Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Chapter 543 - The Victory Is Mine

John had closed his eyes since his sight was only distracting him. With the chakrams, current speed, his sense of sight was practically useless. He like most of the current generation of warriors were taught how to use mana sensing to detect movement but he wasn't that good at it, so to make up for his lack of skill John used his other senses. He could hear the sound of clinking steel, and he could feel the slicing wind that was carried by the chakrams. Alongside his mana sensing, he now had a rather clear picture as to where the chakrams were.

The chakrams were hitting each other circling him while changing directions. Not only were they fast but their movement was erratic and nearly unpredictable. The mana in each chakram was equal but every time they hit each other they seem to start spinning faster and the mana within them was thinning out, making mana sensing harder.

It was when the mana within the chakrams was about to disappear that they suddenly attacked. Even with using everything he had John could barely dodge the strikes coming towards him. He needed to never stop moving, the moment he stops would mean death. Yet he couldn't just continue to dodge, he needed to somehow counterattack or it would only end with defeat or worse his death.

He could feel the stinging pain that came from the numerous wounds he received. He had basically avoided any lethal damage, but as he continued to dodge he felt his stamina being drained faster than ever before.

Usually, John could move his body without breaking a sweat for hours without end, even when he was doing sword training he could go and swing his swords for a full day without stopping. Yet now facing the deadly chakrams and dodging them was taking a lot out of him. If his concentration wavers for even a second he would be unable to evade. The mental stress as well as the physical one was proving quite difficult.

…

As John continued to dodge the neverending stream of attacks the people watching him were amazed by the sight. The young man was able to last so long against the strongest of the summoned heroes. Even though Xia had many restrictions on her she was still a warrior of legend.

It was like watching the unbeatable knight from a fairytale fight against a random person and that random person was able to hold his own against the fairytale knight. John who was holding on and bleeding all over, made many people start to cheer for him. Many of the audience members didn't even look at the other matches as most of them were focused on John's battle against Xia.

John kept on standing up over and over again even though he kept on falling down and was now bleeding in every part of his body. Seeing him like that made the audience members' blood boil. The spirit to never give up and fight even if death was evident was something the people of the Empire admire the most.

"Kid, you can do it!"

No one knows who the first one to shout was, but as if that was a signal many others started shouting as well, giving their encouragement.

"Come on John, show us what you're made of!"

"Yeah, go on and fight!"

"Show us the power of youth!"

"If you lose at the preliminaries after eating a meal from my pub, it would lower the reputation of the Lonely Cat, so you better win even if you need to crawl and bite your way to victory!"

"How is a destined one losing to some regular ass summoned hero. You even got a weapon from my shop, if you lose the first fight while using that weapon then you'll be the worst destined one to have ever entered my shop."

Among the screaming cheers of encouragement, there was also a few familiar voices mixed in. Unfortunately, John was unable to hear those cheers as he was fully focused on the fight.

On the other hand, Xia heard each one of them cheering for John. Even she was rather surprised by how long he was able to last against her. This reminded her of the time when she and the others fought Ren fifteen years ago. He might not be as powerful or as intimidating as the powerful monster that was Ren, but John had something within him that was similar to the legendary Emperor. That tenacity and the ability to improve during a battle were things that make him a formidable individual.

As she was mesmerized by John's tenacity she saw that he suddenly stopped moving. Everyone else was surprised by the scene, they all knew what would happen once John stopped, and as expected the chakrams at a speed that made them look like round lights finally hit John.

Two of the chakrams were now stuck on John's back and his left thigh. To everyone's surprise, the chakrams that looked like they could cut through anything didn't fully cut John. Those that had the ability to see everything noticed that John actually allowed those chakrams to hit those spots on purpose as he subtly moved at the last moment before they hit him.

The remaining two chakrams were still whirling around him. Xia looked at John confused as to what he was doing.

'Is he planning to let all my chakrams stick to him? Is that his solution on how to deal with my chakrams? But even if he does that I still have other ways to attack, on the other hand, the damage he took will drastically lower his ability to evade my attacks.'

While Xia was thinking the remaining two chakrams were now about to strike John. As they were about to hit him, John used his wooden sword to deflect the two and their trajectory changed and they were now heading towards Xia.

Seeing the chakrams about to reach her, Xia simply lifted her fingers and the two chakrams slid into her fingers as if it was the most natural thing. She then saw another chakram with blood coming towards her, and this time she wasn't prepared so she needed to sway her body to the side evading it. At the corner of her vision, she saw the last chakram coming for her from the back and then the bloody John charging at her from the front.

Xia threw one of her chakrams and made it collide with the incoming chakram, and as she was about to throw the other one at John, she saw that he threw his wooden sword. The wooden sword was not aimed at her but above her head, she unconsciously looked up and saw the wooden sword hit the deflected chakram. The wooden sword then changed its trajectory and was now falling down towards her.

Xia was about to catch the falling wooden sword, but then she felt something from behind her. She immediately moved but it was too late something had nicked her, and it was one of her chakrams. The moment that happened Julia's voice resounded throughout the entire arena.

"The victory goes to John of region four! The first participant to pass the preliminaries is John!"