Chương 22: Life and Death

The currents of lightning rapidly gathered around her whips and solidified, forming terrifying violet snakes that swam through the air at horrifying speeds.

She took a step and her dance began.

With a flick of her hand, Adonis suddenly found himself surrounded by her violet snakes.

[Layer; 100x]

He shot forward, zipping around the arena as he repeatedly dodged her strikes.

"Unfortunate." She suddenly said.

Before he could even react, a piercing gust of qi crashed into him, sending him flying as the woman's violet snakes took the opportunity to ravage his body.

Parts of his skin were cleanly shredded off, revealing his muscular fibres to the world as a few of his ribs cracked when he collided with one of the circular bits of the arena.

He rapidly got on the ground and rolled, dodging yet another vicious strike.

'Weird. Her lightning didn't really hurt. I'm gonna assume it has another ability. Maybe it can stun me when enough of it has accumulated? Or maybe it sets off like a bomb-'

The woman's wings of fire flapped and she vanished, reappearing before Adonis as her fist instantly collided with his jaw.

"Oho, getting distracted during a battle of life and death? Seems you do not take me seriously, child."

Adonis ignored her words as he grabbed her fist and fell backwards, dragging her with him as he immediately snaked around her body as she fell and he put her in an armlock.

"Grappling-ARGHHH!"

Her words were interrupted by her own scream of pain as Adonis pulled and twisted, shattering her shoulder and pulling her arm out of its socket as he followed with a clean hammer punch to the face that nearly knocked her out.

A scream of rage escaped the woman's mouth as her body burst in a horrifyingly powerful inferno of lightning and flames, fusing to form a strange and new element.

Adonis hadn't wasted any time as he let go of her arm as soon as he felt danger and rolled back, grabbing his spear as he stood back up.

[Layer; 800x]

He sliced at empty air and a wave of compressed air shot at the woman. As she began to move to dodge, Adonis violently stomped the ground, his legs so powerful it felt like the world was being turned upside down as for a moment, the woman faltered.

He swung again and another compressed wave of air came crashing down.

Barely dodging, she used her flames to erupt to her left but to her dismay, Adonis appeared, waiting for her as he thrust forth and his blade pierced her heart.

Adonis didn't give her any chance to pull any tricks as he pulled his spear out then performed a lateral cleave, beheading her as her elements died down alongside her dwindling life force.

Adonis didn't pay her any mind as her body faded, his mind suddenly hit with a wave of enlightenment.

'Before even forming a style, I need to learn the basics of both hand to hand combat, spearmanship and bodily control. Only when I've mastered that, will I be able to form a true style.'

'I can break it down into; attack, defence and movement. These three arts spread across weaponless battle and battle with a weapon.'

'For movement, they should overlap, meaning I'll have to master; advancing, retreating, lunging, sidestepping and circling.'

'For hand to hand combat, I'll need to master; punching, kicking, palms and combination work involving my knees, elbows and entire body.'

'For weapon combat of the spear I'll need to master; Thrusting, piercing, slicing, cleaving, feints and domain control.'

'And finally, for overall defence I'll need to master; parrying, blocking, evasion and counter attacking.'

His enlightenment ended and a grin spread across his face. For most, mastering these arts would take entire lifetimes but for him?

As long as he got the bare minimum of the basics, he'd be able to apply [Perfection].

It was only a matter of time before him and his spear became one.

***

In a darkly lit tavern, men and women alike indulged in all forms of sinful exchanges as alcohol flowed, tongues intertwined and the pungent smell of drugs littered the place.

In a corner of this tavern, sat at a table, amidst the diverse moans that echoed through the place, three individuals had a conversation.

"Five thousand crystals for any information regarding the brat, whatever it may be and ten thousand crystals if we bring him back dead."

"Alive?"

"A million crystals and a noble title."

For a moment, silence reigned between the three as they understood the magnitude of the task they were being assigned.

"What are the odds this is a high level informant who went rogue?"

"High. Very high. It could even be a royal that escaped with important info." Added one of the figures.

"What do we do? Do we go for it or do we go back and tell the big man?"

"If we tell him, he'll jump on it to antagonise the four lineages and we'll get blacklisted. I don't know about you guys but I really don't wanna be confined to the central continent. It's full of masters. Makes me feel claustrophobic."

"I get you. Same, honestly but do we have any alternative? If we don't tell the big man and we take on the task, they'll for sure kill us once we hand the kid in."

"Tying loose ends."

"Mhm."

As the figures fell into deep thought, a fourth figure appeared, covered in pink essence as an aura full of sin and mischief hung around her.

Instantly, the figures sought to burst with power but they found themselves unable to.

"Oho! Let's calm down fellas! You wouldn't harm a little girl like me…would you?"

Her veil of pink essence faded and her figure was revealed, shocking the figures to no end.

She had long blonde hair, as soft and luscious as heavenly silk as her deep azure pupils radiated a form of love and peace that couldn't be comprehended.

Her face was perfect and the rest of her figure was even more so as she looked like a God's most prized daughter.

Seeing the figures stunned, she chuckled, finding it amusing that women and men alike could fall to her charm.

"I have a proposition for you, cuties."

They broke out their daze as their gazes narrowed and they stared at the woman with rapt attention.

"Have you heard of the Seven Deadly Sins?"