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‘Handicap’. Never before in his life did someone throw that word in his face. As such, he kind of felt strange. But he didn’t feel that the other guy was being insolent at all.

His narrowed eyes shifted over to Bak Yun-gyu next. “I heard you need to go back to your country today?”

“Yes, unfortunately. Things there need my attention.”

Bak Yun-gyu’s English was more than passable. His pronunciation might be a bit sketchy here and there, but there didn’t seem to be any problems as far as communicating his intentions was concerned.

“In that case, we’ll have to observe the fight even if you don’t like the idea. If we want you properly reflected in the rankings, that is.”

“What are you talking about?” Bak Yun-gyu asked as if he couldn’t understand. It seemed that being reflected in the rankings was news to him.

“The Ranking Wars isn’t simply about finding one winner, after all. As the name implies, it’s also to assign appropriate rankings to everyone participating, all the way from the first place downward, based on your skills.”

“Could the standard criteria for judging that be...?”

“Don’t get any wrong ideas. It won’t be me, but Johnny Brad over here who’ll be assigning the rankings. Depending on the abilities you show, even if you fail at the preliminaries, you can get a higher ranking than someone who made it to the main matches. Of course, reaching the main competition will score you extra points, but still.”

It was a simple way of doing things. To think that just Johnny Brad alone, a judge of the proceedings, would use his judgment to assign different rankings. Even if his decisions proved to be fair and impartial, people were bound to complain since there were no clear judging criteria.

Gordon Rohan continued, “I know what you’re thinking, but so what? If you’ve got a problem with my decision, why don’t you come up here and have a go at me? I’ll acknowledge anyone as better than me as long as you manage to defeat me.”

Those words always automatically got a groan from all who heard them.

<< But then again, this ranking isn’t supposed to be an officially recognized one, anyway. >>

The rankings created through the Ranking Wars, plus the subsequent ranking list established afterward, came from the data collected by Gordon Rohan. People used it as a yardstick because it was somewhat credible in how the rankings were assigned, and they were always quite accurate, as well.

“The fight between you two will be observed by Johnny Brad and myself, and, by using the unofficial info, we’ll assign the correct ranking for Awakener Bak Yun-gyu. Although, I don’t have much to say if you’re not really interested in this sort of thing.”

“Mister Gordon.”

“Mm?”

Bak Yun-gyu looked up at Gordon Rohan and spoke up. “Next time when I come back to San Francisco, I’d like to have a match with you.”

RUUUMBLE-

While saying that, he began awakening his magical energy. Su-hyeun matched him, and awoke his own magical energy while unsheathing his sword.

Gordon Rohan watched the battle between the two begin, and muttered with a slick grin, “You can come at me any time.”

Wuu-ooong-

Crack, spliiiit-

Small cracks began spreading on the arena’s floor, supposed to be reinforced by the powers of Ether stones.

Both Su-hyeun and Bak Yun-gyu were using swords.

Bak Yun-gyu observed Su-hyeun’s form and opened his mouth. “I’ll go first, then.”

“Help yourself.”

Pah-aaaht!

Bak Yun-gyu vanished.

No, he didn’t really disappear; his speed explosively rose up so fast that it looked like he just had vanished for a moment there.

CLAAAANG-!

Su-hyeun dragged his sword up and blocked Bak Yun-gyu’s blade.

Magical energy enveloping their colliding blades scattered through the air. At the same time, several silhouettes materialized in their surroundings.

Bak Yun-gyu’s ‘swords’ thrust forward from all directions. But none of them were real.

Stab-

Clang-!

The swords piercing Su-hyeun’s body all disappeared, nothing but illusions. As for the real sword, naked eyes couldn’t see it, but Su-hyeun used his senses to find out where it was coming from and ably deflected it away.

As the light in Bak Yun-gyu’s eyes trembled, Su-hyeun started his counterattack.

Rumble-

Navy blue-colored divine Flame wrapped around Su-hyeun’s sword. The intense heat and blinding luminescence caused Bak Yun-gyu to furrow his brows. Su-hyeun’s burning blade stabbed in rapidly.

Swiiish-

Clang-!

Bak Yun-gyu hurriedly raised his sword and blocked the incoming attack with the flat part of the blade. The impact he felt in his hands was quite considerable. Not only that, but the heat transmitted from the flames also caused his body’s temperature to rise slightly.

[Mirage- Imitation.]

Rumble-

Blue flames suddenly enveloped Bak Yun-gyu’s sword, as well. The ‘Imitation’ skill allowed him to copy a portion of his opponent’s skill and use it as his own. Even if it wasn’t a 100% perfect copy, the strength of the imitation would rise greatly depending on one’s proficiency with the skill.

