Absolute Choice
chapter-450

"It's not only triple-tasking. It's impossible to defend against that strike using Psionic Hardening alone, as all it does is it add a trivial amount of defense. The thing that truly defended against that strike is his body."

Dawn quickly pondered over the matter before coming to a shocking conclusion.

This Infernal King that claim s to be human possesse s a strong willpower that allow s him to triple-task. F urthermore, his physical toughness exceed s the gargantuan who was in his fourth form.

How could he still be human?

He i s practically a monster!

The rookies from afar exchanged looks with one another. Speechless's mouth twitched slightly. He had previously said with great certainty that once Dawn activated the power of her Sword Truth, the balance would immediately be broken and that Shi Xiaobai could even get one-shot. However, when all of that happened, not only was Shi Xiaobai uninjured, it ended with Dawn bleeding in her left hand. The way his face was figuratively slapped was done in such a ruthless manner.

Speechless looked at Mu Yuesheng, who had a mocking smile. He said stubbornly, "Ahem, that fellow is slightly stronger than I expected."

...

Dawn used her healing technique to treat her injured left hand. When she saw Shi Xiaobai only needed to catch a tiny breather after landing before charging over, she finally could not help but shout, "So you weren't just risking your life while we were fighting because you are confident that your defense can withstand my sword?"

Shi Xiaobai was slightly taken aback before he gave a serious nod.

Just from eating the Transcendent fruit, his physical toughness was on par with Leonis's. Now, having eaten the three holy items—Transcendent fruit, Celestial Jade and Infernal King's sword—his physical toughness was naturally no weaker than the gargantuan's. It was even superior to the gargantuan in his fourth form. Compounded with the highly concentrated Psionic Hardening, he was indeed confident he could withstand Dawn's attack. It had to be said that the holy items of the three domains were very valuable, and of course, it was also because of the heaven-defying ability of the Power of Taotie.

However, his choice of using a dual-blade kamikaze fighting style was not because of his confidence in his defense but because he had no other choice.

Shi Xiaobai felt a little bittersweet. His speed and strength was clearly above Dawn's, but he had failed to defeat her despite her not activating the power of her Sword Truth. That was because, in terms of battle strategy and impromptu judgment, he was far inferior to her.

She was like a battle-hardened warrior who possessed absolute calmness. She was able to perfectly dodge his every strike in a perfect manner before launching a counterattack. She never made a mistake nor did she give him any opportunity. He had to use the dual-blade kamikaze style to forcefully create opportunities for himself.

This was an opponent that had forced him to give it his all, but also an opponent that he could not defeat.

He did not know that Dawn was feeling bittersweet as well. She believed that she had been repressed by the scoundrelly dual-blade kamikaze style, to the point of feeling vexed, but now, she realized that she had been repressed by Shi Xiaobai's might.

The youth in front of her was faster and stronger than her. He was able to activate the power of his Sword Truth for prolonged periods of time and possessed a monster-like physical defense. She could not triple-task like him, so if she did not activate her Sword Truth, all she could do was constantly dodge and retreat. There was no way of winning against him. Even with her Sword Truth activated, she would still need to engage in an intense battle before she could clinch victory.

This was an opponent she needed to deal with seriously.

But...

She could not activate the power of her Sword Truth.

Due to a moment of vexation, she was angered enough to produce killing intent, but when that sword slashed out, she felt a sense of regret. The power of the Sword Truth lasted for only a moment before it disintegrated.

She knew that it would be very difficult for her to have any intentions of killing the youth again because she could not deny that to her, he was a unique existence.

But if she could not activate the power of her Sword Truth, there was no way she could win, other than waiting for Shi Xiaobai to no longer be able to maintain the power of his Sword Truth. He had activated his Sword Truth continuously for an extended period of time, so it was likely that his mental energies were about to be depleted, right?

"How long more can you maintain your Sword Truth?" Dawn hesitated for a moment before asking softly.

Shi Xiaobai grinned and said seriously, "This King's Sword Truth will not be deactivated before the outcome is decided."

His tone was filled with confidence, but she could not believe him.

Even if he had immense mental energy reserves, there was no way he could persist with the expenditure over a long period of time. The battle was clearly in a stalemate. Although he was unable to repress her fully, he was unable to defeat her. And she had no way to use her Massacre Sword Truth against him, so there was nothing she could do to him. It was unknown how much longer the battle would continue on.

There would be a final moment when his mental energies were completely drained, which would prevent him from maintaining the power of his Sword Truth. Furthermore, it was difficult to triple-task when one's mental energies were scarce. When that happened, she would be able to gain victory.

All she needed was to endure a little longer and drag it out to the point when he suffers a mental collapse. Then, everything would come to an end.

She just needed to endure to that moment to clinch victory. Even if she were unable to kill him when the time came, obtaining victory still matched her original goal.

However, wouldn't such a victory be a bit...pathetic?

Did it have to come down to her having to fight her opponent in a battle of attrition before clinching victory?

Such a victory felt worse than defeat!

"I do not need such a victory." She said to herself in her heart before making a decision.

"One strike!"

Dawn said in a deep voice, "Shi Xiaobai, accept one strike from me! If that strike fails to kill you, it will be your victory and I would have lost.."

She did not need to wear down her opponent to clinch victory. Compared to that, she might as well steel her heart to kill him!

Kill him or lose.

That was the decision she made. It was the way she steeled her resolve.

Shi Xiaobai felt slightly alarmed but he quickly realized something. He nodded slowly and whispered, "Come on, This King has already waited for a very long time."

He had been waiting for her to activate the power of her Sword Truth.

However, the thing he was eagerly waiting for was that one strike.

That strike that filled the world with whiteness, to the point of making the souls of everyone quiver.

"The Hero King's mental energies has recovered. She is about to use the power of her Sword Soul."

Speechless, who had nearly been killed by that strike, said with a heavy expression, "The power of the Sword Soul is far stronger than any attack at our level of strength. Despite trying my best, I was unable to withstand that strike. If not for the Hero King thinking that my heart was in the left side of my chest, I would have already died. This time, she will definitely not make the same mistake. Shi Xiaobai is really in grave danger."

She had been constantly repressed but had no way to produce killing intent to use her Massacre Sword Truth on Shi Xiaobai, so the only way was to drag it to the point when Shi Xiaobai was mentally drained to clinch victory.

But such a victory was no doubt a form of humiliation to Dawn. It felt worse than defeat.

She might as well slash out with one strike to end it once and for all!

Dawn held her sword with both hands as she slowly lifted it towards the sky. An astral soul which was about ten meters tall stood behind her. It was blurry, preventing others from seeing its true form. However, one could tell that it was wearing armor and that both its hands held onto a gigantic sword. Its posture was identical to the way the girl lifted her sword.

1. IChooseDogLeading (我选择狗带) when read in Chinese sounds like I Choose Go Die. It was a meme that resulted from a former member of famous Korean boygroup, EXO, TAO (Huang Zitao). At a concert, there was a part in a rap that where he said "<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://youtu.be/78VmKepFm1U?t%3D30s&sa=D&ust=1528791478114000">I will not easily 'go die'</a>", but due to a mispronunciation, it sounded like he will not easily choose to be led by dogs. This phrase now means 'I'd rather die/I choose death'.