Chris prepared to fight, win, and kill his opponent. This mental preparation helped him to overcome his instinctive fear of the disciples of the Blood Skull sect and emboldened him to continue to walk forward aggressively.
He took a deep breath and inhaled slowly as he walked. His teammates saw this and wanted to stop him, but they were stopped by the bald-headed boy.
The boy shook his head and explained to them, "Let him do it. He needs to do it, or a shadow will form in his heart and block his path of the sword."
"Maybe this is a good thing for him. If he wins this battle, it might help to sharpen his heart, mind, and sword."
Jessick, the scholar, asked with a frown, "What if he loses?"
The bald boy didn't reply. He only sighed in regret.
The golem had just fought, so Thor was resting. It was Arthur and Roar who were looting the battlefield, so Arthur was in prime condition.
He noticed the man from the Sword Way sect coming towards them with a sword in hand and a grim smile on his face. Arthur didn't think the man was coming with good intentions, but he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He said in surprise, "Are you kidding me? You actually want to rob us? You?"
He couldn't believe it because disciples of the Blood Skull sect are supposed to be the ones robbing others, not the other way around.
Thor explained, "It is reasonable. He can only fight us and take advantage of us when we are spent after a battle. So this is a good opportunity for him."
Each word they said pierced his heart. Chris couldn't take it. He roared at them, "Fuck you."
He aim to rob, but he didn't explain himself because he wanted to do is worse than robbing. So he ust rushed at them with his sword raised.
Arthur's eyes lit up, and he said, "So eager for death? I hope you have something good in your space pouch."
The anger in Chris's heart had ignited to the extreme. He couldn't believe that his enemy had already concluded that he would lose the fight and his space pouch would belong to them. He hated this kind of pride the most.
He wanted to curse at them and promise endless pain, but Arthur was already moving towards him, and he was moving at a speed that was twice as fast as him.
His eyes widened in shock, and he said, "Fuck."
He was so shocked that he stepped back in fear. He was already regretting his decision. Fortunately, someone cheered him on and helped him regain his fighting spirit.
Someone from his team shouted to him, "Visualize the sword. Become the sword. Fight as the sword."
He had heard this and decided to listen to the advice. So he closed his eyes to visualize the sword.
He had done this many times before, as it is part of their sect's method of cultivation, so it was easy for him to visualize the sword.
It took him one second to visualize the sword. Then he opened his eyes with sharp silver blade lights flashing within them.
He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Then he struck out at Arthur, who had gotten close to him.
His movement was seamless. It wasn't just his hands that moved. His whole body had moved together with the sword. His muscles sang the song of the flying sword, and he struck out with all of the power in his body.
Maybe it was because of the imminent danger, but the feeling of striking with his sword was different this time. The feeling was as if he had become closer to his sword.
It was a pleasurable feeling. It was so great that he was sure that if he could maintain and deepen this feeling, he would be able to advance to the second stage of oneness with the sword.
He was happy, and his future was bright. Then a fist bypassed the sword and smashed into his belly.
The fist smashed into him with so much force that he curled up like a shrimp. He had hardened his skin with life force, but it barely did anything to block the massive amount of force that struck him.
His vision swooned, and he almost became unconscious. But he couldn't become unconscious because his hardened skin failed him from the second attack.
Arthur was wearing his gauntlet, so after his balled fist smashed into his opponent's belly, he opened his hand and dug his fingers into the belly.
There was some resistance, but the sharp gauntlet managed to overcome the defense and pierce the flesh below. Arthur followed this success up with pushing his whole hand into the opponent's body.
No one could become unconscious while a foreign object as rough as a gauntlet was making its way through their stomach. The pain was so much that Chris roared.
But Chris didn't give up, though. This close to Arthur, it will be easy for him to retaliate. And since his life depended on it, he put all of his effort into stabbing Arthur.
Unfortunately, his move failed because Arthur grabbed his arm and broke it. Then Arthur grabbed his spine and used it as a handle to smash Chris onto the ground.
As he raised Chris into the air with his spine, one of his friends shouted to him, "Please let him go."
But Arthur didn't stop. He didn't even pause to consider the request. He smashed the whole body against the ground as if Chris were an axe he was using to split wood.
Chris's head was the part that Arthur smashed into the ground first. And since Chris wasn't an ax, he couldn't split the ground. Instead, he was the one who was split to pieces.
His whole body was crushed, starting from his head. His skull was flattened, and his spine fractured as it was forced to compress unnaturally.