Child of Destiny

...

Shin fought Gammarus with great intensity, unaware of the current state that he was in. He looked like a cold-hearted killer with a calm and nonchalant expression on his face whenever he launched an attack toward his opponent.

Each swing of his sword produced a powerful energy that cut through the water and flew straight to his opponent, who was currently in his colossal form.

After a few exchanges with Shin earlier, Gammarus realized that he could not afford to stay in his humanoid form, especially after experiencing the initial attacks of his opponent.

The sword energies that Shin was sending him were mixed with the unique powers of the World Serpent Race that could make his shell armor somewhat brittle. To avoid this from happening, Gammarus had no choice but to transform into his original sea monster form.

Even if Shin had more places to hit this time due to his humongous body, the defensive capabilities of Gammarus were much stronger compared to when he was in his humanoid form.

Moreover, the attacks he could throw in this form were much stronger and more destructive than in his previous form.

Shin did not back down as he continued to battle the colossus in front of him head-on. He executed a series of skills and techniques of his current race and combined them with those from his arsenal.

The more he battled, the more mature his techniques became. He was also gradually getting stronger, making the opposing party to be wary of him.

Not long after, Gammarus realized that Shin was not only getting better and more powerful but also gradually becoming more of a warrior of the World Serpent Race.

If Shin was nothing but a serpent hatching in his eyes before, then this current opponent before him was slowly becoming a fully fledge combatant of the World Serpents.

The only drawback this time was Shin became lost in his powers as if he was being swallowed by it. He was not only losing his mind but also gradually losing control of his body as the instincts of a World Serpent took over.

He was becoming a mindless puppet.

Uno, who was observing everything inside Shin's Sea of Consciousness, remained silent and continued to watch everything unfold while not showing any signs of interfering.

He squinted his eyes while watching Shin before shaking his head. It was as if he could read what Shin was planning.

Uno could see that Shin was aware of everything. It was impossible for him to just lose his mind when he was already aware of such things. This was not something new since they had already experienced something similar in the real world.

It was even much worse compared to this one since the source of possession was pretty clear in their eyes.

Uno could tell that Shin was planning to use this opportunity to train his mind, trying to strengthen his mind for the upcoming events in the future.

This might be something dangerous as it could also cause the sleeping powers deep within themselves, but Uno knew that Shin had to face it eventually, so he let Shin continue what he was doing.

A controlled berserk state would give them extra power when that time finally arrived.

…

Gammarus tried to fend off as many of the attacks coming from Shin as possible, especially when they were gradually getting stronger and becoming more effective against him.

What made him more annoyed was Shin able to mix a series of illusion techniques that confused Gammarus when defending.

Not only did Shin use a variety of illusionary techniques for his body and mix them with his movement techniques to fool the senses of his opponent, but he also incorporated a series of tricks in his offensive attacks, which created fake energies that completely tricked the other party.

Due to these techniques, more and more attacks landed on the areas that Gammarus had least expected, particularly the segments where his shell amors were connected.

The very small gaps in his joints and other connecting segments were being invaded by the cold energy that could affect his healing capabilities.

With this, Shin started throwing attacks in a melee confrontation, where most of his swings were packed with the Yin Force that exploded inside the body of his opponent.

All of these were done through instincts at first, making them somewhat random. But as Shin gradually gained control of his current state, these attacks became more organized and trickier to deal with.

It was at this moment when Gammarus started to realize how scary his current opponent was.

Moreover, he was starting to feel fear for the first time due to these attacks that were gradually gaining momentum on top of being strategically organized.

Aside from these problems, Gammarus also started to feel the effects of the cold energies that Shin had injected into his body.

They were gradually invading the deepest parts of his body while also affecting his shell armor from the inside, making it somewhat brittle.

This damage made his defensive combabilities drop sharply, making him much warier in every attack that Shin had thrown at him.

Moreover, Shin's swordsmanship was slowly getting incorporated with the skills and techniques of the World Serpents, making Shin even more dangerous.

Gammarus also felt that his instincts were telling him to run right now before this serpent in front of him evolved further and devoured him later.

But his pride as one of the top-seeded candidates for this Festival of the Seas was preventing him from doing that. He stubbornly stayed while looking for the opportunity for a comeback from this predicament.

He was much stronger than Shin in terms of raw stats, but the more Shin fought and became accustomed to his current state, the scarier he became.

