Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-122

The tornado stirred the wind and snow all four directions. The distorted air turbulence infused with white frost and dust that were stirred into the surroundings had clouded everyone's sight within the area. Meanwhile, that moment, the golden-haired swordsman had already charged nearer to the right side of Joshua.

Brandon was not stupid enough to take the initiative to get closer to the side of the warrior. With Joshua as the center point, he ran circling around with the distance of tens of meters between them, swinging the dual sharp blades towards Joshua as hard as he could. Instantly, invisible airwaves that looked like sharp arrows were shot out straight at the warriors.

With his eyes widened and his full attention fixed on the attacks, those transparent air wave attacks were not merely simple shockwaves. They were actually shapeless air blades that were sharp, striking in towards Joshua like deadly flying birds!

Secret Royal Technique, the White Raven's Swordsmanship!

Dual swords were deemed to be agile weapons that could strike swiftly. Through the secret sword technique that could strike the enemy from a certain range, Brandon was constantly throwing his attacks at Joshua. While he was charging around Joshua in a circle, he was also throwing air blades that were sharp and powerful enough to cut through rocks and steel straight at Joshua without the slightest hesitation in him. Facing the incoming waves of air blades striking at him, Joshua was not given the slightest moment to strike back at Brandon!

The strength of every single air blade was exactly as powerful as the strike that the wielder of the swords could perform. In other words, each of these invisible air blade attacks was as powerful as Brandon's attack that could slice a house in half. At the same time, Brandon had also put everything he had into each of his attacks. Meanwhile, a direct slash, a horizontal sweep attack, a backhanded strike, or even consecutive piercing stabs, every single attack he threw were coming at Joshua in all different directions!

With this sort of insanely fast speed attacks, let alone Joshua's flesh and blood, even Gold-tier daemons and the thick rock city wall would be struck into pieces. After all, Brandon was wielding the legendary-tier weapon, the 'duals blade of Order'. If normal weapons were used under the condition when Brandon was going all out with his power, the weapons would have been shattered into countless pieces for being wielded at a speed faster than the speed of sound.

Facing such dreadful attacks, the warrior that was standing over there like a statue did not show the slightest fear in him. His eyes looked deadly serious. With both of his fists wielding around, he actually blocked every single air blade attacks that came at him!

There was no skill involved. There was no special move involved as well. With a calm and serious face, Joshua focused his Combat Aura over to both of his fists. Then he lifted his hands up to block, strike, hammer any attack that came at him. He only relied on his [Steel Armor Kokyu-ho] to strengthen his body to be tougher than steel. With his powerful and quick reflexes, he blocked every single ferocious attack that Brandon threw at him. He vanquished every single air blade that was thrown at him!

Boom boom boom!!

At the same time, just like the gusty tornado and the invisible airwaves that were surrounding the entire body of Brandon, the hands of the Warrior were also shrouded by white mists. The misty vapor that was generated by breaking through the sound barrier continued to emerge around his fists as he waved his fists around in battle. The countless air blades were being thrown at Joshua without any pausing moment. The attacks were rushing towards him. Meanwhile, Joshua was like the hardest reef on the coast. He generally shattered all the tides that came at him!

Was he even human to begin with?!

At that moment, the battle between the two men had sunk into a tie momentarily. The fists and the blades were clashing into each other. The trembling sounds of metal clashing against each other echoed through the entire battlefield. However. Those clanking sounds felt like they were resonating in Brandon's heart. After all, he was currently wielding his powerful 'Dual Blades of Order'. On the other end, Joshua was merely using his hands, bare hands! The present situation had clearly shown that he was losing!

"Give it more, Brandon. You don't have to hold back anymore. I know that's not your full strength at all!"

Joshua could actually still speak while he was blocking the attacks. He grinned and looked his focus on the presence of the golden-haired warrior. With the Combat Aura around him burst out, he pushed all of the air blades in the surroundings that were striking at him. After that, the warrior lifted both of his hands up and placed them before himself. His palms were facing each other as if he was visualizing that he was holding only something in between. Meanwhile, the dark red Combat Aura began to gather in between the two palms swirling vigorously, turning into a dark air of ball that was circulating and fluctuating intensely.

[Annihilation, Hadouken!]

Boom!

With a shockwave emitted from his arms, Joshua struck out the dark air ball out from his palms. The ground within the range of tens of meters in radius was trembling. Meanwhile, being struck out by Joshua with both of his hands, the dark Hadouken instantly turned into a beam of berserk dragon charging out, shattering all of the air blades that Brandon threw at Joshua like an unstoppable power force!

Facing such a terrifying strike coming straight at him, the golden-haired swordsman would not dare to hold anything back anymore. With a battle roar, Brandon unleashed his dark green Combat Aura. The aura began to surge across his entire body intensely, awakening the full potential of both his body and soul. Then he immediately stopped throwing air blades at Joshua that did not work at all. Right after that, he raised both of his blades high up in the air. A burst of air swirled around Brandon's body, along with a thunderous rumble.

