"Hey, hey, hey, let's be reasonable! This is our first meeting, no grudges, no animosity, why do we have to fight to the death?!"
"What's with all the nonsense? You insisted on drilling into a perfectly good Bystander Repellent Barrier. Since you drilled in, wouldn't it have been fine if I just punched you to death? But you stubbornly refused to die and even ignited this young lady's passion! This fiery 'love,' you'd better accept it properly!"
"It would be strange if I just stood there and let you punch me to death! You're clearly seriously injured and spitting blood, where's your passion... Oh my god!"
Rin, having shaken off her overconfident emotions, now felt her fighting spirit soaring. Whether for the future or the present, she needed a true battle of life and death.
Playing chess with a bad player only makes you worse. Only by encountering higher levels can you see the direction forward.
"That's the point!"
Mana Condensation: Battle Attire!
Mana Condensation: Iron Gauntlets!
Mana Release: Bind!
Reinforcement Magic: Strength, Speed, Coordination, Output Increased!
Reinforcement Magic: Endurance!
"Boom!"
If Rin, who had just attacked at high speed, was a deadly cold arrow, then Rin, now clad in black and red battle armor protecting her vital points, with metal gauntlets on her hands, and mana 波動 like ocean waves around her, was a missile!
Only a master would block a cold arrow with his hand; blocking a missile with one's hand... that's idiotic.
The Black-Haired Youth, who looked like a good-natured person, although a bit honest, was clearly not an idiot, and he decisively dodged.
The heavy punch landed like a giant boulder falling into a calm lake! The area impacted by the immense force directly collapsed, the underground soil rolled back up and flew ten meters high, and even rocks buried ten meters deep were churned out.
Rin's full-power punch, almost devoid of reason, directly smashed a swimming pool-sized crater into the ground!
The Black-Haired Youth's eyes were wide and his face twitched as he looked at Rin at the bottom of the pit, secretly glad he ran fast. Is this woman, no, this girl, a monster!?
After her furious strike, Rin also sobered up, realizing that the severely mana-consuming blow had achieved no effect. This fighting style was not the right path, nor was it the battle she wanted.
Reinforcement: Jumping Power.
A network of mana flashed across the skin of her slender legs. Rin bent her knees and exerted force, leaping out of the ten-meter deep pit, looking calmly and seriously at the still-apprehensive youth before her.
After a moment of contemplation, Rin took out a purple gem from her pocket and tossed it into the sky. After the gem shattered, the mana within it unfolded a magic barrier covering a hundred-meter radius, enclosing Rin and the youth within the barrier.
Rin took a deep breath, as if relaxing her mind, then said, "A fated encounter, Youth."
"Huh?" The Black-Haired Youth felt both inexplicably confused and unsure how to retort. You call me 'Youth,' that doesn't seem appropriate at all.
"Now I've detonated a ten-year supply of mana gems to set up this barrier. From the outside, everything still looks normal, and you and I can't get out. This barrier will dissipate once one of us dies. Although I could still kill you with the gems in my hand, I don't want to do that, because it would mean I'm afraid of you and have to rely on tools."
"Youth, let's fight to the death. If you die here, you can only blame your unwarranted curiosity; if I die, it proves that I am only of this caliber, and dying now or dying in the future makes no difference, at least it's better than facing that despair that cannot be changed."
Hearing Rin's words, the Black-Haired Youth also realized there was no turning back, so he looked at Rin with a serious expression and said, "Must it be so?"
"Yes, there is no other way. Your appearance has awakened the inflated ego within me. Now, any evasion will make it difficult for me to advance on my path. You made me confront my weakness; now I must confront my heart!"
After speaking, she didn't wait for the Black-Haired Youth's reply. Rin stomped her foot and charged again. This time, her charge was no longer a desperate punch, but rather an instantaneous burst and stop. The two stood within a step of each other.
Fight!
Rin's heavily reinforced fist, enveloped in mana roaring like a giant wave, was parried by the Black-Haired Youth with incredible physical technique!
He used his folded upper and lower arm to absorb the impact simultaneously, contacting the side of Rin's arm and using his entire body's strength to collide, directly deflecting Rin's attack in another direction.
This blocking technique, which looked like it would require meticulous preparation to succeed, was executed with perfect mastery by this Black-Haired Youth from who-knows-where, almost like a reflex!
Side, front, straight, curved, down, up—he blocked, dodged, and evaded from various angles. Rin clearly possessed several, even dozens, of times his strength and speed, yet she couldn't achieve any results against him.
"Do you really have nothing to say!?"
"Haven't I already told you with my actions? If you don't fight back, you'll die by my hand within ten moves!"
"Damn it! I only ran away from the mountain because I didn't want to kill anyone..."
As his words fell, the Black-Haired Youth's movements and expression suddenly changed, like a lone wolf hunting on the prairie at night. Then, he vanished... disappeared from sight.
Concealing his presence combined with evading her line of sight! So he should be... Rin, as if playing a guessing game, followed her intuition and swung her left arm to the side to block, intercepting a hand-knife strike aimed at her side neck. The blocked hand-knife instantly transformed into a grab, "biting" towards Rin's side face like a giant wolf opening its mouth!
The crisis changed in an instant. Rin, by reflex, rolled to her side, and as her body turned, she closed her eyes and extended her palm.
Illumination.
The Illumination magic, in Rin's hands, was used as a flashbang—a fleeting burst of strong light to blind her opponent and hinder his pursuit.
But before she could even get up, Rin suddenly felt a fatal sense of danger. Following her instinct, she rolled to the side again, and as she left her original spot, a fist landed exactly where Rin had been!
Rin, who had rolled to her side and scrambled to her feet, looked up at her opponent. She distinctly remembered that her opponent's eyes were open when she cast the spell.
Yes, the magic worked. The Black-Haired Youth's eyes were closed now, clearly dazzled by Rin's flash magic, but his perception would not be dazzled!
He just used his sense of presence to pinpoint my location!
Just a moment of distracted thought, and a fist landed on the battle armor over Rin's chest.
"Clang!"
The mana-formed battle armor was not a weak imitation; the youth's fist striking it produced a metallic clang. His strength was not yet enough to break through Rin's defense.
This is a gap in skill. I, who know no martial arts, am completely straightforward. All that talk about 'one force overcomes ten techniques' is utter nonsense! Only when one possesses sufficient strength to employ matching techniques does it truly count as 'knowing.' Is a powerless, flashy display also 'knowing'?
Rin watched the Black-Haired Youth, who was now truly serious and like a lone wolf, with complete concentration.
His strength, when combined with his technique, yielded effects several or even dozens of times greater, leaving me helpless. But do I truly lack technique? Not necessarily!
Projection: Wudajian!
Seeing the image, I'm sure you all already know who this is. The original story (yuanzhu)'s first Male Protagonist appears.