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Chapter 299

“Take your positions!”

Normally, in occasions like this, both sides are supposed to show courtesy toward one another.

But the youth in front of me, who looked barely in his twenties, only stared at me arrogantly.

He was one of those who had been acting together with Gu Hwan at the inn before.

The match bracket had already been decided.

Unfortunately, Gu Hwan had been placed far away from me in the lineup.

At this rate, Gu Hwan and So Wuryeong would face each other first, and by the time I met him, it would practically be the finals.

“How dare a mere colored-eye think he belongs here.”

He pulled out a massive saber and declared:

“A master grants a fool three seconds. Come! Show me those petty little tricks of yours!”

At his words, I simply looked at him quietly, loosening my hands without even reaching for my sword.

It wasn’t just this first opponent.

The ones who had only heard rumors about me but never seen me in person seemed annoyed at my very presence.

Whether it was for that reason or something else, they didn’t look like they expected me to achieve anything at all.

“You bastard! Why won’t you draw your sword!”

At his shout, I quietly took a single step toward him.

And in an instant, I reached right in front of him, only about a step away, and raised one hand.

“This isn’t a tournament to kill people, is it? Better a lifetime of porridge than losing your head, don’t you think?”

Before he could even react to my sudden approach, my fist was already sinking into him.

[Single Strike]

Booooom!!!!

The sound that exploded could hardly be believed to have come from a mere punch.

Shockwaves blasted in all directions, and countless cracks spread across the hard stone floor of the arena.

In the silence that followed, I brushed off my hand as everyone stared at the man who had been hurled into the wall, completely motionless.

“Impossible!”

“No way! That’s the Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist?!”

“A lost divine art, here?!”

The observers—those who prided themselves on their skills—leapt to their feet, their expressions stiff as they all fixed their eyes on me.

Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist?

Please.

Stop giving weird names to my normal attacks.

“Well. Guess this won’t make much of a spectacle, then. Next.”

Amid the chaos, my eyes locked with Gu Hwan, who was glaring down at me wide-eyed.

—What are you so surprised about? This is your future.

I sent him the thought.

His face twisted in rage.

* * *

A chilling sensation crept over his whole body.

Gu Hwan forced down his trembling hand.

That strike just now by that damned colored-eye, Leon.

Whether it was his ultimate technique or not, Gu Hwan could not say for certain that he could block it.

The man Leon had just faced wasn’t someone Gu Hwan could have beaten so easily himself.

He was a candidate to be the young master of his clan, with skill widely acknowledged even within his own family.

Something was going wrong.

—Do not worry. Whatever happens in this Assembly, in the end, we will be on your side.

So had said some of the clan elders who had promised to stand with Gu Hwan, yet even they could not take their eyes off Leon.

The entire disturbance was unsettling and thoroughly displeased him.

‘Impossible. That man must be using some kind of sorcery…’

Even as he told himself that, his hands were slick with cold sweat.

Because the Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist those elders were shouting about… was a lost ultimate technique, belonging to a true grandmaster of old.

Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist, my ass.

Don’t slap strange names on my normal punches.

I shook off the great force lingering in my fist.

That man wouldn’t lose his life, but from now on, he’d be living on porridge alone.

In gatherings like this, it wasn’t exactly well-regarded to cripple someone so badly.

But given that this was a world bound to reset anyway… maybe I’d already let go of those limits.

Perhaps I was starting to see the people of this world as nothing more than puppets in a play.

That was why my anger, my pity—everything—felt slower than normal.

As another enraged opponent stepped up onto the stage, I flexed my hand open and closed.

I had to hold back a little.

Even if I called it a normal hit, I could at least strike a bit softer.

“How dare you… how dare a colored-eye!!”

His fury was unrestrained.

At the very moment the starting cry rang out, he dashed in like lightning, his thrust fast and deadly.

Elegant, sharp, and lethal.

A rather well-structured technique—but unpolished.

The swordplay itself was fine.

But with a clumsy wielder, that was as far as it went.

“You bastard! Draw your sword! How dare you mock a warrior—”

“You’re the one mocking me.”

At my words, his movements faltered for just a moment. Official source is nοvelfire.net

“With skills like that, what right do you have to demand anything?”

Thud!!!

By the time he realized it, my kick had already landed, sending him flying out of the arena.

“Ha! The Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Kick!”

“To think I’d live to witness that lost martial art myself!”

Oh, come on.

Why do they keep naming my basic attacks like this?

I snapped mentally at Lispa.

—What are they even talking about?

—There’s a legendary lost martial art in the Eastern Continent. What you’re doing looks almost exactly like it.

