The Author's POV

WOOOOM'”!

Redirecting with his finger, a translucent yellow ring materialized above Matthew's armpits, and below the saber.

'”Crack!

Making contact with the ring, the saber broke the ring into millions of particles that diffused in the air. Fortunately, although it broke, it had served its purpose as Matthew's attack had pretty much been stopped.

By directly stopping the saber midswing rather than at full swing, Ren was able to reduce the amount of force the ring was subjected to upon making contact with the attack. This was one of the things he had learned in his experience at the Monolith.

Tapping onto the ground with his feet, Ren shot back and distanced himself from Matthew.

"No, you don't."

With the saber in his hand, Matthew chased after Ren. Fully knowing just how dangerous and powerful the Keiki style was, Matthew knew that he couldn't give him any time to breathe.

If he gave Ren time to breathe, he was as good as done for.

WHIIIN! WHIIIN! WHIIIN!

With each passing second, his attacks became more and more vicious. The yellow hue that resonated from his sword thickened enveloping his whole body.

"Haaa!"

Matthew roared out loud. The hue that was revolving around his body disappeared and agglomerated at the tip of his saber. Instantly it shot like a bullet towards Ren.

Unable to react to Matthew's sudden burst in power, the attack smashed solidly on Ren. The only thing he could do was stack three rings in front of him.

'”Bang!

"Hueek!"

Despite the rings revolving around his body cushioning some of the force, the force of the impact caused Ren to firmly smash against the side of the room. Landing back first against the wall, Ren found himself unable to breathe for a couple of seconds.

"huuu"

Gazing at Ren opposite of him, Matthew slowly exhaled. He didn't continue his pursuit. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was because he couldn't.

There was one major flaw with Matthew's current strategy. It was that it heavily consumed his stamina. Especially that last attack.

Even though he was trying his best to mask it, he was slowly running out of stamina. If he continued to attack now, the chances of Ren being able to exploit his tired self increased. He preferred to play it safe.

'”Gulp!

Tapping onto his ring, Matthew took out a couple of potions and quickly downed them. Slowly his stamina and mana started to recover.

'I should be in a better state than Ren.'

Matthew thought as he wiped the side of his lips.

Ren had used two major moves to beat his two companions.

Coupled with the fact that he had killed the captain, Matthew estimated that he was currently extremely tired and low on mana. As long as he kept replenishing his stamina and mana with his potions without giving Ren any time to consume them, victory was in his bag.

"Ugh."

Eyeing Ren opposite to him, he watched as he slowly stood up. Dusting his body, apart from his torn clothes, Ren was fairly unscathed.

Staring at Ren, Matthew noticed that his expression was still calm. Frowning, he spoke, "You have really surprised me. Compared to years ago when you were much weaker than me, I must say, you've truly grown."

not long ago when Ren's talent assessment was only rank. At that time he thought that he and Ren would never be on the same level, but surprisingly, Ren was now in the

shockingly, Ren had done it without the aid of the demon fruits that brought a massive increase in strength upon the

"But don't let that fool you. Even if you're stronger than me, it is only

yellow hue around his body slowly started to stabilize. In fact, it

"..."

words, Ren did not give a reply. He merely lifted his eyes and glanced indifferently at him. As he sensed the slowly soaring yellow-colored energy within Matthew's body, he quickly got into a

around his saber became increasingly dense as his gaze never left Ren. "Killing you will set me free from the binds of revenge that have chained me up for

finally move on and be his own person. This was the duel that would

face contorted slightly. Almost as

this, Matthew

"Let's finally settle this!"

alongside his black hair on his head suddenly fluttered wildly despite the

the strength increase presented by Matthew caused Ren, who standing opposite to frown. Unprecedented

in Matthew's shook and a clear ringing of the sword sounded. Following the sword ringing,

on the ground. His body turned into a streak of light as he once again took the initiative to attack Ren once

before, attack before Ren could have enough time to do

distance between the two of them was but ten meters. For someone like Matthew, this was distance was meaningless. It was something he could cover in a couple of seconds. His body flashed and reappeared, placing Ren within the range of his saber. Stabbing his saber, like a venomous snake in an almost erratic and unpredictable pattern, the

"Haaa!"

Matthew roared.

watched the tip of the saber that was slowly enlarging in his vision. Raising his head, a

"Naive."

on Ren, Matthew felt a cold chill wash over his body. The hair at the back of his head raised, as he abruptly

His body turned into

"haaa!"

Roaring, Ren punched out.

a terrifying force. An ear-piercing energy explosion rang inside of the room as the

with wind psyons. Using the same principle as the Keiki

after contemplating on the Keiki style for a long time and combining it with

attack that left Matthew

was Ren's true

was Ren merely trying to trick Matthew into thinking that he could only attack using the Keiki style,

that was slowly enlarging in his vision, Matthew could only open his mouth absentmindedly. It was already too late. He knew

'”Bam!

"Haaaak!"

fist directly smashed into Matthew's stomach. Like a broken kite, his body flew all the way towards the other side of the room smashing against the

to Matthew, Ren did not chase. However, unlike Matthew, it wasn't because he was

green hue enveloped the whole room, and alongside it was a terrifying pressure. Ren's clothes fluttered wildly as the pressure enveloping the room

"huuuu."

He exhaled.

"Khh..."

looking back at him. Matthew was indignant. His ribs were broken, his head was dizzy, and

how I

He wondered to himself.

glared at Ren. "I can't accept this!" He

to be his moment. This was supposed to be the moment where he would finally leave his past behind and grow into a majestic phoenix. How could he let Ren, someone who was

"Come you fucker!"

against a shelf, a terrifying yellow hue exuded from Matthew's body. The

kill you!

in his last attack. Tensing his legs, like a bullet, he shot in Ren's

was approaching him,

'”Click!

clicking sound rang out

the [Keiki

With their backs facing each other, neither one of them spoke. This continued for a good ten seconds before Matthew broke the