And I donÆt wish to lose to you The wrinkled old man said in response But he didnÆt glance upward and his hands were constantly moving In the brief span of time that Paolo stopped to speak to him he was rapidly creating a more sophisticated barrier to keep Paolo at bay for even a few seconds longer
Paolo rolled his eyes truly this old man didnÆt understand the concept of futility And the combination of his strange mental cantrip Skills and the energy constructions he could rapidly make with a few nodes of energy made him an extremely tiresome foe to face Yet truthfully the difficulty only made PaoloÆs enjoyment of the situation shoot upward
Paolo clenched his fists and boldly stepped forward The wind was so loud that he couldnÆt hear the cheers of the crowd but they still reached him through the fuzzy barrier of noise The belief and spectacle of the performance inevitably drew their gaze The absolute certainty that he was the center of their attention filled PaoloÆs body with strength He threw out his punch as the energy array closed in around him At the last second PaoloÆs eyes gleamed
Instead of clashing with him directly the newest array the old man had summoned twisted around his arm like a living net that sought to engulf him in its strands Yet as the energy net neared his skin it slowed and began to wither While in the arena Paolo released rather constant waves of an extremely intense aura of indomitability It was part of his image as a champion A tiny net like this
Paolo took great pleasure in shattering the net to pieces His blow even cracked the reinforced marble beneath his feet and sent Huang Shou fleeing
PaoloÆs pleasure sky rocketed as Kayle pursued Huang Li on the other side of the arena and created a smaller detonation than when Paolo had struck The victory was a small one but it made Paolo feel better He practically floated forward inwardly gloating about his superiority despite the handicap of holding these useless metal sticks
But at the same time Paolo glanced sideways at Kayle and LiÆs battle His mood soured further Huang LiÆs image is sharpening so noticeably and heÆs starting to be able to trade blows evenly with Kayle ugh why am I stuck with this boring old man
Paolo accelerated forward and Huang Shou knocked his cane against the ground Blind
After dealing with his antics for quite some time already Paolo closed his eyes and planned to proceed forward while ignoring the few seconds where his eyesight would be taken from him But he almost stumbled and fell as he did so rather than stealing his sight the man had yelled blind but in fact inflicted a tingling numbness across PaoloÆs body
Paolo opened his eyes and laughed stomping his feet to dispel the strange tingling His blood burned through his veins and quickly suppressed the effect Do you really think this will be enough
Yes Huang Shou said simply as he knocked his cane against the ground again and began to create yet another energy net
Still PaoloÆs patience was at an end He pressed his foot into the ground and accelerated forward He ripped directly through the howling wind and the half constructed edifice of energy and arrived in front of Huang Shou This time when the old man rapidly slid sideways with his strange footwork Paolo smashed the surrounding area with his image
For a brief second Paolo revealed the true primal glory of his image Conflict Confrontation Strife
In that single moment that PaoloÆs image was ascendant Huang Shou was compelled to stand his ground and face Paolo And to his credit the old man immediately recognized the situation and adjusted his stance to strike back at Paolo
PaoloÆs grin widened For that bravery IÆll make this quick
Paolo brought his right hand down in a hammering blow across his body to finish it quickly But Huang Shou leaned to the left and accepted the long gash across his chest from the knife in order to avoid the explosive power of PaoloÆs punch In an even more delightful surprise Huang Shou didnÆt then retreat the man twisted his cane and jabbed it forward in a counterattack
With extremely sharp eyes Paolo examined the on coming cane attack Gradually his intensity eased and he ignored it to prepare for his next strike So when the cane landed on his stomach and Huang Shou intoned Slow Paolo just exploded into motion and shattered the Skill before it could bind him
Huang Shou recovered quickly and brought his cane up across his body to defend but Paolo simply smashed that implement downward Huang Shou took a half step back and frantically tried to firm the shaken grip of his left hand Then he adjusted the positioning of the cane but it wasnÆt in time again Paolo simply blew him backward with raw force
Even through the wind the sounds of the crowd’s cheers reached Paolo and drove him onward He raised his left arm in preparation for a wicked hook that would likely be his final punch With this he would
Cloud Slaying Slash
Sever
The confrontation on the other side of the arena was enough to briefly distract Paolo and he allowed that distraction to persist and Huang Shou to slip away from him Gradually the flexing muscles of his left arm loosened and relaxed He lowered his limbs and studied the results of Huang Li and KayleÆs clash
Huang Li was covered in wounds holding his wo dao with only a single hand and panting But Kayle stood with a strange smile on his face There was a long cut across his shoulder that oozed a few small drops of blood This time it seemed like Kayle was on the losing end
Paolo almost felt bad for the young man from Zone 7
Like I said Huang Li managed to cough out while he struggled to catch his breath I am unable to control the full might of the Skill So if I use the Sky Slaying Sword
Then we will finally have an interesting clash Kayle interrupted He rolled his shoulders and accelerated forward DonÆt waste any more of my time
Huang LiÆs eyes narrowed But Paolo couldnÆt help but notice how the sharp image around the young man was becoming more concrete He was growing at an extremely fast rate So quickly that he couldnÆt help but be impressed
But in the end Paolo thought with a hint of sadness
Fine then Huang Li announced That endless tide of wind that had risen and towered above the arena finally shattered and the waves crashed downward Clouds howled and churned beneath the sheer mass of air that was swirling above There was a dragon crashing down to condense on Huang LiÆs wo dao but it was so large that Paolo could barely see light reflecting off of its scales It was a blurry and massive thing
With a simple cut toward the grinning Kayle Li yelled Sky Slaying Slash
The vast pillar of air condensed around his sword was ignited by the power of the motion The image exploded outward a huge spectral pair of jaws snapping shut on KayleÆs body But PaoloÆs partnerÆs smile never wavered His eyes in fact widened with joy Sever
WHooSH
Kayle staggered backward several fingers on his hand bleeding and broken from colliding directly with the Skill But in front of him Huang Li fell to his knees with a shocked expression the dragon above him was completely bisected
A cold sun shone down through the fissure KayleÆs Skill had made in the cloud cover
Damnit Kid The preparations are ready Huang Shou said loudly Paolo glanced at the old man but didnÆt bother to move at all as the other activated some Skill Inwardly Paolo was quite impressed at the old manÆs gumption the different spots where he and Huang Shou had clashed now began to glow in a grand formation The fact that he had managed to sneakily do so was a surprise
but in the end this is not a stage for the two of you
Hey Kayle Paolo grunted Huang Li spat out a mouthful of blood forced himself to his feet and then began to tremble as the formation Huang Shou created pumped power into his body His eyes narrowed into slits His image sharpened even further You took the first one how about I handle this next one