Chapter 489: Afterimage (2 in 1)

Translator: Radiant Translations  Editor: Radiant Translations

A flash of brilliance erupted from Gui Wulie’s eyes; he felt that every one of his evasion manoeuvres was being suppressed by Sharmie. From the looks of it, he appeared to have the freedom of choice for his movements. However, in actual fact, it was Sharmie who was controlling his movements using her firepower.

All of a sudden, a hint of a laugh appeared on his cold and callous face.

Only by fighting like this would it be interesting!

Bang!

Gui Wulie’s shirt suddenly swelled up, before fluttering in the wind like a helium-filled balloon. Making a sudden drop to the ground, his entire body appeared to defy the laws of physics as his body twisted about in a deformed shape.

Sharmie’s cannon fire missed its target. Due to Gui Wulie breaking his rhythm, movements and evasion, her rhythm was slightly disrupted.

“Assassin’s distanceless weave!”

Ruo Zhi immediately jumped up from his seat in excitement! Although Gui Wulie’s move appeared extremely ordinary, it, in fact, required a wealth of combat knowledge to pull it off. This was a classical example of a distanceless weave. Assassins who hadn’t reached the apex would simply not dare to execute such a move! That’s because, if this instantaneous weave wasn’t pulled off properly, it would appear as though one had given up and become a stationary target for the opponent to blast to death. However, if it was executed properly…

Bang!

All of a sudden, Gui Wulie made a forward dash. Rotating his entire body and waist, he appeared just like a cheetah sprinting on the ground, shooting like a bolt of lightning towards Sharmie.

This wasn’t just a straight line dash, but a pre-calculated arc. With Sharmie’s cannon fire suppressing his available movement choices, why did Gui Wulie not test out the Sharmie’s shooting habits when firing from a distance?

Shrieks rang out across the arena, as the change in pace had occurred too quickly. It only took the span of 2 blinks to see Gui Wulie, who was being suppressed by Sharmie’s long-range fire, suddenly appear just 10 metres away from her, a range that was sufficient for him to pose a threat to her.

In a fight, a distance of 10 metres was well known to be the assassins’ territory.

This was a critical range that an assassin would be able to utilize with perfection. Outside of 10 metres, their skills and techniques would not be able to function effectively. However, within 10 metres, they would have an overwhelming effect!

As of now, Gui Wu Lie was standing right on the 10-metre mark. Just one more step forward and he would be in his territory.

At this moment, Sharmie’s control and rhythm had already turned chaotic. Although it was just a sliver of a distance, the distanceless weave he had executed was sufficient to allow an assassin at his level to appear just like a dragon swimming in an ocean!

Sharmie proceeded to retreat backwards, her blazing speed increase being unleashed to its limits. However, Gui Wulie was much faster than her as he maintained this pressuring rhythm, not allowing Sharmie to get regain control of the situation. For every step he made, he made sure to stamp on the ground. Not only did he move extremely rapidly, he had also created a counter suppression with his own rhythm. Every step he made was deliberate and cautious. At this moment, Sharmie had already pointed her runic cannon slightly downwards, while it had stopped spewing flames. She wasn’t able to continue firing, as any reckless shot from her might cause her entire tempo to collapse completely.

Taking a deep breath, she raised her runic cannon up again.

“Sharmie’s about to change her tempo, while Gui Wulie has yet to advance into the lethal territory that is dominated by assassins.”

BANG…BANG…

Two successive shots left her runic cannon!

At the same time, Gui Wulie suddenly kicked the ground and changed his speed. The distortion of his distanceless weave appeared once again. It was just a fraction of a second, though the flow of the fight was completely different. Ever since the start of the fight, this was the first time that Gui Wulie was charging into the 10 metre distance gap.

Assassin’s territory, one hit one kill!

“Gui Wulie’s grabbing hold of his opportunity!” Ruo Zhi shouted out, excitement gushing out of his eyes. With an exchange at this degree, and witnessing such combat techniques being unleashed, he already was of no position to comment. Being able to see a showdown between two people of such calibre was already the most fortunate thing for him. Furthermore, he was even able to personally cast this fight!

“Wait! Sharmie…” Little Yu’er shouted out suddenly.

The entire arena was filled with astonished cries.

