Chapter 178 - Swords vs Shadow

"Shitty brat!" spatted Bi Ying with a young and high-pitched voice who clearly realized the effects of Bai's skill. He dropped his daggers that fell to the ground, disappearing in Bi Ying's shadow "<All Sword: Shadow>!". His shadow shuddered and started multiplying and extending itself, swallowing all the ring in a black space formed by Bi Ying's silhouettes. Then, Bi Ying's body started sinking in the ground, completely disappearing, not only his image, even his presence disappeared.

Bai couldn't detect him even with his Mind Eye. However, this time was incomparable to before when he was 'killed'. Knowing that there's an enemy even if it's not seen makes a big difference.

Bai only invoked his right sword that disappeared "<All Sword: Retaliation>!". A white aura surged from by and expanded from all the area, turning the shadow a lighter shade. Bai's defense increased and he closed his eyes trying to better sense his surroundings, Bi Ying's presence keeping being hidden.

A light smile appeared at Bai, he extended his right a white sword appearing at his hand "Clink!" At the same time that the sword appeared, a dagger manifested from the shadow and impacted with the sword.

Bai twisted his body turning to the left side. On his right hand, his left sword appeared surrounded by an ominous black aura "<All Sword: Slaughter>" The sword became pure dark aura, it flashed for an instant as it pierced the air.

After Tao Yi training, Bai finally got over his habit of using Retaliation with his right hand and Slaughter with his left. He did it because of his different memories of Paul and Bai who each had a different dominant hand. But after his training, he now didn't have any problem with switching them.

From where he pierced a drop of blood appeared, followed by Bi Ying appearance who jumped back creating distance. He held his other dagger over his ċhėst, he diverted Bai's attack from piercing his heart and dying, however, he was unable to stop the attack to hit him at his side. The Slaughter energy had invaded his body, he could feel his blood flux reversing and slowly weakening himself.

"Fucker!" He swiftly spun his right dagger and thrust to himself, expertly cutting where Bai had pierced. Blood flew from the wound but was quickly stopped by Bi Ying covering it with shadow "Fuck!" Even with this, he could sense Bai's ominous aura clinging to his body. He glanced at Bai with a mad and murderous look. He should kill him quickly before it's too late.

"I am a bad match for you, Shadow" Bai was right. Bi Ying intent was Shadows, this was a subtype of the Darkness element. Shadows lost most of the powerful attack power of Darkness, to further increase the natural stealth of it. If his stealth was discovered, his strongest point was lost.

Bai wasn't able to detect his presence but he could detect the resistance inside his All Sword Retaliation. It might be different with only Protection as he could only be able to protect at the last moment, but with Retaliation, he was able to detect where the actions occurred and pinpoint Bi Ying's position. With this and Bi Ying's surprise, it had become incredibly easy to injure him. Now that he is even marked with his Slaughter, it became even easier to detect.

"You're too full of yourself, brat!" This time Bi Ying didn't hide, he jumped to his right side as he slashed the air, shadow dagger shooting towards Bai.

Bai charged as a white shield appeared over him, blocking each dagger. Bai thrust his black sword at him.

Bi Ying crossed his dagger, blocking the thrust, but not without a price. He vomited blood and was pushed over, Slaughter even invading more of his body, the defense was never his forte. He recuperated in mid-air, landing with his right hand while his left hand flashed for an instance <Sword Heart: Unseen Shadow>.

"Clink!" At Bai's left side a shield appeared, just stopping an invisible attack "It's useless!" Even Bi Ying Sword Heart specialized in stealth and was detected by Bai's Retaliation. The power behind was so lucking that he didn't even need to use his stored energy.

Bi Ying bent his right arm, leaning his forearm to the ground. He twisted his body rolling on the ground to the right, just evading Bai's sword. He jumped landing with his both feet, at the same time that he threw one of his daggers to Bai. The dagger shined with a black ŀuster and divided into 10, all of them stopped by Bai's shields.

Bai dashed towards him swinging the dark sword that was blocked by him. However, this time Bai twisted his hip kicking him at the stomach. He was shot forwards while leaving a trace of blood, Bi Ying, bouncing several times to the ground before stopping. He was bȧrėly able to lift his body with difficulty to sat on the ground.

Suddenly, from Bi Ying's dagger, there was a gray glow. He swung his dagger at the ground. Bi Ying's furious face disappeared, replaced by a calm one, his black eyes full of experience "Young people. When they are focused is when the easiest things to discover are overlooked."

Seeing Bi Ying's dagger falling to the ground, Bai's alarms rung like mad. He finally realized what Bi Ying was targetting was Bai's shadow. Since he was injured, he moved around the ring, changing the position of the two to gain access at Bai's shadow that started at Bai's back.

Bi Ying's dagger was about to cut the ground "<Sword: Shadow Butcher>!".

Bai quickly reacted. He didn't have time to use powerful techniques, he used his most used technique that was most used to it and could activate in the minimum time. Bai used his most familiar intents, Slaughter and Retailation, Life and Death, forcing them to join at his right side, flowing from his body that thanks to the spirit bone, now could conduct perfectly the intents.

"BOOOOM!" The uncontrolled intents clashed between each other, the impact causing a big explosion, as it was only an instant without forcing too much, the mental damage was minimum comparing with his time with Tao Yi. Bai's right side was all bloody, a 5 cm hole having formed by the explosion. However, it was worthy.

Bai's body was pushed to the left by the explosion, at the same time that Bi Ying slashed the ground, moving Bai and his shadow just for Bi Ying slash to cut Bai's shadow's right arm instead of his body in half.

As it following the shadow, Bai's right arm was cleanly cut, dropping the ground. Shadow Butcher was the technique that Bi Ying obtained from the Sword God when he completed all his 6 trials. It permitted him to cut the shadows as if the person was, the cuts from the shadow being transmitted to the owner. The most frightening of his technique was that there was no way to block it. Unfortunately for him, Bai evaded it in the last moment by injuring himself.

Bi Ying closed his eyes, knowing that he lost. He resigned to death as he couldn't put any more fight. It was his bad luck "Indeed a bad match." Were his last sword before a black sword pierced his head, instantly killing him.

Bi Ying body became black particles and was absorbed by his shadows that were then absorbed by Bai's sword.

The Sword God Ring disappeared and Bai found himself near were the Giant Sword Mountain stood before. Bai withdrew his swords "Dammit!" He didn't get tired in this fight, it could be considered an easy fight, with him at an advantage, but he almost died.

Bai bent over, taking his fallen right arm. He connected it with his shoulder as his left hand glowed with a green light full of vitality. It didn't take even 1 minute to completely connect again, the cut was so clean that it was incredibly easy to reattach. But if it were to have cut another region, he would have died.

Once, he rejoined his arm, he stretched his arm, ensuring that there wasn't any wrong. Then, his injured right side started glowing green. This injured was more serious, needing more time to heal. At least, Bai didn't feel any pain from them. After absorbing the torso spirit bone, his pain resistance skyrocket. He could feel he injures and the seriousness of these, but the pain didn't affect his fighting. Losing the feeling of pain will be counterproductive when fighting.

Bai's wings appeared at his back. He flapped them, flying away, leaving this place before other people came. For now, he would rest far away from there.