Zhang Buyu nodded in agreement. "Master used to tell us that the only person who was fit for the title of "genius" was Patroclus."
Cultivating the battle Qi required years of exercise and real-life combat experiences. However, Patroclus had gained his battle Qi with neither of those. Instead, he merely relied on his confidence and innate power. What made Patroclus an even deadlier foe was his nerve of steel. One could never predict his next move, neither had they ever seen him lose his focus.
Even his Einherjar father agreed that it was only a matter of time before Patroclus surpassed him. He knew that his son was destined to achieve greatness ever since the latter was a child. His perfect genes had said it all.
The focus of Wang Tong's technique was relentlessness if not carelessness. He knew that he needed to concentrate his energy at one point in order to break through his opponent's Einherjar-level defense. Despite the overbearing power and intensity, Wang Tong's attacks lacked finesses and efficiency.
On the other hand, Patroclus played along with his opponent's strategy and adopted a defensive stance. However aggressive Wang Tong's attack was, it was not able to pry open his impenetrable shell.
By then, a few audiences who had the strategic mind had caught the drift of the battle. Although unnoticeable, Wang Tong's attack was waning as his lack of training in using a lance surfaced. The fact that Patroclus took his time to understand his opponent's movement would make his further attacks even harder to deal with.
Wang Tong had almost exhausted all the tricks up his, which he had an abundance of, but he was still unable to land a solid blow. Sensing the imminent turning of the tide, Wang Tong gathered strength as an explosion of golden lights erupted on the stage. He was about to unleash the coup de grace—Triple Drill!
As energy gathered and was compressed into a singularity at the tip of the Einherjar Lance, it distorted and warped the space-time continuum as a bumble bee would to a spider web. Although the center of the energy was far away from the audiences, they could sense the trembling air as pulses of energy were being pulled into the singularity.
Spinning at an incredible speed, the sharp lance-tip thrust towards Patroclus, the same move that almost defeated Li Shiming. It was the attack from which Li Shiming had drawn inspiration and finally reached a moment of epiphany on how to become one with the blade.
However, what would Patroclus do?
Gripped by the suspense, Li Shiming was convinced that Patroclus could come out unharmed. If he could do it, so could Patroclus.
"Kom!"
Another explosion of gold and silver shone so brightly that it was blinding. When the light faded away, the audiences saw the two fighters standing where they had been, as if nothing had ever happened.
Patroclus linked his hand behind his back and turned to look away. "Why didn't you borrow the power of causality this time?"
Wang Tong's final blow, the Triple Drill, was countered by Patroclus with ease.
Even Wang Tong was caught off guard by the development, and surprised by the fact that Patroclus had counter-attacked by using the same strike as his, compounding three layers of forces together.
Thus it was, the power of the Deva King was indeed omniscient.
The big-screen replayed the last couple of seconds in slow motion; people watched as Patroclus copied Wang Tong's move and dissolved the threat.
The development shocked everyone. Patroclus had countered Wang Tong's killing blow so easily, as if Wang Tong's advantage that he had worked so hard to build up meant nothing.
What about Wang Tong's Strike of Causality?
Before the final match, Wang Tong had already come to terms with the fact that the causality attack had been nothing but a fluke. He had even sparred with Mr. Wannabe, pushing himself to the limit and hoping the ability would return, but it never did.
"Well, let's see if you can force that ability out of me." Wang Tong answered Patroclus while smiling mischievously.
Patroclus paused for a second, letting the answer set in, and then smiled faintly. "Alright!" He announced as he charged up his energy and disappeared into thin air. Half a heartbeat later, the Ivantian prince re-emerged a few paces away from Wan Tong while plunging the tip of the lance into Wang Tong's chest. Wang Tong reacted quickly and raised the golden lance to meet his attacker. He could feel the air pressing against his face start to burn as Patroclus's lance inched closer to him. To cushion some of the blow, Wang Tong swayed to the side. However, Patroclus and his lance disappeared and reappeared again like a phantom. Wang Tong quickly adjusted his position and was just in time to block the attack.
By then, Patroclus had already merged his soul energy with the silver serpent. Like a devil's slippery tongue, the silvery lance weaved in and out, trying to lick Wang Tong's flesh.
This was the Dower's traditional coup de grace, the Phantom Strike!
"The Phantom Strikes consisted of sixty-two movements, but I had consolidated it for you to a mere twelve!" Patroclus announced.
Wang Tong was even more shocked by the fact that the Ivantian still had time to explain his tactics and the power of the attack.
In a blink of an eye, Patroclus had unleashed five of the twelve attacks he had promised, causing Wang Tong to be pushed back for a few feet. Wang Tong had overdrawn his energy during previous relentless attacks, and by then, he had started to fatigue. On the other hand, Patroclus's moves were not only still elegant as ever, but he also had the energy to explain his techniques.
"This is the EIGHTH!" Patroclus announced as he struck his enemy with the lance heavily. "The Twelfth will be the final blow. Your time is running out! "
"KOM!"
As the ninth strike landed on Wang Tong. Patroclus's sol reading had surpassed that of Wang Tong by a large margin.
"How... How is that even possible?" Everyone was shocked as they saw the seven hundred sol sol-reading on the display board.
"This is so unfair! It will take us years to increase just a dozen sols. How are we ever going to catch up with him?"
With the help of the dominating soul energy, Patroclus's strike was able to force Wang Tong to take a large step back in order to cushion the blow.
The gap between the two fighter's soul energy was unbridgeable.
Zhang Buyu heaved a sigh and then lamented, "Patroclus opened his mind when he was only five. We shouldn't be so surprised to see his soul energy grow so powerful."
Everyone's jaw almost dropped when they heard the revelation. Mind opened when he was only five?
Wang Tong would never be in such a passive position if he only lacked skills. Instead, it was his inferior soul energy that really had held him back in the competition.
Wang Tong wanted to fight back. However, he sensed the sinister and deadlier attack lurking behind every strike coming at him, so he didn't dare to let his guard down, much less fighting back.
So profound was the difference in their soul energy that even the Blade Warrior's tactics would not help Wang Tong in the slightest.
"Young master was a little bit too late when it came down to opening his mind."
"Touché! If he had done it five years earlier, the fight might be an entirely different scene."
"There is no 'if' in the real world."
"What a shame! Young master was no less talented than the Ivantian, but the Ivantian had a ten-year head-start."
"It might not be as bad as you think. Without proper training, an earlier mind open operation wouldn't have helped young master a bit." Inside the Templar's Court, the senior Templars started arguing with each other. The grand master remained quiet and didn't join the debate.
"Eleven!" Patroclus shouted as the silver dragon knocked away the golden lance, exposing Wang Tong's chest. Being caught off guard, Wang Tong suddenly lost control over his GN force and caused the defense to shut down. Without the protection of the GN force, Wang Tong was practically naked. Patroclus had expected that the final blow to be able to trigger Wang Tong's ultimate ability. However, he was disappointed by Wang Tong's slip up.
"KILL!" Enraged by his disappointment, Patroclus's eyes burned with fire.
The Phantom strike started off with one hundred and fifty-six attacks. Perfectionism had driven every generation of the Dower to refine the coup de grace, and by the time it was Patroclus's turn, he had consolidated everything into only twelve seemingly simple moves.