Chapter 151: Pride
Clement walked together with about seventy students by his side.
Their senses were heightened as some even flinched to the smallest sound that wasn't coming from the group.
They had walked through a lot of trees and mountains, but it seemed endless.
A black lake could be seen flowing down giving off an ominous feeling constantly.
Most of the students already drew their weapons and just held it in their hands.
They didn't want to waste their time drawing it in case their life was on the line.
Some had tried flattering Clement so they could get protected by him when things went south.
But who was Clement?
Someone who didn't even speak with his fellow subordinate and even to Anthony.
How could he even reply others.
Clement didn't care if any of them lived or died, it had nothing to do with him.
He won't even bother to save anyone here.
They followed him didn't mean he would protect them.
Then suddenly, it started raining.
But not water.
Arrows boosted with chaos.
**SWISSHHH**
The sound of the arrows moving against the wind was caught by everyone.
They immediately sprang into an action of defence.
**CLINK**CLINK**TWICK**
The students easily used their weapons to deflect or destroy the arrows with ease.
Then like sparks that leap from a flame, the demons jumped from trees and wherever they were on to the students.
A battle instantly erupted as the demons made their way into battle.
Then it immediately turned in to a free for all battle as everyone instantly went into overdrive fighting for their lives.
Blades clashed under a storm-lit sky.
Spells crackled like lightning between them, arrows rained down like a deadly storm, each one a whisper of finality.
Magic surged through the air, lighting the battlefield with ghostly colors.
A spear hurtled forward, swift as a hawk diving for its prey, with pure utter precision.
Swords met Shields in a thundering clash, sparks igniting from the impact, the air hummed with energy as spells collided, colors exploding like fireworks.
Flames erupted from a mage's hands, searing the ground as enemies scattered.
Steel met flesh, and the air was thick with the scent of iron and ash as everyone moved in frenzy.
Blood flowed through the battlefield as many fell due to their own personal weakness.
Elements coming to life due to the students' relentless surge and fervor.
**BOOOM***SIZZLE***ARRGGGHH**
Explosion and collision continued to resounde as people screamed their lungs out.
Clement just stood there, his heart rate increased as his body seemed to boil over from glee and happiness.
His physique seemed to thrive well in war and disaster, it seem to want blood.
His physique wanted him to make a move.
And a move he made.
His daggers instantly appeared in his hands as they seem to glow with dark light.
The chaos which was an energy only the demons could use had no effect on Clement, rather it seemed to welcome him with open arms.
The ground buckled under his feet as he unleashed a portion of his speed.
He zoomed across the battlefield.
Wherever he went, a head was harvested.
Blood flowed as he slashed and slahsed.
The demons and forsaken cult didn't seem to notice him until they suddenly died from decapitation.
Souls moved to him and entered his body as he danced across and went on a rampage.
But as he moved, he suddenly felt something behind him and instantly disappeared from his position.
**SWISH**BOOM**
Immediately Clement had left his position, an attack cut through air and space with a devastating blow and wrecked everything in it's path.
"Tsk..you assassins are always quick to run"
Said the presence who just attacked Clement.
The presence turned and his eyes met Clement's.
The opponent stood with two daggers in hand, a good build and an incredible aura.
It's body radiated chaos as it couldn't use mana as it had submitted to the grace of the demons in order to take a step further in it's path of cultivation.
Chaotic aura could be seen hanging on it's weapon.....a dagger.
It was a human who had joined the forsaken cult.
"To think an Academy student would dodge my attack, truly the world is unfair"
The human said as he stood a step.
But with that step, he was already behind Clement.
The human raised his dagger to the sky, and slashed down without any warning.
Clement was quick with his response.
He spun around instantly as he placed his dagger near his waist and slahsed upwards.
*CLANK*
Sparks were instantly sent out as the two momentum collided and held each other in place.
'A Grandmaster ranker who uses dagger and also darkness'
Clement thought as their weapons met mid air.
The human already knew Clement was a darkness element holder and was also using the dagger, but Clement was an assassin, unlike him who wasn't one and used the dagger as his normal weapon because of his love for it.
With the precision of gears turning in a grand clockwork, the human Grandmaster instantly changed his posture as his body twist together with his wrist and he delivered quick deadly attacks.
Clement's speed quickly increased as he moved to defend without any trouble.
Then he took a step back as he gauged his opponent.
His opponent seem to take this as a play of some sort.
Like iron seeking the touch of a magnet, they instantly blurred out of existence as they appear in the middle and their daggers clashed.
Streaks of light illuminated their battlefield as they showed their mastery over their weapons.
Steel rang against steel, each strike a heartbeat of war, echoing like thunder in a storm-laden sky.
They danced in a deadly rhythm, blades flashing like lightning bolts torn from a storm god's wrath.
None relented as they moved with ultimate precision without a single flaw.
Their daggers were like twin vipers, striking, coiling, retreating.
Explosion thundered as they interlinked like a pair of scissors as they cut through space.
None has yet to sustain an injury as they moved with aura covering their bodies and weapons.
If Clement's strikes were poetry in motion, lethal and lyrical.
Then the Grandmaster's was akin to death's harmony, each strike a stanza of war.