Additionally, the swordsmanship that Shin was using through the instincts of his body was the sword art that was unique to the World Serpents, complementing his body constitution and overall abilities.

While Gammarus was caught in a dilemma, not knowing what to do, Uno's voice exploded inside Shin's head like a clap of thunder.

[That should be enough. It is time to wake up!]

Shin, who was gradually losing control after holding on for quite a while and about to enter complete berserk, was able to snap out of his current state.

"Hoo~! That was close," mumbled Shin as he dodged the gigantic pincers that were about to crush him into a seafood paste.

Bang!

"It should also be about time to end this," he said as he could feel an intense and violent energy that was trying to overwhelm his mind once again coming from the sword in his hand.

He could not afford to lose his mind again.

Raising his head and using a modified version of his original True Sight Skill by utilizing the unique abilities of the World Serpents, Shin looked at his opponent and saw a lot of areas from the gigantic body of his colossal opponent.

"There are a lot of vulnerable areas now," he mumbled before swiftly retreating to create more space between him and his opponent.

Hu~!

Right after he gained enough distance, he took a deep breath while holding the icy sword horizontally before him with both of his hands.

"It is a pity that I can't use my Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship here neither my Jade Kirin Scripture."

"I have no choice but to settle with the Heavenly Black Tortoise Method of the Four Symbol Scripture. Fortunately, I am able to modify it along with the unique abilities of my current race, or else my main techniques will circulate between my defensive and illusionary techniques."

Boom!

As he was mumbling to himself – or more likely assessing his performance – the blood flowing through his veins suddenly surged like the unstoppable waves of a violent river.

Along with this, the energies circulating within his body also flowed in the same manner, making his veins and mana channels overheat.

His cold body started to become hotter with every passing second, turning his bluish-white scales to turn red. It was as if hot flames were burning under his skin, making the gaps between his scales release a blazing light.

The surrounding water also started to boil, reacting to the sudden heat. There was also hot steam coming out from his body, as the cold water and the heat from his body collided.

This steam then formed an illusionary figure of a gigantic serpent, rivaling the size of the colossal devil lobster before him.

Bang! Bang!

Seeing these, Gammarus knew that this battle would be determined by this final exchange. He quickly spread his feet, planting them firmly on the seabed while urging the energy within his body to also flow according to the special technique of his race.

Roar!

Opening his mouth, a deafening roar quickly resounded in the entire place and repeatedly sent ripples in every direction.

The mana around him also solidified over his shell armor, forming an extra layer of protection.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

At this moment, the pressure that he was currently emitting felt like a humongous mountain that could not be moved or damaged by any kind of natural disaster.

It was also at this point that Shin suddenly swung his sword, sending gigantic sword energy that cut through the water.

Swoosh!

The extremely hot temperature that the sword energy swept through the colossal body of Gammarus, who endured everything.

He first thought that he would not have any problem withstanding this attack, but the expression on his face instantly contorted when he sensed that the cold energy within his body that he was unable to expel suddenly reacted to the heat of the sword energy.

Boom!

As if something exploded within his body, the cold energy suddenly 'melted' and became a fuel that enhanced the effects of the hot sword energy sweeping through his body externally.

As if his innards and muscles were lit ablaze from the inside, his entire body became so hot that the surrounding water started to boil.

This lasted for a few seconds until his colossal body shone like a metal that was taken out of the furnace.

When Gammarus realized he could withstand this heat, another wave of energy flew straight to him, making his face grim.

Swoosh!

This time, instead of intense heat, the second sword wave carried an extremely cold energy that froze everything on its path.

Since Gammarus' body was currently burning hot, the sudden appearance of an extremely cold energy instantly froze him.

Due to the sudden changes in temperature, this devil lobster's originally tough and hard shell suddenly became brittle like a fragile glass.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Heavenly Black Tortoise – Breath of the World Serpent'

Releasing what was happening, Gammarus wanted to do something to survive his predicament. But unfortunately for him, it was already too late.

Swoosh!

Shin was already swimming straight to him with unimaginable speed while swinging his sword forward.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Heavenly Black Tortoise – The Fangs of the Sea'

Shin's figure flicked forward a moment before appearing behind his opponent, who remained frozen in place.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then a series of sword flashes appeared behind him, cutting through the colossal body of Gammarus, which exploded like a shattered glass.

...…