Substitute Sorcery Spirit

"Why don't you just kill yourself?" When Valkas uttered those words, it didn't mean he was confident of victory. On the contrary, it was his signal of surrender. Suicide was permitted inside the death match arena. The moment someone took their own life, the death match would end. The chip restrictions would reactivate, leaving Valkas entirely unable to desecrate the corpse. As long as Yaxiu left behind an intact body, the medical sorcerers could communicate with the Void Realm through sorcery spirits and pull his soul out of the realm's mist back into his flesh. The instant Yaxiu dodged his very first Mountain Collapse Earth Split miracle, Valkas had already lost; his subsequent attacks were merely a desperate struggle born of wishful thinking. Even if he could win this death match, he would still fail to accomplish the mission laid upon his shoulders: completely obliterating Yaxiu Heath. Compared to failing the mission, the scene before him weighed even heavier on Valkas's heart. Nothing stung worse than watching a genius rise before your very eyes—except, perhaps, becoming the stepping stone for that genius. Even as a middle-aged elf over a century old, Valkas still felt an aggrieved indignation at being put through such an ordeal. Was this some kind of joke? With so many unlucky bastards in the world, why did it have to be him? To tell the truth, Valkas's composure had already begun to crumble. That was why he had laid out the shortcut answer so bluntly, hoping Yaxiu would hurry up and end this nightmare. "Why would I kill myself? I haven't lost yet." "You think you stand a chance of defeating me?" Valkas barked out a humorless laugh in sheer anger. "Oh, of course. Thousands of years from now, bards will recite your glorious deeds in the streets: *'Yaxiu Heath, who had never studied swordsmanship, confronted an insolent elven swordsman in battle and miraculously triumphed over him, marking the beginning of a splendid life devoid of defeat.'* "Ah, merciful Mister Yaxiu, this humble Valkas begs you to spare a mention of my name in your future autobiography. Allow me to go down in infamy as a clown, would you? Hm?" "So tell me, Valkas, when are you going to publish a book?" Yaxiu struggled to lift his left hand, wiping away the blood trickling down his forehead so the crimson grime wouldn't stick to his eyelashes and obscure his vision, a faint smile still lingering on his face. "I simply have a reason I must beat you, that's all." "What reason?" "I want to ask you whether Shilin Dole sent you to kill me, and whether there's another conspiracy behind my imprisonment." Valkas flicked the blade lightly, jarring away the blood and grit clinging to the steel. "What does that have to do with you beating me?" "If I don't beat you, would you answer?" "Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. Besides, even if I did, would you be able to tell if it was true?" "I asked someone else that exact question just a little while ago." Yaxiu exhaled a long breath of turbid air. "He came to me to clear up a doubt of his. I said, 'If I lie, can you tell the difference?' He told me he actually could." "So you can too?" "No, I can't. But I figure the answer I get after beating the snot out of you will probably be a lot closer to the truth than the answer I'd get just by asking, wouldn't you say?" "Ever since I left the rearing institute, it's been ages since I've heard a reason so innocent." Valkas pulled his lips back into a grin. Having maintained an elegant demeanor from the moment he entered until now, a savage expression surfaced on his face for the very first time. "But if you don't kill yourself, you really might die, you know." "Then let's see whose sword is faster: yours or mine." "Kill you before you can commit suicide? Interesting. I accept the challenge." "Ah, that's not actually what I meant..." Yaxiu tightened his grip on the hilt, the muscles throughout his body tensing taut. "After all, I don't plan on retiring here. If I can't even step over a stepping stone like you, what right do I have to walk out of this prison?" "Such arrogance!" The already shattered ground ruptured once more. Invisible sword aura, traced into a terrifying silhouette by flying gray dust, surged from the arena floor like a colossal blade thrusting straight toward Yaxiu! Yaxiu didn't even blink. He threw everything into evading the sword aura and flying shards of stone, dragging out the fight as long as possible to let his body absorb every scrap of swordsmanship experience it could! The Sword Princess's swordsmanship experience was truly no joke. At the start of the match, Yaxiu couldn't even see Valkas's blade clearly. By now, he could predict Valkas's sword paths just from the movement of his shoulders. He might not know how to wield a sword all that well, but he had at least mastered the art of dodging one. Nor was he simply looking for a death wish. He genuinely believed he had a chance of defeating Valkas. Under the blessing of the Sword Princess's swordsmanship experience, the miracle Mountain Collapse Earth Split was no longer an impenetrable haze. Instead, given that Valkas couldn't exert his full strength, the miracle faintly revealed an exploitable flaw! It was just like the final, hardest problem on the college entrance mathematics exam: Yaxiu had suddenly spotted a miraculous auxiliary line. He felt he had a shot at conquering this impossible question! Given just a little more time, he felt he could even find the structural flaw in Mountain Collapse Earth Split's area of impact, slip through the opening, and strike Valkas down! Just a little more time— *Boom!