The power now carried in each of the sword strikes had become greater thanks to the divine Flame. But the real problem didn’t have much to with the strength of the skill or lack thereof.

<< What kind of physical strength is this....?? >>

Not just the power of the skill proved to be problematic, but even the strength behind each of Su-hyeun’s sword strikes was alarming.

And this wasn’t some simple strength produced by one’s muscles. No, this strength came from the form of each sword strike, as well as from his experience.

Most importantly...

<< His form. >>

Swiiish, swhoosh-

Clang, cling-!

Bak Yun-gyu continued to think while urgently deflecting Su-hyeun’s sword strikes.

<< It somehow... resembles mine. >>

It felt rather weird to him.

It was as if Su-hyeun was imitating Bak Yun-gyu’s swordsmanship.

Could it be that he possessed such skill? Even though such thoughts entered Bak Yun-gyu’s mind, he had to shake them away.

<< No. His swordsmanship exceeds mine. >>

Bak Yun-gyu thought he was rather knowledgeable when it came to all things swordsmanship.

While believing that one’s swordsmanship was linked to one’s stats, he trained hard thinking that an awakener who used swords as their main weapon should obviously know their way around one.

And thus, Bak Yun-gyu’s eyes, Su-hyeun’s swordsmanship seemed similar to his but at the same time, far, far more proficient than himself.

[High-grade swordsmanship.]

This was hard to accept.

Bak Yun-gyu’s sword was currently subjected to not just his considerable training, but even buffs of his skill.

This skill came about after he diligently raised his proficiency in the ‘low-grade swordsmanship’. Not only did the high-grade swordsmanship add an extra layer of combat prowess on top, but it also corrected one’s form and frame of the swordsmanship, too.

<< Could it be...? >>

In that case, there could only be one possibility—that Su-hyeun knew the exact same skill as he did. Not only that, he even possessed far, far higher proficiency to boot.

<< How is that possible? >>

Just learning the ‘High-grade swordsmanship’ wouldn’t be the end of the story. You need to continuously swing your sword and get familiar with it. Only then would your proficiency rise higher and your sword start displaying the true power of the skill itself.

What Su-hyeun showed here far exceeded the boundaries of things that talent alone could solve. No, this level could only be attained by adding time on top of one’s talents and let them mature together.

Bak Yun-gyu took a big step back, and raised his sword high up to the sky. On top of his ‘Imitation’ skill currently active, he injected a far greater amount of magical energy to his blade in an instant.

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything- Cutting the Sky.]

SWOOOSH-!

Bak Yun-gyu’s blade descended downward.

He thought that Su-hyeun would obviously try to dodge this attack. The ‘Cutting the Sky’ technique was, as implied by the grandiose-sounding ‘One Sword Cutting Through Everything’ title, an incredibly powerful skill designed to end the battle with a single strike, after all.

But the choice Su-hyeun made was completely unexpected. Because, not only did the young man choose not to dodge, but he instead decided to block the attack.

<< He wants to block it?? >>

He wasn’t even using any special skills, either.

Did that mean he was looking down on me? Bak Yun-gyu thought like that, and, while planning to shatter Su-hyeun’s sword, swung his weapon down hard.

CLAAAANG-!

CRAAACK-

The moment Bak Yun-gyu’s sword smashed down, the arena’s entire floor was powerfully cut in two.

It wasn’t just the floor, however. The chasm ran almost all the way up to the ceiling. The power behind the attack was more than enough to slice an average building in half.

But then...

“That’s quite heavy.”

Creak, creaaak-

Su-hyeun managed to block the hit in a straightforward manner, without employing any special skills whatsoever.

“...!”

Bak Yun-gyu’s brows shot up.

He was so flustered that he ended up reacting a fraction slower.

Pah-aht-

He belatedly distanced himself from Su-hyeun and leaped up. He could easily tell, just then.

<< He didn’t counterattack. >>

Not ‘couldn’t’, but ‘didn’t’.

Su-hyeun was going easy on him right now.

Grit-

Bak Yun-gyu’s pride was wounded. People back home called him the best awakener in South Korea. So, it was hard to accept that the difference between them was this great.

<< One more time! >>

Wuu-uuuong-

A simmering haze suddenly began rising up behind Bak Yun-gyu. Soon, a gigantic figure was generated from the rising veil of haze—the figure of a massive giant wielding a sword and wearing huge armor.

[Heavenly Sword King.]

Shing-shing

The giant took the same pose as Bak Yun-gyu. A sword strike made by such a massive physique, would have to have considerable destructive power behind it.