However, it wasn’t for Gui Wulie.

That was because of the two cannon shots Sharmie had just unleashed! For the sake of unleashing those two shots, Sharmie had completely let her rhythm go, allowing Gui Wulie to step into the territory that assassins dominated.

However!

Those two cannon shots weren’t just hastily unleashed due to being driven into a desperate situation.

Instead…

In the beginning, those two cannon shots had travelled in a straight line. To Gui Wulie, who had grasped hold of the opportunity to advance, they simply posed no threat to him at all. However, just as he assumed that he had evaded them, and focused his attention on Sharmie, who was now less than 10 metres away from him, those two cannon shots suddenly had drastic changes to their flight paths!

One of the cannon shots suddenly started to move in an irregular flight path, making a U-turn before hurtling towards Gui Wulie’s back.

Arcing cannon shot!

However, that wasn’t all! As the other cannon shot made its turn, it started to slow down, while continuing to head towards Gui Wulie’s back. Unexpectedly, this cannon shot proceeded to slow down to the point of where it stopped in mid-air. At this moment, everyone could see that this cannon shot was covered in a deep red blaze, with lightning-like runic paths covering its surface.

In the next instant, BANG…

The blaze that had stopped in mid-air made a 90-degree turn before hurtling towards the left side of Gui Wulie.

“Reflecting cannon shot!”

Ruo Zhi’s breathing had come to a stop as he gave a furious roar! He was still worshipping Gui Wulie for being able to forcefully overpower Sharmie’s tempo to upset her control. This was how two experts of such high calibre would duke it out. He really was enjoying this fight. However, from the looks of it now, after seeing Gui Wulie’s distanceless weave before seeing Sharmie’s arcing cannon shot and reflecting cannon shot, the only thing left for him was to kneel down and pray! The apex showdown, the strongest assassin against the most explosive range soldier!

To an analyst like him, there was nothing more fortunate and blissful than being able to cast a fight like this!

Gui Wulie had just switched from a passive stance to an offensive one, before instantly getting blown backwards. Although he had evaded the first arcing cannon shot, he wasn’t able to avoid being struck by the reflecting cannon shot that had suddenly appeared right behind him!

Compared to the continuous arc that the arcing cannon shot had travelled, the reflecting cannon shot was too difficult to predict! The instant where the cannon shot came to a standstill in mid-air would cause an error to form in people’s judgement; they would assume that the cannon shot had completely disappeared. Only after this would it suddenly reflect and shoot back, making it seem just like the target had suddenly received an attack from behind.

Wang Zhong was admiring Sharmie greatly. From afar, this girl appeared to be always acting carefree and doing whatever she wanted to. Yet, she was extremely meticulous in her thoughts and considerations, before acting them out in an imposing manner. Ever since she had appeared as the vanguard, Wang Zhong already knew that she definitely had some trump cards to reveal. Faced against the Gui Family, the plan of accepting a loss to ensure an overall win wouldn’t be of much use, so duking it out was definitely an extremely suitable choice.

Gui Wulie’s shirt was completely blasted apart, with the reflection cannon shot leaving behind a gigantic wound when it had struck his shoulder. In that critical moment, his assassin’s innate danger avoidance and agility were still able to mitigate the damage he received.

Now, Gui Wulie’s gaze had turned cold. In the next instant, he suddenly gave out a furious howl.

His actions instantly stirred up the various powerhouse squadrons. Finally, Gui Wulie, who had been always concealing his strength, was finally about to unleash his strength. No one believed that he, who was evaluated to be the strongest assassin in the Federation, would be just like any other ordinary assassin. If that was true, it would be too regretful. That’s because Sharmie definitely wasn’t an opponent that could be dealt with using ordinary assassin styles and techniques. At the very least, she definitely was capable enough to deal with all of that in a battlefield like this, as she was one of the 5 great Mo’s List ranged soldiers! This was a placement given by Mo Xingchen, and represented the honour and dignity of the Heaven’s Fate master. Furthermore, Sharmie was currently using her strength as proof for the accuracy of the Heaven’s Fate Master’s predictions.

As he continued his howl, Gui Wulie’s body rapidly transformed. Gawking slightly, Sharmie proceeded to unleash intense flames from her runic cannon.

