The Supreme God of Martial Arts

Someone darted out of nowhere. It was Symon, the famous King of Blade. He had finally made his move.

The movement was so quick that a person could barely catch it with his eyes. The sparks on Symon's sharp blade appeared one moment and vanished the next, making it obvious to all that his art of blade was perfection.

The speed of the blade was not in the least reduced by the air friction. The spectators watched the soul-stirring scene with bated breath.

Seeing the blade coming at him, Austin took a step back from his position. His movement was barely perceivable. It was always better to stay put than to move.

Time seemed to freeze and the air itself seemed to stop moving. It was so quiet and still that one could hear a pin drop.

This was the only chance Symon would get, so the blow he delivered had to be deadly.

A decisive blow.

The sharp edge of the blade approached Austin with an apparent crushing force.

The friction between the blade and the air created more gleaming sparks. The blinding light ricocheted in every direction. Time seemed to stop and space seemed to halt its existence. The spectators’ thoughts and souls were as if caged by an undeniable fear. However, Austin himself was unaffected. He was still sharp and swift. This time, he dodged quickly to his right.

The blade came down with a terrific crash. Austin stood on the tips of his toes. It looked like he had evaded the deadly attack without the slightest scratch. A mighty bang echoed across the battle ring. The blade had lacerated the ground, erupting showers of sparks at the exact time it made nearby stones fly and burst into scorching flames. They were as bright as the sun. The crowd was nearly blinded.

By the time the spectators regained steady breaths, the magnificent scene previously before them had vanished.

The two opponents standing seemed so tranquil, like nothing fazed them at all. However, the brutally damaged battle ring said otherwise.

‘The chilling blade and the sparks, were they real?’ people wondered as they snapped out of their dreamlike state.

Austin and Symon looked at each other in absolute silence.

The spectators whispered among themselves. They were eager to know which of them would launch the next fierce attack and emerge the victor.

Would Austin triumph over Symon? Or would he wind up dying today? All of a sudden, astonishingly, Austin's body started to fall apart. Skin came off his flesh and the flesh fell away from his bones, painting a painfully gory picture. Austin shook, twisted, his body distorting terribly before he finally shattered to pieces.

What in the heavens just happened? Before people could react, the accelerated cremation was done and dusted. The only part of Austin left was soon swept up by sighing winds from the deep woods. People were lost as to what happened. That was it? The end of Austin? Such a tragedy! Before the people could celebrate another victory from the King of Blade, something even stranger occurred before their eyes.

Oh! What was that? A shadow? "How do you not have more faith in me? | am not dead yet. King of Blade, don't rejoice so soon," said Austin, his voice reverberating across the arena. He sounded like he was from the nether world.

"Symon, it's my honor to fight you. But sorry to say, you have lost. You think you are fast, but you are not fast enough. Although | have to admit that your swiftness has a legendary reputation. You assume that nobody can beat the speed of your attacks, so nobody can defeat you. In fact, you have always been right about that... that is, until today." The hellish, strange shadow faded out even as the very much alive Austin reappeared at another corner of the battle ring, looking like a phantom. He had been standing there the whole time, not having moved an inch.

"Symon, no matter how fast you are, you can't be faster than a man's mind. But guess what, | can be.

| am so fast | can see your attack coming from a mile. | can judge when and where you would launch it. Most importantly, my mind is faster than yours. I'm sorry if that sounds too presumptuous, but let's face it. | will be the victor because my thoughts are faster than yours, that is to say, | am smarter than you.

Just give up, Symon. Surrender and put an end to this meaningless battle. You stand no chance against me. Your speed means nothing to me," Austin voiced out indifferently.

The crowd was once again whispering in hushed voices. Their limited intelligence couldn't process this sudden turn of events.

"He dodged it?" "How so!" "Isn't he dead?" "I can't believe it! He's not dead? | saw him shatter into pieces! Symon, kill him! Kill Austin once and for all!" "He is alive! He is alive!" "This is impossible! Something is wrong! Symon has killed everyone he has encountered so far with a single blow. Some of them are top warriors like Danny from Joy Gang. Nobody can evade his deadly blow! This Austin, who is he? | never even heard of him before! There is no way he could escape the deadly blow! He must be cheating! Look at him! I mean... Just look at him. Look how leisurely and carefree he is acting. He didn't even break a sweat. | can't believe what he speaks of. Symon, the King of Blade, is no threat to him? Does Austin have a doppelganger? That's the only possible explanation here!" a solemn warrior in the audience gave voice to his over-the-top analysis. The others paid no attention to the buffoon.

Symon looked shocked. It was hard to accept the reality before him. He stared at Austin. The flames in his eyes could scorch the enemies who stood on one corner of the ring. Austin maintained his silence.

After realizing what just happened, Symon seemed to lose his courage. He slumped to the ground. Words were stuck and caught in his throat. He looked up and stared at Austin in bewilderment. Symon was a young and mighty warrior, the favorite of his times. But now, Austin had all but trampled all over his confidence. He slunk into despair almost in an instant.

"Yes, yes. You are right. How can you be wrong? You win and | lose.

| concede my defeat to you, Austin.

However, make no mistakes—I will be back. You are not better than me. You never will be. You lord it over me as if you are superior to me. Don't be so arrogant and condescending! | will be back! You'd better bear that in mind.

This is not the end of me. | will resign and return to my hometown, in remote mountains and virgin forests, and live there in seclusion. | will grind away at the art of the sword. | will imbibe in me the true meaning of a warrior one day. When that day comes, | will throw down the gauntlet. | hope you shall rise to my challenge.

| do not bear a grudge against you, Austin, though you do defeat me in front of everybody today.

| am grateful to you. Do you want to know why? Because you have become my new prey. | have set my sights on defeating you. | was sick of being invincible! You saved me from that boredom and gave me a second life.

I've said enough! Just remember, you have to wait for me. Wait for me to defeat you!" Symon didn't stay sullen for too long. On the contrary, his sorrow and listlessness vanished soon, to be replaced with a wave of rekindled hope.