151 Assessing Oneself: Me against Myself (2/2)
Swoosh!
The Eclipse Clone was sent flying by that kick because of the heavy force behind that attack. But it didn't prevent the clone to swing its glowing sword while in the air. And immediately after that swing, a bluish-white crescent sword Qi was sent at the Phantom Clone's direction.
'Slayer Skill: Half-Moon Slash'
Swoosh!
And the Phantom Clone counter it with a crescent sword Qi of its own, but this one has a fiery aura with black color.
'Extra Skill (Phantom Clone): Flame Burst'
Swoosh!
Boom!
A smokescreen was created after that explosion, blocking the view of the two clones.
The Phantom Clone disappeared from its spot as it enters a stealth mode. The Eclipse Clone, on the other hand, immediately sheath its sword while thoroughly scanning its surroundings.
A moment later, the Eclipse Clone pulled its sword out for the second time before swinging it rightwards to send fiery fire sword Qi.
'Class Fighting Style: Solar Flare'
This time, the Phantom Clone charges forward instead of dodging. And during the charge, a silhouette of a Minotaur enfold the clone's body as it thrust its right-hand saber forward.
'Equipment Skill (Upper Armor): Stampede'
Boom!
The Phantom Clone charge through the fiery sword Qi but didn't take any damage. And during its charge, the silhouette of the Minotaur suddenly collapsed and replaced by a shadow-like sword Qi that enfolds its body.
Then the Phantom Clone accelerated forward while maintaining its thrusting sword posture.
'Basic Combat Technique: Second Drive'
'Extra Skill: Sword Rush: Thrusting Dash'
Whoosh!
Since the Eclipse Clone's posture is still at the end of the sword-drawing motion, it is not it the position to do a counterattack so it is forced to dodge once again using another 'Moonlight Steps'.
Swoosh!
The sword thrust of the Phantom Clone misses its mark as the Eclipse Clone dodge to its right. But the former didn't stop there, it stomped its feet on the ground to stopped the charge before changing its course and followed the latter while swinging its right-hand saber.
'Extra Skill: Sword Rush: Slicing Dash'
Whoosh!
The series of movements of the Phantom Clone is quite fast, not giving the Eclipse Clone a time to counterattack. Given that, the latter was forced to dodge for one more time using its third 'Moonlight Steps'.
Swoosh!
And instead of moving anywhere, the Eclipse Clone stay still and let the Phantom Clone pass through its body. At the same time, the sword-sheath on the left hand of the former transformed into a semitransparent longsword while the clone is turning its body around.
'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style: Meteor Form'
Meanwhile, the Phantom Clone used the momentum of its swing to turn its body around and face the Eclipse Clone. And immediately after that, both of them leap forward while swinging both of their swords at each other.
Clang!
Then a melee battle was initiated as both of them executed their combination of combat techniques.
The Eclipse Clone is only using two kinds of combat techniques, the 'Infinity Edge' and 'Mystic Movements'. From what Shin had learned on watching his teammates before, these combat two combat techniques really suites the battle style of the Nameless Swordsman.
Meanwhile, the Phantom Clone is circling around the Eclipse Clone while swinging its sword. The clone is disappearing and reappearing on the different sides of the latter as it used the upgraded version of 'Vanishing Steps', the 'Ghost Evanescent' which is also an Epic Movement Combat Technique.
This movement technique doesn't have much difference from 'Vanishing Steps', it's just this one is kept leaving an afterimage behind every time the user executes it. What's more, this afterimage is slowly disappearing like a vapor.
Shin got the inspiration to create this Combat Technique when he is watching Faker's movements earlier. And since it doesn't much different from the 'Vanishing Steps', creating this technique is quite easy for Shin.
And from what Shin have learned so far, he concluded that the 'Infinity Edge' is not that compatible to the 'Assassin-like Swordsman' style of his real identity so he settled the attacks of the Phantom Clone with the 'Yin-Yang Twist' while throwing some powerful sword-swing in the process.
The 'Yin-Yang Twist' might be inferior compared to 'Infinity Edge', but when it is partnered it with the 'Ghost Evanescent', it suddenly became a fatal weapon.
.....
The entire battle lasted for twenty minutes before it ended in a draw. Shin didn't do that on purpose. In fact, he has gotten to know much better about each of his styles, especially their weaknesses.
And that is where the problem lies, every time he tried to exploit the weakness of the other, he is going to control the other one to patched its own weakness. And the process was repeated time and time again. It is like playing chess with yourself as you counter each of your own moves with another.
So Shin decided to end the battle here. He already achieved his goal after all. What's more, he also benefited a lot from it.
And he is quite clever at this battle, because he only used the skills that he used in the public. So the others that want to study his styles can't see his trump card skills like the 'Lycanthropy' and 'Wing's of Freedom'.
”Looks like I need to do this more often now.” muttered Shin to himself while having his assessment of the battle.
”My Nameless Swordsman identity has a pretty much obvious weakness. As long as it was prevented from sheathing and unsheathing its sword, it can use its signature moves.”
”And when that happens, my skill set will be lessened in numbers greatly. What's more, it is also giving my enemies a signal that I'm going to use my Class Fight Style series.”
”Hmm.... Since I'm not lacking in physical skills much, maybe I should buy some magical skills related to swordsman. I'm a magic-swordsman after all.”
”As for my other style–..... Tsk! This one is really lacking by much. If I make brother Faker as an example, then I'm lacking in crowd-control skills pretty badly. Maybe I need to buy a lot of CC-skills next time I got in the City.”
”I already have a lot of stealth and escaping skills already. I also don't need to concern myself in lacking DOT(Damage Over Time) skills because of the passive burning effect of my racial trait. I can deal a burning damage every time I deal any physical attack.”
”Hmm... Yeah, that's right, I'm also lacking pf fatal skills too. An Assassin kills its enemies at a great speed, so have a bunch of sure-kill skills is a must too.”
”My Tier-2 skills might fall on this area but they are still not enough. What's more, they have pretty much long cooldowns. So buying more fatal skills is also needed to be added on my shopping list.”
After assessing himself, Shin finally collected his spying stones before saving all of their videos that they captured. Next, he picked three videos before posting them on an online forum under different anonymous IDs. He didn't dare to post it in the official website cause it will expose his real IGN.
Of course, he put some simple but with a little eye-catching titles on each of them. 'Rising Stars Collides! Who Will Fall?', 'The Nameless Swordsman Against Sickarius', 'Kings of Potential Rankers'.
Shin kept nodding his head when he saw that the views of each of the videos are rising in an instant. ”Hmm... This should be enough to divert Big Sis' attention, right? What I need now is to think a strong alibi on why we fought with each other.”
”Hmm.... Nah, maybe I should say that we are just having a friendly battle to learn with each other. Yeah, that should be enough I guess.”
Then he told Hanzo to open a Spacial Gate that is connected to Lawless and others' location.
...
And just like what Shin had predicted, the three videos immediately catch the attention of the players in just a little amount of time.
It also didn't take long for the news to reached Shiella's ears. And when she watched the videos, she immediately became confused. ”What the hell is going on?”
...