Aren stood straight, staring at the Minotaur. He smirked. "I don't think a fight has been this exciting in a while," he said.

"Hmmm," the Minotaur groaned, then shot forward, hooves slamming into the ground hard, reaching crazy speed.

It slashed down at full power. Aren stepped back, dodging the attack by just an inch, while his eyes stayed focused on the Minotaur.

'Using Shadow Sense and Swift Wind together, and to the max, allowed me a certain level of prediction. Pushing it to the max lets me evade without any lost energy, and that's what I need now.'

He lunged forward, throwing a clean hook, and the Minotaur lifted its sword to block, but the fist never came. Instead, a kick to the ribs landed on the exposed side.

Crack.

Bones cracked as the Minotaur staggered back, pain shooting all over its body. It looked at Aren, rage in its eyes, but excitement as well.

Boom. It lunged again, slashing down. Aren dodged again, but couldn't go for the same attack as before because the Minotaur reacted fast, letting go of its sword and clutching at Aren. Aren was forced to back up.

The Minotaur suddenly dug its sword into the ground and twisted, causing rocks to fly into the air. Then, like a bat, it swung the broad side of its sword hard.

WHOOSH.

The sword slammed into the rocks hard.

PENG!

Whoosh, whoosh.

The rocks shot forward fast as bullets, more than twenty of them, all aimed at Aren at the same time.

Aren sensed the attack instantly, using tendrils to throw himself into the air. The rocks slammed into the walls behind him, leaving deep and large holes there.

While in the air, the Minotaur bent its knees and launched into the air, reaching right next to Aren and slashing down.

Aren crossed his arms quickly as the sword hit him. He was thrown down like a meteor, slamming into the ground hard.

BOOM!

A crater formed under Aren, pain shooting through his entire body, but he didn't have the time to lie there as the Minotaur was already coming down with a stab from above. Aren rolled out of the way, got to his feet, and bolted.

BOOM!

The Minotaur landed in the crater, sword stabbed in. It looked up at Aren, then bolted again.

It had noticed that when Aren had even a second to think, he was capable of escaping every attack, so the only way to win would be to pressure him until he made a mistake.

Sadly, Aren was the type to have multiple plans in his mind already. He swung his hands when the Minotaur was close and unleashed a wave of lava.

The Minotaur was not expecting this. He was forced to a stop, lifting his sword and blocking it from reaching his face. Some of the lava landed on his armor. It made searing sounds but ultimately couldn't burn through.

The Minotaur dropped the sword, ready to go, but tendrils had already wrapped around its feet, lifting it off the ground. They swung the Minotaur like a ball, right through the pillars.

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

Multiple pillars shattered, dust and debris everywhere, before the tendrils threw the Minotaur into a wall as hard as possible. The wall cracked, debris flying everywhere, dust rising and covering the air.

Aren stood there, still watching with Shadow Sense, because he knew that attack would not even come close to defeating the Minotaur, and he was right.

BOOM.

The Minotaur blasted out from the wall, and it seemed it had had enough now. Its eyes glowed brighter, and the runes on the sword glowed red.

ROARRRRR!

Aren knew that if he even tried to block whatever that attack was, he would die or suffer heavy damage.

SLASH.

The sword came from above. Aren dodged to the side fast. The sword cut into the ground, and a massive twenty feet tall red arc of soul energy shot forward, cutting through the ground and then into the wall, followed by an explosion.

Rocks and debris flew in every direction. Dust rose. A massive chunk of the thick wall had been utterly destroyed.

Aren looked at the destruction. The Minotaur was finally using its real strength.

'I have to put some distance and plan again. Facing it like this would get me killed,' Aren thought, moving right back, only for the Minotaur to appear right behind him with a slash.

Aren managed to sense it with Shadow Sense, ducking as fast as he could, the blade cutting some of his hair as it released another red arc that cut through several pillars in succession.

Then it lifted its hoof, ready to stomp Aren. Aren rolled out of the way fast. The hoof hit the ground, and large spiderweb cracks spread along with a shockwave.

Aren pushed himself to his feet, only to be met with the Minotaur right in his face again, the huge sword already coming down.

He managed to dodge again as the blade cut deep into the ground, leaving a massive gash.

'Shit, this isn't going well. I'll die at this rate,' Aren thought.

"Fuck it, I'll go all out now," Aren muttered, immediately activating the true form of his armor. He also remembered something very important. He had believed the true form only lasted one minute, but it had been through two evolutions.

If he had recalled this before, he would have used it more, rather than turning it off when he believed the minute was up.

"System, how long can it stay?" he asked quickly.

[Current time: 4 minutes]

"Great."

Aren looked at the next attack already coming, but now that he was using the true form of the suit, everything was ten times clearer. He avoided it quickly and put some distance between them fast.

He landed and skidded back a few meters, looking up at the Minotaur.

The Minotaur could already tell that something was different, but regardless, it went for the attack.

'I've held back all this time. Maybe it's because I've not seen a good reason to actually put in a hundred percent, but now, I have one,' Aren thought.

The both of them lunged forward at the same time.

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