A pressure unlike any other, one he didn’t feel even in the world of dreams, even the one in front of Azmakul and Lanesha paled in comparison to this. Perhaps his first eting with Ariel was the only competition with this kind of pressure.
However, there was a clear difference, even as his feet dug deep into the sand. There was a clear difference between these two encounters.
He could hold his own.
This wasn’t the original Aranus, and neither was it the shadow of the original Aranus in his pri. It felt like it was the sa as Alan... young. It was the shadow of a young Aranus, in his teenage years as a human back on Earth, or perhaps just starting out as a dragon.
The greatest evidence of this was that Alan was still standing, his entire existence had not been deleted the mont he had faced this shadow.
The black mass rose from the sands once more, and the Shadow grabbed it with his right hand. Alan’s eyes widened as a weapon unlike any other materialized from the black mass.
At first, it was a long rod with a sharp end, a plain spear, however, from the base of the sharp blade, rose jagged lines of tal that spiralled unevenly downwards the shaft, ending in two sharp tails like that of a fox. It looked like a bolt of lightning, but with its own peculiarities.
The spear was strange, but Alan didn’t pay much attention to it. He focused on the Shadow of Aranus, who had its gaze stuck on him.
There was nothing but silence in the dark world as both of them evaluated each other, the cold and calm breeze, and the silent gaze of the dark sun above.
There was no countdown, no great clash where both of them charged at each at the sa ti, instead, Alan was on the defensive, as the Shadow launched itself at him, wielding the strange spear with one hand.
It was a powerful thrust unlike any other, Alan pushed it away from his head, The strange structure made it difficult, but he had successfully evaded it. The spear was above his shoulder, and as Alan was about to launch a counter-attack.
The shadow pushed the spear towards his shoulder, it was not ant to cut, or pierce, The thin edge couldn’t do such a thing from a position like that.
Instead, The shadow put all his weight on Alan’s shoulder through it, as well as exerting an imnse amount of force, almost causing Alan to fall to his knees.
The shadow jumped, leveraging the position of his spear. Alan raised his head, his eyes locked onto the Shadow’s own as it twisted its body midair to deliver a spinning kick to Alan’s face.
Alan grabbed the foot, stopping the kick, and threw the shadow away. Imdiately, he teleported right above it, and perford a downward thrust. The shadow moved to the side, barely dodging the sharp edge of the A-No-Sakahoko as it rolled further away.
The spear impaled the ground instead of shadowy flesh, and Alan used it as a pole, driving hid body upward and pulling the spear from the ground in midair, he smashed it forward, right at the shadow.
His mana exploded in a violent burst. He made sure there would be so damage, even if the original strike was evaded or blocked.
The dust settled, and Alan saw his own spear clashing against the strange bolt-like spear. The shadow had blocked it, but Alan was unsure how much damage his mana explosion had dealt.
The Shadow kicked his ankle, fracturing it. Alan let out a groan as his knee dug into the sand, before the shadow could do anything else, he teleported far away, regenerating his ankle.
The shadow rose up, virtually unhard, as it wielded its weapon not like a spear, but rather a rapier.
Alan pointed the A-No-Sakahoko towards the shadow, ready for anything that may appear. However, even he didn’t expect the shadow to disappear completely.
[Dragon Eyes has been used.]
It was impossible, there was no trace of mana left, even dragon eyes could not find the Shadow.
But Alan could, as soon as the Shadow had disappeared, he could feel it closing in on him through unknown ans. His body was responding to the threat closing in.
All it took was a second for the shadow to disappear, for him to activate dragon eyes in pursuit only to fail and his body reacting instinctively to the strike.
Alan’s senses felt alive, his blood began to boil as he moved his body back, a move driven purely by his instincts, the instincts of his physical being. The strange spear drove itself into his shoulder, but the wound was shallow, it had not hit the bone.
The shadow appeared in front of him, and Alan capitalized on the opportunity in front of him. He grabbed the spear still lodged in his shoulder, to make it so that the Shadow could not drive it deeper nor retrieve it.
He thrusted with the A-No-Sakahoko, The shadow let go of his spear, and flipped his upper body back in a ninety-degree angle, barely avoiding the blade and grabbed the shaft of the A-no-Sakahoko.
The shadow aid to kick Alan again, but before he could, he was slamd into a wall of the thickest ice Alan could conjure in such a short amount of ti.
He slamd the shadow into it again and again and again, but a wild burst of energy made him jump back.
Alan repositioned himself, as he realized there was no longer a spear in his shoulder. He had already regenerated the wound, but was clueless as to when it was pulled out.
The shadow rose from the mist of the destroyed ice, and started to move towards Alan slowly.
’Don’t think too much when fighting.’
His body was growing hot, his breaths grew labored as a strange sense of excitent and thrill washed over him.
’Take it from , the sword saint himself, in a fight to the death... Just enjoy it.’
Euphoria took over him.
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