the air. The aura around him flared to life, fiery red and orange streaked with icy blue, the sheer intensity of it pressing against my skin like a physical force.

The tip of his spear gleamed as it hurtled toward me, a blur of deadly precision. Time seemed to stretch, every second drawn out into an eternity as my mind raced.

Too fast. Too precise. Too deadly.

But not unstoppable.

“Soul Chain.”

My voice was steady as I called out the name of my counter.

The world snapped back into focus, and the chains I’d planted earlier came alive. During our last exchange—when my foot had grazed his throat in a desperate gamble—I had used that brief contact to mark his spear with a fragment of my aura.

It had been a gamble, one that required precision and a bit of luck. But it worked.

The chains erupted from thin air, shimmering with ethereal energy as they coiled around the spear. Like a serpent constricting its prey, they wrapped tightly, winding up the shaft and latching onto Shen’s wrist, elbow, and forearm.

The effect was immediate.

Shen’s fluid movements faltered, the momentum of his attack disrupted as the chains tightened. His spear, once an extension of his will, now felt heavy and unresponsive in his grip.

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I didn’t wait to see how he’d respond.

With a burst of effort, I dove to the side, rolling out of the lethal trajectory of his attack. The spear’s tip missed me by inches, the rush of air from its passage brushing against my cheek like a whisper of death.

Shen stumbled forward, his stance broken as he tried to wrestle free of the chains.

For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the sound of our labored breaths.

His eyes met mine, burning with an intensity that sent a chill down my spine.

“Clever,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “But not enough.”

The chains around his arm began to glow faintly, cracks appearing along their surface as his aura surged. The raw power radiating from him was overwhelming, and I knew it wouldn’t take long for him to break free.

But that was fine.

The Soul Chain wasn’t meant to hold him forever—it was a delay, a distraction, a setup for the next move.

The doll moved into position, its chains rattling as it advanced on Shen from behind. I manipulated the Vector Path, creating a web of trajectories to box him in.

Shen noticed the shift, his sharp eyes darting between me and the doll.

“You’re trying to trap me,” he said, a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Not trying,” I replied. “Succeeding.”

The doll’s chains shot forward, aiming for Shen’s exposed flank. At the same time, I pulled on the Soul Chains still binding his arm, forcing him to pivot. His movements were sharp, precise, but constrained by the overlapping layers of control I had imposed.

For the first time, Shen looked… pressured.

But even under pressure, he was the Spear God.

With a roar, he channeled his aura into the spear, shattering the Soul Chains in a burst of energy. The force of it sent a shockwave through the arena, the ground cracking beneath his feet.

The doll lunged, its fists glowing with energy, but Shen countered with a swift spin of his spear, deflecting the attack and sending the doll reeling.

“You’ll need more than tricks to beat me,” he said, his voice steady despite the strain.

I gritted my teeth, my mind racing. He was right—tricks alone wouldn’t be enough.

But I wasn’t out of tricks just yet.

Reactivating the Vector Path, I shifted the doll’s position, pulling it out of Shen’s reach and placing it directly above him. The chains it carried snapped taut, creating a web of shimmering energy that descended like a net.

Shen looked up, his eyes narrowing as he realized what was happening.

“This again?” he muttered, preparing to cut through the chains.

But I wasn’t aiming to bind him this time.

“Not a trap,” I said, a smirk tugging at my lips. “A hammer.”

Evem I wasn’t confident the doll could take a second Railgun.

The doll descended with the force of a falling meteor, its chains glowing with concentrated aura. Shen braced himself, his spear raised to block the impact.

The collision shook the forest, the ground beneath us quaking as the doll’s weight and aura crashed against Shen’s defenses.

For a moment, it seemed like he might hold.

But then the chains I had laced into the doll’s fists activated, releasing a pulse of energy directly into Shen’s spear. The feedback was immediate, his aura flickering as the force pushed him back, his stance finally breaking.

He stumbled, his spear dipping as he fought to regain control.

And in that split second, I struck.

The doll’s chains coiled around Shen’s spear, pulling it from his grasp and sending it flying into the air. Shen’s eyes widened in shock, the first crack in his composure since the fight began.

I didn’t hesitate.

“Checkmate,” I said, activating the Homing attribute to guide the doll’s next attack.

The doll lunged forward, its glowing fists aimed squarely at Shen’s chest.

Every fight in this tower had been a crucible, each match forging me sharper, harder, more resilient. The fear of loss, once an ever-present weight, had pushed me to refine every move, every tactic, every skill.

But now, standing across from Shen, the Spear God, that fear was gone.

For the first time, I wasn’t afraid of losing.

Perhaps it was arrogance, born of the strength I’d gained. Or maybe it was the clarity of understanding my worth as a fighter. Whatever it was, I knew one thing: I couldn’t afford to falter.

Shen snarled as he tore apart the remnants of my Soul Chain, his aura flaring with fiery intensity. The effort had thrown off his rhythm, his movements just a fraction slower, his precision slightly less razor-sharp.

It was enough of a crack for me to exploit.

Or so I thought.

The doll lunged forward, its chain-wrapped fist crashing down with force that split the ground beneath it.

But it struck nothing.

An afterimage shimmered in its place, and my stomach sank. Shen had become so fast that he could leave afterimages.

The real Shen materialized beside me, his spear already thrusting toward my side.

I barely managed to react, twisting my body as I poured my aura into a desperate command.

