MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

Adam quietly felt his heartbeat accelerate against his chest.

Even though Makoto had a higher grade than him overall, in terms of stats, he was superior or nearly equal to her.

This meant that her skills and her ability to bring out the true power of her stats were higher than his by a large margin.

It wouldn't be easy for him to win. No, it would be better to say that his chances of winning were downright impossible. But he wanted to know where he stood right now on the hierarchy of things.

Mark watched the two with a stiff expression on his usually rigid face.

He didn't know whether he should feel excited about this situation or be concerned about Adam's well-being and state of mind.

Still, he wisely began to distance himself from them. This fight would either end in a flash or bring huge damage to the surroundings and he didn't want to be in the middle for either result.

"Very well, since the two parties have accepted the duel, I will serve as a referee."

Makoto nodded quietly and brought her hand to a second sword that was sheathed on her hips. In lightning-fast motion, she unsheathed the blade and took a standard swordsman stance.

It was a wooden sword, but as her Prana began to fill it up to the brim, it became no less sharp and lethal than a true sword.

Using the Divine weapon of the Kaminari family against the possible heir of the said family would be blasphemy of the highest degree. And she wasn't able to use it for fighting allies and trainees now, could she... So, she deemed it wise to just use a wooden weapon instead.

"Adam Gospel, do you require a weapon?"

Adam mused briefly about that statement. It was time for him to give some weapons a try and he did need projectiles to use his gravitational and telekinetic powers to their fullest extent so might as well.

"Can I have four swords? Or knives?"

"Four?"

"No in fact, please bring as much as you can."

Mark was bewildered but he didn't ask more questions and went ahead to bring as many weapons as he could.

There weren't that many weapons available so he simply brought around five swords and 8 fighting knives of different lengths.

"Those are simple standard weapons. They have a relatively good Prana absorption rate so they can be used for combat. Are you perhaps testing the weapon that will suit you the most?"

He was impressed that the young man would be so daring even when facing someone who was an Executor in all but name.

"I will use them all."

"I see... Wait what?"

Adam smiled, "Please throw them all on the ground."

Now Mark went from complete bewilderment to utter intrigue as he was able to discern something from his statements. It was clear now that Adam had some sort of secret technique or some powers that would let him use all the weapons at once and he was eager to witness it.

"Very well."

A few seconds later, the field surrounding Adam was covered by sharp weapons.

He looked up ahead at Makoto and spoke, "Thanks for letting me gear myself up."

"It... doesn't matter."

'So you are saying that you can win no matter how much I prepare? Talk about arrogance...'

Adam chuckled at that thought...

"It will be fun."

He found it ironic how the supernatural creature in this fight was acting like a hunter while the hunter was acting like a supernatural creature.

"Are you two ready?"

"Yes."

"Can't be any more ready than this."

"Then... Fight!"

Clang~!

No sooner had the word left his mouth did Mark open his eyes wide as he witnessed and heard the clash of swords.

But he wasn't the only one surprised by this situation.

Even as she parried and deflected the sword that had come rushing at her, Makoto was surprised to realize that two more swords came behind it in rapid succession.

Clang~! Clang~!

Her movements were fluid and she wasted no moment as Prana filled her legs and propelled her right in front of Adam.

〒 Lightning Style: Thunderclap 〒

She was fast. Plain and simple. The sound of thunder and the odor of burned ozone followed her trail while lightning sparks filled her surrounding as she drew her sword in a beautiful arc, ready to slash him down and end this fight in one go.

But, things were not about to go as she expected them to go...

Whoosh~!

She was bewildered as she realized that even as she slashed down, there was no feeling of hitting anything.

Her senses immediately spread and she realized that there was a second Adam farther away who was grinning at her just as the one she slashed down vanished. The one she had slashed had just been an illusion.

At the same time, three swords were rushing at her from all sides at the same time and she could feel her weight increase tremendously all of a sudden.

This series of actions had been so seamless that this would have been game over for many people in her place.

But even though she was surprised, this was far from enough to subdue someone on her level.

Prana roared inside of her being and her sword moved with razor-sharp precision and speed. Her movements were so fast that one had the impression the very space around her had been divided into countless pieces.

Crack~

〒 Lightning Style: Revolving Heaven 〒

A whirlwind of sword slashes covered her like a shield and reduced the incoming weapons to literal pieces before they could even reach a meter of her surrounding space.

But she was not finished yet. The attack ended and she sheathed her sword, forming an Iaido stance, and then unsheathed the blade the very next moment.

〒 Moon Fangs 〒

Prana filled her sword and a crack started to form on the blade but the attack was successfully enacted as it produced a beautiful crescent moon that tore the ground apart like butter and rushed toward her target with pinpoint precision.

This attack was not part of the lightning style she was taught. It was just a simple application of Prana and a technique all swordsmen were able to obtain with enough training.

Even so, the power behind that attack was real.

Boom~!

A shockwave filled the stadium and the earth rumbled when the attack finally collided with the intended target.

'Did I go too far?'

For an instant, Makoto was worried -- She shouldn't have been so careless. She should've adjusted her strength and not let herself get lost in the throes of battle like that.

"Haha. Seems like I finally succeeded."

The wind picked up and the dust was scattered, revealing a floating Adam protected by a translucent shield.

His arm was bleeding, his clothes were a little dirty and his hair was more than just frazzled, but outside of this, he seemed to show no particular wounds.

Far from caring about his bleeding, only a pure and child-like happiness could be seen on his face.

The two remaining swords floated into the air and slowly started to rotate, growing ever faster until nothing more than two shining circles could be seen and a humming sound of a lethal blade fills the stadium.

But this wasn't all.

Bzzzzzz~

Lightning roared in the surroundings.

But this time the one who caused this phenomenon was not Makoto.

Blue lightning sparks covered the two rotating blades, seemingly creating two circles of light.

"Well~Well~Well~ Miss Lightning Blade. Shall we go for round two?"