Lord Of Martial Arts

"You want to run away? Don't be so naive. There's no escaping me!" The voice that followed Darren was far too close for comfort. Hideously inhuman though it was, there was an unmistakable playfulness in its cruel roar.

Knowing that there was indeed little hope in retreating, Darren abruptly stopped and fired his dark gold internal force.

To his dismay, his elixir field had been pierced, causing an awful pain to tear through his body for as long as he used his skills. The only thing that could hurt more, in fact, was a direct attack on his soul.

Meanwhile, his dark gold internal force was slow enough that the dark smoke dodged it with ease.

This foe had grasped the Shadow Rule, and was in fact the stronger of the two.

While still injured, it would be almost impossible for Darren to win this fight.

After dodging his attack, the dark smoke condensed into an arrow and shot toward Darren.

It struck home, piercing him through the belly again.

"Ha, you little weakling," the man taunted. "How does it feel with your elixir field broken?"

Darren did not answer at first. He swayed on his feet, blood soaking the lower half of his body even as he tried to cover his wounds.

"Oh, what are you waiting for?" he gasped. "If you're going to kill me, just get it over with."

These words of Darren's were a gamble on his part. He was hoping that his attacker was angry enough, or sadistic enough, to be goaded into taking its time. Otherwise, the man would indeed just finish him off immediately.

"Ah," came the reply. "So it's a quick death you want? I don't think so. Not after the trouble you've caused me, killing so many of my disciples in the Crimson Sea Sect. No, I promise you anything but a quick release from the pain."

Hearing this, Darren felt a small measure of hope. It seemed he might actually have a chance of survival now.

Gritting his teeth, he backed away, heading to the spot where several powerful masters were locked in fierce combat, oblivious to Darren's existence.

If he could lure his assailant there, he thought an opportunity for escape might present itself.

Meanwhile, the dark smoke wasn't letting up for a second. He followed Darren and repeatedly stabbed at his elixir field, clearly taking his time with it.

Incredibly, the pain continually grew worse and worse, and Darren was near-constantly hacking up blood as he endured the torture. If he lost consciousness or finished bleeding out, it would be the end for him.

Finally he wasn't far off from the fighters. The Holy Will was blasting around them, which made Darren very uncomfortable.

However, the thought of a slow, gruesome death made him more uncomfortable. He steeled himself and flew toward the center of the battlefield.

Seeing this, the dark smoke realized what his victim was up to. "Oh, you're clever," he mutter

w."

Saying this, he struck his palm against Darren's elixir field, this time shattering it completely and putting a nasty hole in his abdomen.

Darren convulsed, unable to help shouting in pain. He felt almost like his soul was being torn apart.

But even then he had some power left in him, in a way. With his elixir field open, his powers activated entirely of their own accord. There was a burst of blade and sword intents, then a fiercer blast of olive-black force which went right at his assailant.

The young man was caught off-guard and howled as his shoulder bone was smashed to pieces.

"How dare you!" he said through gritted teeth, even more enraged than he already had been. "After the beating I've given you already, you still have the gall to try and fight me? You have no idea how cruel I can be!

I'm surprised, though, to see that you practice both blade and sword at the same time... I've only ever seen people who cultivate one or the other. I think I'll just take out your blade and sword cores, then, and see what the difference is."

With a grim expression, he reached his hand out toward Darren's elixir field.

Unable to resist, Darren felt his already-weakened life aura start to rapidly drain away. There were no more last-ditch gambits for him to try. Even the one attack he had just managed had really been a reflex, rather than anything he could consciously do.

An overpowering sense of despair enveloped him. By the time his adversary was through, Darren would almost certainly be dead. But even if he somehow survived this ordeal, he would be a nobody without his blade and sword cores.

"Huh, what's this?" the thin man asked himself, hesitating at the last second. "This is a weird bastard. He's got a nebula inside his elixir field."

Overcome by curiosity, the thin man forgot about Darren's blade and sword cores and reached out to the nebula instead.