"Kyakyakyakyak!" The tall, lanky Blood Shark screamed with delight as he pointed his crooked dagger towards Rey with murderous glee.
"Here I come!"
In a flash, he was already closing the distance between them.
Rey kept his stance rooted, his calm gaze carefully watching his opponent move closer and closer to him. Once the gap between them reached an unbearable amount, Rey leaped back, avoiding the blow that would have landed on him.
BAM!
The ground beneath him instantly shattered, with an indentation of a fist left behind on its surface. Rey couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.
He expected his opponent to be strong, but certainly not to this extent.
"Hehe…" Blood Shark chuckled with raised confidence. "Don't run, now. Come on… come and fight me if you dare!"
He dashed towards Rey once again, sending heavy blows at him but only narrowly missing.
The audience went absolutely ballistic.
This was the first time that Cursed Boy was actually running away from an opponent right from the jump. It showed an unwillingness to fight… a desperation to survive!
Cursed Boy was at a disadvantage!
This created great excitement among the crowd, who had been looking forward to his defeat.
Rey had grown too invincible in their eyes.
He had become an eyesore.
At that point, they wanted someone to kill him in a spectacular way. Blood Shark being the one to do this was certainly unexpected, but they welcomed it regardless.
"Come on!"
Blood Shark stopped punching and started using his dagger to cut through the air, creating waves of formless slices that began to damage Rey over time. That was the power of his Artifact, a very troublesome ability to evade or defend against.
As such, whether he chose to keep his distance or stay in close range, Rey still suffered.
His opponent possessed an overwhelming advantage.
'I can't use my Inverse Technique to affect him, since his Chaos Art will interfere with mine.'
Rey's eyes narrowed while still keeping his distance.
Many formless slashes had already landed on his body, creating many wounds that were already leaking out blood. Also, since he was constantly on the move, wounds weren't healing very quickly. This meant he would eventually lose too much blood and die from it, or grow exhausted enough for the Blood Shark to finish the job.
Either way, he certainly could not fight in a battle of attrition.
However, a head-on conflict was practically suicide, considering how skilled his opponent was.
'I have to get that blade away from him.' Rey nodded to himself. 'It's the only way I can win!'
Once he finally made his decision, he stopped running away and even began charging towards Shark Demon.
This caused the audience to go crazy.
They loved that Rey was finally taking action, even though the result was already clear.
Struggle!
Struggle until you die!
Keep struggling and entertain us with your death!
These were the kinds of thoughts that the excited audience had while they watched Cursed Boy march towards his death.
"Hahaha! That's more like it!" Blood Shark swung his dagger wide, certain it would hit Rey right in the face, but—in an instant—the Rey in front of him became a mirage.
"Huh? What just happened?!"
Instead of being a step in front of his previous position, Rey appeared just a step away.
That shouldn't have been possible, logically speaking.
Rey was charging forward, and even if he wanted to stop and leap away, there would still be a brief moment of pause due to the inertia. However, this sudden change was instantaneous, and it was confusing to Blood Shark.
"What did you just do?!"
Rey didn't feel the need to explain, so he simply charged forward yet again, his eyes dead set on Shark Demon despite his target being the dagger.
"What you did to the other guy won't work on me! I won't let it!" Shark Demon yelled, bracing for Rey's arrival.
Rey snorted, clearly in agreement with Shark Demon.
He never intended to repeat the same tactic he used against Stone Turtle on his new opponent.
It wouldn't even be possible.
'His overwhelming Chaos Art is already creating a perverse effect on his body, and since it is of a higher Sequence than mine, I won't be able to overwrite it.'
In essence, Rey wouldn't be able to use 'Inside Out' and 'Flipped Axis', his two strongest Sequences.
He could only rely on Inverse Technique #9: Minor Inverse.
But it was good that Blood Shark assumed that Rey was going for such a move.
In fact, this was one of the reasons Rey answered the question when he was asked how he took down Stone Turtle. Planting that idea in Blood Shark's head made it so that he would act in a predictable manner, trying to defend against a move that wouldn't come.
Answering his opponent also gave Rey the opportunity to ask his own set of questions and probe into his opponent's abilities.
It was unfortunate that he didn't get anything really useful from his question.
But that didn't matter.
He had studied Blood Shark for long enough, and although this struggle would be incredibly difficult, he had no intention of losing.
'Let's go!'
Rey sent a punch flying towards Blood Shark, but once it touched his chest, it was his own hand that suffered backlash. The opponent's skin was simply too tough!
"Useless! Too useless!!!"
Blood Shark swung his dagger yet again, but it was easier to dodge the blade in close range since one could easily predict the simplistic trajectory.
Thus, Rey easily avoided it.
The problem was Blood Shark's speed.
He was much faster than Rey, which meant the latter had to constantly predict the former's trajectory. Doing so for the bladed hand was one thing, but his other hand wasn't going to sit still either.
As a result, the constant flurry of attacks began to overwhelm Rey.
But this was within expectations.
Rey began to lean back to avoid the strikes, while still maintaining a relatively close distance from his adversary.
"Stop running away like a rat!" Blood Demon had finally had enough and reached out for Rey, even leaning forward since he knew Rey would lean away.
He was sure that he would capture Rey, since he too had studied the latter's movements.
That was when something strange happened.
Rey's leaning back… suddenly turned into him leaning forward.
He suddenly appeared right in front of Blood Shark.
"H-huh?!"
Blood Shark was stunned to see Rey's left fist charging towards him, so he used his right hand, which held the dagger, to slice through his opponent's hand. His left fist was still outstretched due to his earlier mistake of trying to catch Rey.
With his right hand about to slice off Rey's hand, he was certain he had won.
His tensed muscles relaxed.
But then—
Rey's left hand disappeared, and instead, his right hand was the one that took its place.
With his right hand now charging towards Blood Demon's face, while the latter had no way to defend himself, the result became abundantly clear.
A window had been created successfully.
Rey's fist became a two-finger poke, and it swiftly went for one of Blood Shark's bulging eyes.
What echoed next in the arena…
… Was a painful scream!