Dragon Monarch System

”I am Ivan Volkov. Let’s start.” Ivan took his stance with a wide, massive grin forming on his face.

’Yup! He is the artificial puppets that have emotions in it.’ He could feel his excitement for this battle. The way he grinned and his eyes were full of colours, emotions, and life, showed that he was way more advanced than Kael.

He had real emotions in him.

’I can’t even tell if this is an Artificial being or a real Being.’

Ivan and Aditya were of the same height. Aditya appeared slimmer while Ivan had almost twice Aditya’s muscle mass.

”It’s very interesting to think that a Peak Fourth Order cultivator like you managed to reach the 3rd stage.”

”There will be more surprises to come,” Aditya replied with a faint smile.

”Fascinating!”

”You are not afraid.” If anything, Aditya was relaxed. Almost too relaxed.

”Why should I be afraid?”

”The battlefield is not for the cowards.”

”Well said.”

”Here I come.”

Both of them rushed at each other.

Clang...!!! Clang.....!!!!

In the first few seconds, both of them tested each other. They exchanged simple sword moves while keeping a safe distance and being alert for each other’s next move.

It was like a warm-up before the real show began.

From the first second, Ivan took the lead in the attack. Aditya stayed in defence. He was more cautious than Ivan was, and his sword moves were kind of strained, like he was wary that Ivan might do something unexpected.

As an experienced Sword user, Ivan immediately picked up on this.

’His strength is no joke.’ Aditya thought to himself. Without any of his Passive or Innate skills active, his base stats had sharply dropped. While Ivan’s cultivation appeared to be on Peak 5th-order, his base stats were way higher, especially his strength.

Blocking or countering each strike left him numb in his wrists and arms.

”In a fight, your strength and agility are your two biggest weapons. It seems you’re slightly lacking in both.” Ivan replied with a grin as he took a step forward and diagonally swung his Katana.

Clang!!!

’He suddenly became faster....!!’ Aditya was almost caught off guard by the sudden increase in his attack speed.

Ivan was slowly increasing the speed of the fight.His attacks were coming faster and faster, forcing Aditya to defend quickly.If Aditya didn’t match Ivan’s rhythm, even for a second, he would get hit and injured.

Just when he defended the attack, the next one was already on him. And just as he blocked the third one, the fourth strike was on him.

The speed and raw power behind each strike, combined with deadly precision, left him with barely enough time to defend.

He couldn’t even entertain the thought of an attack because Ivan’s sword moves were so fast and precise.

Clang...!!!!

With his rapid precision strikes, Ivan kept moving closer, leaving his defence completely open. But Aditya was so overwhelmed by all the attacks that he couldn’t find a breakthrough to go for an attack.

Clang...!!!!

Aditya was forced to take a move back as Ivan moved forward, to keep that distance between them. At the same time, his sweat was rolling down his cheek and neck. His heart was rapidly beating.

This was the most intense sword battle he had till now.

Clang...!!!!

’What is this feeling?’ Ivan’s eyes were glowing blue. He had a massive, savage grin as he continued attacking Aditya from all sides.

As an experienced sword fighter, he could tell that Ivan wasn’t using any technique. It was a combination of raw power, speed, and deadly precision. Combining all these factors made Aditya feel like he wasn’t fighting an intelligent being; rather, he was fighting a savage animal that was trying to tear him apart.

”You are not bad.” After he blocked another of Ivan’s savage attacks, Ivan slowed for a microsecond as he dragged his katana low and wide.

Seeing this, Aditya knew he was going for a heavy and powerful horizontal strike.

’Here he comes.’ He held the katana vertically to block the attack.

But mid-swing, Ivan suddenly put more pressure on his front foot and also bent his wrists. The blade instantly changed direction. It went from a horizontal to a vertical strike. And worst of all, compared to before, this strike was even faster. It was like the horizontal swing was used like a slingshot to generate even more power.

The Katana sliced vertically, bringing the blade upward in a sharp, rising cut.

Bang.....!!!