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—I invented this. Who slaps a grandiose name on a normal attack?

—Exactly. The fact that you’ve somehow recreated fragments of a grandmaster’s technique and are using them as casual attacks… that’s what’s absurd here.

So basically, some of my self-made “Single Strike” techniques just happen to resemble a legendary lost art from the East?

What happened to copyright law?!

Somebody call a lawyer!!

And then it happened.

Bzzzzt… crackle!!

Characters flickered rapidly into the air.

[Memory transfer from the Hall has been prepared.]

“What the hell?”

[Download will now begin. Due to the special condition of your current body, synchronization will take some time.]

What kind of lunacy is this?

[Checking your present condition. After inspection, changes will be noted. It is presumed that information regarding your inability to download the Hall’s memories thus far can be provided. However, due to this change, it has been determined that you can now additionally receive the power of a special Hall.]

“Always doing as it pleases, huh? Fine, suit yourself.”

A special Hall.

I don’t know exactly what it means, but if it’s functioning again, that’s enough.

When it comes to hostility with the Outer Gods, the more memories of the Hall I possess, the better.

That much is certain.

But the burden on my body grows just as much.

Right now, it wasn’t simply about increasing numbers.

The reality before my eyes was far more important.

The martial arena was brimming with confusion.

In what was practically their own private league—the finals—an outsider had appeared, of all things, and in an instant shattered one of the Three Great Clans.

The aftermath, naturally, was no small matter.

Amid the chaos, leaving behind the man who had completely collapsed unconscious, I spoke:

“Do I need to keep going?”

“W–Winner!”

The referee raised the flag in his hand toward Leon.

It had been nothing short of a one-sided victory.

Afterward, many more matches were held.

The promising talents and post-beginners of each clan unleashed their clan’s unique martial arts, attacking each other fiercely.

But ever since I had turned the first bout upside down, the heat was no longer the same.

“This year’s gathering is certainly of a higher level than usual.”

“Indeed. And yet… why does it feel as though something is missing…?”

“Hmph… could it be because of the Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist?”

Even among the spectators, such words were being whispered.

The commoners who knew nothing of martial arts were satisfied so long as there were dopamine-inducing spectacles.

But those with knowledge and experience still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

“Could it be that foreigner is the successor of a long-lost supreme art?”

“If so, instead of opposing him, it would be wiser to draw him into a clan…”

“The method, of course, would be a political marriage.”

They were already scheming amongst themselves.

Watching their ridiculous plotting from the waiting room, I could only shake my head.

At that moment, footsteps approached me.

Turning my head, I saw the grim-faced patriarch of the Four Heavens Clan approaching.

“Patriarch?”

“I must have been blind.”

He muttered in disbelief as he looked at me.

“I sensed no internal energy at all and assumed you were untaught in the martial path. But no… Young Lord, for your command of inner energy to deceive even my eyes—your mastery must be profound indeed?”

“Well… to be precise, that’s not quite the case.”

The truth was, I’d never deliberately hidden it.

They simply hadn’t perceived it.

The vast amount of inner energy—or mana—inside me was something I myself had never personally cultivated.

“To think you were the successor of the vanished supreme art…”

As he looked at me in astonishment, I gave a faint laugh.

“Patriarch.”

“W–What is it?”

His eyes sparkled, rare excitement shining like a child who had just discovered a new toy.

It was the gaze of a martial artist who had witnessed a powerful technique.

But I had to disappoint him.

Reality had to be set straight.

“Apologies, but this isn’t some long-lost supreme art.”

Truth be told, I was surprised as well.

Somewhere out there, a genius had invented a technique similar to what I had just… accidentally created.

I had the luxury of endless time, and through happenstance something like this had emerged.

But that man had discovered its thread within the span of a single lifetime.

If it were me, even with centuries or millennia, I might never have managed it.

The world is indeed full of wonders.

“Hm?”

He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“It isn’t something I learned from anyone. Just a little trick I came up with myself.”

I thrust my fist into the air a few times.

Bang! Bang!

With each strike, that peculiar aura spread outward.

“It’s nothing but basic techniques. Giving it some grandiose name only makes it a burden.”

At my words, he just stared blankly for a moment.

Then tilted his head.

“What are you saying? Nonsense. The Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist is a martial art of legend! That’s absurd…”

Bang! Bang!

“Heh. Stop jesting. The supreme art Heaven-Shattering Annihilation Fist is one that can shatter the very heavens themselves…”

Bang! Bang!

“Wait, how is this…”

His expression twisted into something strange.

His entire face was a picture of cognitive dissonance as he stared at me.

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