Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 1014: The Battle Intensifies

The enemy leader met Reign's charge head-on, his fists and feet clashing against Reign's swords in a flurry of blows. Both his feet and hands were covered in corruption, turning them darker than they usually were and making them much more durable and powerful.

That was how the enemy leader was able to exchange blows with Reign's sharp swords without using a weapon of his own. The corruption around them swirled and lashed out at times, aiming at Reign, but his light manipulation kept it at bay, his movements precise and calculated.

As they fought, the enemy leader's skill became apparent. His strikes were fast and powerful, each blow aimed with deadly accuracy. Reign had to use all of his agility and combat prowess to keep up, dodging and weaving through the onslaught.

Despite the enemy leader's skill, Reign remained calm and focused. He knew that he couldn't afford to make any mistakes in this fight. One wrong move could cost him dearly.

The enemy leader was yet to go all out after all. He was using the corruption and his body, but he had still not used any soul power against Reign.

Both Aethion and Reign knew how capable the enemy leader was when it came to utilizing soul power, and they knew that even though Reign's soul was special and it was much more difficult to damage it, they couldn't afford to relax and give the leader an opening.

Luckily, there were two of them, not one. While Reign was fighting against the enemy leader, utilizing his light and swords, Aethion was controlling his soul power and making sure to take action if the leader was to attack.

They knew that the enemy leader was waiting for an opportunity, and both of them were. Reign had still not used his lightning or darkness, nor had he used his mark. The enemy leader was only using his body and the corruption present in the shack, nothing else.

Both were holding back, testing each other and trying to find openings during the battle.

The intensity of the battle inside the shack grew with each passing moment. Reign and the enemy leader exchanged blow after blow, their movements becoming more fluid and precise as they sought to gain the upper hand. The shack around them trembled from the force of their clashes, but neither combatant showed any sign of backing down.

Reign remained focused, his mind sharp as he analyzed his opponent's every move. He knew that the enemy leader was skilled, perhaps even more so than he had initially anticipated. But Reign was determined to emerge victorious, no matter the cost.

Continue reading on m|v-l'e-NovelFire

As they continued to fight, Reign noticed a pattern in the enemy leader's attacks. He preferred attacking quickly, without putting too much power into his attacks so that he could change the direction of each attack or pull himself back whenever he wanted to.

It was not a bad tactic, in fact, it worked quite well as it allowed the enemy leader's attacks to be more fluid than they usually would, and for him to attack from many different angles, but Reign was not one to fall behind.

With a swift motion, Reign shifted his stance, his swords moving in a blur as he launched a series of rapid strikes at the enemy leader. The leader countered each blow with precision, his movements fluid and graceful despite the chaotic nature of the battle.

Whenever it was possible, the enemy leader would strike the flat side of the swords to push them away and try to counter, but he didn't fear blocking the attacks with his limbs either. The sharp edges of Reign's swords were unable to cut through the limbs that were reinforced by corruption.

One thing Reign did notice, however, was that the leader seemed a bit more careful when it came to the tip of his swords. Whenever Reign tried stabbing him, he preferred knocking the sword away or dodging the attack, rarely ever meeting the tip head-on.

Because of that, Reign started stabbing more often, and the leader's fighting style changed. He was now mostly using open palms to deflect the attacks and didn't attack Reign back as often as before.

This change in tactics allowed Reign to press his advantage, his attacks becoming more aggressive and precise. He aimed for openings in the enemy leader's defense, probing for weaknesses and testing his opponent's skill.

The enemy leader, sensing the shift in momentum, responded in kind. He became more focused, his movements more calculated as he sought to counter Reign's onslaught. The shack around them groaned and creaked, the force of their battle threatening to bring it down around them.

But Reign paid no heed to the danger, his focus solely on defeating his opponent. He knew that this battle would test him like never before, but he was determined to emerge victorious.

As they continued to clash, Reign noticed that the corruption around them seemed to be responding to the enemy leader's commands and was becoming more and more active. It lashed out at him, forming tendrils and spikes that sought to impede Reign's movements and strike at him from all angles.

But Reign was quick to react, his light manipulation keeping the corruption at bay as he focused on his opponent.

Even then, however, something unexpected happened.

The corruption started getting more concentrated, and thanks to that, it was able to withstand the light for much longer than before, which allowed it to even hit Reign if he didn't dodge the blow on time.

That disrupted the flow of battle, turning the tables around as now, it was the enemy leader who held a slight advantage over Reign.

Meanwhile, outside the base, Wolf and the others continued their fight against the enemy Tier VI combatants. Despite the enemy's numerical advantage, the enemy found themselves holding no advantage over them, especially after Beast had summoned his two powerful beasts.

The barriers protecting them from soul-based attacks worked their magic as Wolf and Tank found it relatively easy to go up against their opponents who mostly utilized soul power to battle.

They both were attacking with full force, their marks activated.

They had decided to do so as they knew that the barriers that Reign and Aethion had made wouldn't last forever, and the longer the battle lasted, the higher the chances of the barriers being cracked or destroyed.

If that happened, they would find themselves in a difficult spot.

Soul power was very powerful and difficult to counter without having a person who can also utilize soul power. In fact, one didn't need to have the ability to control soul power, everyone could do so with practice, and Wolf and the others had practiced a bit after their initial class with the enemy combatants.

They simply didn't have nearly enough time to learn how to use it, however.

Still, it wasn't for naught as they did learn how to see soul-based attacks, albeit barely.

Soul power was just another form of energy, just like mana, chaos energy, corruption, abyssal energy and the rest. Those who had abilities connected to soul power were able to control it much more easily, however, not to mention the fact they could do much more compared to those who had just learned how to control it.

Wolf and the rest couldn't even be considered amateurs when it came to controlling soul power as they were still unable to even do so, but with Reign's help, they could go up against the tall man and the head priest.

Wolf's flames scorched the earth as they charged at the head priest who was using the power of corruption to fight against it. Other than his soul power, he hadn't utilized any other ability or power till now.

He was only fighting using corruption, which was very similar to what the leader was doing against Reign.

The priest, however, was more of a mage. He used his staff to summon torrents of corruption that he used to combat Wolf's powerful flames and immense destructive power. Every time he did use the corruption, however, Wolf noticed that it came from below the ground.

Since they already knew that the origin of the corruption was present here, he was able to easily determine that the origin was below the base, and the enemy was definitely using it to fight against them at this moment.

Some of the arrays that still functioned were active, boosting the enemy combatants while weakening Wolf and the others by a bit. The seemingly endless corruption that was constantly being brought from below was also boosting the power of the enemy combatants, and the longer the battle continued, the more powerful they would seemingly get.

Of course, that was speculation as none of them could be certain of that, after all, there had to be a limit to how much the corruption could empower the enemy, how much their body could take before breaking down.

Even then, they all knew for certain that it was not a good idea to prolong the battle, dealing with the enemy as quickly as possible was the absolute best course of action.