Chapter 289: The Test: Part 2

Mylissa was unable to stop her body from shivering. Her defeat was a shocker as she did not even know how her dark-energy floss could break apart.

“There’s a wide gap between their strengths…” Some remarks drifted into Mylissa’s ears. She could not help turning to look at her teacher, who clapped his hands lightly with an approving smile on his face. Lin Sheng also smiled, but there was no reflection of her in his golden eyes. It was Margaret’s graceful figure that filled his entire vision. With the help of Anna, Mylissa tottered down the ring. She still had not recovered from the dejection and shame when she was back in her seat.

“Next challenger. Is there anyone who would like to try?” Auldmandiller looked over his left and then right.

The student test was an essential activity that every workshop must conduct. Darksiders were not office creatures. They had to survive in the toughest environment and be ever ready for combats. Just this alone made combat training an absolute requirement for them.

This time, no one wanted to get into the ring again. This had been the situation in the Soul Fortress all along. As long as Margaret was in the ring, the sparring session was as good as over.

“Since no one has volunteered…” Auldmandiller turned to look at Lin Sheng, “Lin Sheng, why don’t you showcase the higher-level dark energy combat mode with Margaret in front of everyone?”

Lin Sheng rose to his feet and bowed. “Aye, Sir.” He came into the ring, and under the anticipative eyes of Margaret, he gave her a ceremonial bow. “Here we go!”

All eyes were on Lin Sheng as they could not wait to see what would come out of this battle. As another student of Auldmandiller was already of a different league from them, so Lin Sheng, who was of the same age, became their target of comparison.

Lin Sheng had gained many privileges from the professor who had even allowed him to stay in the Soul Fortress. Rumor had it that the professor was thinking of matching Lin Sheng with his own granddaughter, Milla. And this had made the many young men, who had seen Milla before, to become jealous of him. Genius is marvelous, but Auldmandiller, you are the professor! Do you have to suck up to Lin Sheng? Yes, that was how people thought of Auldmandiller, that he was sucking up to Lin Sheng.

Now, Lin Sheng and Margaret were facing off in the ring. Margaret represented the best of all senior students, while Lin Sheng the most exceptional of the new recruits. To many people, it was the day to crush the genius’s pride to teach him a lesson.

“Perhaps what you all are eager to see is how good the genius is, and whether he deserves the many privileges from the professor!” Anna, who sat beside Mylissa, could not hold back her words. Mylissa was feeling a little better now, but she still could not believe she had lost so quickly and so thoroughly. She had thought she could at least hold up a few rounds before losing to Margaret. So her instant defeat came as a bolt from the blue and made a huge dent on her pride.

“Margaret will graduate soon. So don’t worry. She has been in the Soul Fortress for four years; it is only natural that she achieves that kind of strength.” Anna tried to comfort Mylissa.

“I’m fine. I’m just…” Mylissa looked up at the two in the ring. She hoped that Margaret would crush Lin Sheng outright just like she crushed her. But deep inside her, an anticipatory voice hoped that Lin Sheng would roundly beat Margaret. She had been looking upon Lin Sheng as a target to catch up to, so she did not want anyone else to defeat him before she did. Lin Sheng’s crushing defeat would only expose her ineptitude, she was afraid.

Lin Sheng stood in the sparring ring, unarmed and smiling at Margaret. “Lady first.”

Margaret turned off her smile and held her sword slanted. She then lurched forward, her body fading into a shadow with her sword slicing forward. Also fading into a shadow, the sword traveled eight meters across in under one-tenth of a second and appeared before Lin Sheng, right at his chest. No average human could ever pull off this level of sword skill. Margaret had leveraged the dark energy to stimulate her body to produce this almost instantaneous movement and terrific strength. Also, the exertion of this dark energy was brief and precise, which could preserve her stamina and minimize harm to her body. Just as the sword came within an inch of Lin Sheng’s clothes, a rhombus green crystal appeared just in time. It not only stopped the sword’s advance but also bent the cross sword in a ninety-degree angle.

Margaret had never expected she could beat her opponent in the first move. So with green light flashing on her elbow, she made the cross sword in her hand vanish.

“Cross Starlight!” she yelled. A silver light in the shape of a cross came out of thin air, crashing into Lin Sheng. This was Margaret’s favorite pursuing move. Many of her previous opponents could quell her first thrust move, but no one had ever held up under the crushing force of Cross Starlight killer move. Not that people had not expected it. But it was because the force of this move was too overwhelming.

The power after the first thrust move had tripled in strength, and the range of attack expanded. Even many of her opponents, whose dark energy was higher than she was, had lost because of this surprise attack. But this time, she would taste disappointment.

The cross-shaped sword light stopped a few centimeters before Lin Sheng. It could not move any further as a group of rhombus green crystals had formed the same cross as Cross Starlight and blocked the sword’s light.

Lin Sheng stood still in place, looking at Margaret through the sword light and crystals. “Come on.”

As Margaret looked at Lin Sheng gravely, she shifted her steps and disappeared into thin air. In less than a split second, Margaret reemerged beside Lin Sheng. The movement was almost instantaneous.

“Nebula!”

A cloud of sword lights appeared around Lin Sheng in an instant. A loud clash ensued as the rhombus green crystals had again blocked the attack. None of the sword lights could make it past Lin Sheng’s defense.

“Comet Sword!”

Margaret shifted, surrounding Lin Sheng in a quick circling motion. The cross sword in her hand glowed in bright green light. It then shot out the energy like a comet, carrying a tail of bright burning flame aiming at Lin Sheng’s back. But a rhombus green crystal blocked the attack again. Just as Margaret was about to follow up with another move, she saw Lin Sheng lift his hand in her peripheral vision. A sense of imminent danger struck. Alarmed, Margaret faded into a shadow as she leaped a dozen meters backward.

“Thanks for pulling the punches,” said Lin Sheng with a smile. As their battle movements were so quick and the fingernail-sized green crystals were so tiny, no one, except the sparrers, knew if the crystals had blocked all the sword lights. “Had Margaret continued her attack, I would have lost control of my dark energy and been hurt. She is the clear winner here.” Lin Sheng looked at Auldmandiller while speaking.

Unlike his students, Auldmandiller knew exactly what happened and who was the actual winner. As much as he knew Lin Sheng was superior, he could not see how far Lin Sheng had made. “Then it’s a draw.” He nodded.

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