“Soul Castling!”

The world tilted. My vision flickered.

In an instant, I was gone.

When I reappeared, my doll stood in my place, intercepting Shen’s spear. The weapon struck the doll’s chest with a metallic clang, its chains wrapping around the spear’s shaft to prevent a follow-up attack.

This was Soul Castling, the culmination of my efforts to combine my Homing attribute with the principles of Soul Link under pressure. It allowed me to switch places with my doll at will, turning my body and the puppet into interchangeable pieces on the battlefield.

Of course, the technique wasn’t without its limits. I could only maintain one active connection at a time, meaning the timing and positioning had to be perfect.

But the payoff was worth it.

Shen’s eyes narrowed as he pulled back, his spear disengaging from the doll’s grip. He didn’t speak, but his stance shifted slightly, betraying a moment of hesitation.

He hadn’t expected me to escape so cleanly.

The doll, now in my former position, advanced on Shen with relentless aggression. Its chains snapped forward like vipers, each strike forcing Shen to backpedal.

But Shen was still the Spear God.

He sidestepped one chain, parried another, and countered with a sweeping arc of his spear. The doll’s left arm crumpled under the force of the strike, its metallic frame sparking as it staggered back.

“Your tricks won’t work forever,” Shen said, his voice cold and unwavering.

“They don’t need to,” I replied, my hands weaving a complex pattern of gestures as I directed the doll’s movements.

Shen lunged again, his spear a blur of motion. This time, he aimed not at the doll but at me directly, closing the distance with terrifying speed.

I braced myself, ready to castling again if necessary, but Shen feinted at the last moment. His spear arced downward, slamming into the ground between me and the doll.

The force of the impact sent a shockwave rippling through the arena, uprooting the ground and sending debris flying.

I was thrown off balance, my footing slipping as Shen pressed his advantage.

He closed the gap in an instant, his spear aimed for my chest.

But I wasn’t out of tricks yet.

“Soul Castling!”

The world shifted again, and I was gone.

This time, I reappeared directly behind Shen, my doll taking the brunt of his attack. Before he could react, I unleashed a burst of aura, sending a chain snapping toward his unguarded back.

Shen twisted, his spear moving with impossible speed to deflect the chain, but the maneuver cost him his balance. He stumbled, just slightly, and that was all I needed.

The doll surged forward, its remaining arm swinging in a wide arc. Shen blocked it with his spear, but the force of the impact drove him back, his feet skidding across the ground.

For the first time, Shen looked rattled.

I smirked, my confidence growing with each passing second.

“You were saying?” I taunted, the words escaping before I could stop myself.

Shen’s eyes narrowed, his aura flaring brighter than ever.

“This isn’t over,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.

“No,” I replied, readying myself for the next exchange. “It’s over.”

Shen's spear darted forward like a striking serpent, the air around it shimmering with raw energy. But it met only empty space as my doll intercepted the strike, its chain-wrapped limbs moving with mechanical precision. The spear's tip glanced harmlessly off the doll's reinforced frame, missing its mark entirely.

I used the distraction to retreat deeper into the forest. This wasn’t an act of cowardice—it was strategy.

Shen was powerful, undeniably so, but no one was invincible. I’d spent the entire fight studying him, cataloging every movement, every flaw, and every sign of fatigue. The Spear God might have been an overwhelming force at the start, but even he had limits.

And now, I was going to push him past them.

The forest wrapped around me like a cocoon, its dense foliage obscuring my position. I crouched low, controlling my breathing to remain undetected. Above the rustle of leaves, I could hear Shen’s labored breaths. The fiery brilliance of his aura had dimmed significantly, its once-blinding reds, oranges, and blues now a faint, flickering glow.

He was running on fumes.

This was my checkmate.

The forest fell eerily silent, the tension thick enough to choke on. Shen’s footsteps crunched against the underbrush as he staggered forward, spear in hand. His strikes, once so precise and devastating, were faltering, each one slower than the last.

Meanwhile, my doll continued its relentless assault, its aura burning brighter as it matched Shen’s every move. I had meticulously equalized their aura levels, a calculated gamble that now bore fruit. Shen’s every parry and counter drained him further, his legendary precision unraveling with each clash.

Then it happened.

Shen faltered, his spear hanging loosely in his grip as he struggled to catch his breath. For the first time, the Spear God looked vulnerable.

My doll didn’t hesitate.

It lunged forward, its chains clattering ominously as it closed the distance. Shen raised his spear in a desperate attempt to block, but his sluggish movements couldn’t keep up.

The doll’s fist, charged with every ounce of its remaining aura, tore clean through Shen’s chest. The sound of shattering energy echoed through the forest as Shen’s aura crumbled like broken glass.

Shen’s eyes widened in shock, his body swaying before crumpling to the ground. The once-mighty Spear God lay defeated, his spear slipping from his grasp and landing with a dull thud.

The forest seemed to exhale, the oppressive tension lifting as the fight came to an end.

Above us, the holographic figure of President Bob materialized, his exaggerated bald head glowing with dramatic flair.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Bob’s booming voice thundered across the battlefield. “We have our victor! Reynard Bright advances to the semi-finals!”

The announcement sent a surge of relief through me. My chest heaved as I let out a long breath, the weight of the battle finally catching up to me.

This was it.

I had survived the Final 8. I had claimed victory in my fifth match.

And now, I was one step closer to the ultimate prize.

~053