Their arts of the dagger was pure, no technique, no arts, just pure showmanship.
Their pride and love for their weapons was deeply rooted in their blood as this battle shifted from one of life and death to one of pride.
Trees scattered as they clashed and sent out destruction as they moved.
Cracked spidering across the lands as mountains quaked whenever they got to it.
The air humid and thick as darkness covered everything.
But as time passed, the grandmaster realised he was not Clement's match in pure dagger showmanship.
So he ended the charade and his disposition instantly changed as killing intent blanketed his surroundings.
He raised both his dagger as he unleashed his technique for the first time.
[Neglected Dagger Technique: Quivering Sorrows]
Chaotic aura and darkness danced together in a seamless motion as the human Grandmaster released a barrage of dark attacks upon Clement.
Clement dagger shone darkly as he moved as quick as a flash, his daggers arrived promptly.
Darkness erupted out of him as his daggers moved together with his hands.
[Clement Technique: Dagger Series: Death's Cut]
Clement slashed out as he met the opponent's attacks head on without dodging.
**BOOMM**
The earth shook under their calamitous force as everything was pushed back due to the impact and collision.
Darkstorms instantly came to life and everyone single life form within a five kilometres radius was killed.
Clement used his movement technique called 'Void steps' and increased his already ridiculous speed and arrived beside his foe.
Then with a godly motion, he moved in a arc of deadly precision.
[Clement Technique: Dagger Series: Hidden Slash]
The daggers moved like wraiths, silent and swift.
Clement lunged, his dagger an arrow seeking its target without the slightest hiccup in momentum.
He sent out hundreds of attack without care for mana or stamina consumption.
The world seem to come alive under his display.
The Grandmaster being a veteran was eager in addressing every inquiry with immediacy.
His body's balance shifted as he bent forward as he took a stance.
[Neglected Dagger Technique: Shame Of The World]
The world itself seems to resonate with this technique that he created based on his experience in life.
He swung his dagger with a maddening speed as he slashed and slashed without a pause in rhythm and symphony.
**BOOMM***CLANG**
Chasm formed as dagger marks skidded the atmosphere and terrain.
Pothole and sinkholes riddled everything as the air exploded with pure force.
The intensity between them was palpable, their attacks like tongues of flame, consuming all doubt and mercy in their presence.
Even the hidden strikes from Clement's last technique was nothing but child's play in front of him.
The smoke and debris cleared as the two men behind the changes in setting stood even without the slightest sign of injury or fatigue.
"To think you would enter the Master rank while being at the first year of the Academy and also matching a Grandmaster like me"
"Truly I was neglected by the world, but it doesn't matter now, my destiny is in my hands now"
The man said as he looked at Clement for a reply who didn't even bother to give one.
Clement only had his eyes on his opponents, nothing more, nothing less.
The man seeing he won't get a reply just said again.
"Feast your eyes kid"
Chaotic aura surged as it combined with darkness as the heaviness of the air increased under his control.
[Neglected Dagger Technique: Shambling Hopelessness]
He moved with the grace of a dancer, his daggers a deadly partner.
His strikes were relentless, each one a step in the deadly rhythm.
Crescent forms of dagger attacks seem to form cyclones around Clement as he slashed out with a higher power this time around.
Clement moved as his response flowed with practiced readiness.
His dagger sliced through the air, sharp as a promise unkept.
[Clement Technique: Dagger Series: Shivering Slash]
He slashed out at each weak point of the cyclone which made it burst apart easily as he walked out with grace akin to that of an emperor.
Unhurried, unhurt, undeterred.
Clement knew he couldn't win this with his normal technique and other things.
He decided to pull out a decisive card as this fight has gone on for two hours already.
He couldn't fight forever, he had to end it, with the next strike and no more.
His lips parted as he spoke with a death riddled voice.
"Dark Hemisphere"
A thicker and blacker darkness seemed to bloom into existence and then disappear the next split second.
The Grandmaster suddenly felt his death sense tingle like crazy.
His mind rang like a bell as if he finally saw death sitting in front of him.
He stared at Clement as all this happened.
Then the next moment, Clement vanished and appeared right beside the man.
His dagger glinted in the dim light, a promise of pain that must be delivered.
His strike was timed to perfection, like a musician in a duet of death.
*SWISH*
His dagger streaked across space as wind exploded as it struck with ultimate certainty of fate, sharp and final.
The man couldn't react at all.
Clement's speed had basically just increased for no apparent reason.
His soul rang to dodge and not bother blocking.
His mind pushed and urged him to move.
But his body was too slow to execute the series of commands given by his mind and soul.
Clement's gaze settled on the battlefield's remains.
A few demons and Forsaken cult members were still alive, but he didn't advance.
Instead, he unleashed a technique he'd learned from observing Anthony during their journey to the floating island.
[Clement Technique: Dagger Series: Dark Bestowment]
Thousands of spectral Clements materialized across the battlefield, each a shadowy replica with their presence known and undeniable.
His aura flared as every figure raised its dagger in unison, their silent waltz both graceful and deadly.
Each dagger glinted, a promise of swift retribution.
In a single heartbeat, the daggers fell, and heads rose in swift finality.
This battle was a deadly rhythm, each strike a beat in their lethal dance