Arthur asked, "Who are you?"
The man didn't want to say his identity before because of professional courtesy and pride. But now he didn't dare say his name because of fear. He was afraid that Arthur would be able to find him once he knew his name.
So he didn't answer. But Arthur sneered and asked, "Are you Black Mantis? If you are the Black Mantis, I have heard a lot about you, and I've done a lot of research about you too. I heard that you were injured. I also heard that because of your injury, your body will be imperfect forever and your force will be stuck at the first stage."
If this man is the boss of the Black Mantis group, it will explain why he can match him. With a body at the ninth transformation because of his injury and a force stuck at the first transformation of the second mortal coil, his power will be 9 × 2, which is 18.
He, on the other hand, has a body at the eighth transformation and a boost from Mountain Karma at 3. So his power is 24. Even though he can only currently control 85% of it, that is still 20.4. 20.4 has the upper hand over 18.
The reason why he hasn't been able to crush his opponent is because of the advantage of force in terms of acceleration. But he is confident of winning this fight.
The man narrowed his eyes at him when he said that name. Then he asked, "The Scarred Raven didn't succeed in assassinating you. It is clear that he could never have succeeded. You played him and pretended to be injured. Then you hid in secret and investigated everyone for your revenge."
"You are probably that person who ambushed the Scarred Raven and his group. I was wondering why Jake would bring in a second coil cultivator over some arguments about money. It should have cost him more money to do so than to pay me. I always thought he was stupid, but I don't think he was that stupid."
"If he had a second coil cultivator on hand, he shouldn't have hired me to kill you. He should have used that cultivator to kill you directly. Speaking of Jake. You are also likely to be the one who killed him."
Arthur chuckled and said, "You have a wild imagination, Mr. Black Mantis. This is the first I am hearing of this."
Black Mantis didn't believe him. But he didn't call him a liar. Instead he said, "Now that things have reached this level. I acknowledge your strength, and I am willing to apologize for the excessive demands I made earlier."
Arthur shook his head and said, "I am not a pedantic person. I rarely take offense. Things are fine between us."
Black Mantis frowned. "If things are fine, why aren't you letting me go?"
Arthur denied it again. "You're falsely accusing me again. I am not holding you. I can't even touch you. You are free to go."
But Black Mantis didn't dare turn his back to leave because Arthur hadn't stopped punching. Arthur was following him closely like a worm stuck in his gut.
He has the advantage in short-distance bursts. But if he tries to turn around and run away, Arthur will catch up to him and beat him up from behind. At least he can dodge now that he can see the punches coming. He will be completely blindsided if he tries to escape.
Escaping is a matter of top speed, not acceleration. With acceleration, he can gain a quick burst of speed and gain an advantage in distance between him and Arthur. But that advantage will be brief.
Once Arthur reaches his top speed, that advantage will become eroded because, frankly, Arthur has greater strength and speed than him. That is why he is only dodging, not counterattacking or blocking the hits.
Unfortunately, he can't dodge forever. It is because using force requires a lot of stamina. He is running out of stamina. Soon he won't be able to achieve his quick burst of speed.
What's more, the injury on his body means using force will damage it. Even if he had infinite stamina, his body would eventually break down because of the excessive use of force.
Things looked like he was having an easy time dodging Arthur's attack, but he is literally dancing on the edge of a blade. One slight mistake and he will be doomed. But he wasn't resolved to going down without a fight.
He warned Arthur, "You're good, but this is not wise. You're pushing me too far, and it won't end well for the two of us. You're making me desperate, so I will have to resort to desperate things in order to survive."
Arthur sneered and said, "You come to my house in the middle of the night and wake me up. You gave me an ultimatum and then asked for the skin of my back. But now you're accusing me of making you desperate. Have you no shame?"
"Even if you don't have shame, I have shame for you."
Black Mantis's eyes turned red with anger. It was clear that Arthur wasn't willing to let him go. Even though he was dodging left and right, Arthur was still making sure to keep him in the compound.
Arthur did so by pressuring him and making him unable to spare the extra energy to get away. It made him so angry that he decided to risk it.
He said, "You have underestimated me too much. I'll show you the error of your ways."
He decided to stop holding back. He finally decided to counterattack.
He ignored Arthur's attacks and let his fist strike him. Meanwhile, he used that opportunity to unleash a series of palm strikes against Arthur's body.
When Arthur's fist smashed into his body, a layer of force appeared in his body to block the fist. This force riled up his blood and vitality in such a way that it caused his skin to glow a faint red light.