[White Raven's Technique, Military Assault!]

Putting both legs forward, his full strength was unleashed. At that moment, Brandon's body was like lightning, destroying everything around him. His speed had reached its peak, causing the air around his body to swirl around like visible liquid. In the middle of the outburst of strong winds all around the place, one could only see the sparkling electrical charges that came from the friction between the air and the dual blades, and also innumerable afterimages of the swordsman.

The Dual Blades of Order were swung forward along with the strength of the violent wind. Then the blades landed right on the Hadouken that Joshua struck out at Brandon. As the explosive air flow of the clash rolled up a hurricane blowing all the ice and snow up all around him, two cold flashes of lights broke dark red Combat Aura and cut it up completely in half. Brandon came to the front of the warrior in an instant. Right after splitting the Hadouken in two, he straight away swung both of his blades straight towards Joshua!

Pak! Pak! Boom!!!

The shockwave from the movement of the swing was vigorous. The ripples in the air were so powerful that it shook everything the surroundings. The white mist had blocked everything in sight. Meanwhile, a pair of large hands that looked like steel along with two dark red flashing radiances came right out of the mist and blocked the blades that were powerful enough to slash through the thick city wall. Right after a thunderous crash, everything returned to normal and the mist was dispersed by the impact of the clash, revealing Brandon's terrified face.

"Now this is much more interesting."

Joshua grinned in excitement. Then he took in a breath of cold air. At the same instant, both of his hands were raised above his head. They were like solid steel, holding tight to the 'Dual Blades of Order'. Earlier, the warrior had adjusted his Combat Aura, his bones, and his internal organs. By doing so, an incredible source of power burst out from within his body. He took on the strike that Brandon struck right on him at full strength. However, because of that, half of Joshua's body had been hammered into the solid and frozen ground. With him as the center point, the ground all around the area of tens of meters radius had been completely sunk in as well. Countless cracks that looked like spider webs were seen all over the surface of the ground.

Joshua's ability to control his power on a micro-level had allowed him to direct the impact of the strike that Brandon struck on him down into the ground. That also allowed him to use his hands as the support to block the opponent's powerful strike. Of course, that arrogant attitude of his had also made him pay a heavy price. The razor-sharp dual swords almost cut his palm and nearly cut off the bones in his hands.

"Again!"

The blood within his body began to circulate vigorously. The body of the Gold-tier warrior began to adjust his Combat Aura as if his body was overclocking. Along with an intense explosion, dust and dirt were stirred up all over the place. Joshua's legs that were plunged into the ground had once again regained their freedom to move. He sent his power to his hands and the blood was immediately squirted out from the wounds on his hands. Meanwhile, the red Combat Aura was invoked along with the blood squirting out from the wounds on his hands, deflecting the two blades from his hands.

Although the warrior had two heavily wounded hands now, however, Brandon's condition was not that far well as well. The strong impact of slicing the Hadouken that the warrior unleashed in half had also inflicted some internal injuries on him. Furthermore, the strike that he used all his strength to strike onto the warrior was blocked, shaking his confidence. Because Joshua deflected his swords a little while ago, he was pushed back along with the weapons and was now suspended in mid-air.

Telling to himself that he was currently in a very unfavorable situation, Brandon immediately used his Combat Aura to get a hold of himself. He wanted to descend to the ground as soon as he could. Unlike the mages, even if a Gold-tier combatant could fly, they would still need the ground as their support in order to unleash their full power. So it was his uttermost disadvantage for being pushed into the middle of the air.

However, how was it possible that Joshua would give his opponent time to rest? He instantly tightened his fists and contracted his muscles that were as solid as steel. Immediately, his wounds were closed and he stopped bleeding for the moment. After that, he stomped the ground as heavy as he could. Along with the trembling ground, he instantly leaped over tens of meters and struck a punch out front at Brandon who was about to land on the ground!

That was an extremely destructive punch, which was coming straight at Brandon right now! Although the punch was simple, however, no one would oversee that destructive power that Joshua had with him.

Brandon had just come in contact with the ground. The old force in his body had not dispersed yet. New force had not been exerted as well. It was completely impossible to block or fight back. Facing the ferocious strike up close from Joshua, he could only charge himself with his Combat Aura and burst into power once again. He then evaded the blow with a backflip. However, at the same time, he also threw the sharpest blade in his hand, the 'Sharpest Edge' right at Joshua. That holy weapon instantly transformed into a light-green beam of light, cutting through the air and struck right in front of Joshua, blocking off his attack.

Rumble—Boom!!!

With his palm still bleeding a little, the warrior swung his fist into the air and the fierce impact of the fist set off a rush of wind along with the scent of rust and blood. The shockwave then crushed the ground and the icy snow across the ground. The atmosphere and the cold wind that were stirred up had blown out a black frozen road path on the snowfield. Numerous ice particles were slammed into the air and then fell back down again.

Upon one round of battle, the two of them looked into the eyes of each other. After that, they once again got into position as they began their next round of battle head on!