Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 893: Testing The Waters [Golden Gachapon Bonus Chapter]

The moment the signal was given, they both vanished from their positions as though time itself had lost all meaning to their existence. When they appeared again a fraction of a second later, their elbows thundered into each other like two goats ramming headfirst into one another.

The moment their elbows met, a sundering, colossal impact thundered outwards with otherworldly might as everything within a thirty-kilometre radius was brought to its knees. Buildings that had just been rebuilt collapsed upon themselves, cars, streets, glass, asphalt, everything was erased.

Thirty percent of the battlefield had already been torn apart from the very first impact.

With that, they both vanished as they began moving at a speed that seemed faster than thought itself, faster than anything Issac and Acker could ever hope to match. Their martial arts shone through their raw physiques as they moved with nothing but pure madness in their rhythm, each seeking to end the other.

In a blur, they appeared upon the open roof of a building. Asher’s fist shot outward like a shooting star. Arianna didn’t take a step back. She clenched her own fist and leaned forward as she met the incoming attack with her own. With a deafening boom, the building they were standing upon immediately shattered, collapsing from its foundation. But both of them were already gone.

The more they moved, the more raw power they drew from their bodies, as though they had stored it away solely for this moment. Their speed seemingly mirrored teleportation as they flashed from one point to another like madmen.

They appeared atop a car. The moment they appeared, Asher’s foot screamed toward Arianna’s temple with wicked force, the air barrier shattering from the sheer motion. Arianna’s eyes snapped to the incoming attack, the small smile on her face widening into a broad grin as she raised her forearm and blocked it with ease.

The moment she did, they both vanished again. They appeared upon the vertical surface of a building. At their new position, Arianna punched toward Asher’s sternum. But Asher simply sidestepped out of the way as he had already read the attack.

But Arianna seemed to have predicted that Asher would read her move, so she simply recalibrated, her fist flowing seamlessly into a second attack as it thundered upward in a devastating uppercut.

Before Asher could even blink, the attack connected like the pull of opposite magnetic poles. Asher’s head snapped backward, the glass beneath his feet shattering as he shot away from the building, his body streaking toward another towering structure.

But before his body could tear through it, he rotated and stopped himself with a single hand placed against the vertical side of the building. The moment his head snapped upward, Arianna was already there, her foot filling Asher’s vision with wicked force.

Asher’s hand moved as he caught her by the ankle, spun on his feet, and smashed her into the building with immense force. Arianna’s body tore through the building like a bullet through paper, launching through the next five buildings.

Asher immediately transitioned into his next move.

[Formless Body Technique: Hand Series: Blurring Swing]

Asher’s right hand rose as he swung it repeatedly through the air. The atmosphere collapsed as thousands of compressed wind waves roared toward every building Arianna had torn through, shredding through them as though they were made of wet sand while locking onto Arianna herself.

Arianna’s smile remained as she shifted into her own martial technique with mechanical efficiency.

[World Martial Technique: Shredding Claws]

Her fingers immediately bent, taking the shape of claws. With that, she slashed downward, upward, and sideways in one fluid sequence. Instantly, claw-shaped waves of wind pressure tore outward, shredding through the building she occupied as they met Asher’s own technique head-on with equal force.

With a thunderous boom, everything within a forty-kilometre radius was reduced to smithereens. Stones, concrete slabs, and enormous portions of buildings fell from the sky as though destruction itself had begun to rain.

Arianna didn’t pause. She immediately tapped into another martial technique.

[World Movement Technique: Slithering Silence]

Her body vanished from sight as she leaped from one falling concrete slab to another, then onto a steel beam, then a rod, springing from one piece of debris to the next as she raced toward Asher’s position. Upon reaching a massive sliced-off section of a building, she caught it, turned midair, and hurled the entire structure toward Asher like a madwoman.

[Formless Body Technique: Movement Series: Paused Echoes]

Asher didn’t hesitate to shift into his movement technique as he immediately moved, his body leaving behind layered, perfectly still afterimages in rapid succession. He dove through one of the windows of the approaching building Arianna had thrown, burst through its brick walls, then exploded back into the open air to meet Arianna, who was standing upon a wooden beam.

The moment he appeared, he moved from one piece of falling debris to another until he climbed onto the wooden beam. The instant he arrived, Arianna was already there, blasting a knee toward his chest. But Asher merely raised his left hand, his palm effortlessly stopping the attack while his right hand lashed forward, unleashing an open-palm strike toward Arianna’s chest.

But Arianna activated her movement technique once more and vanished, dodging the attack. Asher’s palm struck nothing but empty air. The atmosphere compressed before exploding outward with the force of a nuclear blast as everything within a twenty-kilometre radius was blasted backward.

But Asher didn’t slow down to admire the destruction they had caused. He simply chased after Arianna as they remained suspended amidst the countless falling fragments of the ruined city.

Strength met strength. Speed met speed.

The next instant, they finally reached the ground, their feet thundering against it. Yet neither of them cared as they moved once again.

[World Martial Technique: Overflowing Fist]

Arianna transitioned the moment her feet touched the earth. Both of her fists shot outward within the span of two seconds as she unleashed over three thousand punches during that brief window, every single one directed toward a vital part of Asher’s body.

[Formless Body Technique: Fist Type: Welcoming Barrage]

Asher immediately created a technique on the spot as he welcomed the attack head-on. His speed rose with every passing split second as his back palms intercepted every single strike. His hands moved so fast that they seemed to blur out of reality itself.

The ground beneath their feet shattered, breaking their rhythm for a mere nanosecond. But as geniuses who had survived numerous life-and-death battles, a broken rhythm simply meant an opportunity to capitalize. Both of them instantly seized it as they drove their fists into each other’s chests with detonating force.

Their bodies shot backward in opposite directions as they tore through building after building. But neither of them paused, as though the first to even take a breath would be the loser.

Asher’s hand clamped down on the rotor of a helicopter. With ease, he ripped it free from the aircraft, and without a shred of mercy, hurled the enormous blade toward Arianna. The helicopter rotor tore through the air at a speed no helicopter could ever hope to achieve.

Arianna immediately sidestepped, dodging at the very last moment. The spinning blade passed just inches from her body with such terrifying force that she could see her own reflection upon its polished surface. Without hesitation, she reached out, redirected its momentum with a touch, and hurled it back toward Asher.

Asher simply took a single step to the side, effortlessly avoiding the attack as the spinning rotor blades sliced buildings apart as though they were nothing more than tofu.

They both came to a stop as they stared into each other’s eyes. They had exchanged countless blows and landed clean attacks upon one another, yet neither had drawn blood. It was time to take the battle to the next level.

Arianna’s hands moved to her twin short swords as she slowly drew them from their sheaths. The muscles beneath her skin tightened while veins snaked across her hands, making it clear that she was now drawing upon even greater physical strength. Even destroying forty kilometres of the battlefield had merely been testing the waters.

Asher’s hand moved to Virelass. A soft hissing sound echoed out as he unsheathed her in one smooth motion, his body hardening as he pushed himself even further.

At this moment, they were both about to attack at the absolute peak of their base physical strength.

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Chapter sponsored by Sluggish_slug