* Yaxiu let out a muffled grunt. The sorcery power in his mind circulated once more, emitting a cool aura that allowed his reason to forcibly suppress the searing agony radiating from his thigh, barely dodging that strike of Mountain Collapse Earth Split! He cast a sidelong glance toward his thigh from the corner of his eye, then didn't dare look down a second time. "The speed of your growth is indeed breathtaking. Regrettably, you're exhausted." Valkas's voice couldn't hide his pity. "You've been losing blood since the very beginning, and after such intense combat, you've bled far too much. Your brain is running low on oxygen, and your stamina is bottoming out. That is why you're getting slower and slower. "Even if you can suppress the pain to keep fighting, your body can fight no longer. I carved a chunk of meat from your thigh, and combined with your earlier blood loss, the fact that you haven't slipped into shock immediately is already well beyond my expectations. "Do you know why I've been talking to you so much? Because the longer this drags out, the more strength you lose. Your sword can no longer be faster than mine. Before you can commit suicide, my blade will have pulverized your remains. "Thank you, Yaxiu. And I'm sorry, Yaxiu." With that, Valkas lunged forward and swung his blade. Fierce sword aura tore through the arena floor once again—Mountain Collapse Earth Split! *Is this really the limit of my caliber...?* Yaxiu sighed inwardly. Long before Igola had shared information about Valkas, Yaxiu had anticipated the danger of this death match. After all, with no grievances between them, why would anyone challenge a newcomer, a fresh piece of meat who had only fought a single death match? When an unfamiliar colleague suddenly gave you grief, it was always because of a conflict of interest. Then why had Yaxiu accepted the death match in the first place? Before stepping onto the platform, Yaxiu could have refused flat out. Nobody would even have been allowed to curse at him in contempt; he possessed that freedom. Yet Yaxiu didn't want to back down. First, he desperately needed an opponent to digest the swordsmanship experience shared by the Sword Princess, and no place was better suited to taking a beating than the death match arena, which was both perilous and safe. Second, one could run for a while, but not forever. Even if Yaxiu refused this death match, other troubles would find him sooner or later. Most importantly, just as he had said, he was a man who intended to break out of prison. If he couldn't even step over a stepping stone like Valkas, how was he supposed to pull off a prison break? He might as well lie flat and retire on the spot! Yet life didn't offer that many miracles. Even when they existed, they usually belonged to other people... Just as Yaxiu was about to slash his sword across his own throat to commit suicide, a familiar voice drifted from the spectator stands. It was the Sword Princess. *"If it hurts, just pretend you're someone else. That way, it won't hurt anymore."* In that split second, Yaxiu felt a block of ice melt in his mind. Sorcery power surged frantically, but it was held in an iron grip by an invisible cage, utterly unable to reach reality! Sorcery power could be bound, but knowledge could never be shackled. Even if its hands and feet were tied, it would still sprout wings and take flight. The Substitute sorcery spirit, which had remained dormant all this time, suddenly began dancing and gesticulating within Yaxiu's consciousness. With scarcely a moment's hesitation, Yaxiu didn't dodge, nor did he retreat. Instead, he swung his longsword and charged straight toward Valkas! "It's over." Valkas watched 'Yaxiu' get swallowed by the sword aura of Mountain Collapse Earth Split, a pang of melancholy rising in his chest. In over a century of life as a sword sorcerer, he had never seen a swordsmanship apprentice more gifted than Yaxiu. If it had been another time, another place, and under different identities, Valkas felt that serving as his stepping stone... wouldn't have been entirely unacceptable... Nothing stung worse than watching a genius rise before your eyes—and nothing was more exhilarating than witnessing the rise of a genius up close. *Pop.* Hearing a sound like a bursting bubble, Valkas instantly sensed something was wrong. He focused his gaze and realized that 'Yaxiu' had dissolved directly under the onslaught of sword aura, leaving neither flesh nor blood behind— It was a Substitute phantom! "It's over!" Valkas turned his head slightly, only to discover that in the blind spot of his vision, the ground raised by Mountain Collapse Earth Split had kicked up a massive cloud of dust and rubble—thick enough to conceal the charge of a heavily wounded man! Just as Valkas's sword clattered to the ground, Yaxiu's blade sank into his throat. The unsharpened blade pierced clean through his neck! *Ding, ding, ding!* [The outcome is decided. The victor is Yaxiu Heath!]