Odyssey of the Blind God
Chapter 399 Close Combat (3)

From the beginning, it had been hard for Nial to believe that Khain was only 14 years old.

He was a very good fighter and his mana core rank was also really high for his age. Considering him a natural talent would fit the young Valxian perfectly.

Being able to exert three or more martial art techniques at the age of 14 was also something that couldn't be underestimated. This was even more reason for Nial to keep his focus high up when the other Valxians thought that the battle was already over.

Nial had been keeping watch on the Dojo Master the whole time and it was obvious that the Valxian was waiting for something.

Even after Nial had created the mirror image of himself while simultaneously playing around with the perception of the young Valxian, the Dojo Master hadn't reacted a tiny bit.

At first, Nial thought that the Dojo Master wanted his students to learn from their failures and get up from the ground. Failing was nothing bad, but something one could learn from.

However, he quickly noticed the truth behind the Dojo Master's unbothered behavior.

After Nial had tricked Khain and attacked him using the [Blood Eclipse Moon] in a way he had never done before, playing tricks with the mind of the Valxian, he had used [Hodur's Heir] to infiltrate Khain's body.

Yet, only when Khain smashed into the ground after Nial had delivered a feisty punch in the chest of the Valxian did the Dojo Master start reacting.

The Dojo Master smiled lightly and he changed his posture slightly, preparing himself to move at any moment.

At the same time, Nial's attention was pulled over to Khain's direction again. The Valxian seemed to have increased in size and Nial's danger senses told him that it would be better to retreat a few steps rather than charge at Khain right away.

Khain's body was steaming hot and his presence had changed altogether. It was as if he had turned into a ferocious beast with a human-like appearance. His eyes were bloodshot and his brownish skin showed signs of tearing apart and turning red.

Nial's lips twitched when he sensed the pressure that came off of Khain. The young Valxian seemed to have changed entirely, whether it was his presence, expression, or the way he moved.

When he took his first step after getting up from the ground, the ground below his feet burst open. Khain looked at the ground once before he gazed at his steaming hot hands.

It looked like Khain was not sure what exactly was happening to him but simultaneously it felt like he had gotten 100% control of his strength now.

'Did he remove his limiter, or is that some sort of Berserk state?' Nial took a wild guess, just to discard all the thoughts that were flooding his mind. It was obvious that this was something related to his race rather than a martial art technique because the entire demeanor and being of the young Valxian seemed to have changed.

This was not something a mere martial art technique was capable of!

Taking the reaction of the other Valxians into consideration as well, Nial knew that the fight would become more cumbersome.

However, that was something he could accept. He controlled the black miasma that had infiltrated Khain to devour and absorb his mana.

The natural repelling force the Valxian race had against mana worked against Nial's action but his black miasma slowly circulated through the body of the young Valxian, further deteriorating his strength.

His black miasma didn't have any attack properties but that was not necessary if it was powerful enough to weaken his opponent. And a weakened opponent was something Nial needed right now.

Khain was already very powerful and his current state despite him being a bit injured was not something Nial could take lightly.

Nial merged the black miasma with the stored power of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability, turning it crimson before he released it explosively from his body.

The surrounding 20 meters were shrouded in a dense crimson miasma within a second and Khain wasn't able to see anything.

However, instead of losing his reasoning, or hesitating, Khain exerted one of his many martial art techniques to kick toward the dense crimson miasma.

An air fissure that swept the dense crimson miasma aside was released due to Khain's attack, revealing everything the miasma had hidden from his sight.

Meanwhile, Nial had disappeared and dark miasma emerged all around the area, replacing the crimson miasma that seemed to have vanished into thin air as well.

'So he is still able to keep his cool and didn't take the bait, that's a shame,' Nial concluded as he changed his way of attack.

He used the Blood Eclipse Moon ability to merge the accumulated power with his mana to manifest crimson-colored blades. Nial threw them toward the young Valxian, who moved rapidly the moment the first few blades hit him.

Khain blocked the blades easily and he shot in the area where the crimson blades had come from. His rapid movements pushed the black miasma around him aside and Khain quickly discovered more crimson blades that were hovering in the air.

Nial willed them to shoot forward and he aimed at Khain's head, forcing him to react, blocking all the attacks easily.

The crimson blades were not powerful enough to pierce deep into Khain's skin. They caused only small scratches before they dispersed.