However, Gui Wulie had already finished his transformation. At this moment, his entire being had entered some peculiar state of mimicry, appearing just like a chameleon. However, as he took a step forward, his entire person proceeded to converge with his environment, seemingly fusing with it. If this wasn’t an arena, but a little alley at the corner of a street, or a room filled with household utensils, or a jungle, he would have practically become invisible, and would have completely disappeared from view. However, due to the arena stage being of a uniform colour, it was extremely hard for him to disappear. Nevertheless, when his high-speed movements were factored in, it was already extremely difficult to locate him accurately using one’s eyes.

Sharmie’s cannon shots had all missed. Even though Gui Wulie had not disappeared completely from her sight, and was still slightly visible, this “semi-visible” state resulted in some slight inaccuracy in her judgement. Furthermore, as he continued to move, this inaccuracy would constantly change. At times, it would be large, while other times, it would be small, causing Sharmie to be unable to lock down her cannon fire on him.

10 metres!

“Assassin’s Territory.”

With a ferocious advance, Gui Wulie stepped into the 5-metre radius!

The furious howl rang out once again.

Gui Wulie’s state of mimicry was suddenly dispelled as his entire being appeared to have transformed into a sharp blade. With a flick of his hands, six jet black curved blades shot out from the back of his hands. Without reflecting any light off their surfaces, a cyclone of black air surrounded them as they rushed straight towards Sharmie.

A chilling glow flashed across Gui Wulie’s eyes. A 5-metre range was considered to be the assassin’s domain. Within this territory, all living things would wither. Within his domain, all living things would be killed!

Shrieks rang outside of the stage from Sharmie’s ball fans, who weren’t able to endure witnessing their ball queen getting killed! There were also cheers and shouts of joy, as this was the true strength of Gui Wulie, the number one assassin within the younger generation!

Ma Dong’s face was already contorted, as Milami’s fingernails were digging right into his flesh. After all, being cousins, the degree of concern she had for Sharmie was definitely different from others.

Sharmie’s breathing came to a halt. At this instant, time seemed to have become infinitely long, while countless complicated thoughts surfaced within her mind.

Ever since she was young, she had already shown herself as a genius, as was heavily regarded by her family as their future successor. Ever since her fire attribute special ability had awakened, her most beloved elder brother had changed, appearing as though their previous brother-sister relationship had turned into a droplet of water within an ocean, unable to be found again. Finally, her elder brother thrown himself into the armed forces, and never returned home even once in the last 3 years…

Ever since the day her brother had left the house, she already knew that her future path would be lonely. Her parents had told her that a long, long time ago in the ancient era, experts were known as the trekkers of the solitary road, and that experts had to endure the loneliness and quietness to be considered genuine experts.

Later, she bumped into Mario, before getting to know all of her current squadron members. She started to change. This led to her father becoming disappointed in her, as he had assumed that with her capability and talent, she should not be doing such matters, and instead should act like Carolyn… Her father had believed that she wouldn’t be able to endure the loneliness, with the burdens by her side being the reason why she was still stuck at this level.

Was this really the case?

Sharmie did not know. However, she wanted to prove that she was just taking a different path towards achieving strength.

Even without being solitary and lonely, she would similarly be able to become stronger!

No, she would become way stronger! That’s because the solitude of only knowing how to advance in strength really wasn’t suited for her.

She had her own path!

Shermie closed her eyes. She would prove it!

Bang…

Flames suddenly exploded outwards, as countless sparks instantly formed in the air! Gui Wulie’s body that was lunging fiercely towards her came to a halt in the air!

A fiery shield had forcibly congealed right before him.

The reason why it had congealed before him was that the fiery shield did not obstruct Gui Wulie’s attack. Being an assassin, the range of 5 metres was under his rule. There was nothing that could block him.

However!

Right after materialising, the fiery shield immediately stuck to his arms!

It was a shield, and also a napalm-like fiery binding.

Without a doubt, a genius-level talent with the fire attribute special ability would have an immeasurable understanding of fire!

BANG!

Sharmie’s runic cannon smashed against the ground. Instead of retreating away from Gui Wulie, she rotated her cannon about, transforming it into a heavy hammer. As her power surged forth, the fiery glow of the blaze appeared just like the corona of the sun as it revolved around the surface of her cannon. As soon as it took form, she smashed it fiercely against Gui Wulie’s body.

