Death… And Me

Okrin immediately gave up any ideas of trying to stop Rean. He simply used his Spiritual Sense to tell that he won't be able to help his subordinates with it. They should focus solely on defense and hold Rean and the couple back as much as possible. After all, from what he heard, both twins are similar in strength. That being said, those Foundation Establishment guys are in deadly danger.

Roan, of course, wouldn't let him do that anyway even if he wanted to.

'Death Style, Third Form, Three Claws of the Dragon!'

Three black and white swords came at Okrin from three different positions. However, Okrin couldn't tell which one was real.

'Wind Barrier!'

Spiritual Energy and Wind Element gathered around Okrin's body. Since he couldn't tell which one was real, he would use his Wind Barrier to find the real one. He was confident that he could block Roan's real sword after spotting it with his reaction speed. After that, he would counter-attack with his own skill using any opening left behind by Roan's skill. Too bad, though. All three blades hit barriers at the same time, causing damage.

"What?! All three are real?!"

In his alarm, Okrin jumped while trying to block one of them.

*Clang! Swich, swich!*

Okrin was lucky. The sword he decided to block was Roan's real one. The other two were also strong, but they only carried 70% of the power of Roan's White Star. Thanks to his Wind Barrier, his reaction time to jump back, and the real sword block, he avoided any severe damage.

However, Roan smiled nonetheless.

"My attacks aren't only physical."

Okrin's eyes opened wide! As soon as he heard those words, he felt some kind of energy entering his body. Whatever it was, made him feel as if he was in the middle of torture. As one can imagine, that was Roan's Dark Element destroying Okrin's Life Force!

"Argh!"

Roan didn't lose that chance and immediately charged forward. However, Okrin seemed to have a lot of experience in dangerous situations. He gritted his teeth and blocked Roan's assault while bearing all the pain.

*Clang, clang, clang, clang...*

Okrin blocked all Roan's attacks while jumping back, trying to open distance to get some breath. However, he soon noticed another problem. His sword began to crack!

"What the hell is that sword?!"

Roan didn't answer and continued. Obviously, Rean's White Star was much stronger than ordinary High-Level Weapons. The only reason Okrin's sword took this long to crack was the superior cultivation that allowed him to protect his sword with more Spiritual Energy.

Noticing that he couldn't continue like that for long, Okrin changed his instance.

'Severing Wind Field!'

Immediately, Spiritual Energy and Wind Element generated tens of wind blades that danced around Okrin's bodies. Individually, they weren't as strong as his Sword Wind Blade, but they were enough to protect his body with quantity. The only problem was that this skill used a lot of Spiritual Energy at once.

Nevertheless, Okrin achieved his objective. Roan had to stop his assault for a second, or he would charge directly inside the sea of wind blades. That gave enough time for Okrin to finally catch his breath and initiate his attack. It was also enough time to focus his energy on blocking the Dark Element in his body.

'Call of the Wind!'

Right after, Okrin began his own offense. Wind Element gathered inside his body as his speed promptly increased. Roan was surprised to see that since it looked quite similar to Rean's Life Style First Form. However, his control of the Wind Element couldn't compare to the twins' Dark and Light. It was evident that a lot of Wind Element was wasted during the process of maintaining it. Not to mention the way he used his meridians was utterly wrong.

'I see... he can keep that form because of his cultivation. He obviously has a lot more Spiritual Energy than me, and this is why it works even though the wastage is so enormous. Well, his Spiritual Energy will dry out in a flash if he continues like this, which means...'

Roan was right. Okrin knew about the side effect of his Call of the Wind. However, he couldn't hold back against Roan. That's why he decided to go all out and try to finish it as fast as possible.

With his increase in speed, Okrin arrived in front of Roan in a second. However, Roan didn't step back. Although he knew that he could stall for time and win in a battle of attrition, it would not help his own development.

'Call of the Wind, Severing Wind Sword!'

Okrin's attacks suddenly increased in speed by at leas three folds. However, Roan also didn't hold back.

'Death Style, First Defense Form, Reversive Arcs!'

White and Dark Element gathered on Roan's White Star. Right after, his hands moved in several arcs, creating threads of Dark and Light Element in mid-air. However, instead of moving forward, those threads kept stationary. When the Severing Wind Swords hit those threads, they would bounce back. During that moment, the Dark Element would drain and destroy the attacks' power while the Light Element fueled the Dark Element resistance. Just like that, all of Okrin's attacks lost their effect before the threads bounced back far enough to hit Roan's body.

Rean, who was paying attention to that from far away, couldn't help but feel surprised.

'Oh! It's the first time I see someone forcing Roan to use his Death Style Defensive Form.'

Okrin was shocked that Roan could put up a defensive skill that could totally nullify his attacks. After all, the difference in cultivation was there for anyone to see. Worse than that was the fact that his Wind Barrier, which he used for defense, didn't hold Roan's Claws of the Dragon at all!

Finally, Okrin's Sword began to reach its limit. Noticing that he wouldn't be able to win this battle, Okrin used his Severing Wind Field one more time to open distance from Roan. Obviously, another huge chunk of his Spiritual Energy was consumed with that. But that didn't matter, because he used that chance to turn around and... run!

Unfortunately...

'Death Style, First Form, Stellar Piercer!'

His path was blocked by Rean! Okrin was shocked to see the other twin in front of himself. After all, Rean was supposed to be dealing with the Foundation Establishment Subordinates. Too bad, though. He was so focused on his battle that he didn't notice when Rean finished all of them. The only reason he didn't intervene until now was so that Roan could have his solo battle. Of course, he paid attention to their fight to prevent this guy from escaping.

Fuck!

Okrin tried to jump back in his desperation. Regrettably, Roan was right behind him too.

Roan didn't mind Rean entering the fight now. Since his opponent decided to flee, that meant that his battle was already over. The proof was that the Red Color of Killing Intent had already disappeared. That being said, they might as well put an end to it.

'Death Style, Third Form, Three Claws of the Dragon!'

Okrin was surrounded by both sides, without anywhere to run.

However, just as Rean and Roan's attacks were about to slice him to pieces, the red color of Killing Intent appeared once more. Yet, it wasn't coming from Okrin this time.

'There is someone else!'

Right at that moment, the ground below Okrin shined with yellow light!