Drops of golden blood came to his view. For a nanosecond, he saw his own reflection on the clean and sharp blade of the katana.

The Katana easily broke his armour defence and left a long vertical slash that ran from his right lower stomach in a straight line to his right collarbone.

”Fight like this and you will lose.”

Aditya gritted his teeth and tried his best not to lose focus from the pain.

He ignored the injury and took a step forward, and prepared the same move as Ivan.

He horizontally swung the sword before changing the direction of his strike, before Ivan could block the strike with the hilt of his Katana, which was still in attack and had left his defence entirely open.

But Ivan was the inventor of this move and knew its weakness very well. Even though he was open, he still managed to move back in time so that the Katana left a surface-level vertical wound on his chest.

Compared to the deep wound of Aditya, this was nothing.

Seeing the wound, Ivan was still surprised. He paused for a second to look at his wound before giving a savage grin to Aditya.

”That was good.”

”To think he would hit me with my own move...!!”

”Impressive.” Ivan was genuinely impressed by what he did just now.

Ivan didn’t stop. The moment he recovered from the strike, he burst forward again.

”Try defending against this one.”

Aditya narrowed his eyes and raised his sword, bracing himself for the attack.

But instead of attacking right away, Ivan suddenly came to a sharp stop, right in front of him.

He slightly bent his knees and lowered his body like he was about to lunge. Aditya saw his shoulders twitch. He was sure the next strike was coming.

’Now...!’ He thought to himself and reacted.

But it didn’t come. Once again, he baited Aditya into committing early, leaving this defence entirely open.

For half a second, Ivan stood still like a beast holding back its bite.

Suddenly, he shifted his weight to the back foot, sliding his right leg. He then launched a fast, rising diagonal cut from below. The attack was aimed at Aditya’s ribs.

Aditya tried to block, but he was a microsecond too late.

The blade sliced through the side of his torso.

A splash of golden blood burst into the air.

Clang...!!!

It was a deep and clean cut on his torso. The attack left a burning pain and caused him almost to lose focus in the battle.

Ivan did not stay in the attack. He did not make the same mistake as before, which allowed Aditya to land a strike on him.

Aditya staggered back. His left side was bleeding.

He clenched his teeth to stop himself from groaning.

Ivan didn’t stop there. He grinned wildly and started swinging again.

”This is just the start.”

One strike after another.

Left, right, diagonal, then straight. Every swing contained his raw strength and speed. He also began to mix up his tempo to make him even more confused.

One swing would be slow, the next would explode like a whip.

Aditya had to keep up. Even the tiniest delay would cost him another big injury.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!!!

The force behind each swing made his arms go numb. His breathing got heavier. Sweat ran down his jaw, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Ivan even for a blink.

Aditya felt his stamina rapidly draining.

Everything was too fast and too intense for him.

If he lost track of his Katana for a second, it would be over for him. All Ivan needed was a microsecond.

’Even with Instant learning and adaptation, innate skill, I could barely keep up with his attack.’ Before, whenever he faced an opponent who had better technique than him, he always relied on the skill to copy their technique and beat them in their game. But in this fight, he did not have that advantage because Ivan’s style was just too unpredictable.

The constant shifting tempo wasn’t helping either.

And even if he could copy what Ivan was doing, he could not replicate his savage style that was born from his raw strength, agility, and deadly precision.

’He is perfectly taking advantage of our stats difference.’

Clang...!!! Clang.....!!!

Aditya continued being on the defensive. But he knew that this wasn’t sustainable, and he could not keep this up.

’I cannot keep this forever.’ He was quickly losing his stamina. His arms were starting to feel heavier and numb.

’Time is also running out.’ This battle had a time limit, and it was quickly reaching its end.

’There has to be something that I can do to win this battle.’

’I cannot use any innate or passive skill......’

’Hold on....maybe I can...!!’

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Really Thank you very much to all those who send support with valuable golden tickets and gifts. I hope we can keep it up!!!

I sincerely apologise to everyone for taking such a long break once again.