<< The ‘Heavenly Sword King’, is it? How nostalgic. >>

The ‘Heavenly Sword King’. That was the highest grade skill Bak Yun-gyu possessed.

The skill created a giant that moved exactly the same as he did. Its destructive power was more than enough to be called absolutely overwhelming compared to any other skills out there.

Su-hyeun narrowed his eyes.

The ‘Heavenly Sword King’ being invoked now potentially meant Bak Yun-gyu was betting the outcome of this fight on the next attack. Because, the current him couldn’t completely control this skill yet—although the him of a few years in the future could.

RUMBLE-!

Bak Yun-gyu’s sword was raised up high. The power of the giant Heavenly Sword King was now permeating the weapon. He slammed the loudly-buzzing sword down.

KWA-AAAANG-!

Crack! Craaaaack-

The reinforced arena’s floor shattered into bits and pieces, and its debris was flung off in every direction. Su-hyeun was no longer there. Bak Yun-gyu’s gaze quickly scanned his surroundings and located his target’s silhouette.

“Over there!”

Swiiish, fuwhooooosh-

Kwa-dudududuk-

The Heavenly Sword King swung its massive weapon according to Bak Yun-gyu’s movements.

The entirety of the arena was overturned and sliced into ribbons. If it weren’t for the Ether stone reinforcement, the whole place would’ve been completely destroyed, not a single piece left intact.

“That guy isn’t too shabby,” said Gordon Rohan with a soft whistle as he looked at the events taking place below. He sounded quite impressed.

Among all the South Korean S-Rank awakeners, almost no one had heard Bak Yun-gyu’s name. But even then, those who knew him knew his skills were among the very best. From what he had shown so far, your average, run-of-the-mill S-Rank wouldn’t even stand a chance against him.

“Even then...”

Clang-!

The massive weapon of the Heavenly Sword King was blocked in the middle of its swing.

Gordon Rohan muttered while staring at Su-hyeun stopping that massive sword, “As I thought, that kid is the true ‘best’ among the lot.”

Creak, creaaak-

Bak Yun-gyu increased the downward force on the sword. Yet, it wasn’t budging an inch. His eyes trembled, ever so faintly, in disbelief.

<< He actually blocked it from the front? >>

Back when Su-hyeun defended against the ‘Cutting the Sky’, a single-use skill basically meant to finish things off in one hit, Bak Yun-gyu started truly acknowledging the young man’s capabilities.

Even then, he didn’t expect his opponent to be able to take the Heavenly Sword King’s attack head-on and defend against it...

Wuduk, wududuk-

Black scales started sprouting all over Su-hyeun’s arms. He too was muttering softly under his breath, sounding genuinely impressed, “Your strength is really incredible.”

CLANG-!

Su-hyeun shoved the blade of the Heavenly Sword King to the side and raised up his own sword. “Unfortunately for you, so am I.”

Pah-aht-

His sword extended toward the Heavenly Sword King’s figure. Bak Yun-gyu reflexively swung his blade down toward his opponent rushing in from the front.

Clang, claaang-!

“...!”

The strength permeating Su-hyeun’s sword had become even stronger than before.

Initially, Bak Yun-gyu believed that he could fight evenly against his opponent, but now, Su-hyeun was exceeding the power of Heavenly Sword King’s attacks.

<< I’m losing in terms of strength. >>

No, not just in strength alone. It was the same in regards to speed, as well.

The truth was, he lost in speed by a fraction and had no choice but to swing his weapon from an awkward posture, which in turn meant there wasn’t much power behind his attacks.

<< No, wait. Is he deliberately breaking my posture down? >>

The Heavenly Sword King’s posture was the same as his. Meaning, his own posture was breaking down.

There were two reasons why such a thing was happening. One, his opponent’s much faster movement and reaction speed, and, two, calculated attacks.

In other words, Su-hyeun was fighting in a far more seasoned manner than he was.

Grip-

Bak Yun-gyu sensed his stubborn streak rear up just a little.

<< I’ll finish this in one go! >>

There was no chance of victory if things dragged on, anyway.

The moment Su-hyeun’s figure vanished for a blink, Bak Yun-gyu raised his sword up high.

[Heavenly Sword King.]

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything- Cutting the Sky.]

The tip of the Heavenly Sword King’s blade also raised up to the sky.

Bak Yun-gyu kept staring at his front. At that very moment, Su-hyeun’s vanished figure reappeared once more, right before his nose.

Light gleamed from his eyes.

<< I’ll cut him down. >>

Swiiish-

Flash-!

The massive blade of the Heavenly Sword King descended from the air.