However, that was enough to distract Khain and prevent him from realizing that Nial had emerged out of the dark miasma a few meters away from the young Valxian.

Nial reached Khain's head in an instant and he used all his might to smash his hand against the stubborn Valxian's head.

He intended to give Khain a concussion, or possibly make him feel dizzy for a moment.

Unfortunately, that was far from easy, especially given Khain's tough physique. Khain's head barely moved from the impact of Nial's slap and the young Valxian reacted almost instantly.

This forced Nial to use Khain's large body as a stepping stone to jump backward and merge with the black miasma that began to shroud Khain once again.

Khain roared out in anger and he punched out in all directions so as to dispel the black miasma but Nial kept using the tremendous amount of mana he had stored to make sure that the entire first floor of the pagoda would be densely filled with black miasma.

Simultaneously, Nial conjured crimson blades using the Blood Eclipse Moon ability and large amounts of mana to tire out Khain faster.

The other Valxians, who had been observing the battle, couldn't see anything that was going on. Nial's mana was everywhere but it was near-impossible for them to pinpoint the origin of Nial's mana. And if that was not possible for them despite being in a fully focused state, it was much more difficult for Khain to determine anything as he was in the fight.

Controlling his mana grew more and more difficult as the effect of the black miasma showed how efficient it was. The superficial cuts all over Khain's body had increased at an alarming rate as well. There were only a few spots where he wasn't injured.

Black miasma infiltrated Khain's body through these cuts and the dispersing crimson daggers amplified the black miasma as well.

Khain's strength decreased slowly over time and the only thing the young Valxian could do was mindlessly run through the surroundings and charge in the direction where the crimson daggers shot from.

However, the result of these actions was not as he had expected and Khain ended up exhausting himself more than anything else.

Almost an hour had passed since the start of the battle, but it was still not over yet. Nial had turned the tables without much difficulty. It was almost as if he had planned everything from the beginning.

Thus, he was not really surprised when the Dojo Master intervened when he had seen enough.

Rather the surprising fact for Nial was the way in which the Dojo Master intervened.

The tall Valxian clasped his hand while exerting the same martial art technique as earlier. Yet, this time it was a bit different and all the black miasma Nial had painstakingly created disintegrated as the Dojo Master's sound wave swept through the Pagoda's first floor.

'Looks like I was lucky that Khain has yet to learn this weird martial art technique,' Nial thought, understanding that he had won mostly due to his advantageous abilities rather than his physical strength.

But that was only obvious because he had been fighting the being of a race that was fully focused on close combat fighting and the creation of a perfect body.

"That's enough," The Dojo Master said calmly, and as if on cue, Khain stopped moving. His steaming body deflated once again and he swayed from side to side before he slumped to the ground, landing on his butt first.

Khain looked at his body in disbelief, just to let out a deep breath. Black miasma emerged from Khain's breath and the various cuts he had sustained before it dispersed when Nial snapped his fingers.

The young Valxian looked over to Nial and saw that the human Original was only a little bit dirty but did not have even a single injury on his entire body.

'My attacks were entirely useless?' He realized in shock, not expecting that to be the case.

Even if the Secea Wind Cutter technique decreased the Strength of the user's attacks in exchange for allowing the user to increase his speed drastically, Khain had been confident in his strength.

To him, it was a shame that Nial was unscathed, and even more so the fact that he didn't seem exhausted after fighting for an entire hour.

'Is he really a human? Or is that the power of humans???' Khain wondered when he felt a soothing feeling spreading through his body as a warm hand grasped him tightly.

"Looks like you unlocked bits of your Bloodline's special power," The Dojo Master said seriously as he added, "but you are still young. You have to train a lot to learn how to control the power of the Berserk Titan properly!"

After he said this, the Dojo Master kept using a special martial art technique to stimulate the cells within the designated target's body. He wanted to make sure that Khain wouldn't face any serious injuries.

However, his interest in Nial was enough to look over at the young man with interest gleaming in his eyes.

"Looks like you've passed," He just said, while keeping his attention on Nial.

"Yes, but I'm not really satisfied with myself," Nial answered honestly. He felt like sighing but that felt oddly inappropriate right now.

Nial was not sure why he had this feeling but he visualized the Dojo Master nodding his head.

"I can see that, but that doesn't mean I understand why you feel like this," The Dojo Master said as he added in all seriousness,

"Didn't you already hold back a lot?"