Eden exploded out of his isolated corner once he felt ready to re-engage in the fight as he used [ World Slash ] to send a powerful sword slash capable of slicing a few dozen apartments in half.
Max could have dispersed this attack if he wanted to, but he did not want to reveal his cards so early, so he went for the bare basics taught to him by Kremeth.
Planting his feet at the shoulder width Max leaned forward and rapidly leaned backwards while blocking the attack, elongating the point of impact force and hence reducing the attacks overall efficiency.
In the end, Max stopped the world slash dead in its tracks with nothing but sword fundamentals as Eden jumped on him close range.
[ Solar Beam ]
Eden, who was silently accumulating sunlight power in the far corner while formulating a strategy, let it out all at once as he blasted Max with a powerful solar beam from mid-range.
This was the first big move used in the battle, a genuine tier4 attack that was tricky to be dealt with as despite Max having his sunlight allergy healed after his draconification, he still felt his scaly skin sting under the effect of the solar beam.
Max crossed his sword and his free arm and tried to block the incoming blast, but was overwhelmed quickly and blasted backwards up till the end of the arena wall.
-12,400
Eden had finally drawn the first blood and it was quite a sizable HP reduction at that.
Naturally, his supporters on the west side of the stands finally got rowdy with there being something worth cheering for as they banged their swords against their shields and regained some faith in Eden to win this battle.
Walking towards the spot where he had dropped his second sword previously, Eden picked it up and regained his twin blade fighting style, as only then did he charge at Max once more.
Max charged back towards Eden, understanding the importance of being on his toes and in motion for this exchange as seeing him charge, Eden used [ Blink ] and suddenly teleported out of his range of vision.
' Top right '
Max's [ Way Of The Wind ] senses alerted him that the attack was coming from top right as he reacted in time to block Eden's overhead slash aimed straight for his neck.
*SHINGGG*
Eden fell on the ground after a failed sneak attack and rolled through, before using [ Twin Blade Hurricane ] to start high-speed barrage on Max.
Sword slashes rained on Max from left, right and centre as he could barely keep track of it with his eyes only stopping the ones that aimed for his viral organs, while letting Eden bruise him along the edges of his skin.
-750
-650
-750
-690
-750
Max started to lose HP by the second as he seemingly had no answer for Eden's swordsmanship.
" EDEN PUSHES BACK! Max is in trouble, the tides of the battle have turned completely! Look at him go! I can't even see the outline of the sword, he's attacking Max so fast! " The commentator announced as the Earthlings gasped in horror and covered their eyes, they did not like the current turn of events at all.
[ Counter ]
When the chance presented itself, Max parried one of Eden's blades, while using the momentum of the other to launch a counter attack aimed straight for Eden's stomach.
[ Solar Flash ]
Without hesitation Eden used solar flash as his surroundings suddenly began glowing with the immense luminous intensity of the sun, blinding any onlookers from the audience and even back home with Max being no exception.
Feeling a stinging pain in his eyes, Max was forced to close it shut, giving Eden his chance to deal a big blow.
From the moment that he had returned from the corner and started to fight seriously, he had this exact sequence of events in mind as this was the opportunity he envisioned right from the start.
[ Critical Slash ]
The choice of move that Eden had decided to use at this moment was critical slash, an attack that tripled the amount of critical damage inflicted on the enemy.
If used correctly it was enough to end this battle, but even with the worst case scenario it would plunge Max's HP in a deep orange colour at the least.
***********
( Meanwhile Asiva )
Asiva frowned from reading the intelligence report that Jathi had compiled as ' Urgent '
Apparently during the boy's trip to Dwargon the three sneaky bastards had made a visit to a Red Umbrella Establishment and stirred trouble.
Putting aside the fact that Max had decided to patronise such a place, which was a huge source of irritation for Asiva in of its own, the establishment seemed to have some link to prince Felix Aurelius who was now pissed off at the Bloodfall clan.
Felix was seemingly rattled about the fact that Max might have uncovered his secret connection to the Red Umbrella group and would use it as leverage against him.
In his paranoia he had begun creating problems for Bloodfall clan merchants hoping that the minor inconveniences would force Max to set up a personal meeting with him where he would be able to address the issue and settle it in private.
" How childish, men are stupid, incapable of communication and completely untrustworthy.
Institutions like the Red Umbrella only thrive because idiots like Felix Aurelius and my to be husband can't resist the allure of sweet talking women " Asiva said as she crumpled the intelligence report and began thinking on what would the best course of action be for the Bloodfall clan.
Their economy was currently fragile and could not afford a hit on the merchant union, although it was a childish way to set-up a meeting, Asiva had her hand forced in this matter as she had to make an appointment for him to meet Max in the near future.
—--------
/// A/N - Chapter 24/30, end of the day.
My Apologies for it being a few hours late///