Triple revolving heavy hammer strike!

The first hammer blow, the second hammer blow. Not wanting to show any weaknesses, Gui Wulie’s strength also burst forth, forcibly defending against the incoming strikes. However, as the third smash came hurtling down, the corona-like blaze exploded forth! The third hammer strike wasn’t just Sharmie’s brute force!

For the first time in the match, a shocked expression appeared on Gui Wulie’s face. That third hammer strike clearly possessed a massive threat to him.

Defend! Gui Wulie fiercely retracted his arms, no longer attempting to dislodge himself from the fiery bindings while focusing all of his strength into his defence!

BANG! What felt like 1 tonne of explosives went off in front of him! Gui Wulie was sent retreating back a couple of steps, with each step causing the ground to shatter apart. He was using the Gui Family’s strength unloading secret art. Nevertheless, it was impossible to completely defend against that attack, and impossible to redirect. Ultimately, the force sent his entire body flying into the air, all of his muscles and limbs twisting unnaturally as the force rampaged within his body.

Bang…

Gu Wulie spit some blood out. This was the first time he had gotten injured.

Gasping for air, Sharmie looked at Gui Wulie as he crawled up from the ground, while her expression softened a little. He’s actually able to stand up?

Astonished gasps rang out across the entire arena, as everyone was unable to believe what they saw. He was still able to drag himself up after such an explosive attack? Was he more of a tank than a heavy soldier?

Sharmie took a deep breath, before switching her runic cannon back to its shooting form. Taking another deep breath, she fired!

Gui Wulie disappeared once again!

Mimicry. The colour, lustre and texture of his entire body, as well as the reflection of light, had now blended incomparably with the arena stage.

This move was an extreme no-solution move. With Sharmie’s judgement capabilities, she continued to make errors in her aim.

ROAR!

Once again, Gui Wulie stepped within 10 metres from Sharmie. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he unleashed his earlier move as he exploded into an advance!

“The same move?”

Many people gawked in response. People of Sharmie’s realm would generally not use the same move twice, what more a failed one.

Sharmie was slightly startled. However, this wasn’t the time to get distracted by unnecessary thoughts. Extending her left hand, the feeling of eruption appeared once again in her chest, before the miraculous flame bindings appeared all around her.

“Your talent is not bad. However, it’s a pity that you’ve yet to step past the door.”

All of a sudden, Gui Wulie’s voice rang out.

There was no change at all. It was just like before, with the same exact same move. Even the angle of advance and attack was the same.

However…

Gui Wulie’s hands pierced right through the fiery shield, followed by his head, neck, body, then legs…

Sharmie’s expression fluctuated. Once again, she turned her runic cannon around, before sending out a hammer strike!

Hu…

Sharmie made a fierce rotation. Nevertheless, her attack had phased right through Gui Wulie’s body, appearing right as though she had attacked a hologram.

An illusion? A doppelganger?

However, Sharmie immediately felt a thick feeling of danger surging through her body!

Her special ability erupted out as she sent a fiery pillar rushing to the skies, appearing exceedingly similar to Mario’s attack. This was the mutual destruction move that Sharmie had kept as a last resort. Even if her opponent was able to land his attack on her, he would also be blown away by the explosive flames.

However, Gui Wulie’s illusionary figure traversed right through the blaze, before pressing his claw-like fingers against her snow-white neck. The sharp blades that pressed slightly into her skin showed that it was Gui Wulie in person!

Sharmie’s flames came to a stop, before everything returned back to a tranquil state.

The cold and callous expression was still present on Gui Wulie’s face, with his sharp claws only needing just a bit more force to rip Sharmie’s fair neck into bits. Following the lines of her snow-white neck, her massive chest heaved up and down.

This was the domain that she had yet to make contact with?

Dimensional combat technique!

A power that’s monopolized by the S+ ranks.

A smile appeared on Sharmie’s face as she said, “I surrender.”

There was nothing that she could do to avoid defeat by a dimensional combat technique. However, her mission was completed, as she had already allowed Mario to see firsthand what a dimensional combat technique was like.